--Did any official-looking person root around in your bag today while you rode the T? [WCVB] --More reasons to panic while crossing a bridge. A chunk of concrete fell from the Long Island Bridge yesterday. [Boston Herald] --After freezing our buns off this winter, the weather tables have turned, and we're under a brush fire risk. [WBZ] --Marilyn Devaney, the Watertown City Councilor who was embroiled in The Case of the Curling Iron, got......

Worcester's American Sanitary Plumbing Museum has decided to flush itself out of the city, but it's not going into the crapper just yet. The museum will relocate to the more appropriately named Watertown. Worcester might consider this development perfectly potty, but at least the collection is staying in Massachusetts. The owners of the museum, the Manoogs, are retiring and have donated everything to the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of Greater Boston, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports.......

Remember when two Boston College football players and a State Trooper got involved in a bar brawl that sent a software programmer to the hospital? According to Dave Wedge, a judge has thrown out felony assault charges against Trooper Joseph Boike, who also co-owns The Greatest Bar, where the fight took place in August. Boike was accused of using a bottle in the fight, but the judge didn't find evidence that Boike did that. However,......

Ten members of the Teamsters Local 25, who are trying to unionize the FW Russell Disposal Company, were arrested yesterday after a clash with police in Somerville. The Teamsters were picketing the company and had padlocked the gate. Police were summoned, but what is striking is how many police were summoned. The Somerville Journal notes: "Somerville Police were backed up by Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (a regional force from other cities) which includes a......

Already feeling the pressure of holiday family time? Leave the house. Run away. Tonight's events will help add some spice to your Santa. Music --Holiday stress? Family freaking out on you? Swap "Jingle Bells" for "Raw Power" with The Scrooges--a band that dresses in Santa suits and covers the Stooges. They'll be at Great Scott tonight at 9:00. 1222 Commonwealth Ave, Allston. Theater --The New Repertory Theater is showing David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries, which......

After all the sturm und drang of a recount, Watertown City Councilor Marilyn Devaney has reclaimed her hotly contested seat following a recount. Initially, tallies showed that challenger John Donohue barely beat her. Then came the recount, which was a wild ride documented by the Watertown Wicked Local Blog and H2oTown. Devaney won that, and now the town's local scribes are waiting to find out if Donohue will challenge the initial challenge. Here's Jillian Fennimore......

--The State House is pretty on the outside and a festering mess on the inside. Senate President Therese Murray thinks private donations might help. [Boston Globe] --Remember Marilyn Devaney, the Watertown town councilor who is facing charges of attacking a beauty-supply clerk with a curling iron box? She got voted out, but a recount is under way, and the story is far from over. Even if you don't know who Marilyn Devaney is, we......

--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......

--On Saturday morning, a construction worker in Watertown went on a crazy trip to Brookline. The worker, 24-year-old Kevin Lasquade, happened to be drunk at the time. According to WHDH, Lasquade got noticed when "he allegedly hit a parked car on Beacon Street in Brookline." He also took the backhoe into a Stop & Shop lot and almost did some damage there. As if driving drunk weren't bad enough, WHDH pointed out that Lasquade didn’t......

--The violence that has plagued the city all last week will not stop. A 17-year-old was shot early this morning in Mattapan, according to the Globe. He was shot in the jaw. And it could have been worse. He was shot in front of his home, where a daycare is located. He hasn't been named, but WCVB is reporting that neighbors said he was a "star athlete." --The DA's Office sent out a release announcing......

Ellipsis Mime presents Mime & Cheese - A Workshop Sunday November 11, 6:30 PM At the Watertown Arsenal Center for the Arts - Black box Theater. Free. ellipsismimetroupe@gmail.com www.ellipisismime.com Website forthcoming Bostonist sat down with Kevin Miller, one of the artistic directors behind Ellipsis, a Boston-based mime troupe that's hoping to knock the local theater scene on its ass. This Sunday Ellipsis will be hosting a workshop to preview some of their original material......

Boston City Council: The four winners in the at-large race were incumbents Michael Flaherty, Stephen Murphy, Sam Yoon, and new arrival John Connolly. Incumbent Felix Arroyo didn't make the cut. Now Murphy and Connolly will need to figure out how to live with each other after Connolly's anonymous mailers, which accused Murphy of always looking for other jobs. Michael Pahre at Brighton Centered reports that Mark Ciommo defeated Greg Glennon for the District 9 slot......

Marilyn Devaney, city councilor of Watertown and the star of "Curlergate," is running for re-election in the city. Lately, she's been in the headlines for campaigning strongly on behalf of Watertown's Armenian community to achieve recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Had Devaney, the same woman who allegedly threw a curling iron at a Sally's Beauty Supply clerk turned over a new leaf? Apparently not. H2otown ran a poll asking its readers if they would vote......

Last Thursday, Noah Goldman closed the visor on his steel helmet and straightened his body for the blow he was about to receive from his teacher's sword. It was the first practice of the season for the Boston-area Schola Saint George Western martial arts study group, and Goldman needed to christen his new headgear. Group Leader Charles Deily pulled the wooden sword back and slammed it into Goldman's head. The crash reverberated through the empty,......

