City Councilor Michael Ross has a new project--the beautification of Beacon Hill. But, wait, you ask, isn't Beacon Hill pretty already? Sure. But Ross is underwhelmed by Cambridge Street and wants to " http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1075736">extend the Beacon Hill Architectural District" to include the street, the Herald reports. Offensive eyesores on Cambridge Street include a sign for Subway sandwiches and ATM machines that don't look like the World's Fanciest 7-11, which you can find on Charles......

--The Mattapan teenager who was shot in the jaw yesterday has not been named but was a student and basketball player at Charlestown High. Also yesterday, a man was stabbed last night on Cambridge Street, and he is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. --An armed robbery happened at the Au Bon Pain at Harvard Square the night of November 19. Matt Dunning Erin Smith at the Cambridge Chronicle reports that three masked robbers "tied......

--Don't mess with the elderly in this city. They are not easy targets. A guy found that out when he tried to steal an old woman's purse at the Downtown Crossing T stop. On Wednesday night, Christopher Linehan, 29, of Dorchester, tried to snatch the purse of the unidentified 79-year-old woman. Neither party would let go of the purse, so Linehan tried dragging the woman to one of the black turnstiles. Good Samaritans started blocking......

Rumors are flying today about the possible death of Mr. Butch (Harold Madison, Jr.), the former "King of Kenmore Square" exiled to Allston in the mid-1990s. According to the unconfirmed stories reported on message boards today, the homeless man/local musicians/unofficial face of Boston was riding on a scooter this morning when he was involved in a collision with a car. His Wikipedia and MySpace have already been updated to announce the news. Bostonist contacted Boston......

-- The Roxbury man found shot in Mattapan on July 4 died from his injuries on Tuesday. Michael Wiggins was 22 years old and found near Arbutus and Ashton streets before he was rushed to Boston Medical Center. Police have upgraded the investigation to a murder investigation as a result. -- Banks are becoming the new candy shoppes: The Bank of America on Cambridge Street was robbed at gunpoint at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the......

When The Boston Phoenix hit newsstands on Thursday, a month and a day had passed since Kelly Wallace was killed at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Harvard Avenue in Allston. Wallace was riding her bicycle when the accident occurred on May 6 - her death marked the second Boston bicycle fatality in about a month. Two lives, two scenes, two ghost bicycles. According to the Phoenix story that ran late last month, Wallace wrote......

This week is officially Bike Week. Regular commuters, part time enthusiasts, friends, and allies of bikers will be donning their helmets (please put on your helmet) and taking to the streets to celebrate a great form of human powered transportation. While many events take place from Boston to NoHo we're focusing our attention on those happening close to home. Free biker appreciation breakfasts and group rides have been organized. Check out the full listing at......

The first day of summer has finally passed and the ice cream season is in full swing. While we've already hit up Emack and Bolios, J.P. Licks, and Toscanini's, we are all ready to kick it up a notch in our ice cream consumption. So when we heard about a mini ice cream party this Sunday in Inman Square, we RSVP'ed "yes" immediately. Boston's own chocolate guru, Dana Zemack, is the chocoholic behind the website,......

While Monday is the holiday, Sunday is the actual birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Bostonist realizes we don't really need a Boston connection to talk about him, what with the effect he had on the national stage (including the Commonwealth, of course), but it always bears mentioning that he did a Ph.D. at Boston University, which is cool (as is the memorial statue dedicated to him at BU, shown at right - it has......

Bostonist has noticed that haircuts for women tend to be a big, expensive, high-stress affair. The people who do the job take an exceedingly long time to remove a very small quantity of hair at a very high price, and for this reason they are called "stylists," not "barbers." We have observed that these stylists are treated almost like mystic oracles - or at least like rock stars - by their faithful customers. ("I went......

Hey Bostonist, I ditched my car about a month ago and have been biking everywhere I used to take my car. It's been great, don't get me wrong, definitely the way to get around the geographically small and relatively hill-free city is by bike. I'm a little uneasy though: your horror stories of getting hit, almost getting run over by the UPS man, and getting ticketed don't really help. I wonder if you could......

While this Bostonist has never lived in Beacon Hill, we have heard the woes from our friends and co-workers about the lack of a decent supermarket in the area. In such a pricy neighborhood, the shopping options are limited to pricy, smaller local markets like Savenor's and Deluca's. Well, the waiting for a supermarket is over; a brand new Whole Foods Market is opening today in the Charles River Plaza on Cambridge Street. (A Stop......

Bostonist prefers to dedicate our precious server space to articles that serve the greater good, but sometimes events force our hand and we feel obliged to write on matters more personal. So it is today, as we ask you, dear public, for help in solving what we believe to be a most dastardly crime (since it was committed against us). To wit, some evildoer, perhaps wishing to make a definitive statement of protest against Bike......

Tonight at the ICC Church in Allston, punk rock legends 7 Seconds return. Hailing from Reno, 7 Seconds has written some of the most influential songs in punk history. Known for their positive vibes, melodic choruses, and prolific career, 7 Seconds is widely beloved in the scene. Opening acts Champion, The Briggs, and Some Kind Of Hate make this show a must see. As a result, word is the show will sell out early.......

Bostonist posted a story yesterday about a dog being killed after getting electrocuted on his daily walk. Unfortunately, another dog, an 8-year-old Black Lab named Mali, got zapped while on a walk along Cambridge Street yesterday. Mali survived the freak accident and is home safe in Beacon Hill with her family. This is the second story about unsafe wires/hot sources along sidewalks in two days here in the city. While the one in Allston......

While many think of the "Beanpot" as that hockey tournament between four Boston area colleges, there is another Beanpot this weekend in Inman Square. Four New England colleges, Boston College, Harvard, Northeastern and University of Hartford, go head-to-head at the ImprovBoston to compete in the battle of improvisation. The event is two nights: Tonight at 8 and 10 p.m. and tomorrow at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $10 a piece (or $40 for......