Boston News Today - DEAR READER: 2/11/2016

Dear Reader,

Politics and sex. Both beautiful activities, but also hideous in the hands of the wrong people. This week you probably have both on your mind, as the primary in neighboring New Hampshire runs into the hearts, candy, and roses holiday. We’ve taken care of you on both fronts, but I hijacked the reader note this week to especially tout the former, since more than a dozen reporters (including me) from our partners at the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ) turned a bar in Manchester into a newsroom and dispatched to the icy front lines across the Granite State to bring you alternative dispatches. What you see in these pages—Trump, Bernie—is a mere sampling. If you’re following the 2016 horse race closely and you want to smell the stalls, check out all our coverage at DigBoston.com.

CHRIS FARAONE, NEWS+FEATURES EDITOR

Dear Spot Hoarder,

Sorry about the cliche note, but it’s that time of year again, and you must be reminded of what a useless selfish piece of trash you truly are. You see, there’s something called “the commons,” and it refers to pieces of this city and community that belong to us all. Unless you’re one of Mayor Walsh’s friends who’s slowly being allowed to buy up parts of Boston, then no parking space belongs to you or anybody else at any time in particular any more than it belongs to me or him or her. I don’t care if you dug your coupe out of a ski mountain—if I see a spot holder, I am promptly throwing it in the back of my pickup truck.