Just because you spent all weekend enjoying the sun doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
The latest round of phantom voting continues to shake Beacon Hill. Several rank-and-file House members claim they’ve seen legislators vote for absent colleagues, but leadership is keeping quiet about its investigation. House Speaker Sal DiMasi’s spokesman told the Herald he’s “looking in to it.”

The phantoms in the House may soon be voting on a Senate-approved measure that would ban pharmaceutical companies from providing gifts to doctors. Other states have similar measures, but Massachusetts would be the first state to ban gifts of any monetary value. Naturally, drug companies are less than thrilled.

“Strictly interpreted, the ‘anything of value ban’ could bring clinical trials to a halt in Massachusetts, severely cut into necessary and mandated continuing educational studies undertaken by physicians, and mean that fewer new medicines are readily available to patients,” the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

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Just because you spent all weekend wondering why the hell FOX cut from a full count at the end of a one-run Sox/Yankees game to switch to NASCAR coverage doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
It’s all economic downturn all the time in Saturday’s Globe. Whether we’re learning that people aren’t eating deep dish pizza at Uno’s as often as they used to, or diesel prices are soaring, the message is that we’re all screwed. Even spendthrift Gov. Deval Patrick may have to consider budget cuts.

Speaking of the Governor, his approval ratings are dropping like a stone. While he hasn’t reached a President Bush-like number, things have never been this bad for him.

More Bay State residents disapprove of Governor Deval Patrick’s job performance than approve, according to a new poll. Forty-nine percent said they disapproved, while 41 percent approved, the SurveyUSA/WBZ-TV poll suggested.

First Bob Lobel, now the entire station may get the boot. Land-hungry Harvard University is in talks with WBZ to buy the station’s property in Allston.

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Just because you spent all weekend trying to figure out those heinous Blue Jays uniforms doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
The Red Sox continue their bid to make visiting Fenway Park a pipe dream for most families by auctioning off Green Monster seats to the highest bidder. Monster seats for a Sox-Yankees game went for as much as $519 each.

But don’t worry, middle-class families. Ownership is doing it for you.

“We feel it’s our civic responsibility to keep tickets affordable for fans,” said Ron Bumgarner, vice president of ticketing, “and at the end of the day, this helps keep other ticket prices down.”

How, exactly?

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Saturday
Come on. Somebody’s got to be excited about adding Gov. Deval Patrick’s autobiography to their Good Reads shelf in 2010. Right?

No?

It proves he’s still tone deaf when it comes to understanding politics and the media in the commonwealth” said Tobe Berkovitz, interim dean of the Boston University School of Communications.

Maybe in the Globe?

“Candidate Patrick campaigned on transparency, and he told us that he would be a full-time governor,” Rob Willington, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said in a statement. “At this point, his book should have a whole section on how to run a misleading and disingenuous political campaign.”

Ah well. There are more important things to think about. Like whether the governor can actually write worth a damn. He can’t possibly do worse than this unfunny top 10 list from the Herald.

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Just because you spent all weekend high on Cadbury eggs doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
House Speaker Sal DiMasi made casino supporters an offer they couldn’t refuse as the battle over the legislation heated up.

DiMasi gave the lawmakers coveted committee posts, some of which include $7,500 stipends, in late February as lobbying over casinos began to intensify. Those lawmakers, after previously supporting casinos or voting to legalize slot machines, came out against Patrick’s bill in Thursday’s decisive vote.

It’s called “playing politics.” And Sal DiMasi is good at it.

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Just because you spent all weekend feeling jet-lagged by the time change doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
Oh Samantha Power. Before she resigned from Barack Obama’s campaign for her comments about Hillary Clinton’s monstrosity, she was digging the candidate into a hole about his Iraq policy.

“You can’t make a commitment in March of 2008 about what circumstances are going to be like in January 2009,” said Power. . . . “He will, of course, not rely upon some plan that he has crafted as a presidential candidate or a US senator. He will rely upon an operational plan that he pulls together in consultation with people on the ground.”

