David Cohen won't run for re-election next year.

Given Newton's propensity to elect the same guy mayor over and over again (hmm, why does that sound familiar?), Chuck Tanowitz wonders what Newton now needs in a mayor-for-a-decade.

Charley on the MTA explains why the state should call Glaxo's bluff and not give into the drug company over the issue of bribes gifts to doctors.

Newton mayor decides not to seek $27,000 raise after all. Something about outraged residents approaching City Hall with some hot tar and feathers in advance of a Prop. 2 1/2 override vote later this month, we hear.

Precinct-by-precinct results - Hoy out, both overrides pass.

Gnomi ponders a what-if, namely, what if override opponents hadn't convinced voters of the value of education funding with lawn signs showing the need for more education.

Today's the override vote in Brookline. Susan Senator describes the zoology of Brookline politics.

Blue Mass. Group, of course, is all over the Sutton state rep announcing she'd been threatened on the floor of the House.

Dan Dunn reports that the quarterly newsletter of the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance has a fun little note about a ruling involving former Senate President Robert Travaglini, who apparently could not account for donations raised in 2005:

... The committee held fundraisers in 2005, but did not present approximately $80,000 in contributions to the bank for cashing and deposit because these checks were lost or misplaced. OCPF determined that the checks were not cashed by the committee or any other entity. ...

Read for yourself the National Research Council report on why it thinks more study is needed before BU should be allowed to study deadly pathogens in the South End.

Biolab follies - Phoenix report.

Kathleen Powers quotes my state rep, the normally reclusive Angelo Scaccia:

"Mr. Speaker, we have a chance to tax the well-endowed." ...

He was, allegedly, referring to a proposed tax on private colleges with endowments of more than $1 billion.

Let's see if I can do this ...

As I type, City Councilor Maureen Feeney, who helped organize the thing, is opening the event - 400 people in attendance. Wants to revitalize civic discussion and participation in Boston. Only 11% of Bostonians voted in the last election. The city now is supported by "hands too few and too tired." Local groups and neighborhood watches act in isolation.

"Not about potholes and paving sidewalks. It is about political positioning." Positive discussion about civic health and vitality.