For the baseball obsessives among us, the New York Times had an inspired headline -- and a pretty good story, too -- earlier this week. Spring training will be here before we know it.

IMHO, I'm glad the Helton deal didn't happen. The Sox don't need to be giving up young studs like Hansen and Delcarmen to get an aging slugger.

UPDATE: The ProJo is reporting that Celona got 2 1/2 years.

Deadline commitments are keeping me from the sentencing this morning in US District Court of former state Senator John Celona of North Providence, a central figure in the ongoing probe of State House influence-peddling. While US Attorney Robert Clark Corrente described the status of this investigation as "extremely active" in January 2006, further developments -- including the recent indictment of two men linked with drugstore giant CVS -- have happened quite slowly. Celona, meanwhile, has faced the discovery of dead rodents placed near the front of his home because of his role in offering testimony.

The big question remains, of course, one of just how high this investigation goes.

In rereading Mike Stanton's The Prince of Providence, I've been reminded of how luck can play a big role in a federal investigation. As Stanton's excellent book describes, the FBI's Dennis Aiken kept digging until Tony Freitas emerged as a key player in what would become the Plunder Dome case against Buddy Cianci.

Providence is receiving attention for impressive reductions in crime, and justifiably so. The city's 11 homicides in 2006 represented the lowest figure in many years, and this happened at a time when Boston, which enjoyed considerable success in reducing violence in the late '90s, has seen its murder rate soar. The Providence Police, under the leadership of Dean Esserman, as well as the Providence streetworkers, deserve considerable credit for this good news.

Esserman was the guest this past Sunday on WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers. Among other things, the chief, who requested a one-on-one appearance, told Steve Aveson that he was open to the idea of trying a 4 am opening for some Providence nightspots. The Phoenix and the ProJo's David Brussat have been outspoken proponents of this concept, as a way of diminishing the nightlife crowd control issues that lead to related problems. Although Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline is said to privately back the 4 am closing, he has been unwilling to publicly embrace it, probably because of the opposition of loud voices within the Providence Foundation and the Jewelry District Association. Instead, the city has focused on trying to squelch nightlife.

On January 12, the mayor announced the formation of the Hospitality Resource Partnership, a coalition "with the expressed goal of creating a more safe and vibrant arts and cultural environment downtown." We'll see. It's interesting to note that the Responsibility Hospitality Institute, an out-of-state nonprofit that works on related issues, and which helped the city to develop the HRP, hasn't returned requests for comment from the Phoenix in recent months.

Here's the bottom line: If Esserman & Co. can reduce homicides and other violent crimes in Providence, getting a handle on the headaches that come with nightlife should be a snap. And the 4 am closing time, perhaps on a rotating basis, is worth a try.

Today marks the official launch of my blog, Not for Nothing, which draws its name from a bit of the Rhode Island vernacular and focuses on Rhode Island politics and media. I hope to add to the civic discussion and to break some news.

Later this week, the Phoenix will carry a story by Erica Sagrans about the growing merger of politics and technology in the state. For now It seems fitting to give a shoutout to some fellow bloggers. Political activist Matt Jerzyk, a friend and occasional Phoenix contributor, has probably done more than anyone else to build the Rhode Island blogosphere. The crew at Anchor Rising, particularly Andrew and Marc, have been unfailingly gracious and generous with their attention. Among other RI bloggers worthy of attention are Kmareka.com and pat-crowley.org/blog.

Despite denials by the Carcieri administration, the widespread belief is that the governor sought the resignation of Colonel Steven Pare, the superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, and that former state police Major Brendan Doherty will be his successor.

The ProJo's Amanda Milkovits captured some of the undercurrent in a  ^{a January 13 story}  

_{Outside his office, there was a storm of questions, as people in the law enforcement community and elsewhere wondered why Pare would suddenly decide to retire. The announcement had come with no fanfare from the governor’s office Thursday afternoon — yet chiefs, prosecutors and regular citizens reacted with shock and sadness.}

_{Pare deflected questions about whether politics or budget cuts were reasons behind his retirement. His relationship with Governor Carcieri was “excellent,” Pare said. “The governor has allowed me to run this agency completely independently.”}

_{^{Although the state budget deficit had forced him to propose reducing the troopers ranks by 25 percent, Pare dismissed that as a reason for his departure. The budget proposals and compromises come up every year, he said; it’s the nature of state government.}}

_{^{He said his reasons were simple. He’s 46. He reached the maximum retirement age for his pension in June 2005. He’s spent his entire adult life at the state police, and now he wants to know what else he can do. He’s a Rhode Island native and plans to stay; his wife is a schoolteacher and their daughters are both students at the University of Rhode Island. But he’s looking for other career opportunities.}}

_{^{“People will make assumptions and speculate. That’s the nature of the industry,” Pare said. “It was my decision.”}}

_{^{Pare is staying through next month to assist with the transition to a new leader. The search for his replacement is vague. “The governor will see who steps forward,” said Jeff Neal, a spokesman for Carcieri. “There’s not a specific plan for a specific type of search process.”}}

