For many at Fenway, he’s now a candidate for Hall of Shame
By Marissa Lang and David Abel – Globe Correspondent And Globe Staff / August 20, 2010

There was no doubt in Kenny Doyle’s mind about what should happen to Roger Clemens.

“When I heard about the indictment today, I thought it was awesome,’’ Doyle, 61, said as he stood in line with his three children and grandchildren outside Fenway last night. “If he’s proven guilty, he should absolutely do the time.’’

His grandson, Kenny Doyle III, 12, felt the same about the six-count federal indictment announced yesterday alleging Clemens lied and committed perjury by denying he had used steroids or human growth hormone.

“I hate people who use steroids,’’ the younger Doyle said, clutching his mitt. “It takes away from the real people, who should own all the records.’’

It was hard to find anyone around Fenway Park yesterday who didn’t have a similar opinion about the pitcher who made his Major League Baseball debut with the Red Sox in 1984 and became one of the team’s greatest pitchers, before earning fans’ ire by defecting to Toronto for the 1997 season, and then to the Yankees.

Man charged with disorderly conduct after Fenway arrest
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff – August 19, 2010

A Randolph man was arrested at Fenway Park Wednesday night after he allegedly directed racial epithets at a security guard and harassed a woman who refused to sit with him at a table, police said.

Boston police said in a statement that Eric C. Englehart, 41, was arrested shortly after 8 p.m. and charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing, and resisting arrest.

Englehart allegedly began “berating and verbally abusing” a female fan who refused to sit with him, the statement said, and later pulled his pants down when security approached. Security personnel told police that he had been removed from a game a few months ago for similar behavior, according to the statement.

Vintage Boston, no postage necessary
By Sydney Lupkin – Globe Correspondent / August 20, 2010

A vintage car rolls over cobblestones on School Street as crowds peruse storefronts shaded with candy-striped awnings. Trolleys cut through Copley Square as a family waits to cross the street in front of Trinity Church, its red roof soaring above surrounding buildings. The Red Sox, wearing white caps, warm up on the field at Fenway Park as crowds fill bleachers

These iconic images from Boston’s past are among more than 200 postcards from the early 1900s displayed on three walls in the Johnson Lobby at the Boston Public Library. Some are originals; others replicas. A map on one wall depicts Boston landmarks next to cards illustrating them. Another wall chronicles, in cards, the evolution of Copley Square.

“It’s special,’’ Peter Larsen said yesterday as he stood transfixed before the Copley wall, taking in the history of his neighborhood.

US conducts antiterrorism drill at MIT – Theft of radioactive material is feared
By Bryan Bender – Globe Staff / August 20, 2010

WASHINGTON — US counterterrorism officials held an exercise at MIT yesterday to better prepare local authorities to respond to the potential theft of radioactive material, part of a series of security enhancements federal officials are putting in place at facilities across the region that are considered vulnerable to terrorists seeking weapons of mass destruction.

Led by the Department of Energy and the FBI, the exercise involved a fictitious scenario in which terrorists tried to steal cobalt, a highly radioactive substance that is used in hospitals to irradiate blood, but could also be used to make a so-called dirty bomb to spread deadly radiation. The exercise included officials from MIT’s police force, the medical community, Cambridge police, Massachusetts State Police, and fire officials.

The exercise was not announced publicly. Officials would not say whether they encountered specific problems.

Students urged to use care on Esplanade – Police issue alert about attacks on women at night
By Travis Andersen – Globe Staff / August 20, 2010

Authorities are urging city residents and incoming college students to be alert on the Charles River Esplanade, especially at night, following a series of sexual assaults that have occurred there during the summer since 2007.

Boston and State Police have assigned detectives to the case and are “committed to sharing information’’ with Suffolk County prosecutors, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. Police say they believe all of the assaults were committed by the same man.

In a joint statement, Conley and police administrators said four women attacked along the Esplanade and other locations since 2006 gave the same description of the assailant, that of a bald, clean-shaven black male in his mid-20s to mid-30s between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 10 inches tall with a large build.

The first attack on the Esplanade occurred on June 16, 2007, when a 20-year-old woman was raped while jogging near the Massachusetts Avenue bridge. A second 20-year-old female was abducted at knifepoint the following month on Beacon Street and forced to walk to the Esplanade, where she was raped and robbed, authorities said.

