Engaged: Barney Frank , 71, and longtime partner Jim Ready , 42, the congressman’s office confirmed for us Thursday, following a report by New England Cable News . Where’s the wedding? In Massachusetts, where gay nuptials were made legal in 2004. When? Sorry, that’s all the details they’d give. Frank is set to leave Congress next winter after 32 years, and he’s said the rigors of the job and the desire to devote more time to his relationship were factors. “I have a partner now,” Frank told Charlie Rose in an interview a couple weeks ago. “I’m in love for the first time in my life.” The couple met at a political fundraiser in Ready’s home state of Maine. The Advocate described him in 2009 as a Todd Palin lookalike and surfing enthusiast. Their mostly low-profile relationship has made the news a handful of times, when Ready exchanged words with his beau’s opponents at public forums, and when he was charged with having marijuana plants at his home in 2007. Read full article > >

See original here:
Barney Frank engaged to boyfriend Jim Ready (updated)

Two reporters for The Boston Globe try to explain Mitt Romney by pulling together lots of details into a narrative that is absorbing and fair-minded.

Continue reading here:
Books of The Times: ‘The Real Romney,’ by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman – Review

BOSTON — The Washington Wizards arrived at TD Garden without a win. And within two minutes of their game against the Boston Celtics, they were without their head coach. But the sight of Coach Flip Saunders stomping on the parquet floor, screaming at referee Eli Roe after Celtics center Greg Stiemsma fell on Rashard Lewis and didn’t get called for a foul, sent a charge through a team that has lacked intensity for the early part of this season. Read full article > >

Read more:
Wizards vs. Celtics: Flip Saunders ejected as Washington stays winless

Northeastern University, based in Boston, opened its first satellite campus, which combines virtual and in-person instruction, this year in Charlotte, N.C. Seattle is next.

Read more from the original source:
Northeastern University Expands Its Geographic Reach

BOSTON — When Mitt Romney was governor, he had a routine: Every Monday afternoon at 3, he would meet with the two Democrats who controlled the Massachusetts legislature. They rotated offices each week and, over cheese, juice and popcorn, the three negotiated the budget, taxes and health care. Sometimes they just chitchatted about movies, leaving Romney to wonder whether he had just wasted an hour. Read full article > >

See the original post here:
Romney touts himself as successful consenus builder

BOSTON — Police officers swept through Dewey Square early Saturday, tearing down tents at the Occupy Boston encampment and arresting dozens of protesters, bringing a peaceful end to the 10-week demonstration. Officers began moving into the encampment at about 5 a.m. to “ensure compliance with the trespassing law,” police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said. The city had set a deadline for midnight Thursday for the protesters to abandon the site but police took no action until early Saturday, making Boston the latest city where officials moved to oust protesters demonstrating against what they call corporate greed and economic injustice. Read full article > >

Original post:
Police evict Occupy Boston protesters; 46 arrested on trespassing, disorderly conduct charges

On Saturday, December 2nd, the non-profit organization Syrian Americans for Democracy (S.A.D.) organized a rally in support of the Syrian people in Boston’s Copley Square. Calling it “We are coming out for Syria in Boston,” the event drew a large crowd with attendees from several states. Braving the first really cold day of the season, a crowd gathered in front of the Boston Public Library carrying flags and posters written in both Arabic and English, around a small stage where various speakers took turns addressing the crowd or rallying the group with chants.

Read more from the original source:
Fighting for Human Rights in Syria…from Boston.

BOSTON — Carlos Rafael, who owns a fleet of boats that trawl New England waters for scallops and fish, offers a terse assessment of how Barney Frank’s coming retirement will hit local fishermen. “It’s a disaster,” he said. Frank is known nationally as Congress’s first openly gay lawmaker, co-author of a massive bill to regulate Wall Street or bane of conservatives. But to the region’s battered fishing fleet, the Massachusetts Democrat has been a steady and effective ally who can’t be quickly replaced. Read full article > >

The rest is here:
Barney Frank is fishermen’s friend in Congress

ARLINGTON, MASS. — Three decades ago, Carolyn Caci, a recently divorced Mormon convert, joined a congregation here presided over by a young church leader named Mitt Romney. As the local bishop, Romney conducted annual interviews with all the members of his flock, and he used his time with the newcomer to express both his disapproval of divorce and to remind the middle-aged woman, who had begun dating again, about the church’s opposition to premarital sex. Read full article > >

Read this article:
In Boston, Mitt Romney ‘evolved’ in Mormon leadership, some churchwomen say

Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya, who set the Boston Marathon course record in April, broke the New York City Marathon record by more than two and a half minutes, in 2 hours 5 minutes 6 seconds.

Read more from the original source:
Geoffrey Mutai Wins New York Marathon With Course Record

It has been Mitt Romney’s successful strategy to keep a low profile, emerging periodically for fluent debate performances, while the conservative meteors streak and fade. Every week that an untested rival surges, dominates the news and then stumbles, every week that marginal candidates retain loyal supporters and divide the opposition, is a good week at Romney’s Boston headquarters. Read full article > >

Continue reading here:
The conservative case for Mitt Romney

My friend the Maryland apologist, ever the optimist about all things Terrapins, described the awfulness of Saturday like this: “Hey, at least the coach is finally taking responsibility for how bad things are. That’s progress.” Really, what is going on behind that bronze turtle outside the Gossett Team House? Because after a really bad Boston College team dragged Maryland all over the field before the smallest announced crowd in more than a decade, there is only one question left in College Park: Has there even been a worse baton pass in the history of college football than Ralph Friedgen to Randy Edsall? Read full article > >

See the article here:
Maryland football: Baton pass to Randy Edsall could not have gone worse

Ask what sort of sports town Washington is, and you’re likely to hear what sort of sports town it’s not. It’s not Philadelphia or Boston, cities that are gripped by year-round soap operas starring multiple professional teams. It’s not New York, known for a relentless pressure to win championships, or Chicago, considered one of America’s great sports towns. Read full article > >

The rest is here:
Washington’s sports identity reflects D.C. region’s population makeup and growth

Three days exploring the restaurant scene in Boston last month turned up a surprise accompaniment everywhere I visited: stellar service. Distinguished hospitality flowed at the enticing new Island Creek Oyster Bar in Kenmore Square, where the hostess cheerfully found space at the bar for a dozen walk-ins (!) and the server explained the local oysters as if she had harvested them herself. A sense of generosity marked my interaction with Drink in South Boston, where the woman answering the phone took five minutes to explain to a stranger that the menu at the lounge consisted of “finger food a friend would serve if you came over for cocktails” — and then went on to provide a party’s worth of examples. Read full article > >

More here:
Postcard from Tom: A trio of welcoming Boston eateries

The night before the Oct. 6 start of the occupation of Freedom Plaza , the singer-songwriting duo Emma’s Revolution stood before a packed protest-planning rally at Busboys and Poets, fiddling with chords, harmonies and a lyric sheet. They were in town from Occupy Boston and were still getting the hang of a song they had been inspired to write on the road down: “Occupy D.C.” Read full article > >

Read more:
Occupy Wall Street inspires a new generation of protest songs