-- Boston police arrested a woman for setting the fire that killed two young girls, Acia Johnson, 14, and her 3-year-old sister, Sophia, in South Boston last month. Nicole Chuminski, 25, will be arraigned Monday on two counts of murder and one count of arson. Chuminski was reportedly the girlfriend of the victims' mother, and the alleged arson may have been the outcome of a vicious spat. [Globe; Herald] -- The truck driver whose careering......

-- A man was shot around 8am this morning on Humphreys Street in Upham's Corner, Dorchester. Police rushed him to the hospital, and there is no word on his condition. [Globe] -- Boston Police have arrest warrants for two suspects in the January, 2007, murder of a 13-year-old in Jamaica Plain. Police say that two Roxbury teens shot Luis Gerena to death early last year. The two teens were in police custody on unrelated charges......

-- Cambridge is the sort of place where even burglars dress to impress. Police say that a 22-year-old Cambridge man broke into a house on Brattle Street aroudn last Friday, dressed in a suit and tie. The man allegedly broke a window, opened the front door, and made his way to the second floor bedroom, where he passed out. He was arrested soon afterward, and police do not report that anybody came to harm. [Cambridge......

--Carl Stanley McGee, the Patrick aide who was cleared of charges that he sexually assaulted a teen boy in Florida, is back at work, but the governor isn't taking his donations. [Boston Herald] --Find out which restaurants are open after the water main/natural gas mess downtown. [Boston Globe/fidoboston] --Stop the presses! Someone in New England is showing off a "MILF" license plate. [Barstool Sports] --Are wild turkeys gracing South Boston with their presence? [Platinum......

Overnight, a fire broke out underground, prompting flames to shoot up from pissed-off manholes around Mass Ave and Dunster. At one point, the flames were 15 feet high. An NSTAR spokeswoman is calling it a "cable malfunction," but work crews weren't at the area when it started. The area has been closed off to traffic, and 700 customers are without power. The ABP, the Holyoke Center, and Cambridge Savings are closed. MBTA service is still......

ImprovBoston's Bachelor and Bachelorette Auction Sunday, 8 pm (7 pm doors) VENU, 100 Warrenton Street Tickets $7 advance, $10 door, $25 VIP reception Website ImprovBoston moved from its former Inman Square haunt into its new and bright digs on Central Square's Propsect Street back in February, but the performance group has been continuing its efforts to raise $185,000 in a capital campaign. On Sunday evening, 19 IB performers will put themselves up on the......

-- A 6-month-old boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert yesterday was recovered unharmed by authorities. Police found the child, Lucas Whalen, with his mother, 24-year-old Danielle Boyle, when a cab driver drove the pair to Arlington police after Boyle could not pay a taxi fare. Boyle has not been charged in connection with the alleged kidnapping, but the boy's father, Michael Whalen, 42, has been charged with parental kidnapping, receiving stolen property,......

-- Cops had to call in reinforcements when they discovered a massive, all-female brawl in progress at a Dorchester party early Sunday. Four Dorchester women, whom police claim punched, kicked, and pushed one another, were arrested and charged with affray. The owner of the Westville Street residence stands accused of keeping a disorderly house. [BPDNews] -- An alleged burglar was found at the scene of the crime in Hyde Park yesterday, asleep. Parishioners of the......

-- A 13 year old boy was shot in the South End early this morning. Police found the boy on Washington Street shortly after 1am, suffering from two gunshot wounds to the groin. He was hospitalized and is expected to survive. His identity was not released, and police have not reported any arrests. [Globe; WCVB] -- A 35 year old man was found stabbed to death in Worcester this morning. Police believe that drugs were......

Pizza is the quintessential cheap eats. A slice typically only costs a couple of bucks, and it's fast and portable. One slice, however, is often not enough, and you're left wanting more. At Pinocchio's in Harvard Square, however, one slice is filling, and two slices, for the low price of $3.95, makes a full meal. The Sicilian slices are hefty, especially if you snag a corner piece. The dough is crispy on the bottom......

