Published June 2, 2010

Remember this?

This image, taken from an undercover video, shows Wilkerson stuffing an alleged cash bribe under her sweater.

State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, who famously stuffed allegedly dirty money into her bra — on camera — is pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.

Published June 2, 2010

When I posted the Boston Police Department’s unorthodox flier yesterday, I wondered: What exactly does the BPD want here? What am I supposed to do if I see one of these guys?

After the brazen murder of 14-year-old Nicholas Fomby-Davis in Dorchester this weekend, police distributed what appear to be mug shots of people “known to associate with known criminals and gang members who are involved in firearm violence, and engage in criminal activity.”

Have you seen these men?

Nathaniel Davis Jr., the boy’s father, told WBUR’s Bianca Vazquez Toness (in a must-listen story) he saw some of these men walk into a local drug store, so he followed what he thought were instructions to call police.

“They said they’re not really looking for them, they’re just letting people know that these are known criminals,” Davis said. “What’s the sense in putting it out there if they ain’t going to do nothing, you know?”

It’s important to say that the men in the flier are not accused of a crime. They are not “wanted criminals,” a la the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted poster. They’re just people we’re supposed to, you know, be aware of.

Police say they want to keep gangbangers off the streets. Some gang members see their mug on a police flier as a badge of honor.

But at least one of the men pictured tells  Bianca he’s no gang member, that his name is being tarnished by the police.

It raises legal questions. Can the government publicly declare these people — who are not sought by law enforcement or accused of a crime — “bad guys?” Isn’t that defamation?

After Nicholas died, it was shock and then outrage in Boston. And rightly so. Mayor Thomas Menino said gangbangers should be treated like “Taliban.” But civil liberties, even for gangbangers, are no less important in a crisis.

Any legal minds want to weigh in?

Published June 2, 2010

Lucky, Lucy and Larry in the nest (Ernie Sarro)

Humans have been gathering at a strip mall on Alewife Brook Parkway in Cambridge, staring up at a nest of red-tail hawks: Buzz and Ruby and their young ones, Lucky, Lucy and Larry (Bird). A community has formed there, rooting on the birds’ every move.

Cambridge’s own Robin Young decided to pay a visit this week, and she witnessed a moment everyone had been waiting for: Larry, the youngest hawk, fledged. But the crowd gasped as Larry slammed into a glass-walled office building and spiralled down into the street. An observer stopped traffic and shooed the stunned little bird off the road. The bird is reportedly all right now.

Robin met Ernie Sarro, a fitness instructor for the elderly who has become a community documentarian, capturing what he can on video and blogging all the avian drama. It has become a compulsion, he says.

“Life is unfolding in front of you. I don’t have to worry about this the way I have to worry about the oil leak in the Gulf, which is depressing to me. It’s a sickening thing, and I think of all life that’s being hurt as a result of that. These are issues that are hard for me to face, hard for me to take, and I don’t see the way out of it.

“And then I look at something right here, right in front of us. … It’s nature in a very unnatural place. Nature has a life force. It’s why grass breaks through the ground! I get to document that, I get to see that happen in front of me.”

Robin’s story aired Tuesday on Here & Now.

• Ernie Sarro’s blog