--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......

--Boobs might be getting bigger in Brookline, thanks to stem-cell research. Uh, can't we worry about cancer first and then take care of the boobies? [WBZ] --Gwen Butler, she of the million-dollar-tip and alleged starter of news that a case of VD was going around local restaurant circles, is baaack! In New York, unfortunately. [MenuPages] --A five-alarm fire broke out yesterday at a lumberyard in Ayer. [Boston Herald] --Watertown city councilor Marilyn Devaney, best known......

--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......

Reverend Bruce Wall has gone to great lengths to draw attention to the violence on the streets of this city. The last time he appeared on Bostonist, he had published a letter advising tourists not to visit Boston following the death of New York City resident Chiara Levin in February. Wall is in the spotlight again for different reasons. The Globe reported today that his 15-year-old son is a suspect in an armed robbery in......

-- 18 protesters were arrested during yesterday's Veterans Day ceremony at City Hall Plaza. They were members of Veterans for Peace, an organization of former soldiers opposed to the Iraq War. The American Legion had placed the group in the rear of the Veterans Day parade and told them that they could not carry signs protesting the war. The Veterans for Peace responded by blocking the official ceremony podium with gags in their mouths and......

--A former MBTA employee is in trouble for allegedly selling fake discount passes. Casey Ross reports that Giovanni Francis, 19, was selling discount passes for the elderly and blind to people who a) weren't old and b) could see just fine. T police caught them trying to sneak through on those passes, and video of the fake blind people is available on WCVB's site. Francis used to be a sales associate for the T. He......

--The man who was robbing people in the South End by impersonating a police detective has been arrested. The DA's office says that Anthony Burney, 32, of Lynn, was charged with "two counts of unarmed robbery and single counts of impersonating a police officer, kidnapping, and larceny over $250." Burney forced one man he was robbing on a trip through the subway system. From the DA's office: That victim described a long and bizarre trip......

--Yarelis Cruz, 26, of Lawrence, is a mom who allegedly grew pot in her house, and she got caught when the teacher of her 11-year-old son found pot pictures on the boy's cell phone. The teacher confiscated the cell phone when Cruz' son was taking pictures in the school when he wasn't supposed to, and she spotted pot plants on the screen. The teacher did the math, the police investigated, and they found a plant......

--Since Red Sox fans have a reason to party this year, Mayor Thomas Menino is already stepping in to settle them down. He met with bar and restaurant owners to discuss when to cut off the sloppy drunks. He also said he doesn't want any live cameras in bars. No live cameras? What would a nationally televised game be without a cutaway to the fans who couldn't afford tickets but who still want to celebrate?......

--After his picture was splashed all over the TV and Internets, the guy who allegedly stabbed two people at Park Street Station after the Red Sox Rally Monday night has been arraigned on two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. Christopher Casey, 22, of Dorchester, was rounded up by T police last night. Bail was set at $25,000. --How about this for a reversal? You'd think law enforcement......

- Two men are on the lam after an attempted carjacking in broad daylight on the Mass Pike. The suspects jumped into the back seat of a car waiting in line for the Allston-Brighton toll. When they arrived at the booth the driver alerted the attendant to the carjacking while being "pistol-whipped" with a handgun. The car hit another and then stopped, at which time the two men fled and have yet to be......

Going to Logan Airport, even before the Star Simpson Incident, typically inspires a sense of dread. If one person mentions that they have to pick up a parent/boyfriend/girlfriend/SI at the airport, anyone else involved in the conversation immediately offers condolences. Airport meetings involve robbery via high parking prices, hassling with State Police if you linger at the curb, or guns if you're a slightly spacey MIT student. Trips to Logan might get easier with a......

--There are times when a police officer must stifle laughter. And yesterday had to be one of those times when police investigated an alarm that had gone off in a Dorchester house. The incident caused quite a stir, as the owner told police there were guns in the house. When a SWAT team forced its way in, they discovered 41-year-old Laura Buchman - in the clothes dryer. She must have smelled spring fresh. She's been......

--Melvin Heard was once an Assistant DA working for Dan Conley. Now he faces charges of beating his own fiancée. The charges have cost Heard his job. DA Dan Conley said in a statement: "On the morning of Monday, Aug. 20, immediately upon hearing of Melvin Heard’s arrest, I ordered him placed on unpaid leave. Our office undertook its own inquiry into the matter and four days later, on Aug. 24, he was terminated." Heard's......

The DA's office spread word that Alan "Bubba" Daughtry, of Dorchester, was charged yesterday with "five counts of armed robbery and one count each of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery." Daughtry has been linked to robberies at Truly Jorg's, Sami's Cleaners, a downtown Papyrus, City Convenience, and Famous Footwear. The description of the crimes sound similar to the ones ascribed to the Bonbon Bandit, or the Sweet Tooth Robber, who held......

