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I have a ground hog that lives under the tool shed, and is destroying some gardens. I plan on blasting the little SOB with a .22. Question to freepers with guns: How do I draw the little SOB out into the open? Thanks in advance, dd

Has the countdown begun for the end of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann?" With his ratings in free-fall, and his hateful histrionics reaching new highs, even Olbermann's former supporters on the left are tuning out. Bloggers at the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio noted the uberdork's 44 percent drop in listeners ages 25-54 from January 2009 to last month. "Olbermann's showboat is sinking," one LA Times blogger noted. "Listing in you-know-which direction." Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/olbermann_sinking_ship_UM7ceoBjVvxJx2cDmK0x4O#ixzz0eaZeVJcM

MONT VERNON – Murder was always part of the plan when four young men agreed to break in to a local home and "just kill the people...for fun," according to one of the alleged killers who told police it felt "cool" to kill the mother but regretted her 11-year-old daughter lived. Cristopher A. Gribble, 20, admitted he and Steven Spader, 18, stood on either side of the bed where Kimberly L. Cates was sleeping with her daughter Jaimie during the Oct. 4 pre-dawn home invasion at 4 Trow Road, court documents released today reveal.

The Obama administration, under pressure to show it is serious about tackling the budget deficit, is seizing on an unusual target to showcase fiscal responsibility: the $700 billion financial rescue. The administration wants to keep some of the unspent funds available for emergencies, but is considering setting aside a chunk for debt reduction, according to people familiar with the matter. It is also expected to lower the projected long-term cost of the program -- the amount it expects to lose -- to as little as $200 billion from $341 billion estimated in August

Karthik Rajaram had fallen hard. The 45-year-old Porter Ranch financial manager who once made more than $1.2 million in a London-based venture fund had lost his job. His luck playing the stock market ran out. On Sept. 16, he bought a gun. He wrote two suicide notes and a last will and testament. And then, sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning, he killed his wife, mother-in-law and three sons, and took his own life. "This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit...

Like almost everyone else in this country, I was taken aback by Sen. John McCain's announcement of Sarah Palin to be his running mate in the coming election. I was eager to find out more about her, especially since Sen. McCain's age and bouts with cancer increase the risk of his not being able to complete his term in office, thus making this unknown quantity a possible President of the United States. What I have learned about Mrs. Palin is utterly appalling!

George Obama, half-brother of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, has lived in squalor and destitution in a suburb of Nairobi, Kenya all of his 26 years. Even if Senator Obama won't, we, the people, can bring REAL change to young George's life by opening our hearts and wallets. If this election is about Hope and Change, let us give George Obama hope by sending him money, food and supplies. Let us change his life for good through the generosity of private citizens and not through government programs

In the battle against gun violence, every little bit helps. Microstamping, for instance. Last week, the Assembly passed legislation requiring gun makers to stamp codes on the firing pins of semiautomatic handguns delivered to New York dealers starting in 2010. The Senate should sign on, too. It's no crime-fighting panacea, but microstamping would enable police to identify guns by marks imprinted on the shell casings found at crime scenes. Authorities would be able to trace a gun back to its last legal owner, a lead that could help point the way to the perpetrator.

Gun-toting toll collectors have been stripped of their sidearms by Mass Pike brass after secretly carrying them for decades without formal training, the Herald has learned. “I didn’t want to have a wild west show out there,” said Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Executive Director Alan LeBovidge, who ordered the practice stopped. “I could find nothing to show that the employees had state police training that would make them qualified to carry guns.”

CLAREMONT – Former President Bill Clinton said the timing of the New Hampshire primary is to blame if his wife, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, doesn't beat Illinois Senator Barack Obama in their quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Asked by a voter in Claremont how the Clinton camp planned to propel itself past Obama, Clinton said, "The answer is there might not be enough time, because New Hampshire made a decision that I didn't agree with."

January 7, 2008 -- BOW, NH - Some Rudy Giuliani volunteers bused here from New York City struck out as they went door to door in advance of Tuesday's Granite State primary while wearing caps or jackets of the hated New York Yankees. .. "Some people really don't think," said a person with knowledge of the situation.

