City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson (Roxbury) was arrested this morning on federal charges that she hired a relative and demanded kickbacks from her - $7,000 in cash handed over in a City Hall women's room.

Fernandes Anderson, first elected in 2021, was arrested this morning, US District Court records show. Somebody tipped off WCVB, which got a camera crew to her house in time to video FBI agents arrest her.

Fernandes Anderson faces five counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.

The staff member whose job has gotten Fernandes Anderson in trouble was not a member of her immediate family, according to the indictment against her, so that person's hiring did not conflict with state ethics laws, unlike her sister and son, whose hiring led to a $5,000 fine by the state Ethics Commission.

. However, the indictment continued, when Fernandes Anderson hired the third relative in November, 2022, at a salary of $65,000, she immediately hid that the new hire was related to her.

The indictment continues that Fernandes Anderson ran into personal financial difficulties starting in early 2023, including missed rent and car payments, bank overdrafts and the $5,000 state ethics fine, she hatched a plan to give the relative "extra pay in the form of a large bonus," part of which the employee would then have to give to Fernandes Anderson.

To cover up the scheme - since staff bonus information was public information - Fernandes Anderson told all her staff workers they would be getting bonuses - but that the relative, dubbed "Staff Member A" by the indictment, would be getting a larger bonus for alleged prior volunteer work.

On May 3, the indictment states, the councilor sent e-mail to a City Hall employee to process a $13,000 bonus payment to Staff Member A - more than twice as much as the entire total of bonuses for the rest of her staff.

The bonus was included in a May 26 salary check, which the employee deposited in their account at Santander bank. At Fernandes Anderson's direction, the indictment states, the relative then made three withdrawals, over a ten-day period, totaling $10,000.

At 4:11 p.m. on June 9, the indictment states, the councilor sent Staff Member A a one-word text: "Bathroom." Staff Member A replied: "Ready."

Shortly following these texts, Staff Member A handed Fernandes Anderson approximately $7,000 in cash at a bathroom in City Hall.

The five wire-fraud abetting counts relate to the five specific alleged acts Staff Member A took - starting with depositing the check with the bonus, the three withdrawals and then the hand of cash. The federal-funds charge relates to the fact that the city of Boston receives more than $10,000 a year in federal funds.

Innocent, etc.

Complete indictment (11.6M PDF).

Boston Restaurant Talk reports Moldova Restaurant in Nonantum is closing for good on Dec. 29.

Review from shortly after it opened.

Several alleged members of a Boston-area drug ring face court appearances today after their arrests on a charge of conspiracy to sell fentanyl and cocaine - in an operation with growing pains that included the high costs of constantly driving or Ubering between Boston and Providence and employees coming down with work-related ailments, from asthma and neck problems to nausea and drug overdoses, according to documents unsealed in federal court today.

A total of 26 people - including several relatives and "paramours" - face charges in US District Court for their alleged involvement in the ring, although documents redact the names of six people who remain at large.

The feds had been watching ring members - and making undercover buys from them - since March, 2022, an affidavit by an Arlington police officer working with the DEA states.

Yulial "Sonny" Cuello-Reynoso of Leominster was the leader of the ring - and the controller of the separate phones used to both receive orders and dispatch runners with drugs to customers, including in West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, according to the affidavit, which adds the ring had at least three "stash houses" for their drugs, one in Providence and two in apartments on Fairland Street in Roxbury and Msgr Lydon Way in Dorchester.

When Cuello-Reynoso got locked up in 2022, his "paramour," Yordania "Mommy" Abel Rivera, temporarily took over, the affidavit states, adding she sold drugs to an undercover investigator on three separate occasions. But it wasn't easy on her: She complained to Sonny that her asthma was acting up from handling all the drugs - and she had problems because Cuella-Reynoso refused to give her or another ring member the passcode to the telephone used to communicate with the drivers who were supposed to be delivering drugs to customers.

