East Boston

While big-box stores postponed their Black Friday openings until 1 a.m. due to the state's enduring Blue Laws, an educated consumer noted the Payless store on Meridian Street in East Boston was boldly saying screw that, the public demands shoes on Thanksgiving (the sign says "We're open on Thanksgiving").

With nothing else to do as he slowly inches to the front of a taxi line at Terminal B, Paul Levy analyses the taxi dispatching problem and comes up with a possible solution to the long lines caused, he said, not by demand, but by the way taxis are dispatched from the central cab parking area.

Dude faces arraignment in East Boston District Court this morning on charges he stole US and foreign currency from an Icelandair flight attendant - in midflight, over Greenland - then locked himself in a lavatory and flushed the greenbacks down the toilet, Channel 4 reports:

Ground crews at Logan Airport retrieved the missing cash from the flight's storage tanks.

Anulfo introduces us to East Boston's Shipyard Gallery:

I love that it is less than 10 minute walk from Maverick Station on the Blue Line. I also love that behind each one of the thirty works (mostly sculpture) on display is a pressing environmental issue facing our oceans. I also love that I get to learn about the sponsoring organization behind each piece and of the work they’re doing to protect our oceans.

City Councilor Matt O'Malley reports Urban Edge is seeking clothing donations for people burned out of their Roxbury homes by that botched suicide attempt.

Drop clothing off at 1481 Tremont St. on Mission Hill.

EastBoston.com reports a fundraiser on Oct. 21 at the East Boston Yacht Club will benefit the residents of 45 Chelsea St., who had to flee their homes as the building next door collapsed.

Brian D'Amico reports a man was stabbed in the arm at 212 Bremen St. around 2:40 p.m., and that Massport police promptly detained two men in connection with the attack. State Police are in charge of the investigation because the stabbing happened at the Bremen Street Park, which is owned by Massport, whose lands troopers patrol.

Remains of collapsed building at top of photo.

A coughing citizen complains about the aftermath of the building collapse on Chelsea Street in East Boston:

There are so many trucks and vehicles idling outside that the air is thick with exhaust. I have to keep all my windows closed. My nephew vomited after playing outside. I talked to the police about it but nothing was done. This is a health hazard.

Cambridge, Mass. — Tickets are on sale now for George V. Higgins’ The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Stickball Productions’ world premiere stage adaptation of the quintessential Boston crime novel. The production runs Dec. 8–Jan. 15 at Oberon in Harvard Square, for tickets, visit www.thefriendsofeddiecoyle.com

It is the winter of ‘69 in Boston and Eddie Coyle is a bottom of the barrel hood attempting to stay alive and out of jail among his “friends” – cops, bartenders, radical hippies, bank robbers, hit men and informants. Weeks away from a prison sentence for trucking stolen booze, Eddie’s making a few bucks supplying the guns for a rash of brazen bank heists, while looking to tip someone in for a kind word to the judge.

George V. Higgins’ classic novel has been called the “best crime novel ever written” by Elmore Leonard, and literary scholars have compared his unforgiving and realistic depiction of Boston’s underworld with the works of Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Balzac. Through dialogue quintessentially Bostonian, and the most poignant homage to Bobby Orr and the ’69-’70 Boston Bruins in literature, The Friends of Eddie Coyle has set the bar for Boston crime stories for nearly 40 years.

Red Sox memorial building. Photo by BFD.

Updated Saturday morning.

A crumbling building on Chelsea Street collapsed completely late Friday night, sending pieces of itself flying across the street.

Police ordered Chelsea Street closed late Friday after 47 Chelsea St. finally gave way. The neighboring 45 Chelsea "has some issues" as well, the Boston Fire Department reports:

On October 11th, we evacuated 45 Chelsea St. because we thought 47 was unstable and in danger of collapse. Collapse it did sending brick and concrete flying across Chelsea St. in East Boston. There were no injuries.

The view from the rear.

