A pilot program by Boston Public Works last winter to dig out busy sidewalk corners, crosswalks and handicap ramps has become permanent and the city will try to expand it to cover more parts of the city, City Councilor Kenzie Bok says. Read more.

Hal Shurtleff, the former John Birch organizer who used to live in West Roxbury, is scheduled to arrive at City Hall Plaza with a "Christian" flag the city agreed to let him fly over City Hall Plaza for a couple of hours starting at 11 a.m. Read more.

The rat barrage that grew worse with the pandemic hasn't eased and now residents are having to deal with cars sustaining thousands of dollars of damage from rats chewing through wiring and asphalt surfaces collapsing from all the rat burrows under them on top of all general grossness of seeing rat families having giant family reunions in people's yards and in local parks. Read more.

The City Council agreed today to look at the idea of outlawing belching noisy lawn tools that run on gasoline as environmental and health menaces that now have less noxious, quieter electric alternatives. Read more.

The Boston City Council agreed today to look at creating a public alternative to private broadband providers, saying events of the past couple of years have proved broadband has become a necessity that private business may be unwilling to provide at a price that all residents can afford. Read more.

City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo (Hyde Park, Roslindale, Mattapan) says it's way past time for Boston to begin installing dog parks outside the "high income neighborhoods" he says have them now - and that the city should be planning them first, rather than waiting for organized groups of dog owners with discretionary income to push for them. Read more.

Boston Police superintendents said today that they expect to spend roughly $63 million in overtime for the fiscal year that ends June 30 - less than the department spent last year, but $15 million more than the budget approved by the council. Read more.

City Councilor Kenzie Bok, who represents the normally student-heavy Fenway and Mission Hill, is urging the city's two largest universities to reverse course and not let any students come to Boston for at least the fall semester - saying the greatest potential risk to Boston is "the sheer influx" of people from out of state, many from places with far higher Covid-19 rates. Read more.

Shutting T stations after protests only creates dangerous situations for people who just want to get home, several Boston city councilors said today.

But the council did not formally go on record with a resolution calling on the T to stop shutting stations near vigil and protest sites at their regular Wednesday meeting because two councilors objected, which means it will instead go to a council committee for a hearing before the council votes. Read more.