Fenway

No more trouble in River City: Fenway club's pool tables now legal

The Boston Licensing Board today approved two pool tables at Church of Boston on Kilmarnock Street.

Church ran two coin-operated pool tables for some 4 1/2 years until it learned - via a citation from Boston Police - that it needed a license for them. Hauled before the licensing board last year, Church officials apologized and said they'd immediately shut down the tables.

At a hearing yesterday on its formal license request for the two tables, a bar lawyer emphasized a club worker would have a clear view of the tables to quickly dampen any trouble.

Truck Day is this Saturday

So there's that.

Police make show of force before halftime at Northeastern

BPD command post

BPD command post tonight. Photo by BPD.

At 7:14, Max Voelker tweeted:

BPD Motorcycle Police as well as NUPD patrolling campus already.

At 7:50 p.m., Brian D'Amico tweeted:

7 K9s outside my building, numerous SWAT teams, another spec ops cycle unit down the road. And that's just around campus.

S. Ryder shows all the police forces represented at Northeastern:

At least 2,000 people will miss the Super Bowl tonight

It's all hands on deck tonight at Boston Police: Every single one of the department's 2,000 officers has been ordered to duty tonight. Don't worry - the department will staff its regular shifts in the neighborhoods, so there'll be no mayhem in Mattapan, no rioting in Roslindale and no beatdowns in Brighton, at least no more so than usual.

Meanwhile, the previously announced lock down of the North Station and Kenmore Square areas is being supplemented by parking bans in certain other beer/student heavy locations, including Harvard and Brighton avenues in Allston, the area around Northeastern and the streets bordering Faneuil Hall.

Police to lock down North Station, Fenway Park areas at halftime

Boston Police say anybody not ensconced in a bar in those areas by the time Madonna starts to sing on Sunday will be turned away from the area. And people who are in a bar who leave after she starts belting it out will be escorted out of the area.

In its listing of Important Super Bowl Safety Tips for Patriots Fans Looking to Behave Like Champions, police say that in addition to massive presence around North Station and Kenmore Square, they will also "employ extensive use of video-cameras" to capture evidence of hooliganism.

The document warns that five or more people "tumultuously assembled" on the street can be ordered to disperse immediately.

Backhoe takes out electricity to parts of Fenway, Back Bay, Kenmore Square

Firefighters, police and NStar workers are on scene on Massachusetts Avenue by the Berklee construction site, where a backhoe took out some underground power conduits around 9 a.m., causing a power outage that extends to Northeastern and Bay State Road. The backhoe operator was apparently injured, but not critically.

Roving UHub reporter Chelsea reports:

Saw flashes then puff of smoke at mass ave and belvedere

Northeastern students warned to stay indoors Sunday night or face arrest

UPDATE: Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis says memo is misleading; people can't be arrested just for being outside; a Northeastern official agrees. More in the comments.

Residents of at least a couple of Northeastern dorms got a warning tonight from college Residential Life: Don't even think about going outside during or after the Super Bowl:

Because calling them roofie parties would be too crass

Not everybody at Northeastern will attend Barstool Sports' Blackout Party for Northeastern at the House of Blues on Thursday.

A group called Knock Out Barstool plans a protest march outside the House of Blues at 7:30 that night:

An alternate plan to reshape city-council districts

The Dorchester Reporter reports several voting-rights groups have drawn up a proposed redistricting plan that would see Mike Ross having to run against Tito Jackson - if he doesn't move to Newton to run for Congress - and create an incumbent-less district covering the Chinatown, the South End, and the Fenway:

This reconfigured District 8 would become an incumbent-free, racially-mixed district with common interests and anchored by a growing Asian-American population, creating significant opportunities for historically under-represented communities.

No injuries in two-alarm Fenway fire

The Boston Fire Department reports a fire called in shortly after 2 a.m. caused roughly $50,000 in damage to a five-story apartment building at 66 Westland Ave.

Damage from the fire, which remains under investigation, was confined to a basement apartment, which meant residents in other units were allowed back in around 4 a.m., the department says.