Weekend Redux: What You Missed

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.

Sunday
Mitt Romney is still a winner, even though he suspended his campaign late last week. The crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference handed Romney a win in its straw poll. Somewhere in Belmont, Romney is dropping a ton of mild expletives to express his frustration.

In actual presidential news, Barack Obama swept Saturday’s Democratic primaries and Mike Huckabee won Republican primaries in Kansas and Louisiana.

The South End’s love-hate relationship with the Pine Street Inn continues. The battle has now moved to Upton Street, where the homeless shelter wants to buy three buildings and turn them into studios for the homeless.

[Jerry] Frank, the new president of the Union Park Neighborhood Association, insists that opposition to the project is not a matter of the haves versus the have-nots – or not-in-my-backyard-ism.

It’s just too big for this street,” he said of the project, which would be located at 38, 40, and 42 Upton, across the street from his home.

The shelter says it has run similar projects in other areas of the city, and can make assurances that they will screen potential tenants to make sure they’re able to live independently.

People drive like morons, sometimes with fatal results. And the Globe has proof we’re in a recession—companies aren’t buying office supplies.