Cuello-Reynoso was able to get things under control again after he was released on the state charges in December, 2022. However, the affidavit states, when he blew past the stop sign at American Legion Highway and Morton Street - right in front of the Boston Police VFW post - Boston Police officers on patrol stopped him, discovered he had a suspended license and then noticed salable amounts of crack "in plain view" in his car, which meant another trip to a lockup.

The affidavit describes an organization that gave out free samples to hook potential customer and was willing to bargain on prices and delivery locations, at least with larger buyers, such as a man on the Cape who didn't want to make the long trek to Brockton, Boston or Providence to get his drugs.

Like any other hard-charging enterprise, Cuello-Reynoso's operation faced constant struggles with costs.

At one point this past May, ring member Yeison Vizcaino Vizcaino was complaining to another alleged ring member, and his own "paramour," Elisbania Tejeda-Soto, about the money he was spending hauling drugs between Boston and Providence:

VIZCAINO then complained about "driving so much and spending so much in gas." TEJEDA-SOTO pointed out that an Uber would cost "100 bucks per day or more." VIZCAINO then suggested, "Yes, but let’s coordinate better and avoid to go back and forth."

The affidavit recounts that when state troopers stopped an Uber Vizcaino was using to transport drugs from Providence to Boston, he called Tejeda-Soto, who advised him to say the drugs weren't his.

TEJEDA-SOTO told VIZCAINO she loved him and to trust in God.

In addition to Abel Rivera's asthma, other ring members were captured on wiretaps and surveillance audio complaining about workplace ailments.

On Nov. 9, 2023, agents listened in as Vizcaino complained about his neck, in a call with Rubert "Soga" Adrian Jiminez:

During the call, VIZCAINO stated that his neck was hurting. JIMENEZ asked, "How long do you work?" VIZCAINO replied, "It depends. I make a lot to last for a couple of days." VIZCAINO explained that the process of doing so caused his neck to hurt because it involved "bagging and cutting." JIMENEZ said, "That's stressful," and VIZCAINO said, "I have to keep looking down while doing that, so that is also why my neck hurts." VIZCAINO explained, "I make a total of 300 grams of the green stuff in 0.5 lines at a time, so two green ones are equal to 1 gram. I have to make 300 grams five lines at a time. Then I have to paint it, double bag it, continue to cut it, bag it, and so on." JIMENEZ said, "That is a lot of work. You also have to be careful with the bags, in case we have to swallow a ball." VIZCAINO acknowledged and said, "I have to be very careful and make sure that each ball is super tight and that the bag is properly wrapped because no one knows which ball will end up being swallowed." JIMENEZ said, "You can easily miss something since you have so many things to take care of." VIZCAINO agreed, saying, "I try to be careful, but I am only human." Later in the call, which lasted over thirty minutes, VIZCAINO stated, "Those people are such rats. Think about the stuff those people consume on a daily basis. It's tough. I have been feeling nauseous for days because of the smell of that stuff in there. I get dizzy a lot while preparing that stuff. Think about the effect on the bodies of the people who take that every day." JIMENEZ agreed.

As at numerous other points in the affidavit, the author then translated the drugspeak into English, including that "the green stuff" is crack, packed in five-gram packages.

On June 21, 2023, during a Boston traffic stop, alleged drug runner Johangel Mejia Hernandez asked police to call an ambulance after telling officers "he had swallowed bags of drugs and felt ill." At another traffic stop, in Norwood, by state troopers, he also needed an ambulance ride because he'd swallowed drugs:

[H]e passed four baggies believed (based on their markings) to contain fentanyl and powder and crack cocaine.

On Jan. 30, 2023, alleged drug runner Francisco Tavarez Contreras called 911 from a Mobil station in Norwood to report a medical emergency.

Upon arrival, police observed a female, who TAVAREZ CONTRERAS stated was his girlfriend, who appeared to be suffering from a fentanyl overdose. Police recovered a baggie of suspected fentanyl (marked with red) from the female's purse. TAVAREZ CONTRERAS made inconsistent statements to police, and police ultimately observed a large bag containing multiple smaller bags of suspected narcotics hanging out of TAVAREZ CONTRERAS's jacket pocket. The smaller bags were color-coded (red, blue, and green) and were of different sizes. Officers also seized $1,556 from TAVAREZ CONTRERAS. Altogether, officers seized approximately 48 grams of suspected fentanyl and cocaine.

