TODAY Jane Yolen (“Things to Say to a Dead Man: Poems’’) reads at 3 p.m., Back Pages Books, Waltham ($7.50 tickets at www.backpagesbooks.com, 781-209-0631) . . . Weekend Poetry Series, with comic poetry from five authors, at 3 p.m., Concord Free Public Library. MONDAY Poets Rosanna Warren and David Yezzi read at 8 p.m., Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Cambridge ($3). TUESDAY Continue reading >>>

Winter’s chill blew into the capital this week with wounds of pride being ripped open in the House of Representatives by a public feud between House Speaker Robert DeLeo and a former confidant. DeLeo called House Democrats to Beacon Hill in the midst of a winter recess to have them OK his plan to remove Majority Whip Charley Murphy from his leadership circle, shuffling the depth chart to reflect what the speaker described as the best possible team to execute the House’s not-yet-defined agenda for 2012. “WOW!” wrote one House aide in a single-worded email, unlikely intended to land Continue reading >>>

Mayor Thomas M. Menino grabbed headlines last week when he chastised the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association for adopting a rule that allowed a referee to slap a key penalty on a Cathedral High School player about to score a touchdown. The player’s offense? Raising a fist in triumph while he approached the end zone in the fourth quarter of his team’s Super Bowl appearance - a move that was deemed unsportsmanlike. “I think sometimes these rules are written by frustrated athletes,’’ said the mayor. Yet overshadowed by the tirade was a more fundamental Continue reading >>>

How much does race still matter around here? A lot, if you look in our maternity wards. Every year, about 11,000 babies delivered in the Boston metropolitan area are born underweight. That’s a little below the national average, but it’s still alarming, given the lifelong health problems that can plague these babies. A woman’s education level is a huge factor in whether she’ll have a small baby. The better educated she is, the more likely she is to understand the importance of good nutrition, to live in a safer, less polluted neighborhood, and to live a more Continue reading >>>

How much does race still matter around here? A lot, if you look in our maternity wards. Every year, about 11,000 babies delivered in the Boston metropolitan area are born underweight. That’s a little below the national average, but it’s still alarming, given the lifelong health problems that can plague these babies. A woman’s education level is a huge factor in whether she’ll have a small baby. The better educated she is, the more likely she is to understand the importance of good nutrition, to live in a safer, less polluted neighborhood, and to live a more Continue reading >>>

December 10, 2011COLLEGE BOOT SPOTLIGHT: JEN LEAVERTONMeet the candidates, and vote St. John’s senior forward Jen Leaverton is one of four nominees for Big Apple Soccer women’s college player of the year, and a regional nominee for the Soccer News Net Women’s College Boot, recognizing the national player of the year. Leaverton (Mansfield, Mass./Bishop Feehan/FC Greater Boston Bolts) led the Red Storm in scoring with 10 goals, including six game-winners, and was named to the All-Big East Second Continue reading >>>

For Weston resident Bernadette Rehnert, the holiday season truly is one for giving. A longtime supporter of charities and non-profits, Rehnert, who’s known as Berni, has focused some of her efforts of late on donating turkeys in the greater Boston area, most recently a giveaway in Chelsea last Thursday night that was a collaborative effort in which she purchased some 150 turkeys for low-income families. “I suggested giving turkeys as a way to bring families together and let them know others care,” said Rehnert. Rehnert said her involvement in the Chelsea turkey donation came by way of her Continue reading >>>

North Andover-based Nexamp installs Evergreen Solar panels at a Weymouth Bank branch. (Greg Derr, 2009 photos) At first glance, this sure seemed like a dirty year for the clean-energy sector in Massachusetts. It began with a shutdown order at Evergreen Solar’s publicly-subsidized Devens plant, and ended with Tyngsboro-based Beacon Power’s trip to bankruptcy court. Most of the headlines were grim. But they only told part of the story. The truth is, the green energy industry is still thriving in Massachusetts, with more than 60,000 people either working for alternative energy companies Continue reading >>>

Thursday, Dec. 8 CONVERSATION WITH THE NEW YORKER FICTION EDITOR AND AUTHORS at Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, on Dec. 8, 6:30 p.m., in Collins Cinema. Deborah Treisman, fiction editor for the New Yorker, will discuss her work with two of her writers, the Bosnian-American novelist and MacArthur fellow Aleksandar Hemon, and New Yorker staff writer and recently named Wellesley College Newhouse Visiting Professor of Creative Writing Hilton Als. The conversation will be followed by an open dialogue with the audience. This event is free and open to the public. Information: newhouse-center.org, Continue reading >>>

BUILD, a successful national organization which uses entrepreneurship to propel disengaged, low-income youth through high school to college success, was launched in Boston on Friday, Nov. 10, with a sold-out benefit dinner in Metcalf Trustee Ballroom at Boston University School of Management.  Daymond John, star of the hit ABC-TV show “Shark Tank” and successful founder and CEO of FUBU, a globally recognized clothing company, was on hand to accept BUILD Boston’s first “Earl G. Graves Sr. Innovation Award.”  BUILD is a four-year college access program that helps at-risk youth launch Continue reading >>>