Brighton

Channel 5 reports on state Rep. Michael Moran's change of heart.

And that includes buses and ambulances, Nathan Spencer reports. He adds this is the second one in two years there.

The Boston Fire Department reports the Skating Club of Boston on Soldiers Field Road was evacuated this afternoon after a fire official noticed snow sliding off a flat roof there.

The snow was coming off a 30x100 building that houses the club's Zamboni machine, ice-making equipment and lockers, not the bowed Quonset hut that houses the skating rink, the department says, adding inspectors will look at the roof after the club removes snow from it.

Meanwhile, AlertNewEngland reports a garage at 374 Hyde Park Ave. came down mid-afternoon.

Over in Allston/Brighton, Marcie Laden is advertising responsible, carbon-neutral snow removal, in other words, her daughters with snow shovels.

Contrast that with Mayor Curley's 1948 letter to MIT (found by BostonTweet), asking for the Institute's help in coming up with a way to use flame throwers or chemicals to shrink snow accumulations.

Boston Gastronauts report on a goat-brain-eating frenzy at Darbar, a Pakistani restaurant on N. Beacon Street:

The dish itself is a mash of brains, goat meat, tomatoes, jalapenos, and other vegetables. It's not like you’re just staring down a whole goats brain and it's not being served straight from the animals skull a la Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom.

I normally don't run press releases verbatim, but there's really not much I could do to top this release from State Police about a Somerville cabbie arrested on a drunk-driving charge on Soldiers Field Road in Brighton this morning:

CABBIE CHARGED WITH DRUNK DRIVING IN MIDST OF STORM

In Belligerent Rant, Predicts Local Comedians Will Help Him

Massachusetts State Police this morning arrested a drunken Somerville cab driver - who was extremely belligerent and claimed two prominent local comedians would get him out of trouble - after finding him stuck in a snow bank, the taxi's engine running, on Soldiers Field Road in the height of the storm.

A concerned citizen alerts the city this morning about a situation on Foster Street in Brighton:

I watched [a guy] snowblowing snow from his sidewalk in front of 31 Foster St. into the street. I walked over and asked him if he knew it's illegal to blow snow into the street and he said he'd been here for 35 years and this is how we do things and that there's no place to put it. Well, he could blow it into his front yard, which is where I put *my* snow, in compliance with the law.

Last night, before the snow really kicked in, a concerned Charlestown resident reported from Lyndeboro Street:

Space savers out before snows. Resident made threatening comments when attempting to park.

But balance that with this photo of several guys in Southie helping out somebody in a stuck car (and you cynical types, cut it out, I can tell you're thinking they just wanted the space).

20 shoveling violations in a 0.4-mile stretch of Brighton Center, many of them on or abutting city-owned property.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6reSAg6U_Cc

I've emailed the mayor a link to the video. Think he'll do anything about it?

NSFW profane language

Dead. Sorry, no joke here.

This comes after D service was interrupted by a dead train at Fenway and C service by an equally non-viable train at Kenmore. No reports from the E yet, but it's early.

Boston Police report they are looking for the driver of a silver Jeep who hit a 6-year-old girl crossing Harvard Avenue and Cambridge Street with her parents this evening and then fled.

The girl was rushed to Children's Hospital with "life-altering" head injuries after the 8:20 p.m. incident, police say. Anybody who saw the collision or has information about the vehicle or driver should contact detectives at 617-343-4256 or the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

The Boston Fire Department reports a pet owner's stroll along the Charles River in Brighton almost ended in tragedy when the ice his black Labrador was walking on broke away from shore and floated out into the river around 8 p.m.

Firefighters from Engine 29, Ladder 11 and Rescue 1 responded to a 911 call from near Community Rowing. A firefighter from Ladder 11 got into a survival suit, tethered himself to a safety rope and managed to get to the dog, by then about 45 feet from shore, and then bring the pet safely back, the department says.

The dog was put into a cruiser for heat and reunited with its owner.

A man already facing charges he attacked a father and son in an August home invasion was arraigned this morning on charges he repeatedly raped two women in a Brighton apartment in 2008.

Marcos Colono, 33, was charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and single counts of home invasion and burglary while armed for the Sept. 21, 2008 incident, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

The DA's office charges that Colono, buzzed in by two roommates who mistakenly thought he was a third roommate, burst into their apartment with a knife, raped them and tied them up. According to the DA's office, the break in the case came with the August housebreak in Cambridge, when DNA from that scene matched DNA from the rape case.

Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Connie Wong set bail at $1 million cash, the DA's office says.

Innocent, etc.

As Spearmintkitten, who snapped the Chickenmanmobile near BC on Friday, puts it: "WTF."

He is apparently different from this Chickenman (the one we're supposed to remember) and this one and this one and, of course, the Chicken Man of Codman Square (who doesn't even look like a chicken).

