Tire arsonist?: Police say he's getting ready to start a tire fire.

Boston Police have released a series of photos of a man they say may be responsible for using tires to set several Jamaica Plain homes and a business on fire in recent months - and that there is now a $5,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

Police say the photos were taken around 4:40 a.m. on Feb. 7 at 22 Sigourney St., shortly before flames erupted.

The man is also suspected for setting Maria's Hair Salon and Spa on fire around 4 a.m. on Jan. 6 and then setting 111 School St. on fire early on the morning of Jan. 28.

Information can be called into the city Arson Hotline at 617-343-3324. Anonymous tips to 1-800-494-TIPS or via texting 'TIP' to CRIME (27463).

Commissioner Ed Davis today announced plans to lay off 40 police cadets and 20 civilians, disband the department's mounted unit and take other steps to reduce his budget in advance of whatever Mayor Menino plans to announce for job cuts, possibly as early as Friday.

A Washington-Beech resident was arrested on charges of stabbing somebody on Washington Street and being a crack dealer on Feb. 25, Wicked Local Roslindale reports.

Tameka A. Evans was arrested after police responded to a stabbing at 4446 Washington St. (between Cornell and Wellsmere). The location is an easy walk from Haydn Street, where a 15-year-old allegedly tried to gun down another teen early Monday.

Meanwhile, the site also reports a man who'd just bought a six-pack from Murphy's Liquors, 4276 Washington St. up near Roslindale Square, was mugged at gunpoint by who took all his money, but not his beer, on Feb. 28.

Innocent, etc.

Thomas Garvey issues something of a sigh of relief that the New Rep's new artistic director, Kate Warner, actually plans to live in Boston:

... Both the A.R.T.'s and the Huntington's new A.D.'s have spent recent months readying shows to open on or off-Broadway (Becky Shaw and Hair, respectively).

Add to that the fact that the B.S.O. is also often administered from Lincoln Center - James Levine is here for less than half the season - and you get the impression that to many people on Boston's boards, we're still some sort of adjunct of the Big Apple. ...