--More fire department turmoil: A panel of union firefighters determined that the alcohol and drugs found in the bodies of firefighters Paul Cahill and Warren Payne in August's Tai Ho Restaurant blaze did not cause their deaths. But the fire commissioner begs to differ. [Boston Globe, background: Bostonist] --While it's good that the mayor is throwing his efforts behind saving Hendry Street from the foreclosure crisis, the housing problems in Dorchester aren't limited to......

What would Massachusetts be without some sort of infrastructure improvement? Today, the MBTA announced that it will overhaul the Columbia Road, Quincy Street, and Massachusetts Avenue commuter rail bridges. Here's the details from the release on how the construction might affect you--it's basically a lot of switching from inbound to outbound platforms: Work requires a temporary one track operation at Uphams Corner station which will continue throughout the entire project slated for completion Summer......

--Early yesterday morning, a 16-year-old was shot on Columbia Road. According to the BPD, witnesses said the victim was taking out the trash when he got hit. His injuries are non-life-threatening. [BPD News] --A driver who struck and killed a 13-year-old boy in Taunton early this morning and then took off surrendered to Taunton police this afternoon. [WCVB] --A woman stole a cab in Chelsea and wound up crashing it in Revere. That wouldn't be......

Upon realizing that large chunks of Boston neighborhoods were left unmapped by Google Street View, Bostonist e-mailed Google HQ to find out why. We received a fairly standard response that the neglected areas would be mapped soon: We generally start collecting imagery at the metropolitan center (in this case Boston) and move out from there, which explains why the more outlying areas you mentioned are not covered in as much detail. However, we plan on......

--Yesterday's rain caused some trouble when the streets began to fill with water. The Herald estimates that the city received 2.16 inches of water in three hours. A part of Orient Avenue in East Boston began to collapse and took a car belonging to Matt Houle with it. Houle tried to drive the car out before it got swallowed up, but Mother Nature won. Eventually, it took a tow truck to rescue the car. If......

--A man blew up himself and his estranged girlfriend in an elevator in Lynn. It was a terrible, senseless act. The woman took out a restraining order, but then she had it lifted. But, given this guy's extreme behavior, who knows if it would have made a difference? The AP reports through the Daily Item: "Court records showed a restraining order had been issued against Echevairria [the alleged attacker] on Jan. 8 after his girlfriend,......

A man was shot and killed yesterday afternoon on Columbia Road in Dorchester. The killer ran off and got away, which absolutely floors us because this happened in the daytime before witnesses. We don't like to say anything disparaging about police officers, but you'd think that, given the circumstances, they could have rounded up the killer quickly unless the guy had a jetpack strapped to him. If the Globe is writing about how many people......