Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Breakfast was a surprisingly tame affair this year. With a wide open race for governor and the state still buzzing about new Sen. Scott Brown, the traditional breakfast roast certainly had lots of material. But the breakfast isn’t what it used to be.

BOSTON — A tenacious storm hanging over Massachusetts continued pouring rain on the state Monday, flooding roads and basements, forcing school closures and threatening to overwhelm drainage systems.

BOSTON — Sen. Scott Brown’s win in January’s special general election sent tremors through the electoral landscape in Massachusetts. The election also led to the launching of the politics Web site, MassBeacon.com. Its creator, Conor Yunits, joined WBUR Monday to handicap many of the upcoming races for the state legislature.

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — For the first time in 20 years, Republicans believe that they can have impact on the state legislature. But even if they double their current number of seats, will that be enough to make real change on Beacon Hill?

FALL RIVER, Mass. — If Massachusetts was allowed to take the $9 billion in federal stimulus money they received and cut checks for everyone in the Commonwealth, your share would be about $1,300. But the stimulus money is meant to spur growth, by saving jobs, repairing roads and improving energy efficiency.

BOSTON — Boston’s luxury condo market is starting off 2010 in better shape, after suffering through a rocky couple of years.

BOSTON — Heavy rains and high winds are expected to continue through tomorrow in the Boston area. WCVB television meteorologist Harvey Leonard said as of Sunday morning, parts of New England had already an excess of three inches of rain. “We’re going to have an additional inch or two at least over the next 24 to 36 hours.” Leonard said.

WASHINGTON — Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown accused President Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a “bitter, destructive and endless” drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.

THE STATE HOUSE — Every once in a while in government, just when the eyes start to glaze over and loll backwards at yammering about the consumer price index and biannual open enrollment periods for health insurance, a policy door opens. Enter Deval Patrick.

BOSTON — After a brutal week of news about potential closings in the Boston Public School system, 700 students actually had something to dance about Friday in Dorchester. The Boston Ballet performed for them in the morning, for free, at the historic Strand Theatre.

THE STATE HOUSE — It was 69 years ago Friday that Massachusetts made March 17 — St. Patrick’s Day — a legal holiday in Suffolk County. And though the law is said to formally recognize the day the British evacuated Boston in 1776, the conspicuous coincidence of the calendar certainly did not go unnoticed: The governor signed the bill in green ink.

BOSTON — With St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday, the weekend of March 12 to 14 has plenty of “green” events from cultural explorations to pub crawls.

BOSTON — What do artists like Alicia Keys have to do with the casino debate in Massachusetts? Well, if you run one of the dozens of live performance venues in the state, resort-style casinos mean competition. Now venue managers and others in the entertainment business are taking their concerns to Beacon Hill.

BOSTON — After a surprising comment made by the project’s developer, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is threatening action on the former Filene’s site at Downtown Crossing. To get a sense of how some business owners are responding to the latest news in their neighborhood and how the stalled Filene’s project is affecting their business, WBUR headed to Downtown Crossing to hear firsthand.

BOSTON — Massachusetts could cut local aid to cities and towns by as much as 4 percent next fiscal year, Democratic leaders on Beacon Hill said Friday.