The Urban Paramdedic is back with a vengeance with his recounting of various floaters he's helped recover (and yes, a floater is just what you think it might be if you were talking to a guy who responds to emergency medical calls). CSI fans in particular will enjoy the bulk of the post; but everybody can appreciate his last two paragraphs, which deal with a guy who jumped over the railing at a waterfront restaurant into the ocean after telling everybody he was going to kill himself - only to climb right out when he realized how cold the water was:

... The customers at the restaurant were not impressed. In fact, they barely looked up from their meals when we arrived. Nobody approached us; nobody told us what had happened. Finally, after I asked somewhat loudly whether anyone had seen a man in the water, one diner pointed up the street and said, "He went that way. I think he changed his mind."

Well wishers waving goodbye to the Norwegian Dream this afternoon as it left the Black Falcon Pier for Bermuda. It was preceded by a Boston Police boat that kept the Reserve Channel clear - once by having an officer get on the bullhorn and basically yell at some guy in a dinghy to get out of the way, NOW.

PROJECT BREAD SUPPORTS ‘FOOD AND FUN’ FOR SOUTH BOSTON KIDS THIS SUMMER
$225,900 in statewide grants aim to help families cope with food and gas crisis

June 27, 2008 — EAST BOSTON — When school is out, kids who rely on free or reduced-price school meals need a safe place to go where they can get a healthy meal and have some summer fun. That’s why Project Bread is providing $2,000 in incentive grants to the Summer Food Service Program in South Boston in an effort to help families cope with the skyrocketing cost of food and gas.

Tom Menino sure pulled a good one on him, slipping $2 million into the city budget to study moving City Hall to South Boston, which Flaherty managed to vote for even though he opposes the move, because, well, it was on page 342 of the budget:

In an interview after the hearing, he said that he did not realize he had already voted to approve the funding for the studies.

As a reporter, I once covered a similar issue in Natick - when one selectman realized he'd been similarly, if not quite so back-of-the-bookishly, bamboozled, he said "If I'd realized what I was voting for, I would have voted against myself."

No offense to Natick, but shouldn't we expect more from Boston councilors, who, after all, get paid full-time wages? Surely a man who would be mayor of Boston would realize he has to be on guard when it comes to the man who is mayor of Boston - even if he does have a point about spending $2 million on a study like that in times like these.

The headline of that particular BPDNews item really tells you all you need to know about why a local man was arrested on East Broadway in Southie yesterday evening:

When asked to explain his actions, the suspect told officers, "I had to go real bad."

Also click on the link to read how a bunch of out-of-towners learned that if Boston police are breaking up your party and telling you to clear out, "we ain't going anywhere" is not the correct reply.

And read about how the local constabulary is cracking down on Cambridge cabbies and unlicensed livery guys picking people up for fares in downtown Boston.

South Boston gets a taste of what Roxbury's been going through of late - developers trying to change the boundaries of the neighborhood - and it doesn't like it one bit.

The Fort Point Cultural Coalition's Windows onto Fort Point project consists of 25 pieces of art mounted in various locations in the neighborhood (in particular, along A Street).

Naturally, somebody stole three of the pieces. One has been recovered, but this one and this one are still missing.

Know where they are or have information about them? E-mail the coalition or call the BPD at 617-343-4742 and tell them it's about case #080-310-503.

LyetteAnn goes on an art tour of Fort Point Channel.

289 E. 8th St. around 11 p.m. yesterday: Black male in his early 20s found with multiple stab wounds, pronounced dead at Boston Medical Center.

This is a great story. And a very depressing one.

DJDiva is outraged:

... Where were these children's grandparents? How could they let their drug addict, criminal, scum bag children continue to have custody of their children after DSS placed the kids in the grandparents custody? Where was DSS all this time? But more to blame is the parents, grandparents, and neighbors that KNEW what was going on! ...