Licensing chief thinks pub where man died can use glass
By Jack Nicas – Globe Correspondent / August 20, 2010

The head of the city’s Licensing Board said yesterday that the Lansdowne Street bar where a man was killed by a broken beer mug last week will retain its liquor license and that the board will support the pub’s right to use glassware.

The Lansdowne Pub stopped using glassware and glass bottles this week at the request of a different licensing department, which could still ban glass permanently at the bar during a hearing next month. At the bar early Saturday morning, Hector Guardiola, 25, of South Boston, allegedly threw a glass that shattered and fatally injured Michael DiMaria, 23, a New York man.

“I will not be asking them to go to plastic,’’ said Michael Connolly, chairman of the Boston Licensing Board, which governs liquor licenses and can ban glass at bars. “This is an establishment with a good record that had an incredible freak accident . . . and at the moment I certainly don’t see their [liquor] license in jeopardy.’’

Earlier this week, Patricia Malone — Boston’s director of consumer affairs and licensing, who governs entertainment licenses — asked the bar to switch to plastic cups and nonglass bottles until the hearing with her Sept. 15. She declined yesterday to comment whether she would permanently ban glass at the bar.

On menu: ‘Food people love to eat’ – Also, hot-pot eatery, book on hospitality
By Donna Goodison / Turning the Tables/August 20, 2010

Chef Tim Partridge, who devoted the last year and a half to spending time with his little girl, catering and “laying low” until the right opportunity came along, is excited to be back in his own restaurant’s kitchen.

Partridge is now wearing two hats as general manager and executive chef of Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen, set to open next week at 604 Columbus Ave. in Boston. It’s the spot most remembered as restaurateur Darryl Settles’ Bob’s Southern Bistro and the former longtime Bob the Chef’s.

Partridge has partnered with building owner Settles in the new restaurant and neighborhood bar, which will serve a regional American menu. Formerly at the East Coast Grill in Cambridge, Partridge owned Perdix in the South End and was last with the Back Bay Restaurant Group’s Atlantic Fish Co. and Bouchee in the Back Bay.

Two men rescued from Charles River
NECN.com – Aug 20, 2010 5:20am

Two men are alive this morning — thanks to an overnight rescue from the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts.

They were pulled from the water just before 3:00 a.m. near the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge.

Dive teams tell NECN it was two young men in their 20s, who were in the water for about 20 minutes. Both seemed to be OK, but were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital as a precaution.

Another local blog, courtesy of Universal Hub – The Bottom Line

1882 – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky‘s 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.  More anniversaries.

Treasures piled high, thrill is in the hunt – World’s Fair of Money holds rare, precious, historic artifacts
By Marissa Lang – Globe Correspondent / August 11, 2010

In Blackbeard’s day, “coin collecting’’ meant swashbuckling, flying a Jolly Roger flag, and making rivals walk the plank at swordpoint. Today, it is a little tamer.

A new breed of collectors filled Boston’s Hynes Veterans Convention Center yesterday, traveling from table to table instead of sea to sea. But what they are searching for has not changed at all: treasure.

“The fun is in the hunt,’’ said Andy Lustig, 49, a vendor from Nyack, N.Y.

Hundreds of people from across the country came to the World’s Fair of Money to find that something special. For some, that meant unusual coins.

For others, the historical artifacts on display were the true find.

See also:  Rare US silver dollar draws $1.2m at auction

Setting the table for Restaurant Week Boston
By Herald staff – August 11, 2010

Sharon Reilly, executive director of the Woman’s Lunch Place, helps kick off the 10th anniversary of Restaurant Week Boston yesterday at the Colonnade Hotel. The event – which will benefit the nonprofit provider of food and shelter for women and children – runs Aug. 15-20 and 22-27 with special meal deals at 220 eateries across Greater Boston. Organizers said that participating restaurants will put a particular emphasis this year on locally harvested foods. For details, go to www.BostonUSA.com/RestaurantWeek.

Fast Food: The razor clam, a Fenway bash and more…
By Kerry J. Byrne / Boston Herald – August 11, 2010

Aerosmith and the J. Geils Band hit Fenway Park Saturday night for the biggest show in Boston this year.