An East Boston woman living with her ex-boyfriend was arraigned yesterday on charges she set his Coleridge Street apartment on fire, causing $300,000 in damage, displacing three people and sending four firefighters to the hospital.

The Boston Fire Department reports a woman seen fleeing the scene of a one-alarm fire on Coleridge Street last night was arrested not long after and charged with setting the blaze.

The fire broke out on the second floor of 165 Coleridge St. Three firefighters were treated at local hospitals for minor injuries, the department says, adding the fire did an estimated $300,000 in damage.

UPDATE: Arrest made.

Firefighters are at 165 Coleridge St. in East Boston tonight, battling a fire that broke out on the second floor. Police were looking for a person who might have been fleeing the scene.

Accounts from Boston Police and a bouncer at an East Boston bar agree on only one point: Two guys threatened the bouncer with a gun after they were denied entrance one July night.

But which version of the truth the Boston Licensing Board accepts could determine whether Medallo, a Colombian bar on Chelsea Street. has to suffer any punishment, such as a warning or license suspension.

Kevin Bacon, yes, that Kevin Bacon, took a cool sunset photo from East Boston tonight.

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz wants to extend a referendum provision of the proposed state gambling bill from the area immediately around a casino to an entire municipality. The Dorchester Reporter explains why everybody in Boston should have a say in whether Suffolk Downs becomes a casino.

Boston Police report a woman was found "suffering from significant trauma and unresponsive" around 7 a.m. at 228 Webster St. in East Boston.

The woman, in her 20s, was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Both homicide and sexual-assault detectives are investigating, although police said they do not yet know if she was sexually attacked.

Anyone with information should call homicide detectives at 617-343-4470 or contact the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

Shoe cocaine. Photo from Suffolk County DA's office.

A man getting off a plane at Logan Airport from the Dominican Republic was arrested yesterday after State Police found 2.2 kilograms of cocaine inside shoes in his checked luggage, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Could the BRA's sudden kissie-kissie with evil Hole overlord Vornado have anything to do with Vornado's part ownership of the group that wants to build a casino at Suffolk Downs - the one the mayor is betting on? Jason Schwartz assumes 2+2=4.

Boston Police report arresting an East Boston couple on charges they were running an illegal after-hours liquor store out of their house.

Luz Lozada, 57, and Jorge Lozada, 53, were charged with the illegal sale, delivery or furnishing of alcohol and being keepers of a disorderly home at 13 Marion St. around 1 a.m. after, police say, a plainclothes officer bought $30 worth of Coronas and Bud Lights.

The Herald reports the mayor continues to back plans for a resort casino at Suffolk Downs, but that he'll have to fight off Milford, which is also expected to put in a bid for a gambling emporium.

Ed. question: The Herald actually says the racetrack's owners want to build a "resort-style casino." How is that different from a plain old "resort casino?"

House overwhelmingly passes casino bill.

The MBTA just reported:

Blue Line. Expect significant delays due to a wire problem. Seek alternative transportation where possible.

The Blue Line sure seems to have a lot of wire problems.

Joel Barciauskas photographed Blue Line passengers being evacuated at Orient Heights late this afternoon. The T blames "wire problems."

LoJack reports MBTA Transit Police used the human version of its tracking system to find an East Boston teen with a predilection for wandering away from home and school to ride the rails underneath Boston.

The company says yesterday's safe return marks the first successful use of its SafetyNet Service since it was introduced in Boston in January:

Approximately 20 minutes after arriving at North Station [where he left his father], officers with the MBTA Transit Police began picking up a signal emitting from the missing boy's SafetyNet Bracelet. The signal was coming from Downtown Crossing and was strongest underground. Officers went underground into the subway, boarded a train and were able to locate the boy, who was heading southbound.

The teen is well known to local police, who had always managed to find him safe, although sometimes after extensive searches that included requesting help from the public.

At least three people were displaced this evening by a two-alarm fire at 5 Shelby St., the Boston Fire Department reports.

Damage was estimated at $250,000; the cause is under investigation.