-- While many Bostonians remain only vaguely aware of the Bruins' playoff loss last night, at least three fans mustered enough anguish to make it to jail, police say. Last night, a celebrating Canadiens' fan found himself bleeding from the head outside the TDBanknorth Garden after allegedly being assaulted by a two-man goon squad. Police arrested the pair, one of whom was wearing a Jason Allison Bruins jersey. And, inside the Garden, a detail cop......

McIntyre & Moore Booksellers, whose wunderkammer of used books was recently exiled from Davis Square (and long ago displaced from Harvard Square), reopened today in Porter Square, at 1971 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. (They're in good company here: Bob Slate—purveyor of fountain pens and rampant Moleskinery—and Stellabella Toys are right upstairs.) They describe their stock as "uncommon titles in interesting subject areas, usually in fields in which it's very hard to be gainfully employed"—or, in a......

Update: The body of Roc Sanon, who was declared missing over the weekend, was found near Route 98 and Interstate 93. The BPD says, "The death does not appear to be suspicious." [BPD News] -- A man was shot in Roxbury last night. The man, whom police did not identify, was in his 40s, and suffered life threatening injuries. [Globe] -- Boston police are bracing for a violent summer after last week's seasonal Wednesday brought......

Tony Conrad, violinist and experimental filmmaker, stood prepared to electrocute a six foot strip of film Sunday evening. "Experimental filmmaking isn't like real experiments because you don't have to be careful," he told the crowd at Harvard Film Archive. "If you talk to an experimental filmmaker, ask if they know what they're doing." It was a sentiment that seemed charming until a Tesla coil launched a quarter million volt arc of purple light across......

--Police put out a BOLO ("Be on the lookout") for a recent immigrant from Haiti who speaks no English and who has been missing since Wednesday. His name is Roc Sanon, he is 43 years old, and his photo is to the left. [BPD News] --Early this morning in Jamaica Plain on Gayhead Street, a woman was stabbed eight times and sustained life-threatening injuries. The BPD report indicates that the victim knew her attacker and......

--A student from Hingham died early this morning after "he apparently jumped out the 17th-floor window of a dormitory" at UMass-Amherst. [Boston Globe, tip board] --Governor Deval Patrick is preparing to tighten the state's belt if tax revenues don't hold steady. [AP/Boston Globe] --It took sky-high gas prices for it to happen, but more people are riding the MBTA. Now we'll see how the MBTA holds up with the rise in riders and if......

You read that right. A shooting happened at the Hi-Fi Pizza in Central Square, which is across the street from the Middle East, early this morning. However, while police apprehended the shooter, the shoot-ee took off, and no one knows where the victim is or if he's okay. A 23-year-old from Brockton was arrested, according to the Cambridge Chronicle, and witnesses say there was a victim: "Witnesses told police they saw a male victim get......

It was hard for us to choose the one best photo from gnarayan's fabulous shots of the Free Tibet rally in Harvard Square. Help us out and head over to his Flickr set and decide for yourself. Powerful stuff.......

-- Police report that a Somerville woman, aged 28, attacked her roommate, trapped her in their house, and set fire to the building. [Somerville Journal] -- A North Cambridge man who was found shot in front of his house early on Tuesday may face his own set of charges. Police say they found "a large amount" of marijuana and a sawed-off shotgun in the man's home. Nobody has been charged in connection with his shooting......

Music Hometown keytar heroes Freezepop have returned from touring the world (okay, Florida, and the Rust Belt) to once again rock Cambridge, with the help of the The Information, The Main Drag, and Michael Hensley. Middle East Downstairs, 8 pm, 18+, $14. Beer Harpoon will hold its St. Patrick's Festival at the brewery on 306 Northern Avenue. Wear galoshes because the floor may well be slick with beer. Harpoon Brewery, 5:30 to 11:00 pm,......

