--Were you affected by the water main burst and the subsequent natural gas problems? There's an emergency center open at City Hall. [WBZ] --Do you still have some champagne left in your Globe Buyout Bottle? Pour another one for Carol Beggy, who worked on the "Names" column. [Boston Phoenix Media Log] --A woman from West Roxbury allegedly encountered sorority hazing from hell at Hofstra University, which is in New York. [WCVB] --Harvard professor Walter......

--The Department of Social Services, whose name has come up more than once in investigations of the deaths of children in this state, received a D minus from the watchdog group the Children's Advocacy Institute. [Boston Herald, DSS in Bostonist] --Bad: A water main broke on Devonshire Street. Worse: The damage was so bad that repairs will continue through the summer. Worst: No hot water or heat until THURSDAY. [WBZ, Boston Globe] --Pour one out......

Hingham Weather, which is the source for the game of musical chairs that is local TV news, reported that local TV station WBZ laid off about 30 people yesterday. The news spread, and Jessica Heslam at the Herald heard that the layoffs weren't a pretty sight: "Some employees were swiftly escorted out the door by security, sources said." While layoffs at newspapers seem to happen on a regular basis, a big layoff at a local......

Rumors have been blowing around in the windy Back Bay streets by their corporate headquarters for weeks. In 2002 the company was purchased for about $1.7 by three private equity firms, two of Boston, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, and the Blackstone Group of London and New York from the then French owners, Vivendi Universal. The publisher came back to the Boston roots they put down in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Today a deal......

Bostonist was surprised to read the Boston Herald headline “Hotline: Get a crack at ‘The Nutcracker’.” From recent features in the Herald we’ve come to expect more racy headlines like “Get Crack at ‘The Nutcracker’.” The Boston Ballet production is playing on Washington St. in the Theatre District at the Opera House, close to the Common and the darker streets of Boston at night. We hoped we’d find a bit of juice in the Herald......