Whoever, or whatever he is, though, he gets around. In fact, read to the bottom of that link to see how he may be "a daily Mass-going Catholic" who enjoys a dip in the pool at BC.

Photo copyright Spearmintkitten. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

Did you resolve to “do more good” in the world? Join Socializing for Justice and make your New Year’s resolution count this year!

Meet like-minded progressives at Connecting for Justice on January 27 from 6-9PM at Lir Irish Pub and get connected to great social justice organizations in Boston. Have you been lurking on SoJust? It’s time to meet the friendly faces of the group that’s grown to almost 1600 members, hosted 85+ events and fostered hundreds of connections since our founding 4 years ago.

Join us if you are ready to go BEYOND ALLIES and build a CROSS-ISSUE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT.

RSVP at www.sojust.org (our main website) and view Member Profiles, Message Board and Calendar of Progressive Events. Newcomers always welcomed!

Cost: $2-$10 collected at the door

This is not a meeting - it's a fun networking social!
No Program. No Speaker. Just Us. For Justice.

The Brighton Allston Improvement Association tonight considers several possible projects in Brighton, including a proposed Naked Pizza at Washington and Foster (name presumably refers to the pizza, not its servers) and an Abbots Frozen Custard across from St. E's at 260 Washington St. Also, the 7-Eleven in Oak Square wants to start selling beer and wine.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Elks Lodge, 326 Washington St..

The Boston Fire Department reports a sulfuric-acid spill at the Boston College science building left one professor with "very minor burns" around 6:20 p.m.

The department's hazmat team responded to the spill at 2609 Beacon St. to evaluate and clean up the spill, of about a quart of the H₂SO₄.

In May, firefighters evacuated two BC buildings and a few nearby houses as a precaution during a possible chlorine spill.

Wicked Local Allston/Brighton reports somebody stole a few dozen Celtics tickets from WEEI's Brighton studios.

MBTA Transit Police report arresting a Brighton man on charges he ended a fight that began on a Green Line trolley late Friday night by smashing his opponent in the face with a bottle of tequila.

According to a police report, Espinoza, 28, got into a punching match on an outbound B trolley around 11:30 p.m. that seemed to end when his opponent opened up a gash above Espinoza's left eye (which police say took five stitches to close).

But then the two got off the train at Warren Street, where, police say, Espinoza whipped out a 1.75-liter bottle of tequila and applied it directly to the other guy's face, opening up his lip (police say that guy needed three or four stitches).

When police arrived, they transported both guys to St. Elizabeth's, where they charged Espinoza with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a bottle). Police took the tequila as evidence.

Innocent, etc.

The Boston Public Library's Brighton branch is scheduled to re-open on Dec. 11, almost two years after a $5-million renovation began.

The BPL says the new library features new windows and furniture, "a new teen space with café-style seating facing the landscaped yard on Academy Hill Road," a new community room and 20 new computers. The building is now also handicap accessible and has a variety of energy-saving features.

There will be a formal dedication at 11 a.m. on Dec. 11.

The MBTA says it will start running experimental three-car service on the BC line during morning and evening rush hours. As on the Riverside line, the T will run two of the longer trains in the morning rush and two in the evening.

"The performance of the three-car trains will be closely monitored as we consider the possibility of increasing capacity on other trains," T General Manager Rich Davey said.

They'll be setting up loudspeakers so people outside can hear what BPL President Amy Ryan has to say at a meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the still officially doomed Faneuil branch. Last night, Ryan told supporters of the Dorchester Lower Mills branch, also slated for a spring shutdown, that library officials would consider keeping branches open if money can be found.

Ross, who represents Mission Hill, and Mark Ciommo, who represents Allston and Brighton, want a City Council hearing to discuss how an estimated 60,000 students living off campus are driving up rents for permanent Boston residents. NorthEndWaterfront.com posts a copy of their hearing request - which warns that if current trends continue, another 45,000 students will be sucking apartments out of the pipeline by 2018.

The hearing could be the first attended by "city councilor for Northeastern" John Tobin.

Earlier:

• Mission Hill residents, city councilor fed up with Northeastern.
• Michael Ross vs. students, Ver 2.0.
• Remember the Four Students and You're Out ordinance?

But what if the neighborhoods say no? Tough. BPL officials hold "working sessions" on how to replace the some of the services now provided by the doomed branches tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Dorchester Lower Mills branch and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Faneuil branch in Oak Square.

Sessions are planned for next month at Orient Heights and Washington Village (South Boston).

More.

A Japanese restaurant proposed for 529 Washington St. goes before the Boston Licensing Board on Oct. 20.

The license proposal for 350-square-foot Hoshi Japanese Restaurant calls for hours of 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week.