Five Guys, a national burger chain beloved by many, will be opening locations in Massachusetts this summer. The new stores will be in Dedham, Needham, and Swampscott. No word on a Boston location. All burgers will be appropriately delicious: a company spokesman says "We don't pretend to be healthy." Yum.......

A fuel tanker truck turned over on 128 South early this morning in Needham and exploded. Both sides were shut down for a time, and the road "melted under the fire." Images from the explosion suggest a solid black cylinder of smoke rising from the highway. WCVB got a little carried away describing the incident, using phrases such as "massive" and "spectacular." They refrained from saying, "Wicked scary." The driver, a very lucky man, survived......

-- Boston police report that they have arrested a suspect in yesterday's shooting of a 25-year-old on Devon Street in Roxbury. William Terrell Hart, 22, of Brockton has been charged with a number of offenses in connection with the crime, which has left the victim hospitalized in serious condition. [BPDNews] -- Three boys were shot early this morning in Dorchester. The boys, ages 13, 15, and 16, were shot on a third floor balcony on......

Needham 4th of July parade, photo by Pappatom Fireworks lit up the skies of Greater Boston last night. From our perch on the Mass. Ave. bridge, we saw four fireworks displays, including the grandest of them all, the Boston Pops extravaganza. (The other three appeared to be in Newton, Somerville(?), and South Boston.) Contributors to the Bostonist photo pool have captured the festivities for those of you who were homebound or out-of-town. Shooting from......

Republican presidential aspirant and former Massachsuetts governor Mitt Romney is the projected winner of the state of Massachusetts over John McCain this Super Tuesday, according to CNN. And that victory was by no means a given since Romney didn't exactly leave Massachusetts wanting more. However, Romney is still fighting for states, and Mike Huckabee (plus buddy Chuck Norris) is racking up enough votes that neither one can catch up to the front-runner, John McCain. Huckabee......

Many fans and striking writers turned out for the Writers Guild Rally at the First Parish Church meeting house at Harvard Square at noon today. As his mom Wendy looked on, Max Schapiro, of Needham, toted a sign that said, "My Mom let me skip school to support the WGA!" Other people sported orange-and-yellow wool caps made popular on Joss Whedon's brief television series "Firefly." After the fans and several striking writers filled the pews,......

Too stuffed with turkey to do much else on Thursday night, we took in an ample amount of ABC's Thursday night television: "Ugly Betty," "Grey's Anatomy," and a "sneak preview" (read: kind of sort of why don't they just call it the season premiere?) of season two of "October Road." The last in the lineup has been oft-maligned since it made its series debut last year, and EW.com recently pondered whether it deserved a second......

Update: The disorderly conduct charge against Hillel Neuer has been dropped. Remember that guy who freaked out the employees at the Stone Hearth Pizza after a 78-year-old man was beaten to death in Needham? Turns out that he was a perfectly normal guy who just happened to be changing his clothes in the bathroom. Franci R. Ellement at the Globe writes that Hillel Neuer is a human-rights activist who is the executive director of UN......

--A cabbie got shot by an armed robber early yesterday morning in Roxbury. O'Ryan Johnson writes that the cabbie was changing a tire when the robber accosted him. After the cabbie handed everything over, the robber shot him and wounded him in the leg and buttocks. Elsewhere, early this morning, a man was shot several times in Roslindale and is now in the hospital. --More problems for cabbies: A BU student gave a cabbie a......

--Needham went into lockdown yesterday when 78-year-old Robert J. Moore was murdered in his home, prompting a manhunt and a standoff with a suspicious man at Stone Hearth Pizza. However, the guy at the pizza shop wasn't the killer. He was just acting nervous. During the standoff, a State Police K-9 unit was busy arresting William Dunn, 41, of Norwood, who had fled to a marsh. The Globe writes that Norwood Dunn was at the......

--Some student pranksters are in big trouble at Holliston High School because they broke into the principal's office – and the school's computer system. They may face criminal charges, but other students are calling for a boycott of the graduation ceremonies if the students aren't allowed to walk. They're honor students, which probably caused the punishment to be worse. WHDH quoted one graduate of the school as saying, "If you're that smart, you should know......

--The guy who threatened another Virginia Tech because he got dumped has been arraigned. Andrew Rosenblum must stay at his parents' home in Needham, and he has to wear a GPS monitoring device. BU and Wheelock College, the school that the recipients of his threatening e-mail attended, have banned him from their campuses. His lawyer called him an "immature young man." Indeed. Rosenblum is getting attention not just because he did something incredibly stupid. He......

As expected, local universities are evaluating their own security response mechanisms in the hopes of avoiding a rampage similar to what happened at Virginia Tech. Boston police didn't wait around - they held a meeting with representatives from local universities one day after the shootings. (Look on the bright side of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force embarrassment - we already know that the BPD and local law enforcement are fast.) WHDH reports, "The group focused......

..Running the Marathon on the International Space Station. Apparently you don't have to be in Boston on Patriots Day to run in the Marathon. For the last three years the Marathon has been run in Iraq with support from the Boston Athletic Association (or the BAA - the organization that runs the marathon). This year they'll be sending trophies and a finish line tape to Kosovo for a similar endeavor. The furthest competitor this year*......

Yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. 3,200 troops have died. The following are the soldiers from Massachusetts who lost their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom as listed in the Washington Post: Sgt. Glenn R. Allison - Pittsfield / Lance Cpl. Alexander S. Arredondo - Randolph / Spec. David J. Babineau - Springfield / Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Bellavia - Wakefield / 2nd Lt. Joshua L.......

Can you have a proper blotter if you can't report a crime? Yesterday afternoon, residents of East Boston lost 911 service briefly thanks to what the BPD described as "Verizon technical issues." In this world of iPhones and camera phones and phones that could butter your bread, not being able to call 911 because of "technical issues" is unacceptable. If you ever have 911 issues, the BPD website says you can call a BPD operator......

Enough music to rock because you're happy or rock because you're sad. No matter if the candidate you were supporting won or lost you can find solace in the upbeat or comfort in the emo. Tuesday 11/7 Method Man The mighty Method Man (Wu-Tang) brings a glorious night of hardcore hip hop to Avalon featuring Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa and Hall of Justus. Avalon, all ages, $25, 7pm doors Method Man: website | myspace......

Call Bostonist crazy, but WTF?! The Boston City Council has taken up the cause of making parking lot operators refund money to Sox fans who park and then leave because of rain delays. Naturally, we can see the political capital in this move, what with the way that lot operators jack up prices when demand is high (stupid capitalism!), but will someone at City Hall start getting serious about encouraging fans to take the T......

When Bostonist met a friend for lunch last week in Coolidge Corner, we automatically began walking to our favorite place, Zathmary’s. When we got there, however, we found locked doors and two bewildered little old ladies standing outside. “They’re closed for good!” one of the ladies said, and it was one of those moments that Bostonist thought only happened in movies where everyone gasps in unison. We glanced in the windows and sure enough, all......

Bostonist is among the badTransit faithful. Flashing FAILURE icons often let us know when we can expect unusually long delays. While killing some time by planning our trip out to Concord this weekend on the commuter rail (which seems to often have a face full of egg when badTransit is watching), we noticed something besides the medical emergency holding up the commuter rail’s outbound Needham line. Under the Green Line, emergency bussing due to an......

Bostonist did not play organized football as a youngster (we come from a baseball family) and we don't much care for the mania that parents bring to youth sports these days. But the news that five suburban (mostly white) Pop Warner youth football teams are quitting their league so they don't have to play against the (mostly black) city teams from Boston has us so worked up we can hardly contain ourselves. (Be warned: we......