• MORNING SHAKE-UP: WTAG has a new morning voice. Welcome home, Jim Polito. Polito, most recently the chief investigative reporter and sometime-anchor at WGGB-TV in Springfield, is taking over the morning host duties most recently held by program director George Brown, since Hank Stolz abdicated to WCRN. Polito, a native Worcesterite, developed a reputation at WGGB as something of a character and a hard-nosed investigator: One story goes that he was threatened by former Springfield mayoral Chief-of-Staff Anthony Ardolino, in the old Gus n' Paul's after a piece Polito ran. Ardolino allegedly told him that it was good Polito carried a gun; Polito took Ardolino to court, eventually dropping charges when the tough guy agreed to donate money to the American Red Cross. Polito won several awards at WGGB, including for his reporting on Molly Bish, his work at Ground Zero after Sept. 11, and his investigative work that uncovered corruption in the Chicopee mayor's office.

• MARY-JU-ANA IS BAD, M'K: Striking fear into the hearts of parents who don't want their kids reliving their own fun high school years everywhere, Councilor Gary Rosen raised the issue of the decriminalization of the Devil's Weed on Tuesday. The issue, says Rosen, is that if the House doesn't rule on a bill before them by May 7, the item will go to ballot as a non-binding referendum this fall. Rosen clearly opposed the measure but called for a public hearing and spoke in vague third-person terms about people who were life-long teachers (him) knowing the negative effects marijuana could have.

• PILOT FROM THE PILOT'S: One of the best under-the-radar items on Tuesday's agenda was a petition that, if passed, would ask the city manager to go after PILOT monies from military bases and recruiting offices in town, the same as non-profits. The item, brought by Gordon Davis on behalf of Worcester PeaceWorks, was referred to committee.

• JUNK STAYING PUT: Junk/odds & ends shop Happy Birthday Mike Leslie is staying put. In late March the folks at Mike Leslie were given word the building where they rent space at 420 Pleasant St. was on the auction block. Soon after signing a three-year lease with his landlord, store proprietor Jacob Berendes received a certified letter saying that the sale was going to happen on Thursday, March 27. Concerned about the future, he sent a notice out to friends saying, “Anyone want a building? The roof leaks and a car hit it, cracking a beam on the corner. I have a fantasy of being the only person at the auction.” On the day of the auction a representative from Berman Auctions stopped by to say that it was postponed until May 1, but Berendes received word this week saying all is OK. In an e-mail, he tells us, “The landlord was able to refinance. So, for a while anyway, everything's back to normal.”

• PULPIT TO BULLY PULPIT: It's become common practice to begin every City Council meeting with an invocation from a local clergy figure; usually, that person delivers a blessing asking for the Council to make wise decisions, and then takes off, not waiting to see if the plea worked. Not this week. St. Paul's Cathedral Rev. Richard Reidy, 20 minutes after giving the religious invocation, came to the microphone again, this time as a citizen supporting the passage of the new adult entertainment ordinance, which will restrict businesses from applying for a special permit near residences, pouring establishments, other adult entertainment businesses, and the library. “It's not perfect,” said Reidy, “But it addresses our concerns.”

• AS GOOD AS IT GETS: The education supporters have become a steadfast fixture at Council meetings, with many wearing their 102% buttons, representing the increase above the limit they'd like to see the city spend on schools. Every week, another speaker from the crowd rises to talk to the Council about the need for more funding; this week, the speakers including a grandmother and a senior from South High. And while the councilors listen dutifully, the truth is that many of them — and their counterparts on School Committee — are scared for what happens next year, financially. “This is as good as it gets,” one councilor told us on Tuesday, saying it's only going to get worse. It's one of the prime reasons for the big push for more funding now, while there's still an inkling to at least hold the budget steady.

• ROSEN'S UNANIMOUS LOSS: In the midst of a convoluted Council debate over conflict-of-interest rules, we ended up with one of the best votes ever witnessed. After Gary Rosen proposed to move referred orders to the Health Committee from Municipal Operations, where two-thirds of the committee would be ineligible to discuss them, it was decided to keep them in MO, and allow two new members to be temporarily appointed. Rosen liked the new solution so much, he voted against his own order, along with every other councilor.

• UMASS-WORCESTER-LAW: Could Worcester be the center of the UMass professional school system? A few councilors hope so, with Joff Smith leading the charge to get UMass to move into the old courthouse, and convert it to a law school, the system's first. It's a plan with a bit of history: In 2005, a UMass-Dartmouth Law School was shot down by the state Board of Higher Education after being approved by the UMass Board of Trustees, and it is unknown how well the plan would be received on the state level now. Councilor Kate Toomey filed a separate order asking for the state to look at other state agencies that might be interested in the space. Of course, as the building is state owned, it is unknown exactly what direct economic benefit the city would see from anyone who moved in, not counting spin-off. o

Chet Williamson contributed to this column.