Enza Sambataro may not be a household name, but she inspires a passionate response from baseball fans. She's about to marry the beloved Red Sox player Kevin Youkilis. The Globe recently ran a light lifestyle piece about how Sambataro won't be the ordinary baseball wife. She dated Ben Affleck, she jokes about Yooooouk drinking too many margaritas, and she has a shoplifting record, around which the article danced delicately. Adam Reilly at the Phoenix detected......

--In Lancaster, an 18-year-old died last night after her Jeep was hit by a tractor-trailer. WBZ reports that the driver of the tractor-trailer fled the scene of the accident. Here's the description of the tractor-trailer: "A light red tractor, towing a white trailer, equipped with many lights. Police think because of the crash, there could be damage to the driver side, most likely in the middle or the rear. --Someone stole money from the Harvard-Epworth......

When it snows in Boston, the rule is clear--you don't park in a spot that another person has shoveled out. The Mayor's Office backs this up: Any Space-savers in on-street parking spaces that have been cleared should be removed 48 hours after a snow storm has ended. WHDH reported on an East Boston resident who found out the hard way what happens if you park in a spot that has been shoveled out and is......

--We're not sure if this qualifies as Blotter or accident. Whatever it is, it's terrible. Police in Lawrence are trying to find out if a woman was killed by a snow plow. WBZ reports that two people found a body by the side of Route 114 on Sunday. The snow plow theory emerged because the body was near plowed snow. Police haven't found witnesses. --Gia Nagy, the 17-year-old arrested as an accessory in the murder......

--A new company, FlexPetz, will let you rent a dog for a few hours so you can enjoy canine companionship without getting up in the cold to walk the critter. Wouldn't it be great if you could just rent human companionship for a few hours? Oh, wait. That's illegal. Nevermind. [Boston Globe] --Wondering why there are so many kids running around today? Seventy drivers called in sick or took a personal day today, and about......

--Police arrested another person who was allegedly involved in the murder of Revere police officer Daniel Talbot in September. WBZ reports that 17-year-old Gia Nagy was charged with being an Accessory to Murder After the Fact. --The Brookline TAB announced that the Brookline PD will hold a community meeting about the rise of sexual assaults in the area on Thursday, December 20, at 7:30 pm, at the station on 350 Washington. The meeting will be......

--After the panic, let's think about the fun aspects of winter--sleighs, end-of-year parties, presents, twinkling lights, and the general atmosphere of coziness. --This just in: The Patriots win, and the world learns that referees are sensitive about snowballs. More from the Redux tomorrow. --In Massachusetts' ongoing effort to get as far ahead of the political primary process as possible, the Globe has endorsed Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee and John McCain as the......

A flash pillow fight went down at Boston Common yesterday afternoon, courtesy of the Banditos Misteriosos. Maria Varmazis took some great photos of the pillow fight. Some people took the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon approach: While others hid their Pillow Power under a tender Hello Kitty disguise: She has plenty more of feathers flying over at Flickr. If this is the first flash event from Banditos Misteriosos, then bring on more of them! Photos courtesy......

Ahhh … BPD News is back. However, somebody hit "Publish" a few times, and the "Daily Incidents for Wednesday, December 12" appears several times. No matter, welcome back! And how could we resist a headline like "Do You Want to Tell the Police This?" A man marched into Roxbury B-2 on Wednesday night to tell police that he took a ride in an illegal cab. While in the cab, he and a friend decided to......

--Another storm is on the way starting tonight and running through Sunday evening. [WBZ] --One person died in a terrifying 8-alarm fire in downtown Gloucester last night. The fire also destroyed an apartment building and a synagogue. [Boston Globe, WCVB] --Regarding fires, b0st0n LiveJournal posted some fire safety tips. A lot of it is common sense (you really don't want to put the space heater by the curtains, ok?), but the reminders are useful. [b0st0n......

First Night Monday, December 31 Everywhere in Boston (see below) All indoor outdoor events are free. All outdoor indoor events are accessible with a First Night button ($15) Official First Night site First Night has been preparing to ring in the New Year. Revelers can enjoy all the First Night outdoor events, such as the ice sculptures and the fireworks, for free. But they'll need to pick up a button to attend the indoor events,......

Harvard's sex magazine, H Bomb, is … uh … coming soon, and the staff threw a naked party in New York, according to the Crimson. And they had quite a turnout: The naked party in New York attracted 40 to 50 students and alumni from Harvard and other schools, people there said. Photographs from the party will be featured in the February issue. The photographer, Spencer Tunick, is known for his massive installations of naked......

--Police at Dorchester District Court released the wrong man, according to the Dorchester Reporter. The Reporter is very kind to the officers involved: "In a rare but potentially embarrassing gaffe, officers at Dorchester District Court this week appeared to release the wrong man, allowing him to waltz out of the courthouse and bolt down Washington Street, as confusion reigned inside." The reporter, Gintautas Dumcius, later notes that "The court officers glumly walked back to the......

--One would think that Boston would be prepared to handle snow. But it isn't a good sign when headlines read "what went wrong." [Boston Globe] --It also isn't a good sign when kids don't get home until 11:30 pm because of the weather. [Boston Globe] --A mistrial has been declared in the second trial for Alexander Pring-Wilson, who was convicted of manslaughter for the 2003 stabbing of Michael Colono in Cambridge, but who was granted......

After a brief flash of clarity in which City Councilor Marjorie Decker suggested things might be getting a bit out of hand, Cambridge has up and banned the leafblowers, for five months of the year, anyway. Here's the details from the Cambridge Chronicle: According to the ordinance, residents are permitted to use leaf blowers from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, from March 16 to June 14, and from Sept. 16 to Dec.......