Before the big gig, local food and music lovers will meet and greet on the Fenway roof deck for a swanky VIP soiree with party plates prepared by Todd Winer of the Metropolitan Club and Jason Santos of Gargoyles on the Square, the star of last night’s “Hell’s Kitchen” TV finale.

The bash is hosted by Hot Stove Cool Music founders Theo Epstein, the Red Sox general manager, and Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons. It’s a fund-raiser for Epstein’s Foundation To Be Named Later. Tickets ($250) can be purchased at foundationtobenamedlater.org.

Word is that band members might even make the scene. Aerosmith axe man Joe Perry, for one, is an avid foodie who markets his own line of hot sauce and hosts barbecue bashes at his deluxe Duxbury spread.

3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins.  More anniversaries.

Boston hopes for Haiti president bid by Wyclef Jean
By Guychardson Destin and Tenley Woodman/Boston Herald – July 28, 2010

Rapper. Grammy winner. Humanitarian.

President?

Musician Wyclef Jean has not officially declared his candidacy, but talk that the former Fugee will enter the presidential race in his native Haiti has young members of Boston’s Haitian community excited.

He is a hero to a lot of people,” said Bendhjy Nazaire, 19, who immigrated to Somerville from Aux Cayes, Haiti, when he was 8 years old.

Jean, 37, was born in Haiti, but has lived in America for most of his life. He returned to his homeland to aid relief efforts following a catastrophic earthquake that devastated Haiti in January, killing an estimated 230,000 people and leaving 1 million homeless.

Jean’s family released a statement yesterday that read, “If and when a decision is made, media will be alerted immediately.”

Pa. woman charged in fake Hynes bridal expo – Similar scams tricked vendors in other states
By Jonathan Saltzman – Globe Staff / July 28, 2010

Federal authorities say they have arrested the mastermind of a scheme that defrauded scores of wedding industry vendors who registered for a bridal show at the Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in March that turned out to be a sham.

Karen Tucker, 47, of Pittsburgh, was arrested yesterday in that city and charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to the office of US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz in Boston.

Vendors allegedly lost thousands of dollars in the ploy, the focus of a five-month investigation by cybercrime sleuths for the FBI and Boston police.

Tucker appears to have staged similar schemes in at least five other states since 2007, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed yesterday.

“This alleged scheme targeted the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and cost many small businesses thousands of dollars,’’ Ortiz said in a statement. “Thanks to the tremendous cooperation between the FBI and the Boston Police Department, we were able to unravel a scheme that had a large impact, with victims that spanned across the country.’’

The shaping of things – In her new book, Wheelock professor Gail Dines warns that the prevalence of porn is twisting our attitudes about sex
By Don Aucoin – Globe Staff / July 27, 2010

CHESTNUT HILL– With just a few clicks of her desktop computer’s keyboard in her home office here, Gail Dines travels to a place she wishes did not exist: a pornographic website.

The images seem designed to maximize the women’s humiliation, a point that is not lost on Dines. “If you really watch it carefully, you can see that they’re in pain, exhausted, demoralized,’’ she says, looking somberly at the screen.

For three decades, Dines has been watching the pornography industry very carefully. What she has seen has ignited such a fury and sense of mission that she has made pornography a focus of her research, writing, teaching, and activism. As she has emerged as a leading anti-porn advocate, Dines has also become a target of venomous attacks: In one of the criticisms that can be printed in a family newspaper, a writer called her a “blind, delusional, opportunistic hack.’’

Her critics will not be pleased to learn that Dines is escalating her campaign with a new book titled “Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality’’ (Beacon Press). In particular, she is sounding the alarm about the ubiquity of “gonzo’’ porn, an extreme form of pornography that specializes in the degradation of women and that is available 24/7 on the Internet.

Sox ailing on airwaves, too – TV, radio ratings down sharply, threatening profits, as team’s on-field frustrations mount
By D.C. Denison and Alexandria McMahon – Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent / July 28, 2010

A lackluster season is taking its toll on the Boston Red Sox — on and off the field.

TV and radio ratings have fallen dramatically this season, along with many of the team’s marquee names. As the injured list has grown and the Sox have settled into third place in the American League East, more listeners and viewers seem to be finding other ways to spend a few hours on a summer evening.

