The executive director of a Jamaica Plain non-profit that ran more than a dozen homeless shelters in Boston and Lawrence was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to do 250 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to three counts of larceny over $1,200, two counts of making false entries in corporate books and four counts of perjury, the state Attorney General's office reports. Read more.
Mary Ellen spotted this great blue heron in the mists along the Charles River in West Roxbury yesterday.
Photo by Elliott McNamee.
Developer Gary Martell had his crew tear down the former People's Federal Savings Bank on Centre and Park streets in West Roxbury this morning, in preparation for the 21-unit condo building he still needs BPDA approval to build. Read more.
A Dedham man indicted on drug-trafficking charges by a Suffolk County grand jury last fall was arrested on Corey Street in West Roxbury last month on new drug-trafficking charges. Read more.
Looking downstream from the canoe launch at Millennium Park this afternoon
All that rain at the beginning of the week means the Charles River has now reclaimed all new land that had sprung up along Millennium Park in West Roxbury after months of dry weather.
Compare to the view from that spot on Aug. 26: Read more.
Mary Ellen discovered what might happen if Dumbo were reincarnated as a deer and showed up along the Charles River in West Roxbury.
This was the view down the Charles River at the Millennium Park kayak launch in West Roxbury today.
Here's roughly the same view yesterday, before the afternoon deluge - when you could still walk to the very middle of the riverbed without getting your feet wet - in part via a path made by all the people walking through land plants in what would normally be the river. Read more.
The other day along the Charles River in West Roxbury, Mary Ellen spotted a great blue heron and four black-crowned night herons seeming to pose for their first album cover.
A West Roxbury man had bail set at $25,000 at his arraignment today on gun and drug charges for the five illegal guns, seven high-capacity magazines, bullets and "white powder" police found in his home after he showed up at the West Roxbury VA hospital Monday with a gunshot wound to his hand, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Read more.
In the dawn mist along the Charles River at Millennium Park this morning, Mary Ellen spotted a black crowned night heron, a couple of mallards and a great blue heron.
Friday, one day after a contractor demolished the old Keith House on Centre Street, ISD issued a stop-work order rescinding the permission it had granted Tuesday for the work.
Developer Gary Martell tore down the house, built in 1839, to make way for a 21-unit condo building he wants to build. He also plans to tear down the former People's Federal Savings Bank building next door, although he has yet to receive permission from the BPDA to actually put up the condos.
The Boston Public Health Commission reports that Turtle Pond in Stony Brook Reservation has high levels of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, that could kill any dogs that swim in the pond and ingest enough of the stuff, either by drinking the water or by licking themselves after a swim. Read more.
The remains of the house.
A contractor for local developer Gary Martell's CAD Builders this morning tore down the Greek-revival Keith House on Centre Street to make way for a 21-unit condo building - assuming the project is approved by the BPDA - just two days after ISD issue a demolition permit. Read more.
Chase shows how it will fill the ATM gap near Holy Name (note: Rockland ATM is now on other side of street).
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by Chase Bank to add a drive-up ATM to the new bank branch it's building where the BP gas station used to be on Centre Street at Belgrade Avenue. Read more.
A couple of Chinese mystery snail shells.
Walk out onto what used to be the middle of the Charles River at Millennium Park these days and you'll see not just sand and mud and land plants growing everywhere, but the shells of what our local wildlife photographer Mary Ellen says are Chinese mystery snails. Read more.
Boston firefighters are in the woods off West Boundary Road in West Roxbury for what is now a two-alarm brush fire.
The Charles River at Millennium Park is still really shallow, but after yesterday's rain, it's a bit wider than it was last week, as Mary Ellen shows us.
Mary Ellen spotted this frog just hanging out in Cow Island Pond, the part of the Charles River along Rivermoor Street in West Roxbury, where there's a bit more water than in the largely dry stretch just downstream along Millennium Park.
It's got to be frustrating to be a Millennium Park beaver these days: There's just not enough water to dam up along the Charles, but especially in Sawmill Brook, which no longer empties into the Charles because it no longer flows. This morning, Mary Ellen spotted this once eager beaver forced to waddle across mud and what's left of the water.
Update: Mary Ellen posted video showing that the little guy was able to get a bit of a swim in.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
