Brighton

Orange you glad you have a cellphone?

Wicked Good Allston/Brighton reports:

Cell phone shields woman from flying orange

Sounds like one annoying orange.

Oak Square community center to be dedicated today

The former Our Lady of the Presentation School, shut by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005, hosts a celebration of its rebirth as the Presentation School Foundation Community Center, with a dedication at 3:30 p.m. followed by a party until 8 p.m.

The center now offers health screenings, daycare and preschool programs and community meeting space.

The archdiocese shut the school toward the end of the school year in 2005, locking out students and teachers - and locking in some goldfish in at least one classroom. Protest marches led to 16 months of negotiation and, finally, an agreement to sell the building to a newly formed foundation, which spent eight years raising funds and rehabbing the building. The city kicked in $400,000 for the work; Mayor Menino will be on hand today, as well Brighton resident and Secretary of State Bill Galvin.

Babushka wins permission to sell Russian beer, kosher wine

The Boston Licensing Board today granted a license to the Babushka Deli, 62 Washington St., to sell beer and wine.

The deli, which only sells Russian foodstuffs, wanted to better serve the neighborhood's large Russian and Jewish population, many elderly, attorney Carolyn Conway told the board at a hearing yesterday. She said the proposal had received the blessings of local rabbis, the Russian Jewish Community Center and the Brighton Allston Improvement Association. The mayor's office and four city councilors, including district Councilor Mark Ciommo, also gave their nod.

Two-alarm fire in Brighton rousts residents

The Boston Fire Department reports a two-alarm fire at 737 Cambridge St. did an estimated $300,000 in damage but caused no injuries.

The fire, reported around 12:25 a.m., made nine residents homeless.

Body of missing BC student found in Chestnut Hill Reservoir

Updated 12 p.m.

Channel 4 reports officials have identified the body found floating in Chestnut Hill Reservoir this morning as Franco Garcia, a BC student last seen leaving a Cleveland Circle bar on Feb. 22.

State Police and Boston Fire crews started arriving at the Chestnut Hill Avenue side of the reservoir around 8 a.m., after a passerbuy noticed a body in the water.

Police investgate swastikas carved into cars in Brighton

Boston Police report three swastikas have been etched into cars parked along Chestnut Hill Avenue by Chiswick Road in recent days.

Although none of the cars' owners is Jewish, police are treating the incidents as anti-Semitism; the culprit could face civil-rights charges. The area has a high concentration of Jewish residents.

Regardless of one's ethnicity or religion, such incidents are an assault on the community as well as the diversity that is embraced by the City of Boston.

Brighton pharmacy held up at gunpoint

Boston Police are looking for a guy who walked into the Sutherland Pharmacy, 1690 Commonwealth Ave., around 11:30 and displayed a gun in his waistband as he demanded all the narcotics in the pharmacy safe.

He's described as white, 6'2" with a medium build, in his 30s and wearing a maroon hoodie, a maroon shirt, light blue jeans. During the robbery, he wore a black mask. He fled the pharmacy with the drugs in a white plastic bag.

New Balance project calls for 15-story hotel, track stadium, offices in Brighton

The Boston Business Journal details the company's filing with the BRA for its $235-million project.

Cavalcade of cafes continues at Brighton corner

Boston Restaurant Talk reports that Dash Cafe will soon replace Abby's Cafe, which replaced the Happy Owl Cafe, which took the place of Cafe 57 & Grille at the corner of Henshaw and Cambridge in Brighton, across from St. E's.

You think maybe they should stop using "Cafe" in the name?

By jove, it looks as good as the day it was carved!

On the Newton/Boston line

Inspecting Marker No. 19 at the Newton line in Brighton.

One of our oldest and least known laws is the requirement for municipal officials to "perambulate the bounds," or walk their borders once every five years to make sure nobody's moved the boundary markers.

The City of Boston Archives has posted a set of photos of Boston officials braving harsh conditions in 1896 (imagine: they had lots of snow back then) to make sure nobody dastardly in Newton or Hyde Park or any of the other places surrounding Boston had tried to expand their borders at the city's expense. Also included: Maps of where all the markers were (and probably still are).

Marker 19. Also note the Faneuil train station, which was destroyed to make way for the turnpike.Marker 19. Also note the Faneuil train station, which was destroyed to make way for the turnpike.