Thursday Morning: Levine Jobless; Jobless Rate Steady

Published March 3, 2011

Good morning! It’s bitterly cold out there — wind chill of 10 below. Bundle up.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of free speech but against decency in Snyder v. Phelps (no relation), a case that Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley had weighed in on. The court ruled protestors could picket military funerals. In a statement after the decision, Coakley said: “We respect the First Amendment rights of our citizens, but we also believe that, consistent with those principles, families have rights to honor their loved ones free from disruptive and harmful protests.”

First we learned he was out for the season — now James Levine is out for good come September. The celebrated BSO maestro has suffered from debilitating back problems. It’s a huge loss for Boston cultcha.

The Mass. unemployment rate held steady last month, at 8.3 percent. That’s still lower than the national jobless rate. The state added 5,600 jobs in January.

WBUR’s Bob Oakes interviewed the departing head of Genzyme, the second-largest biotech firm in Mass. The company was (finally) sold to French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis after a long courtship. Henri Termeer says the company is in good hands.