-- Police arrested the Dorchester man responsible for the February 27th lunch brawl at West Roxbury High School. Edwin Reyes, 39, surrendered to police yesterday. Police say that Reyes led a posse of four adults, including his two brothers and an unidentified woman, to assault a West Roxbury student who had allegedly beat up Reyes's son. Reyes stands accused of punching a West Roxbury student and driving his car into a school police officer while......

--As if it couldn't get any worse for the MBTA. Hackers have been playing with the Charlie Card. [Boston Herald] --The owner of Tai Ho Restaurant, where Boston firefighters Paul Cahill and Warren Payne died, wants to reopen. It's worth remembering that the fire gathered in the ceiling because grease accumulated in the vents. [WBZ] --A task force has decided, after much back and forth, to take down the homemade signs on highways thanking......

--A Woburn college student was cleared of rape charges after prosecutors could not provide enough evidence that an attack had taken place in a bathroom at Felt nightclub in Boston. The man, 21, continually proclaimed his innocence, and said that any acts were consensual. The prosecution had alleged that the woman was unconscious, but didn't have enough evidence to take the case to trial. [Boston Herald] --Police had surrounded a rape suspect's home in......

Jorge Furtado's Porto Alegre Harvard Film Archive Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge Friday, March 7 -- Saturday, March 8 More information Brazilian director Jorge Furtado's work should be better known among American film audiences. His movies are hilarious, thoughtful and unpretentious -- they aim to entertain above all else. The Man Who Copied (O Homem Que Copiava) (2003, screening Friday) is a case in point. It's the story of André (Lázaro Ramos), whose humdrum......

Books Is it possible to be saved by the Sex Pistols? The answer to that is a resounding yes. Michael Patrick MacDonald will be reading from Easter Rising, an account of his youth in the Boston punk scene, at Brookline Booksmith. Bostonist had the opportunity to hear him read from the book when he spoke at UMass-Boston, and we say with great emphasis that this is a must-see, not just for those who love......

-- A woman was robbed at gunpoint today during a daytime invasion of her parents' home in Everett. Michelle Nguyen, 24 of Malden, was babysitting her 2 year-old nephew this morning when a man dressed completely in black entered the house and held a gun to her head. She parted with $500. Both Nguyen and her nephew were left unharmed. [Herald] -- Cambridge has a flasher in a trench coat. A 20 year-old Harvard student......

Some alleged boneheads should have their Red Sox Nation cards revoked, and we're not talking about Hank Steinbrenner. In a scary incident reported in the Cambridge Chronicle, a man wearing Yankees attire got beat up outside the Cantab Lounge in Central Square early Sunday morning. From the Chronicle: The Yankees fan was transported to the hospital March 2 at 1:41 a.m. for medical treatment for head injuries, including swelling over his entire face and several......

Boston's King of Boogie-Woogie With his long hair and white beard, Preacher Jack may look like a wild-eyed holy man descended from a lonely mountaintop. He's actually a living piece of boogie-woogie/rockabilly history who grew up and resides on the North Shore. Pounding the keys for fifty years, he may not keep a weekly residence at Frank's Steak House anymore, but Preacher Jack comes down to Cambridge & Boston every couple weeks to spread......

--So, just how many new construction jobs will the casinos proposed by Governor Deval Patrick create? He said 30,000. An independent analyst says no way: "... building three casinos at a cost of $1 billion each in Massachusetts would create a total of 4,000 to 5,000 new construction jobs for the duration of the building period, probably three years." [Boston Globe] --Now this is cool--A look at BNN's studios in an old Roxbury substation.......

Unfortunately the world of vegan gourmet dining is a small one, with most restaurants concentrated in the Veg-friendly cities of New York, San Francisco, and Portland. While visiting San Francisco, Veggiest was able to dine at Millennium, which is consistently rated among the very best veg restaurants in the country. Everything about the experience was impeccable, the decor, staff, wine, and of course FOOD, were all top-notch. We dined on avocado and endive salad,......