NEW YORK - The city's experimental program to pay poor New Yorkers for good behavior has handed out its first payments to more than 1,400 families. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs said in a statement Monday that $740,000 had been handed out to families participating in the anti-poverty pilot program

The state's top prosecutors and Governor Deval Patrick's administration will scrutinize the state's system of handling arrest warrants and consider statewide reforms after David T. Tavares Jr., a convicted killer, jumped bail in Massachusetts and allegedly killed a newlywed couple in Washington state last month. more stories like this Suspect in Washington killings led authorities to remains in 2000 Drug bust nets $500K in cash, drugs Court strikes reckless driving conviction Bank robber may see lottery win scratched Worcester DA defends record in Tavares case Kurt N. Schwartz, the governor's public safety undersecretary for law enforcement and fire services, said...

Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes is seeking a congressional probe of whether the White House and federal Justice department were involved in a "politically motivated plot" to delay and obstruct justice in the state Republican phone jamming scheme of Election Day 2002. Former state GOP executive director Charles McGee served prison time in 2005 after admitting he masterminded the hiring of a telemarketer to jam get-out-the-vote phone banks at five state Democratic Party offices and a Manchester firefighters' office on the morning of the election, which featured a hotly contested battle between Republican John Sununu, who won, and Democratic former Gov....

CNN) -- Two mayors and two state legislators are among 11 public officials arrested in New Jersey as part of a corruption investigation, the U.S. attorney's office in Trenton announced Thursday. Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera is among 11 officials arrested Thursday in a corruption probe. "The defendants allegedly demanded and accepted payments ranging from $1,500 to $17,500 at any one time," the release from the U.S. attorney's office alleges. "In most cases, the defendants sought to establish and perpetuate a corrupt relationship with the cooperating witnesses to continue receiving bribes." State Assemblymen Mims Hackett Jr. and Alfred E. Steele --...

Three Boston police lieutenants are together facing hundreds of disciplinary charges after an internal investigation concluded that the highly paid officers persistently abused the department's paid-detail system, police officials said yesterday. The internal audit of shifts worked in 2005 concluded that Lieutenants Haseeb Hosein, Timothy Kervin, and Ghassoub Frangie engaged in untruthful reporting of hours, performed details that conflicted with a scheduled tour of duty, and received details through unauthorized means. Hosein and Kervin were also cited with breaking the law, but officials did not provide details on the alleged infractions. The charges were announced less than a week after...

Two former top officials at the MBTA are taking advantage of the generous terms of the agency's retirement plan, which allow employees to begin receiving a full pension at an early age, while simultaneously collecting six-figure salaries in other government jobs. Former MBTA general manager Michael Mulhern, 48, who became executive director of the MBTA Employees Retirement Fund after retiring, takes home more than $350,000 a year: a salary of about $225,000 and a pension of about $130,000. James Rooney, 49, a former deputy manager at the MBTA, now makes $255,000 as executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority,...

Below is the state payroll as of April 2007, listing projected salaries and earned income from last year. This list, to be updated periodically, now includes the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Massachusetts Port Authority. Payroll provided to the Herald under the state's Public Records law.

CONCORD – U.S. Attorney Thomas Colantuono, four federal immigration agents and three police chiefs warned Tuesday that a proposed bill would block state and local law enforcement officials from going after suspected terrorists who were also illegal immigrants. Colantuono said the state might also risk the loss of up to $200,000 that local communities and the state get from the federal government for detaining foreign-born residents unlawfully in this country. “It is unrealistic in the way law enforcement operates in the 21st century in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” Colantuono said. “The bill, as written,...

Who is Alan Gottlieb, the gun champion who wants to put me in jail? Regular readers know I am being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This silly flap grows out of a column I wrote nearly two years ago about buying a handgun at a New Hampshire gun show. Gottlieb and like-minded gun fanatics went into spasms a few weeks ago after the column came up again on local radio. Gottlieb wrote my boss, Globe Editor Marty Baron, demanding I be fired, and asked the ATF to investigate his allegation that I was guilty of...