When we last left “disabled” firefighter Albert Arroyo, he’d been named a “Featured Man of Steel” at Saturday’s International Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation’s Monster Mash. While it’s unclear if Arroyo made it to the show, the after-party was clearly not good for him.

Arroyo is in the hospital under police guard for allegedly violating a restraining order.

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As we said earlier this week, the recent spate of bad financial news makes us long for the days when pension abuse stories dominated the headlines.

Today we get a good one from the redesigned Globe, in which the condensed broadsheet reports 31 former Boston firefighters and cops have gone to Beacon Hill to get laws passed that grant them a 100 percent of their pay until their deaths instead of the typical 72 percent pension from the city.

Sure, it’s costing the city a decent chunk of change. But it’s not that bad.

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We don’t like to get too sentimental around here, since it clashes with our hard-hearted cynicism. But we saw something in the paper today that sent us back to a simpler time, before deep cuts to the state budget dominated the headlines.

Yes, we’re talking about that idyllic time in which our biggest concern was the contract negotiations between city officials and the Local 718, the union which represents Boston’s firefighters.

What inspired this walk down memory lane? A report from Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser that says that the department is actually doing pretty well in implementing the recommendations of a mayoral review panel.

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When we last left disabled bodybuilding firefighter Albert Arroyo, he had learned that the Boston Fire Department wouldn’t give him his job back. Since he seems not to have taken our advice to apply for a job in Newton, we wondered how the unemployed Arroyo would make ends meet.

Today we get our answer. Arroyo will reportedly be a “featured Man of Steel” at the International Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation’s Monster Mash in Marlborough on Nov. 1.

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Apparently, all the Boston Fire Department needed to do to end its disability-abuse crisis was to buy some treadmills and weights. Fire Commissioner Roderick Frasier has announced that every firehouse will receive exercise equipment, and that firefighters’ health insurance will cover more routine physical examinations.

“This is really a great step forward in dealing with a central issue in the fire department,” [National Fire Protection Association president James] Shannon said. “It’s something that the union indicated they were strongly supportive of, too.”

Now that the bad apples will have one less reason to say they’re disabled (they can now get into prime banana-hammock condition while on the job), taxpayers can expect to support fewer crooked jakes. Right? Right?

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We finally got a glimpse into the minds of two men who’ve dominated the headlines most of the summer. Alleged kidnapper Clark Rockefeller and bodybuilding firefighter Albert Arroyo both gave interviews this weekend.

But which was the most insightful, and which left us more curious than when we started? After the jump, we break it down.

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Firefighters, you’re making it really hard for us average citizens to support you.

Not that we don’t appreciate the danger of your chosen profession, but lots of jobs are risky. Alaskan crab fisherman, coal miner, pilot—they’re all dangerous careers. But we didn’t see three damning stories about them in the newspaper today.

That’s more than we can say for you.

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It seems that everyone has had a hard time comprehending the meaning of the word “disabled” lately. Since Boston Daily hopes to better the world, we’d like to play a little game we just invented. We call it Disabled, Not Disabled, and we hope it will foster a greater meaning of the word.

Disabled: Judge Ernest Murphy
Finally, the judge who wrote threatening letters to Herald owner Pat Purcell admits he’s not OK. In an order released today, Murphy admits his post-traumatic stress disorder has “totally disabled” him, and that will resign from the bench. Presumably, he’ll be spending more time in Saratoga Springs.

Not Disabled: Albert Arroyo
First he was. Now he isn’t. He looked fine sauntering into his hearing yesterday. We say get back to work.

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Dear Albert Arroyo,

Hello there, sir. Boston Daily here. As you know, we’ve been reading the nonstop coverage of your employment status. After you created news by appearing at a hearing yesterday, the Globe has now mentioned you in 19 columns or stories, and the Herald dropped your name in 11 recent stories.

It’s a spotlight even brighter than the one aimed at you during a bodybuilding competition, and we imagine you’re tempted to just throw up your hands and be done with the Boston Fire Department. But where else could you go?

We think you should look in to the Newton Fire Department. Under a new contract, that city’s firefighters aren’t required to submit a doctor’s note when they call out sick.

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Everybody loves a story about corruption, especially when the man at the center of the controversy comes clad in a thong. But since the Globe learned that Boston firefighter Albert Arroyo was competing in bodybuilding contests while collecting a tax-free disability pension, we feel like we’ve been reading a lot of damaging pieces about the embattled department.

So we decided to count the number of stories the paper of record has dedicated to the saga.

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