Pierce rips into Sam Yoon for declining to take a stand on issues such as increasing the gas tax to help pay for public transportation:

... When you are a little known Counselor up against a mighty incumbent you have to take some risks and find some ways to get noticed. Yoon should have come out big for gas tax to help the T as a means of preventing fare hikes and maintaining services (and as a fairer means of supporting transit than the sales tax hike). And also brand it what it is - a green tax - and make it part of your campaign to green Boston, a way of capturing the attention of young people and affluent liberals. There is some risk in it - but it looks serious and would have gotten press. The business community is also in favor so the stance could have generated some cash potentially as well. ...

The Globe article at 3:55am says details of the settlement would be released later today.

Paul Levy reports that all the bar-code scanners in the world are still not a substitute for a trained nurse - who thought the bag of medicine she'd just checked out was "slightly heavier than usual" and sure enough, the dosage was higher than it should have been, due to what turned out to be a mistake at the drug wholesaler.

Analysts, tabloid reporters shocked, confounded that Oak Hill Middle School not scene of panic, pandemonium after student diagnosed with flu.