Published December 20, 2010

Not a lot of news on this cloudy Monday morning in Boston, save for 313-pound lineman Dan Connolly’s 71-yard rush at Foxboro last night.

Roderick Ireland takes charge of the state’s high court today. He is to be sworn in as the first black chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, but: “I’ll be the chief justice for everyone, not just for black citizens.” (WBUR)

Thieves in Burlington stole 1,500 toys meant for needy children. “Despicable.” (Globe)

A Boston man is charged with manslaughter, after the beating death of a man in the South End in August. (BPD News)

The Patriots won a hard-fought victory against Green Bay, 31-27. “Showing the shiftiness of a receiver and the power of an offensive lineman — which he is — Connolly rumbled 71 yards for what is believed to be the longest kickoff return by an offensive lineman in NFL history.” (AP)

UConn women’s basketball tied the all-time consecutive win record. With 88 wins, the Huskies tie UCLA’s 1971-74 men’s team. (AP)

The MFA returned a stolen art work to a tiny Italian museum, seven decades later. “That 620-year-old piece, ‘The Entombment of Saint Vigilius,’will get a hero’s homecoming in a museum in Trent.” (Globe)

Keep dreamin’ of a White Christmas… Prospects for snow on Dec. 25 are “slim but not out of the question.” (Globe)

David Harris asks: Will Harvard welcome back ROTC, once ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is repealed? (Wicked Local Cambridge)