Everett

The owner of a school-van service was arraigned yesterday on charges he sexually assaulted a young girl in one of his vans on the way home from school on Tuesday.

Sergio Lara, 53, was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail at his arraignment in Chelsea District Court on charges of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child, Revere Police and the Suffolk County District Attorney's office said.

Lara owns Maya Transportation, which brings children to and from schools in Revere, Chelsea and East Boston. According to a statement from the DA's office:

One of his passengers, a five-year-old Everett girl, told her mother on Tuesday that Lara had sexually assaulted her on the way home from school. The girl’s parents took her to an area hospital the same evening and notified police. Lara was identified and arrested the next day.

The van in question. Photo from Suffolk County DA's office.

Innocent, etc.

Jarrod Cohen and AlertNewEngland report the fire erupted around 9 a.m. at 172 Main St.

An inspector for the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission was arraigned today on charges he offered to help a convicted felon get a liquor license in Everett - for a fee - the Middlesex County District Attorney's office reports.

Arthur Hitchman, 39, of Melrose, was arraigned in Malden District Court on charges of attempted extortion, bribery, and two counts of improper storage of a firearm. Wicked Local Melrose reports Hitchman is also a former Melrose alderman.

According to the DA's office, Hitchman heard the man was looking to open a restaurant under a female relative's name to get around the state law that prohibits convicted felons from obtaining liquor licenses and offered to help for $3,000 in cash. In May, an undercover state trooper gave the money to Hitchman - who then offered to help him get illegal video poker machines - the DA's office says. The DA's office adds the ABCC cooperated with the investigation.

Innocent, etc.

Coast Guard escorting an LNG tanker last summer.

Dan Hill, who lives near Boston Harbor and is running for state senate in a district that includes Chelsea and Everett, says the state should do everything it can to try to keep LNG tankers out of Boston Harbor - especially Yemeni ones - and phase out the Distrigas natural-gas terminal in Everett in favor of a new facility in Naragansett Bay:

Hill noted that for new LNG ports the Coast Guard requires "security zones" restricting movement within 1,000 yards on either side of an LNG tanker, a standard that could not possibly be met in Boston Harbor. "I find it disturbing that safety requirements for new facilities apparently do not need to be met for existing facilities."