--Police have arrested a man for attacking a woman as the left the Brookline Village T stop early yesterday morning. The victim identified 23-year-old Samuel Prado as her attacker. The Herald reports that a State Police dispatcher made a connection when Prado was caught "acting aggressively" at Logan Airport. --A woman and her two children were found dead yesterday in Springfield. According to the Herald, Juan Mejia, 32, of Springfield, the dead woman's husband, was......

--Maybe Fung Wah isn't so bad after all. The local press picked up on a b0st0n LiveJournal story that a Peter Pan bus driver felt that his passengers on a trip to Boston should be punished and forced to stay on the bus in Framingham because one of them called the company about his poor driving. The driver's sorry ass is about to get fired. [WBZ, Globe, b0st0n Live Journal] --Female parking enforcement officers......

Snow emergencies have been declared in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville. Here's the dirt on parking and getting around: --T alerts: This should come as no surprise, but all T lines are experiencing delays of 30 minutes or more. The MBTA website has been blinking in and out, but we did get an alert that the Silver Line Routes 742 (SL2) and 743 (SL3) are being diverted and that all buses are "omitting 88 Black......

If you dare to venture out that way--and you may not want to after this morning and the storm that is coming in--Green Line Service is back up. Or, in the lingo of the T alert system: "Green Line service is running with residual delays as a result of an earlier medical emergency at Boylston station." If you hadn't already heard, Trolleys Collide, Closing Green Line This Morning A side note: A commenter let us......

Bostonist just underwent a minor facelift that makes it easier to search the site, and you can adjust the home page to show even more stories. You will see tags along the bottom of each story. Instead of searching the site or going to a broad category, like "News: Mass," you can click on a tag and see all the stories associated with the tag. This feature is perfect for searches on what's going on......

We're so happy BPD News is back. How could we resist an item titled "GEORGE FOREMAN WOULD NOT BE HAPPY"? Well, Tuesday night in Jamaica Plain, a fight broke out between neighbors regarding "excessive noise." The person generating the "excessive noise" didn't like hearing about the noise and did something about it: According to the victim, a heated discussion ensued during which the suspect threw a grill at the victim. Victim tells officers that the......

--Yesterday evening, a woman was caught driving in East Boston Memorial Park--on a pedestrian path. The BPD Blotter writer, obviously thrilled to be back on the job after the recent technical difficulties, adds, "As the name of the path suggests, it is designed and designated for pedestrian traffic only." Yes, she was allegedly drunk. And in a Big Lebowski move, she showed officers a Liquor ID card when asked for license and registration. She was......

--The following falls more in the "Don't Panic" category instead of the "Blotter" category. If you stuck a TV set on top of a light pole at the corner of Main Street and Bishop Allen in Cambridge this morning, the Cambridge Police Department would like to have a word with you. You caused quite the freak-out. [Cambridge Chronicle] --The Christmas tree at the State House is covered blue light-emitting diodes," which conserve energy. However, the......

WGA Strike Support Rally Friday, December 14, 12:00 pm-3:00 pm Harvard Square Fans4writers.com Update: Bradley's Almanac just gave us a heads-up--the WGA East announced "Please RSVP to 212-767-7843 and leave the number of people in your party" if you plan to attend the event at the church. By now, we're all sick of the writers' strike, and Bostonist HQ is suffering from MCRW (Major Colbert Report Withdrawal). Rest assured, the writers are even sicker of......

A 25-year-old woman was nearly raped after leaving a Green Line train from the Brookline Village stop early this morning. She told police that the man followed her from Government Center to Brookline Village and attacked her on Cypress Street. When he attacked, she managed to get away and run home. Brookline police have released a description of the man. From the Globe: A Hispanic man, possibly of Mexican descent, who is about 5 feet......

--The BPD arrested two people in the South End for Unlawful Possession of a Firearm. The gun wouldn't have been discovered if it hadn't accidentally gone off in the bathroom. The Herald reported that the woman who was arrested was the mother of Dontel Jeffers, the child who died at the hands of his foster mother, who was recently sentenced for the crime. Laurel Sweet writes, "Crystal Claiborn [Jeffers' mother] claimed that while aiming the......

--Representative Ed "Biz" Markey is going to Bali--in Second Life. Way to be hip to the Internets, but does that avatar look like him? Discuss. [Boston Globe] --Boston got dumped by CNN. A debate that was supposed to be in Boston next week has been knocked off the schedule because of the early caucus dates this year. And we were hoping for a look at Wolf Blitzer. [Boston Globe] --The jury in the trial of......

--Handheld red laser beams can be a lot of fun, but a guy from Medford with a laser beam caused a ruckus on Saturday night when he pointed his beam at a State Police helicopter. The State Police swiftly summoned themselves, the Coast Guard, the Medford Police Department, and the Somerville Police Department to find the person. The feds are investigating. --The man who is accused of being the "Green Line Groper" has pled not......

--King Downing, the ACLU coordinator for the Campaign Against Racial Profiling, won his case against the Massachusetts Port Authority and the State Police. He sued because he felt that he was illegally detained at Logan Airport in 2003, and a jury agreed with him. [Boston Herald, WCVB] --City officials in Everett plan to develop an emergency plan to improve response to disasters following last week's tanker explosion. [WBZ] --The Boston Society of Film Critics gathered......

--The Blotter usually focuses on how people get to jail, but not what happens to people when they get there. The Globe has launched a series about an outbreak of prison suicides, and the authors conclude that the suicides may be the result of "careless errors and dangerous decisions by correction officials and staff at UMass Correctional Health." Why is it important to think about what happens to criminals' mental health in prison? Because most......