Published April 8, 2011

Winter is over, Spring is here, Fenway Park will be full again. And if ever the Olde Towne Team(e) needed the re-birth of Spring, it’s today.

The Sox, win-less in six tries this season, will look to garner their first win when the team takes on the archrival Yankees this afternoon at Fenway Park. John Lackey takes the mound in the 99th Opening Day for Fenway Park.

The Sox will look to put up some big numbers on the Green Monster scoreboard. But did you know that scoreboard isn’t the original — and we’re not sure where the original is? In another great Opening Day story, WBUR’s Bob Oakes and Kathleen McNerney visited a baseball glove manufacturer in Worcester.

As lawmakers in Washington continue to bicker over the federal budget, federal employees in Massachusetts are bracing for rough times ahead.

Starting in July 2013, students at UMass Amherst looking for a cigarette break may have to plan for quite a trip. The UMass faculty senate approved a measure banning the use of any tobacco product on the Amherst campus.

Attorney General Martha Coakley filed emergency legislation yesterday banning illegal gambling at Internet cafes and corner stores. The computerized casinos had been operating in a legally gray area.

The Kennedy family will oversee the groundbreaking of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate today. The institute named for the senator will sit next to the JFK Library in South Boston.

What we’re following: WBUR’s Steve Brown drew the brutal assignment of spending this beautiful Spring day at Fenway Park, so we’re sure to hear from him. We’ll also continue to report on the trial of a Pakistani man accused of lying to federal agents and the Kennedy Institute groundbreaking.