In 2010, Worcester surpassed Boston and Providence in violent crime.

That’s a surprising finding in The Research Bureau’s eighth “Benchmarking Public Safety in Worcester” report, released last week. Of the 10 largest New England cities, Worcester ranks fifth.

WORCESTER — The leader of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston said today he favors continued efforts from the U.S. central bank to stimulate the economy and bring down unemployment.

WORCESTER — The use of outdated statistics and varying definitions of aggravated assault are just a couple of reasons Police Chief Gary J. Gemme questions the city’s violent crime ranking in a recent report by The Research Bureau.

WORCESTER — While the city's property crime rate has gradually declined by more than 30 percent over a 15-year period, its violent crime rate has not changed, according to a new report by The Research Bureau.

WORCESTER — There appears to be growing sentiment on the City Council that the 28-year practice of setting separate tax rates for residential and business properties needs to come to an end.

On a recent vacation I flipped through the soft porn blockbuster “Fifty Shades of Grey” per order of the middle-aged women’s travel handbook. Upon my return I attended the City Council meeting, where I penned the following racy novella, “Two Shades of Tax Classification.”

WORCESTER — For the second fiscal year in a row, the City Council has narrowed the gap between the city's residential and commercial-industrial tax rates.

It has recently come to light that Worcester's Assessing Department has been undervaluing about 2,000 commercial and industrial properties — in some cases drastically —for several decades. Who is to blame? Will these costly mistakes be investigated? What will happen if values have to be adjusted?

WORCESTER — The Citywide Parent Planning Advisory Committee, a parent group representing all city schools, started an online petition yesterday asking the City Council to fund the public schools at least 3 percent more than the state requires.

WORCESTER — Most of the major cities in New England hit rock bottom at some point over the last four decades, as their manufacturing bases fled the high cost of doing business in the North and moved to more welcoming, and usually much warmer, states around the nation.