Innocent, etc..

The South Boston state senator once again used a parliamentary procedure to keep the state Senate from voting on a measure that would let Boston temporarily increase the property-tax rate on commercial property higher than otherwise allowed, which, if he doesn't change his minds, means the City Council will have to set tax rates on Wednesday that will mean tax hikes of between 10% and 14% for residential property owners, the State House News Service reports.

Said Ahmed filed paperwork with the state in October to run for the District 7 city council seat now held by Tania Fernandes Anderson, but only sent out a press release about it yesterday.

Hmm, what changed between then and now?

Ahmed is well known in the local Somali-American and track communities - he came here as a refugee when he was 12, graduated English High, became a national track competitor at the University of Arkansas and co-found Boston United Track and Cross Country, the only free track program in Boston.

His platform has similarities to Fernandes Anderson's: Fighting against displacement and for better schools and safer streets.

Meanwhile, UNITE HERE Local 26, which represents hotel workers in Boston, isn't waiting to see who might run against Michelle Wu next year, such as strongly pro-union Ed Flynn: This morning, the union announced it's endorsing Wu for re-election.

The Mayor was instrumental in helping to secure recent major victories for hotel workers, which included $10 wage increases and landmark job protections in historic contracts citywide.

As you might have heard, state Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston held up Wu's proposal for a three-year change to let the city raise commercial property-tax rates a bit higher than it could otherwise. It's no doubt completely coincidental that, as the Globe reports, "prominent members of the city’s commercial real estate and hospitality industries" suddenly decided over the past couple of months to donate $25,000 to Collins's campaign.

J.L. Bell introduces us to the cherubs of Old North Church - and alerts us to a talk next Wednesday by the conservator who is leading the effort to restore all those cute little cheeks you'll just want to pinch, only you shouldn't.

Grant Gould shows us the first snowball of the season, made fresh this morning in West Cambridge.

The City Council today voted unanimously to keep Boston's sanctuary-city status and remind city departments not to help any federal "civil immigration enforcement" efforts, including the incoming federal administration's announced plans to set up concentration camps for immigrants before they are booted out of the country.

The vote came on a resolution in support of the city's Trust Act, first passed in 2014 and amended in 2019.

Councilors emphasized the measure does not cover local participation with federal criminal investigations - such as those into human trafficking or weapons trafficking - but are instead a way to protect Boston's immigrant residents. If anything, councilors said, the Trust Act can help fight crime by ensuring all residents feel comfortable talking to police about criminal activity they might have witnessed or know about.

Boston "has long been a beacon of hope and opportunity for immigrants," Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, who proposed the resolution, said.

"Boston is a city of immigrants," Councilor Julia Mejia (at large) said. "Our city thrives because of the contributions of people from across the world. ... Boston will not stand for policies that divide families, that tear communities apart or perpetuate fear."

Councilor Gabrila Coletta Zapata (East Boston, North End, Charlestown), said the measure means immigrants "don't have to live in fear of being unjust scrutinized or even ripped away from their families." She praised Boston Police in general, and District A-7 (East Boston) and Capt. Dean Bickerton in particular, for their support of immigrant communities. She said Bickerton even attended "Know Your Rights" meetings in East Boston during the first Trump administration.

Councilor Benjamin Weber (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury), an attorney, said courts have determined that the obscure Tenth Amendment - which grants states any powers not elaborated in the Constitution - actually has an "anti-commandeering" doctrine that bars the federal government from forcing state or local agencies to do its bidding, such as helping in immigrant roundups.

Mayor Wu today announced the city's program for letting BPS students and their family members into local museums for free next month will be expanded to include all private, parochial and Metco students - and that additional museums have signed up.

The expanded and renamed Boston Family Days will give all elementary and secondary students in Boston, regardless of which school they go to, and two guests free access to nine local museums on the first two Sundays of every month for at least the next two years.

