Today's the day when sixth graders across Boston take the ISEE, which will help determine whether they get an invitation to one of the city's three exam schools (it counts for 50% of the decision, with the rest based on their last fifth-grade marks and their first sixth-grade marks). Here, kids - and their parents - wait in line at the West Roxbury Education Complex for check in. They had to show both an acceptance letter for the test and a passport or birth certificate - nobody was going to pull a Curley today.

UBurger, which already sells fresh burgers and hand-cut fries to BU students from two location, plans to open a third outlet on Tremont Street at Temple Place.

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to grant UBurger a license to open between 11 a.m. and midnight seven days a week. At a brief hearing today, the board had no major questions; member Suzanne Ianella, who lives nearby, did ask how much a burger would cost (about $5, depending on toppings, a restaurant lawyer told her).

Meanwhile, out in West Roxbury, the Skara Grill on Centre Street wants to add cordials and liqueurs to its drink menu. The board will also vote on this request tomorrow. The West Roxbury Neighborhood Council and City Councilor John Tobin both say they're in favor.

Boston Police report three homes were broken into on Oct. 19 and a fourth on Oct. 14 - all during the day.

Homes on Woodley Avenue, DeSoto Road, Edgemere Road and Ridgecrest Terrace were all broken into, with jewelery and cash the targets. In one case, a witness reported seeing three suspects, roughly 17 to 20, black males, one wearing a back pack. In the Edgemere Road break-in, the thieves took a World War II Purple Heart medal.

Ed Coppinger reports:

It seems 3 days a week for the last month or so there has been a candidate for Mayor or Boston City Council shaking hands at one of the Parkway’s hot-spots. Now I can add Candidate for U.S. Senate to that list.

Coppinger posts a photo of Steve Pagliuca looking admiringly at young ward Matt O'Malley, who used to be a regular at Roche Bros. during his runs for city council.

Buried in a press release about "exciting new and expanded programs" for parents this fall in the Boston Public Schools is this nugget:

Mass. High Tech reports the city's won a $1.3-million federal stimulus grant to build a solar-powered fuel station for emergency vehicles and "solar-powered street lights, traffic lights, video cameras and message boards" along Washington Street (apparently, the one through Roxbury, JP, Roslindale and West Roxbury), because, when the Big One hits, we might not be able to rely on normal power supplies for such things.

More from the city.

Boston Police tweet a squirrel chewed through the insulation of a wire on a transformer in West Roxbury this morning, causing a short that led to an explosion that ended with the Wren Street area losing power.

Good news for shawarma fans! The King on Centre Street now has it - In chicken, beef and lamb, all in rollups or a dinner (which comes with a salad, fries, pita and tahini).

The credits have rolled for the Centre Street Blockbuster - although there's now a cheery note on the front door advising former customers to put their old movies through the slot if they don't want to hear from a collection agency.

In other Centre Street news, it's a bit of a shame the West Roxbury BPL branch couldn't have opened before cool weather after some recent renovations - because the first thing that hits you now when you enter is the smell of paint, and not in a good way.

Wicked Local West Roxbury reports a brewing controversy involving Roxbury Latin School, which wants to put up a temporary 200-foot-tall tower to see if conditions at one of the nation's oldest schools are suitable for a permanent wind turbine.

A similar proposal at Millennium Park died when the city Parks Department refused to give a West Roxbury resident permission to conduct wind studies there.