Malden

Last month, the MBTA announced a contest in which anyone could design what could be the next MBTA map.

Transit Maps has not one, but two contest submissions posted for our viewing pleasure. While no submissions have been officially heralded by the MBTA at this time, it is clear that some very talented cartographers are partaking in the festivities.

The MBTA had previously announced a deadline of April 30, 2013, however no mention of the contest has been made since the original announcement of the contest.

Maybe they were right.

As I was riding by Oak Grove (on the commuter rail) on my way home earlier, I noted a change. One side of the platform is now closed off, complete with fake walls to block whatever's going on from view of the passengers.

Anybody have an idea as to what they are doing, and why they need to reduce the station capacity by fifty percent (both passengers and trains)to do it?

Malden Patch reports that after punching her Wednesday morning, a man kept yelling anti-Muslim slurs at her.

Federal officials yesterday charged David "Lazy" Minasian, 24, with sex trafficking of a child and sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion. His girlfriend, Madonna Say, 23, of Lynn, was also charged.

At the center of the case is a 15-year-old girl Minisian allegedly convinced to become a prostitute for him during a drug-fueled road trip to Florida.

Transit Police report arresting a Wakefield man on charges he repeatedly punched an MBTA bus driver in the face this morning at Oak Grove after the driver wouldn't let him board because his CharlieCard didn't have enough funds.

Police say the driver, 58, was letting passengers board his Route 131 bus at Oak Grove around 6:50 a.m. when Ryan O'Donnell, 19, stepped into the bus:

O'Donnell tapped his Charlie Card on the fare box which indicated insufficient funds to cover the fare. The bus operator explained this to O'Donnell who became belligerent and demanded to ride for free. The bus operator refused and after withstanding O'Donnell's verbal tirade requested he exit the bus. As O'Donnell was exiting the bus he turned and spat at the bus operator. Subsequent to that a struggle ensued where the victim/T employee was struck with a closed fist multiple times in the face causing injury and severe bleeding from his nose.

O'Donnell is now scheduled for arraignment in Malden District Court on a charge of assault and battery, police say.

Innocent, etc.

Join Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders at our annual Summer Party held outside in the heart of Provincetown, MA on Saturday, July 27 from 4:00-7:00PM. Enjoy the view of the harbor, mingle with other GLAD supporters and learn more about our ground-breaking cases.

Tickets are $75 online | $85 on site | $30 student
Purchase at www.glad.org/events.

Don't miss our amazing auction and celebrity auctioneer Kate Clinton. You don't have to be present to win. Travel packages, restaurants, massages, and much more - something for everyone!

Children are welcome to attend (at no charge) and will enjoy a range of fun activities.

Delicious summer fare and refreshing cocktails provided.

More information, tickets and sponsorships are available at www.glad.org/events.

MBTA Transit Police report an inbound Orange Line train hit a 22-year-old man on the tracks about a half mile north of Malden Center around 8:40 tonight. He was taken to Mass. General and is expected to survive what AlertNewEngland reports are leg injuries.

Police say Orange Line service has been replaced with buses while they investigate the incident.

MBTA Transit Police report arresting a Malden man on charges of indecent assault and battery for an incident involving a female Orange Line passenger on Sept. 13 somewhere between State Street and Malden Center.

Gerard Bottari, 61, was scheduled for arraignment today in Malden District Court, police say.

Innocent, etc.

A Malden woman who says she's been unable to return to work since eating a bacteria-laden sushi roll at a Cambridge restaurant in March has sued the raw-tuna distributor she says is to blame.

read more at bluemassgroup

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.

A federal grand jury yesterday indicted two Chinese nationals, one living in Malden, in a kidnapping plot to steal a Providence man's Porsche SUV.

The FBI charges the two did manage to kidnap the man and an acquaintance on April 2 as they brandished a knife and a stun gun. But things went downhill for them, the FBI says:

Boston Biker reports on the planned facilities at Braintree, Ashmont, Davis Square, Oak Grove and Malden Center - and that they will use a different and better rack design than the existing cages, based on input from actual bicyclists.

Common Cause Massachusetts is hosting a Redistricting Olympics this summer. We will be taking citizen drawn Congressional, State House, and State Senate maps all summer, evaluating them, declaring a winner, giving out prizes and submitting the winning maps to the MA Legislative Redistricting Committee for consideration.

The purpose of the redistricting Olympics is threefold: to educate the public about the steps in the redistricting process, to initiate public participation in the political arena, and to pressure the legislature to draw the districts so that the citizens are appropriately represented.

Help show the legislature that redistricting is about our interests, not theirs. By participating in our redistricting Olympics and learning how to draw your own fair districts, you can acquire the tools you need to expose attempts by public officials to politicize the state’s new legislative maps.

For more information check out and/or email us at .

Participate in our democracy!

Boston Restaurant Talk notes a new Sri Lankan restaurant in Malden and points us to info on Sri Lanka Day in Acton next month.

The Boston Haitian Reporter has the story.

That must be what that is, because surely the T isn't so short of cars on the Orange Line it would send one out with a cracked window held together with tape, would it? Dave Rodrigues took this photo this morning.

A very, very special place, where, among other things, the natives can't get enough of chicken, broccoli and ziti.

Via Boston Reddit.

The view out Greg Cook's window in Malden at 2 a.m. But for those getting just a bit tired of snow, Greg also posts photos from the Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show.

Oops!

The FBI reports agents today arrested Anthony M. Hamilton, 24, of Charlestown, on charges he held up a Malden Citizens Bank branch in December, then shot his way out of a locked vestibule.

The FBI says the vestibule was actually a "man-trap," designed to capture people like Hamilton.

Upon his exit, the bank employees activated the MAN-TRAP. Once captured within the vestibule, the robber pulled out a silver semi-automatic pistol and began firing at the doors. The robber was able to exit the vestibule and was seen exiting in an unknown direction.

The FBI says Hamilton was captured due to a tip sent into Mass. Most Wanted, a Web site rn by Massachusetts bankers to help ID wanted criminals.

If convicted, Hamilton faces up to 25 years in federal prison.

Innocent, etc.

The Orange Line was briefly knocked out of commission this morning when a truck ran into a bridge over Medford Street. An inspection around 10:30 found no major structural issues and service was to resume.

AlertNewEngland reports:

Malden, MA: Snowblower on fire at 47 Cliff St. Engine 1 responding.

Cops inspect shot-up door at Malden bank. Photo by Courtney Sacco

AlertNewEngland reports the Citizens Bank branch at 876 Main St. was robbed this afternoon, by a guy with a gun who blasted the front door when he had some trouble getting out. As police flooded the area, they noticed a guy running away, so they chased him down and, when they found a decent amount of cocaine on him, arrested him. AlertNewEngland says he wasn't involved in the bank robbery; he just got nervous when all the police showed up.

FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: The alleged bank robber is still at large. Here he is at the door:

Top photo copyright Courtney Sacco. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

UPDATE: Somerville man arrested.

MBTA Transit Police report two women riding the Orange Line between Malden and Sullivan Square around 11 p.m. on Nov. 19 were kicked and spit on by a man who also "made homophobic and racial slurs" toward them.

He fled the train at Sullivan Square in an unknown direction, police say. If found, he'll face charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

If he looks familiar, contact police at 617-222-1212 x 1052.