^{Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal told me today that the search is expected to intensify after the governor presents his budget proposal and delivers his State of the State address.}

^{Asked whether the governor, or anyone in the administration, had asked Pare to resign, Neal said, “Not to my knowledge, no. I do not believe that’s the case at all.”}

^{Asked about the widespread view – which has spread at the State House and in law enforcement circles – that the colonel was asked to resign, Neal said, “I could not explain the origin of that rumor. I can say that I hear many rumors on Smith Hill every day that turn out not to be correct.”}

^{Still, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to question the official line, particularly considering how Pare, 46, who has spent his professional life with the RISP, is leaving at a much younger age than his two predecessors, Edmund Culhane (who was 62), and the legendary Walter Stone (who retired at 79).}

^{Doherty, who Carcieri had previously appointed to help oversee Beacon Mutual, is known to be a favorite of the governor. Although Neal says the succession decision “has not been made,” Doherty is thought to be a lock to get the job as top cop.}

^{Doherty (who I haven’t met) has a reputation as being extremely well liked. Personally, I have only good things to say about Pare, who proved accessible even before becoming superintendent. There seems no reason to doubt that the state police, who have a sterling reputation for integrity -- no small thing in a place like Rhode Island -- will remain in good hands, although some observers are troubled by how Pare was seemingly asked to cover for the governor’s story.}

Even with widespread recognition about the failings of the drug war, moving in a new direction remains difficult for states, in large part because of entrenched practices. I've got a look in this week's Phoenix at how the state deficit and crowding at the ACI are causing RI policymakers to consider a different approach. In related news, Brian C. Jones reviews US Representative Patrick J. Kennedy's efforts to promote parity for mental health coverage.

Hard on the heels of the news of that the Providence Journal was withdrawing as the lead sponsor of the annual Rhode Island Statewide Spelling Bee, the ProJo is pinching more pennies. While the newspaper industry remains in a collective state of anxiety, because of the movement of readers and advertisers to the Internet, these cuts seem small-minded and short-sighted, not to mention harmful to newsroom morale. Btw, as has been reported elsewhere, the Valley Breeze, a free weekly in northern RI, has saved the bee by stepping in as its main sponsor.

We can assume that courtesy, not support for the policy, explains why Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse applauded President Bush not long after he talked last night about the importance of bringing the fight to the enemy. And we can only ponder how we might be better off without this mess.

Still, the lack of a domestic attack since 9/11 offers some fuzzy support for those inclined to conflate the war in Iraq with taking on the threat of terrorism. It seems closer to the mark to think, as the National Intelligence Estimate concluded a few months ago, that the war has complicated and worsened the thread posed by jihadist terrorists.

We're at the point where even people like Newt Gingrich are calling for a response that ramps up intelligence and State Department efforts, rather than focusing almost exclusively on the military, as Bush has done. George Packer had a provocative look at this in the New Yorker. One major test of the new Democratic Congress will be whether it can develop a more effective response to terrorism.

One of Rhode Island's unsuccessful 2006 candidates recently contacted me to vent about the influence of money in politics, and how the press rates the credibility of candidates according to their war chests. Well, as I told him, welcome to the real world. It's sad, but true, that money remains the juice on which our politics runs.

Not coincidentally, this morning's New York Times has the story of how Hillary Clinton has become the first presidential candidate since 1976 to opt out of public financing for both the primary and general election "because of the spending limits that come with federal money." Not for Nothing, but we're looking at a wild spending spree as a superstar like Hillary tries to emerge from the Democratic pack. It hardly hurts, of course, that the Clinton machine will back her to the hilt.

Here in Rhode Island, I broke the story a few years back of how a Brown student, Te-Ping Chen (who went on to intern at the Phoenix), was the driving force behind a Clean Elections proposal backed by Common Cause of RI. As Phi West anticipated, the effort went nowhere fast, but it remains a top priority for his successor, Christine Lopes. People get the government that they deserve, so if Rhode Islanders are unhappy with the disproportionate influence of money in politics, they can rally behind this effort.

With Rhode Island's 2006 election season barely having passed, a potentially large field of prospective Democratic gubernatorial candidates is already shaping up for 2010, including Frank Caprio, David Cicilline, Patrick Lynch, Elizabeth Roberts and perhaps Charlie Fogarty. Cicilline has cultivated a lot of positive press since taking office in 2002, but any number of politically gifted mayors -- including Buddy Cianci and Boston's Kevin White -- have received rude awakenings when they've tried to run statewide.

Asked this week on WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers whether someone like himself can successfully run for governor, Cicilline pointed to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley as mayors who've made the leap, adding "The answer is, of course."

Cicilline has his work cut out in his second term, with plans for a heightened focus on improving Providence schools and decreasing urban poverty -- things that will likely take more than another term in office. In an interesting bit from Sunday's show, the mayor said he was unaware of the motive for the City Council's recent rules change (criticized as a power play on the part of the new majority that he helped support), yet, in a seeming contradiction, Cicilline said the change wasn't intended to sink specific legislation, including the living wage proposal.