New to the program are the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the JFK Library and Museum and the Museum of African American History. They join the institutions that were already participating: Boston Children’s Museum, the Franklin Park Zoo, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium.

BPS students will be enrolled in the program automatically. Other students and their families will have to file an online application, to be available next month.

Money to support the expanded program comes from some of the same philanthropies that helped the city start its pilot program for BPS students.

Wu announced the expansion at the Museum of Science, where she said she's seen the "joy and wonder and excitement" on the faces of students she's seen at local institutions. She said some 44,000 BPS students and family members have already taken advantage of the program. She added that at the Children's Museum, nearly half the students were making their first ever visit to the museum.

City Councilor Erin Murphy (at large), who, along with Councilor Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) had pushed for the program to be open to all students from the start, said the expansion "reflects the hard work and dedication of those who believe in equity and inclusivity for every child in Boston."

In a statement, she expressed annoyance at what she said was the administration's continued effort to keep her out of any efforts to expand the program, including today's announcement, which she said she only learned about by looking at the mayor's daily public-appearance e-mail - and which she could not attend because it was scheduled just 15 minutes before the City Council's weekly meeting.

This lack of communication is especially concerning given that the administration declined to participate in the Council Hearing we scheduled in October, where we had hoped to receive an update on her plans to expand the pilot program. To date, I have not been briefed or officially notified by the administration about the specifics of this plan.

The Zoning Board of Appeal yesterday approved plans by the owners of Spukies N Pizza at 1159 Washington St. at Dorchester Avenue in Dorchester to replace their building and parking lot with a four-story, 14-unit condo building - with ground-floor space for them to resume making pizzas and subs once construction is finished.

Stavros and Theodora Retzos opened Spukies - named for a once common pointy-ended Boston sub roll - in 1997. Their proposal is meant to leave a legacy for their family, on a lot that is appropriately shaped like a slice of pizza, their attorney, Nicholas Zozula told the board.

The proposal calls for six residential parking spaces, a Washington Street curb cut of 12 feet, down from the current 22, and the planting of several street trees along both Washington Street and a private way that runs along one side of their property, he said.

He added that two of the units would be sold as affordable. The couple's architect, Derek Rubinoff, added that all 14 units would be handicap accessible.

The building would go next to an apartment building that would transform the site of the Metamorphosis convenience store.

The project required variances because the proposed building would not meet the lot's zoning for minimum number of parking spaces and "open space" for residents and was closer than allowed by zoning to a side boundary. Zozula said the project deserved variances because of the lot's unusual triangular shape and because of its slope.

The board approved the project unanimously, pending the signing of a formal agreement on the two affordable units and a design review by the Boston Planning Department.

View from another side:

Over the Monster takes the pulse of the Nation over the signing of reliever Aroldis Chapman.

MBTA workers have fixed whatever was wrong with the Red Line tracks just north of Savin Hill and so the "speed restrictions" number for the line is once again at 0.

Boston Police have put out an APB for Gerald Vick, who didn't show up in Suffolk Superior Court for his scheduled trial yesterday on charges that he shot eight people as part of a gun battle on Talbot Avenue in Dorchester on the morning of the annual Carnival celebration in August, 2023.

After Vick's indictment on Jan. 26 on a total of 14 charges - including eight counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a machine gun - Suffolk Superior Court Judge William Bloomer set bail at $6,000 and ordered Vick to home confinement, with a GPS device strapped to his ankle, court records show.

Vick had been making court appearances through last week - when his lawyer lost a bid to suppress evidence in the case - but yesterday he was a no-show for what would have been the beginning of his trial for the shootings and on the gun-possession charge - only there might not have been a trial because Suffolk Count prosecutors and his lawyer had come to a plea deal, court records show.

With no defendant in the courtroom, Judge Mark Hallal rescinded Vick's bail and issued an arrest warrant for him.

Court records show that probation-department records show an alert came in at 1:04 a.m. - eight hours before the start of jury selection.

