Gordon Brown, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, argued Thursday for a new global financial system to solve economic problems throughout the world and to prevent future dilemmas.

When Boston University students are asked to describe their campus, ears of corn, cartons of tomatoes and fresh-baked pies are not among the most anticipated answers. Despite the university's association with being an "urban campus," BU has made efforts to create a small-town feel by initiating a weekly farmer's market in the George Sherman Union Plaza.

The economy dominated the first debate of the Massachusetts gubernatorial race, as the top three candidates staked out their positions on the state's budget crisis.

Alcohol charges will be brought against eight Boston College students whose vehicle collided with a Green Line trolley on Sunday. The trolley, headed outbound on the B line, struck the Jeep at about 30 mph after it cut in front of the moving train at around midnight.

Massachusetts Treasurer candidate Steve Grossman brought his campaign message of putting the state "on the road to financial stability" to Boston University on Thursday.

A spate of layoffs has left four percent of all Shaw's Supermarkets' employees without jobs. The supermarket chain, which employs more than 25,000 people in 176 locations across New England, started downsizing earlier this month, just weeks after workers went on strike throughout the region.

The United States is in desperate need of a wake-up call, said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Thursday evening.

The economic downturn plaguing the American economy has also spawned major issues that Boston has dealt with over the past four months, including a state and city-wide budget deficit, a clash between two neighborhoods and a historic newspaper with its head on the chopping block.

State Rep. Paul Kujawski (D-Webster) withdrew an amendment proposal Tuesday for an endowment tax on colleges and universities with an excess of $1 billion in endowment funds.

The $27.4 billion proposed state budget put forth Thursday by the Massachusetts House Ways and Means committee would rely on steep program cuts rather than tax increases or emergency funds to overcome the deficit, a decision that some legislators said is detrimental to local municipalities and interest groups who rely on state aid for funds.

Posters with slogans such as 'Stop Bankrupting America,' 'Fire Congress, Yes We Can' and 'Impeach Obama' flooded Boston Common Wednesday to protest the government's alleged reckless spending and punitive tax policies.

When the Massachusetts Legislature passed a resolution calling for the federal government to use 100 percent clean energy within the next 10 years, its success was shared; local advocacy group Massachusetts Power Shift help energize the measure's supporters.