Obama insists he will stick to his pledge to bring the troops home.

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Just because you spent all weekend waiting for Randy Moss to re-sign doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
It was all about the Leap Year babies on Friday. Dwello “Dewey” DePippo, who is 96-years-old but celebrated his 24th birthday, told some newborn leap babies how to make it to his ripe old age.

“I’ve never been drunk - not in my whole life,” said DePippo, who lives in Methuen.

“I lived this long because I haven’t been a bad boy, if you get my drift,” DePippo said. “And I’ve been good to people, and people have been good to me.”

Keep it in your pants, don’t get sloppy, and don’t be a jerk. Advice we can all live by.

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Just because you spent all weekend betting on an upset in your Oscar pool doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
Holy crap, they found Whitey!

Well, no, not really. After James “Whitey” Bulger was featured on Aktenzeichen XY . . . ungelost last week, someone called to report he knew the couple in the much-hyped FBI clip from Italy.

The man and woman were his German parents.

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Just because you spent all weekend watching Spring Training coverage doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
MBTA conspiracy theorists, rejoice. Suddenly chatty MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas admits the agency cut bus and subway trips to save money without telling riders.

“We were not telling the truth to our customers before when we were not delivering the service that was scheduled,” Grabasukas said in an interview. “But we began to remedy that when I came on two years ago, and I know we’ve improved service.”

Yeah. By adjusting the train schedules to reflect how crappy the service is. Thanks, Dan.

We’ve noticed that a lot of our friends have been popping cold medicine like jellybeans this winter. It’s not just our unwashed companions who are suffering—Boston is in the midst of a bona fide flu epidemic. If you’ll excuse us for a moment, we’re going to disinfect our desks and buy a vat of Purell.

Is everyone going to run out and buy a beagle because Uno won the Westminster Dog Show? Short answer: Only if he gets a great endorsement deal like the Taco Bell Chihuahua.

Dear lawsuit-happy Rams fans,

GET OVER IT.

Sincerely,
Boston Daily

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Just because you spent all weekend watching the bizarre changes in weather doesn’t mean the world stopped moving. We round up the notable stories you missed.

Saturday
Something about the picture of Gov. Deval Patrick on the cover of Saturday’s Herald makes us want to visit Florida. The short sleeves, the pastel colors, and the old-school poker hat all remind us of our grandparents. Though our elders would not be as easily convinced to switch sides in a debate as the more than a dozen lawmakers who now support the governor’s casino plan who initially opposed it.

The Boston Police Department is gearing up for the start of the controversial “Safe Homes” program. The program will allow officers to search private homes for weapons without a warrant, if given permission. While civil liberties groups are still nervous, the police department hopes a snappy logo and casually-dressed officers will convince the community it’s a good idea.

A friendly looking logo - a drawing of a house surrounded by the sun - adorns the brochure police have drafted to explain and promote the initiative, “Safe Homes.” Photos of officers playing baseball with children and chatting with teenagers dot the pamphlet.

Who knew stopping crime took only a game of baseball and compromising a child’s privacy?

Irony is dead. Convicted felon Tom Finneran has given up the lobbying firm he’d hoped to start to represent the State Police Association of Massachusetts, but he will remain on the air at WRKO. It almost makes you think the whole thing was a ploy to get himself some free advertising for his struggling talk show.

In this politically correct world, it’s not surprising that there is a kerfuffle over the Natick Redmen. But what is surprising is that there is a whole organization dedicated to eliminating stereotypes and racism in sports mascots.

Pete Sanfacon - founder of the Framingham-based New England Anti-Mascot Coalition, which advocates against the use racial stereotypes in sports mascots and nicknames - said that Natick’s pride should not come at the expense of Native Americans who find the name offensive.

In the grand scheme of life, is this really that important?

Also, Saturday was Truck Day. Did anyone see Curt Schilling’s robot arm being loaded onto the truck? Because that’s probably the only way he’s going to be able to play. (more…)