Police say Vick is Black, about 5'6" and roughly 155 lbs. He has multiple tattoos - and connections to the Taunton area.

Anybody who sees him should call 911 immediately, police say, adding anybody with information about his whereabouts can call detectives at 617-343-4712 or contact the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or by texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

Boston was hoping to send out property-tax bills this month with a bit of a break for homeowners. Only problem: state Sen. Nick Collins, who represents South Boston and Dorchester, managed to get any discussion of a bill to let the city temporarily set a higher rate on commercial property until at least Thursday.

At least five councilors - Ed Flynn, Erin Murphy, John FitzGerald, Liz Breadon and Julia Mejia - are signalling they are ready to give up and start assigning blame, through a request on tomorrow's agenda that a Council committee start an audit of how City Hall screwed up with "the failed property-tax reclassification home rule petition," an event they say the Wu administration failed to prepare for. They say they also want answers on what the administration will do now.

The council is also slated to vote tomorrow on a measure to re-apply a 35% break on whatever residential tax rate the city sets, for people who live in their own homes, for which the city does not need state approval.

Collins held up any Senate action on the proposal yesterday because he has suddenly become deeply concerned about Boston municipal finances, in a way he didn't seem to be during the several months that Boston city officials and local business groups were hashing out a deal on the issue. Maybe he was too busy fuming about people from East Boston daring to open bars in Andrew Square.

The reason it matters: State law lets cities set different tax rates for residential and commercial properties - up to a particular limit. The city has proposed a three-year plan that would let it set commercial rates a bit higher than it normally could because otherwise, homeowners will have to make up an anticipated drop in tax revenue from downtown office towers as they get lower assessments because their worth has dropped due to people continuing to work at home even as the pandemic has waned.

Under the proposal, the city would be allowed to set a commercial tax rate at 181.5% of the residential tax rate next year starting with bills going out this month, compared to the normal 175%. The rate would then decrease back to 175% over the following two years - with $15 million set aside in each three years to help small businesses, with less than 50 employees and $5 million in revenue, along with an increase in their exemptions for "personal property" - such as tables and chairs.

City officials say the decrease in downtown property values has been steep enough that owners of office towers could still see decreases in their tax bills, just not as much as they will if Collins succeeds in killing the bill. At the same time, the measure would mean the city's residential property owners could still see increases in their taxes, but not as much as if Collins gets his way.

When the City Council formally approved the request to the legislature for the change last month, only Collins's fellow South Boston resident, Ed Flynn, voted against it.

At the time, Flynn also raised concerns about municipal finances, saying city officials knew the collapse of downtown property values was happening months ago and should have started cutting expenses back then - except for police, which he feels should get more money to hire more officers.

Also tomorrow, the council will consider a request for a hearing on how to diversify city revenue, which has become increasingly reliant on property taxes over the past two decades. However, any proposals would not come in time to ease tax bills going out this month.

Arx Urban is on track to begin work this spring on a mostly affordable 31-unit apartment building at Washington and Basile streets in Roslindale Square, Benjamin Moll, one of the company's principals, says.

The Zoning Board of Appeal approved the building last year, with plans that call for at least 19 of the units to be rented to people making no more than 70% of the Boston area median income - which works out to 61% of the total units, compared to the 13% of units required then.

Arx Urban had offered space in the new building to the four businesses in the building it will replace The Rozzie Square Theater and Delicious Yogurt plan return to the building, with below-market rents, while Dragon Chef and Bob's Pita would get subsidies to move to new locations elsewhere. Arx Urban says it will work with the theater and yogurt place to find and help pay for alternate spaces during roughly 18 months of construction.

The Boston Licensing Board recently granted a new restaurant a food-serving license for the space recently vacated by Dragon Chef. Roslindale Market Kitchen says it will offer healthy snacks and simple take-out - and cooking classes - focusing on local ingredients and suppliers.

"This is a temporary space where Roslindale Market Kitchen can experiment with recipes and build their team as we look for a permanent home," Moll said, adding he's hoping it can move into ground-floor space in the new apartment building.