Ann Patchett, Wednesday, September 26, 6:00 pm, Coolidge Corner (via Brookline Booksmith) The author of Bel Canto situates her latest book in Boston, and the plot should seem awfully familiar - the head of a political family tries to perpetuate a political dynasty. A Boston mayor steps down and tries to drive two of his adopted sons into politics. In the span of one day, events unfold that might change those plans. Vincent Lam, Wednesday,......

Two towns have joined Watertown in protest against the Anti-Defamation League, which sponsors the "No Place for Hate" anti-hate crime program. Belmont's Board of Selectmen voted on Monday to withdraw from the program. Yesterday, Newton mayor David Cohen issued a statement saying: "The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is an important step along the path of freedom and justice, and crucial in combating other genocides now and in the future." The Anti-Defamation League is so......

Woah! We were so busy being stranded in Boston Harbor that we totally forgot to mention that an MBTA bus smacked face-first into a wall as it exited the Pike yesterday afternoon! The bus was headed to Downtown Boston from Watertown. Seven people, including the bus driver, were brought to the hospital after suffering minor back and neck injuries. An undisclosed number of passengers stood around the bus for several minutes, shaking their heads......

Two BC football players and an officer with the State Police have been charged with assault after a ruckus at The Greatest Bar. Sean Maney, 28, of Watertown, was enjoying himself with some friends at the bar when offensive tackle Gosder Cherlius and defensive back DeJuan Tribble allegedly decided they had a right to their space. The Statie, Sgt. Joseph Boike, tried to get them to move. Maney, like any logical person faced with people......

Watertown city councilor Marilyn Devaney has been the source of good news the past few weeks since she stood up to the Anti-Defamation League. But the Marilyn Devaney who pitches fits and brings priests with her to trial has been sorely missed. The woman is a walking event. She was back and bold this week with an appearance in Middlesex District Court to set her court date. She will eventually go on trial for tossing......

Update: Andrew Tarsy, the New England regional director of the ADL who was fired for recognizing the Armenian genocide, has been rehired. The action of the citizens of Watertown has had a tremendous ripple effect. After releasing a statement refusing to recognize the Armenian genocide and firing its New England director, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, released a statement today in which he recognizes the Armenian genocide. Here is what he......

Only a few days ago, Andrew Tarsy, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, backer of the "No Place for Hate" program, tried to defend the ADL's stance on the Armenian Genocide at the Watertown City Council meeting. The ADL refused to recognize the genocide, Watertown residents - including a large Armenian population - was furious, and Watertown kicked the ADL out of its borders. Then, presumably influenced by Watertown's decision to remove hate from......

A foot fetishist may be on the loose in Cambridge. He seems mostly harmless and is more interested in taking pictures of toe cleavage, so don't be alarmed if you see him sniffing around your sexy open-toed summer shoes. At first, this story seemed more like 10 o'clock news material, so we were surprised to see the Globe getting in on the foot fetish action. They focus on a yoga instructor who unknowingly showed the......

Watertown has been the site of an intense debate over whether or not to halt its participation in the "No Place for Hate" program. The Anti-Defamation League is a sponsor of the program, which helps communities fight hate crimes. The "No Place for Hate" program sounds like a good thing – who doesn't want to stop hate crimes? Unfortunately, to many Watertown residents, the Anti-Defamation League is indeed a place for hate. Many Armenian Americans......

Outside.in has been tracking local blog action for 3,500 neighborhoods in 60 cities across the country. They came out with the top ten blogging neighborhoods back in April. Newton and Watertown made that list (4 and 7, respectively.) Today Chris Reidy at the Globe posts up an item that Outside.in has named Boston the Bloggiest City in the nation. During March and April the Boston area chalked up 89 posts per 100,000 people (we're trying......

--Early this morning, two people were shot to death in Roxbury. Another person was shot in the fray and somehow managed to get himself to a police station. He is in critical condition. WBZ says sixteen rounds were fired. --Citizens may have an outlet for keeping an eye on the BPD. Mayor Menino put together a three-member panel that will start looking at complaints from city residents against the BPD. However, the panel doesn't have......

--Adam Rich, the man who was killed in the now-infamous 6 House bar brawl, was allegedly involved in a hate-crime beating before he was killed. Rich was one of the suspects in a crime in which four white men beat up a white woman – the sister of one of the men - and her black boyfriend. Laurel Sweet at the Herald writes, “You (expletive) (expletive), what you doing in Southie?” are among the epithets......

-- 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......

The Armenian Memorial, a proposed park, would pay homage to the Armenian Genocide that saw the loss of an estimated 1.5 million lives in 1915. The memorial has been on and off in the news mostly for their intention to develop a parcel of the Greenway near Christopher Columbus park as the site of the memorial. Tom Menino has voiced his opinion: no way. He doesn't want the Greenway to become home to a number......

If you take the D-line, all we can say is - sorry, you’re kinda screwed until August. But, don’t despair. We’re here to help you. If you’re crafty and lucky, you’re only a little bit screwed! That’s right! Remember when the new Charlie cards came out and everyone was all, "This sucks! I never take a bus. Why do I am I forced to pay for a service that I never use?" Now you can......

Watertown city councilor, member of the Governor's Council, and self-described important person Marilyn Devaney was in court today to hash out evidence of her alleged curling-iron tantrum at a Sally's Beauty Supply. The Watertown TAB was there to live-blog the whole episode. Here's what we adore about the Watertown TAB's blog – they have a whole category devoted to "Curlergate." We were all excited for yesterday's Devaney Court Sighting because, last time she was in......