Published December 2, 2010

What’s news on a seasonally pleasant Thursday morning in Boston:

Superintendent Carol Johnson plans to close or merge 12 Boston schools. She says the district faces a $63 million budget shortfall. (Globe)

Job seekers are blasting Sen. Scott Brown for blocking unemployment benefits. “The decision is not whether we should extend the benefits, it is how should we pay for them,” Brown said. Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano retorted: “We can find hundreds of billions of dollars for tax cuts for the rich that add to the national deficit, and we can’t find money for the unemployed?” (Herald)

A defiant Chuck Turner portrayed himself as the black James Michael Curley, a legendary Irish mayor who served from prison after being convicted. The city council expelled Turner, now a convicted felon, in a high-drama hearing Wednesday. (WBUR)

Justice Roderick Ireland doesn’t support the governor’s plan to take over the Probation Department. “I feel very strongly that the judiciary should have supervisory responsibility for probation,” Ireland said Wednesday at his confirmation hearing for chief justice. (WBUR)

Middlesex Sheriff James DiPaola was laid to rest in Malden. It was a private service for DiPaola, who killed himself last week. (Globe)