Allston

The Boston Licensing Board last week ordered Tavern in the Square on Brighton Avenue to shut for a day for not calling police after a March 16 incident in which a man may or may not have had a beer bottle thrown at his face, along with anti-gay slurs.

One of the victim's companions and a bar manager differed as to whether physical violence accompanied a loud argument at the bar that night, of the sort that sent the victim to get nine stitches in his face. Board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer expressed her puzzlement over the fact that something had happened and yet nobody at the bar thought to call police.

Last month, the board ordered a similar penalty after bar workers failed to call police after a brawl in January that involved both punching and a chair being thrown.

The bar can appeal the punishment to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

A disgusted citizen reports his or her neighbors on Cambridge Terrace in Allston promised to clean up the rotting pile of potatoes they left on the ground outside when they moved out on Sunday, but they haven't been back and now the potatoes are sprouting, and you don't even want to know about the dried pet food.

Update: The pizza chain says you can't believe everything you read, even its own license application - says it just wants to add a guitarist, not dinner theater (scroll down the page at that link).

Regina Pizzeria goes before the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing on Monday seeking permission to add "a comedian and dinner theater" to its restaurant at 353 Cambridge St. in Allston.

Yes, of course, comedy at a restaurant in Boston is illegal without permission from city regulators. The restaurant's current entertainment license only allows for a CD player, a radio, TVs and a jukebox.

The hearing starts at 10 a.m. in the Albert L. O'Neil Hearing Room on the eighth floor of City Hall. Immediately after, the Hilton at 80 Broad St. will also seek permission to add comedy and cabaret performances.

A manager at Tavern in the Square in Allston had to explain to the Boston Licensing Board today why nobody at the Brighton Avenue bar called police after a patron had a beer bottle thrown at his head and another was tossed to the sidewalk outside and kicked by bouncers on March 16.

That's because none of it happened, manager Patrick Dylan told board members at a hearing today.

On Thursday, the board has to decide which story to believe and what, if anything to do about it.

The van in Union Square. Photo by Melina Schuler.

Update: The Globe reports the victim, 12, died.

A pedestrian was hit by a van shortly after 7 a.m. on Cambridge Street near the intersection with Brighton Avenue, right by the fire station. Scott Eisen reports the person was in "traumatic arrest," which is not a good sign.

Traffic quickly gridlocked as police closed streets to allow EMTs to care for the victim and so that they could investigate what happened.

Boston University yesterday sued Amazon.com, charging the LEDs used in its Kindle tablets violate a patent the university holds on making the lights.

BU, which has already sued several LED manufacturers, says the lights infringe on work by Theodore Moustakas, a BU professor of electrical engineering and computer science, on "growing" LED components out of gallium nitride.

The Boston Fire Department has released its findings on the fire that killed BU student Binland Lee on Sunday:

Stanley Staco reports three people barricaded themselves and some victims inside a residence at Arden and Hooker streets shortly before 4 a.m. A hostage negotiator secured the release of some victims not long after; the last of the suspects was taken away around 5:50 a.m. More to come, no doubt.

Easton Street fire. Photo by Courtney J. Burns.

A fire reported at 2:44 p.m. in the rear of 16 Easton St. in Allston went to two alarms, the Boston Fire Department says.

One firefighter was injured. The Red Cross was requested to help the residents find new places to stay tonight.

The cause is under investigation.

The Herald reports on the city investigation into the fatal fire at 87 Linden St., which city officials now say was being run as an illegal boarding house.

Boston Police report the homicide unit and the Boston Fire arson unit are now both investigating the Sunday-morning fire that left one BU student dead and sent 15 other people - including six firefighters - to the hospital.

The Herald reports Inspectional Services is investigating how 18 people - half of them BU students - came to be crammed into what is officially a two-family house at 87 Linden St. City Councilor and mayoral candidate Mike Ross also wants to know more about the house - he wrote a city ordinance that bars more than four students from living in a single unit.

Boston University today identified the student as Binland Lee, set to graduate in September.

Linden Street fire. Photo by BFD.

The Boston Fire Department reports a fire that broke out around 6:30 a.m. at 87 Linden St. killed one resident, injured nine more and sent six firefighters to the hospital. BU Today reports the dead person was a BU student.

The Boston Fire Department says the injured residents and firefighters are expected to live. The department reports one resident jumped out a window to escape the flames; three others were brought down on ladders.

WBZ reports three firefighters were injured falling from the second to the first floor.

The Daily Free Press reports two students were walking near the intersection of Ashford and Malvern streets around 2:40 a.m. on Saturday when an SUV pulled up, three men got out and held them up - with one of the robbers warning them to just do as he said because one of his accomplices was out of his mind on drugs. The robbers then fled with their loot - a driver's license and a purse full of makeup.

From Wellesley to Allston this morning, people reported seeing a plane write "Prom?" and a heart in the sky. Andrea Porto in Allston captured the skywriting from her window overlooking Corey Hill in Brookline.

