I haven't been following violence in Boston nearly as closely as I used to, so I don't want to jump in with a lot of analysis, but I want to point out two things that I learned along the way that should be troubling to us now.

One is that -- as I wrote a few years back -- it is highly unusual for kids age 12-14 to get shot to death. On average, this happens just seven times each month in the entire country.

The Phoenix has learned that state senator Sal DiDomenico will announce later today that Congressman Michael Capuano, Somerville mayor Joe Curtatone, and Boston city councilors John Connolly and Sal LaMattina have endorsed him for re-election this fall.

DiDomenico, who recently won the special election to succeed Anthony Galluccio, is facing an immediate rematch with attorney Tim Flaherty, who finished second in the special-election Democratic primary.

In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- in print tomorrow, online now -- I write about the discomfort many state Democratic insiders feel about Guy Glodis becoming, potentially, the party's candidate for state Auditor.

Glodis has a history of being on the wrong side of a lot of core liberal issues, like gay marriage, and of making comments considered offensive by many of those same libs.

We do have a primary today, but it's just Idaho so nobody's paying much attention -- although there is a good GOP primary fight in a Dem-held district that's a must-win for Republicans if they hope to have their big wave victory in November. As far as Republican women on the ballot, there are two for Governor and one for the state's other Congressional district -- all running hopeless campaigns against Republican incumbents.

Deval Patrick said something stupid yesterday, as you may have heard. In response to a question at a Suffolk Law forum, he replied that he has no problem with the level of oppositional political discourse here in state politics, adding: "It seems like child’s play compared to what’s going on in Washington, where it is almost at the level of sedition, it feels like to me."

One of the worst-kept secrets in Massachusetts government is now made fully public, in excrutiating detail, by the Boston Globe Spotlight team -- the pathetic, bloated, malfunctioning patronage haven that is the state's probation system. Kudos to the Globe and its reporters for putting the pieces together.

Just very recently, I was talking with a significant political figure in the state about criminal-justice reform, and at one point I interrupted by asking, "because the Probation Department is a joke, right?" The person smiled sheepishly, reiterated that the conversation was not on the record, and then answered in the affirmative.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the conundrum the national Republican party is in if, as increasingly seems likely, the strong economic recovery continues through the coming five or six months. Yesterday, that problem loudly manifested itself in Massachusetts, with very good economic growth news, which you can read about in your daily paper of choice.

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It had already been clear enough from reports coming out of Kentucky prior to Tuesday's primary, but any lingering questions were put to rest earlier tonight on the Rachel Maddow Show: Dr. Rand Paul, Republican nominee for US Senate in Kentucky, disapproves of the public accommodations provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- in print tomorrow, online now -- I have a short piece about a little-known $126 million that the Commonwealth is about to send to the city. The money will go directly into a pension fund, without passing through the General Fund, leaving some to wonder whether at least a portion could have been used to bolster the budget that is about to de-fund branch libraries, community centers, and other staff and services.

Well, we won't have Arlen Specter to kick around anymore. As you probably know, he was defeated in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary; Joe Sestak will now face Republican Pat Toomey in November. In the other marquee races, Rand Paul pounded Trey Grayson in the Kentucky GOP Senate primary, while Jack Conway edged Dan Mongiardo for the Democrats (although it seems Mongiardo may be calling for a recount); Blanche Lincoln failed to reach 50%, and will have to face Bill Halter in a runoff election for the Arkansas Senate nod, with the winner probably going on to lose to Republican John Boozman; and Democrat Mark Critz won easily in the special election to replace Jack Murtha in Congress.

Interesting couple of days on the political scene. Here in Massachusetts, we've got Democratic Governor Deval Patrick denouncing Charlie Baker for negative attack ads run by the Republican Governors Association -- mostly against independent candidate Tim Cahill. Patrick's critics naturally point out that he benefitted from third-party negative attack ads in 2006, which has forced him to parse the difference between the two -- or denounce both (he tried both approaches yesterday).

Thus far, seven states have held their 2010 congressional primaries (IL, IN, NE, NC, OH, TX, & WV), deciding nominees in 97 of the country's 435 districts.

By my count, a total of 25 women ran as Republicans in 21 of those districts, including six incumbents. Those six incumbents, plus four other women, won their party nominations.

In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- in print tomorrow, online now -- I report on the increasing suspicion that Mayor Tom Menino is crying wolf about the city's dire financial straits.

The article includes claims by Boston's firefighters that the city is stashing tens, or hundreds of millions of dollars, that could be used not only to pay the new contract its union was awarded in arbitration, but also to pay for the branch libraries, community-center staff, and other services heading for the chopping block.

Richard Ross appears to have cleaned Peter Smulowitz's clock today, keeping Scott Brown's seat as GOP #5 in the state senate.Congrats to Ross, and a kudos to Smulowitz for his fine effort.

Oh yeah, and Sal D. won the other special.

Big result shaping up in WV, where that incumbent Dem Congressman I mentioned appears to have been knocked out in the primary.