--Another winning headline from the mysterious BPD Blotter writer: "Adding Assault to Injury." Early this morning, Latanya Minors allegedly played bumper cars with another car. She struck a car, which had two occupants inside. Then she drove around the block and did it again. Minors wasn't finished - witnesses tried to "confront" her (BPD parlance), upon which she punched them and threw her keys at them. Also on the blotter: a robbery attempt at the......

--One does not mess with a family that knows how to use a bottle of fish sauce. A guy learned that the hard way last night when he tried to hold up a package store in Methuen. He encountered Ross Vannarith, the hard-ass package-store owner who survived the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia and who was in no mood to deal with some lightweight petty thief. He also encountered Vannarith's son, who grabbed a bottle......

An aspiring convenience-store robber thought he found an easy target when he tried to rob a 7-Eleven while an old man was working the register during Tuesday's third shift. But when the robber, 27-year-old Ricci Marshall Jr., leapt over the counter, 66-year-old Stephen Alpin came right back at him with a hammer and got him in a chokehold. A customer also helped out, but Alpin had Marshall well under control. The owner of the convenience......

-- 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......

-- It appears that the Bonbon Bandit's list of suspected crimes is growing longer by the day. A Dunkin Donuts on Brookline Street was held up on Saturday afternoon (yep, middle of the day on a Saturday - how 'bout that for brazen?) and the suspect matches the description of the man police have been searching for in possible connection to more than 20 commercial robberies. That's right, the possible total is now up to......

-- Boston Police's news blotter doesn't include the words "Bonbon Bandit" or "Sweet Tooth Robber" in the public safety notification it posted yesterday, but those who have been following the string of robberies at sweet shoppes (and a Yankee Candle) can add another crime to the list. The man seen on many a security camera as of late reportedly held up City Convenience on Albany Street at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, brandishing a knife and......

-- A man was walking home on Normandy Street in Dorchester late Thursday morning when a young black male, one of a group of three, reportedly walked up to him and asked to see his iPod. When the victim declined the opportunity to show off his piece of gadgetry, one of the men drew a gun and placed it against the victim's temple and told another to take the iPod. They then walked away. Police......

Fourth of July. Barbecues, fireworks, alcohol...and mischief in Boston streets. Who would have thought? -- Police are on the lookout for Michael Stokes, 23. A woman told police that Stokes had a firearm when he assaulted her at her residence in Dorchester today, but then jumped out a third floor window to escape authorities. He is described as a 5'7 black male with a slim build. There was a gun found, but police are still......

--A one-man robbery wave is rolling through the city. A guy is walking into stores, especially sweet shoppes, and holding them up. Between April 17 and June 26, the suspect has held up 16 businesses. This is the same guy who held up the Yankee Candle - and Truly Jorg's and the Lindt Chocolate Shope and more. Clearly the guy thinks in terms of quantity, not quality. How much cash can he pick up at......

This is a bit out of our geographical reach, blotter-wise, but a pastor was stabbed to death by her own husband in Great Barrington. Esther Dozier, a pastor for the Clinton AME Zion church, was found stabbed to death yesterday morning. Her husband, Henry, told police he took poison and went to the hospital. He pled not guilty to the crime. News reports mentioned Dozier's contributions to society: "Esther Dozier helped create an African-American Heritage......

--A restaurant owner was attacked in his own establishment yesterday afternoon in Jamaica Plain. Was it a holdup? A robbery? A grudge? No. He got in a fight with a customer over the remote control. The customer somehow got the remote control and began to "mess around" with the channels and wouldn't stop. Maybe he was looking for the spelling bee finals. Anyway, the owner told him to cut it out, and "the suspect......

Update: Reader Ron points to Davis Square Live Journal, which has numerous harrowing reports from local residents following the crash. Somerville News and WBZ are reporting that the man who died was in the taxi. His name was Paul Farris. He was only 23 and a recent graduate of Tufts. --The action isn't stopping in Somerville. After a bank robbery in which an employee was tied up and left in the basement, a wild early-morning......

--The last thing we need, especially with a presidential election coming up, is for someone to add fuel to the flag-burning debate. On Thursday, someone in Natick destroyed a solar-powered trash container by stuffing it with American flags and setting them on fire. The person who did it must be trying to offend as many people as possible - the left by wrecking an environmental device, and the right by burning flags. We are all......

--In Everett, 26-year-old Stacy Russo robbed an apartment – and she took her baby along for the ride. She used her own daughter's baby carriage has a handy place to stash her ill-gotten gains. But the baby was in the carriage at the time and probably didn't appreciate having to share her space with a bunch of extra stuff. Russo then took her baby for a wild ride to a Dunkin' Donuts, where police caught......

--The BPD released a statement about a series of eight armed robberies in the South End and Downtown that have a clear pattern. They've robbed a Lindt Chocolate Shop, Ben & Jerry's, Emack and Boulios, Bon Bon, the gift shop at New England Medical Center, Truly Jorg's Patisserie, Papyrus, and Vitamin Shoppe. Perhaps they hit up the Vitamin Shoppe because they realized their robbery diet was on the unhealthy side. Despite their fondness for candy......