The Boston Licensing Board today ordered Lorenz Island Kuisine shut for a total of ten days - five for paying for a license renewal with what turned out to be a bad check and five for holding an after-hours party in a bid to raise money to pay for the renewal.

Although the punishment is unusually harsh for the board - gun-related incidents typically merit a two-day suspension - it did not impose its ultimate sanction: Pulling the license altogether.

At a hearing on Tuesday, restaurant owner Christopher Graham said he panicked after a police detective seized his license after his check bounced and agreed to take some bad advice to open the restaurant the night of Jan. 7 as a way of getting the more than $2,000 he needed to get his license back.

Both Graham and City Councilor Charles Yancey's office pleaded for mercy, saying a bad mistake should not ruin all of the hard work Graham and his family have put into both the restaurant and the Codman Square neighborhood.

The Globe reports (paid subscription required) on the firing of David C. Williams for putting a man in a prohibited choke hold during a North End traffic stop, then lying about it.

This is the second time Boston Police have fired Williams. The first time was after the beating of Michael Cox, an undercover cop whom other cops beat, allegedly because they thought he was a homicide suspect, in 1995. Williams won his job back on appeal; his lawyer says he plans to appeal the latest firing as well.

A visiting Aussie lass, however, reports that red Solo cups, of the sort routinely used by Northeastern students to get themselves into the campus newspaper, are a rarity down under:

Imagine my glee upon seeing them in action, in real life, being used as pawns in beer pong. It was pretty great – thank you for this, Northeastern.

I'm not going to lie, the cups were kind of the highlight; but Boston has provided me with a raft of other great (and delicious) experiences too. Bagels are pretty cool, and I like your exterior fire escapes.