After this week's events, seeing an amateur skywriter was a bit unnerving, but I was glad to see it was something happy!

Alex Jones took video of the skywriting.

The Boston Licensing Board yesterday ordered the Russian Benevolent Society to shut its Crystal restaurant in Allston for a day after its manager admitted letting customers buy whole bottles of vodka even after the board's chairwoman warned him not to.

Boston restaurants with full liquor licenses can offer bottle service but only after getting board permission, which Crystal didn't have. The restaurant was also letting customers take whole bottles back with them to their tables, which the board does not allow - it requires restaurants with permission to have a dedicated staffer at the table to pour the drinks.

At a hearing Tuesday, police detectives also found evidence the restaurant was offering homemade cranberry vodka - a violation of state liquor laws - and parking cars in a fire lane.

A Chinese immigrant from Flushing, NY, will spend five years in federal prison this week as a plea agreement for her role in a prostitution ring that used ads in Chinese-language newspapers to get women to work as prostitutes whose services advertised on Craigslist and in the Boston Phoenix's "Female Escort" section, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

WBUR reports the driver of the tour bus that hit an underpass in February, injuring 33, will be charged with negligent operation.

The Boston Licensing Board today refused to hear any testimony about an alleged underground music club in Allston, because it only hears cases involving alleged license infractions. Board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer told Boston Police detectives and Peter Gallagher - cited for allegedly running an unlicensed, beer-serving, admissions-charging music club - and Gallgher's lawyer that the whole thing is best sorted out in court.

The Russian Benevolent Society admitted today it let patrons buy entire bottles of vodka even after the chairwoman of the Boston Licensing Board called its manager and told him not to. The club's lawyer said bottle service is very important to Russian culture.

The board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take for the citations issued by Boston Police detectives on an inspection on Feb. 17 at the society's Crystal restaurant on Linden Street in Allston.

The Allston Tavern in the Square has changed its music late at night in an attempt to ward off "a different neighborhood crowd" that has been causing trouble, its lawyer told the Boston Licensing Board today.

Attorney Robert Allen made his comments during a hearing on one of four separate incidents between December and Feburary during which punches were thrown, people were taken to the hospital and shirts were ripped off.

The Boston Licensing Board holds a hearing tomorrow to figure out what to do about Uncle Crummy's, shut by police in January as part of a crackdown on unlicensed music venues in Allston and Brighton.

Peter Gallagher, listed as the operator of the place at 30 Penniman Rd., has to answer to charges he violated state law by running a night club out of a residence, selling beer and shirts, charging a cover charge and having a live band play, all without any licenses. He was cited after a police raid on Jan. 10, when Ramming Speed and Sexcrement were scheduled to play.

Board hearings start at 10 a.m. in its eighth-floor hearing room in City Hall.

Performance at Uncle Crummy's the week before it was shut:

The folks at Railroad.net report the Grand Junction bridge over the Charles River - which connects rail lines north and south of the city - has had to be shut again, only three months after it was re-opened following extensive repairs.

The bridge is used for produce shipments to the Chelsea market and lets Amtrak and MBCR ferry trains to repair facilities on either side of the Charles (South Boston for Amtrak, Somerville for MBCR). With the bridge shut again, trains have to go on a circuitous route via Worcester County.

A couple years ago, state officials bought the Grand Junction bridge and East Cambridge rail line in the hopes of routing some Worcester Line trains to North Station. They've since shelved those plans.

Four teens got into an argument with a Green Line operator around 4:45 p.m. at the BU West Station. The MBTA reports one of them threw a soda can at the driver. He missed, but T police nabbed him and now he faces a court appearance for assault with a dangerous weapon, an MBTA spokesman says.

The Daily Free Press reports the Boston Police licensing division has its eye on a long-running underground venue on Armington Street in Allston. This past Thursday, a detective from the licensing division contacted an organizer of the Butcher Shoppe at 24 Armington to let him know if he went through with plans for a basement concert the next night, he'd face a possible raid and fines for running an unlicensed concert in a space not meeting city code.

The detective found out about the concert by following online posts about the Butcher Shoppe, the Daily Free Press reports.

The the Butcher Shoppe had been hosting concerts since at least 2009.

From a 2011 show:

Blanchard's of Allston on Harvard Avenue has posted an apology and explanation for the way some customers wound up having their credit cards used for transactions halfway around the world.

Initially, reports from the experts were that there was no evidence of a data compromise in the Blanchard's systems. After receipt of still more recent complaints, Blanchard's continued with further investigation by another independent IT expert and malware in point of sale software was discovered on Friday.

Once the malware was discovered, the company immediately took down its primary credit card terminals. Blanchard's continues to investigate, but it believes that the issue was contained by Saturday and the malware neutralized and removed. At that time, the credit card terminals were brought back up.

Blanchard's continues to work closely with payment card brands and issuers to identify the accounts that may have been compromised, so issuers can employ enhanced fraud security measures immediately on potentially impacted accounts. In addition, the company is assisting federal and state law enforcement authorities with their investigation.