Reward, return now focus of case
By Shelley Murphy and Jonathan Saltzman – Globe Staff / March 14, 2010

For years convicted art thief Myles J. Connor Jr. boasted that he knew who committed the brazen art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 and could help recover the masterpieces.

Last summer, federal prosecutors decided to find out if he actually knew anything.

They gave Connor and a longtime friend, Edward J. Libby, letters of immunity that promised to shield them from criminal charges if they helped recover the 13 stolen paintings and artwork, according to Connor, Libby, and Robert A. George, a Boston criminal defense lawyer who engineered the agreement.

All three hoped to share a $5 million reward offered by the Gardner museum for information leading to the safe return of the artwork, which is valued at $500 million and includes three works by Rembrandt — including his only seascape — and a Vermeer.

But once again Connor came up empty-handed.

“The main lead we have has not come through,’’ Connor, 67, said in an interview Thursday outside his ranch house in Blackstone, a pet turkey standing at his feet.

Supporters not ready to close book on libraries – Will push tax increase to help fund branches
By Donovan Slack – Globe Staff / March 14, 2010

The Friends of the Boston Public Library staged a read-in yesterday at a branch in Roxbury and announced a plan to try to avert library closings by asking voters next year to approve a tax increase to fund the city’s libraries.

The organization’s president, David J. Vieira, told a crowd of about 50 supporters at the Egleston Square library that if city and state officials cannot fully fund Boston’s 26 neighborhood library branches by the end of April, he will launch a Proposition 2 1/2 override initiative with hopes of putting it on next year’s municipal ballot.

If passed by Boston voters, such an initiative would allow the city to override the state-imposed cap on property tax increases, which is currently set at 2.5 percent.

“I think we’ve been mainlining on outside resources for too long,’’ said Vieira, who represents Friends groups citywide. “We’ve got to fund our own resources here. We have to look to the citizens, we have to look to our neighbors, we have to look to ourselves.’’

The Friends are nonprofit groups formed to help city libraries by providing private-sector resources and volunteers.

New England in brief – Emmanuel College suffers fire damage

A fire damaged an administration building at Emmanuel College yesterday. Boston firefighters responded just before 2 p.m., the department reported on its Twitter feed. Contractors working in the basement cut old piping and heat traveled up to the fifth floor, where the wooden flooring caught fire, the department said. No injuries were reported, and damages were estimated at $50,000.

Dropkicks rock annual St. Patrick’s gig
By Jim Sullivan/Boston Herald – March 14, 2010

When Dropkick Murphys play an all-ages show during their St. Patrick’s Day hometown skein on Lansdowne Street, they mean all ages.

Yesterday afternoon, there were kids as young as 5 and seniors as old as 87 at the sold-out House of Blues. Granted, those ages represented singer-songwriter-bassist Ken Casey’s son and grandmother, but you catch the drift. Dropkick Murphys play a harsh and frenzied brand of fist-in-the-air Celtic punk rock. It just happens to be fun for the whole family.

“I don’t care what those people at the night shows say,” Casey said, early in the 90-minute concert. “You guys are the rowdiest.”