The shrinking audiences could affect business — for the team as well as for other companies that have long relied on Red Sox fervor to drive revenues.

After a six-year run as the baseball franchise with the highest rated local telecasts in the country, Boston has tumbled to the fifth spot. Ratings for Red Sox games on NESN in the first half of the season fell almost 36 percent from the same period last year, according to an analysis of Nielsen Media Research data by the SportsBusiness Journal.

Ratings for Red Sox games broadcast on WEEI-AM were down 16.5 percent, to 107,500 listeners. Listenership among 25- to 54-year-old males was down even more — by 28 percent.

Boston neighborhoods offer a variety of pizza pies
[This is one of those annoying features in which you have to keep opening a new page to find out the next pizzeria on the list.  It's included here because Woody's Pizza on Hemenway St. made the list, most deservedly. - ed]

1868 – The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is passed, establishing African-American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.  More anniversaries.

Basho: Chi-chi sushi
By Mat Schaffer/Boston Herald – July 16, 2010

The new Basho Japanese Brasserie down the street from Fenway Park is seductively sleek and satisfying.

It’s owned by Jack Huang, genial proprietor of hip Dartmouth Street sushi palace Douzo. At Basho, Huang ramps up the hipness factor with ultra-modernistic decor, house music and an enormous selection of tapas-sized, izakaya gastro-pub dishes meant to be shared.

The menu is intimidatingly long. There’s a slew of cold and hot appetizers, a la carte tempura and skewers of robata-grilled meats, seafood and vegetables, cooked radiantly over compressed charcoal.

There’s also traditional sashimi and sushi and not-so-traditional “flavored” sashimi and sushi of assorted raw fishes paired with unexpected garnishes complementing a handful of fusion-influenced entrees.
Honestly, the menu’s so deep you risk drowning.

622 – The beginning of the Islamic calendar.  More anniversaries.

Triple-decker territory – As prices rise, some worry a new crop of speculators is looking for a profit without investing in the neighborhood
By Jenifer B. McKim – Globe Staff / June 17, 2010

Three-family homes have offered generations of Massachusetts families the opportunity to own property in a housing market that might otherwise be out of reach.

Traditionally, middle-income families who bought triple-deckers — the mainstay of many urban neighborhoods — lived in one apartment while renting out the others to offset mortgage payments.

But triple-deckers also have been a hotbed for speculators, making their values especially volatile. In recent years, their prices climbed faster and then fell more steeply than prices for other types of property in the state, according to a study to be released today by the public nonprofit Massachusetts Housing Partnership.

Now, prices and sales of triple-deckers are once again heading up. Some public officials and housing advocates worry that’s because a new crop of investors is buying multifamily homes in hopes of turning quick profits. That could spark another pattern of boom-and-bust in vulnerable neighborhoods.

“The cycle of neglect is continuing,’’ said Tamar Kotelchuck, director of policy and neighborhood planning for Lawrence CommunityWorks, a nonprofit community development corporation who worries some investors are purchasing neglected properties without plans for improvements. “They are being occupied with little and no work.’’

Postgame scuffle in Hub
By Ramin Edmond/Boston Herald – Friday, June 18, 2010

A brawl in the crowd leaving the Fenway area bars after the Celtics’ loss last night may have left a woman injured, after she was thrown down by a police officer busting up a fight between several women.

The group of three women were pulling each other’s hair and scatching at each other in front of a Kenmore Square restaurant shortly after midnight when a Herald reporter saw a police officer run in to bust it up.

As the officer separated them, one woman lunged at the other two again.

The officer grabbed her around the waist to pull her off them, manhandling her away to one side. Her feet tripped on the pavement as she was thrown aside, and she went down on her side, slamming shoulder first and then hitting her head hard on the pavement in a whiplash motion.

The woman seemed to lie motionless with her eyes open for tense moments before she came to.

Pinkberry to open on Newbury Street
By Donna Goodison/Boston Herald – June 17, 2010

An L.A. frozen yogurt chain that’s become sort of a cult fave has landed a Boston location.

Pinkberry will open a fro-yo shop at 286 Newbury St.

Cambridge’s NE Frog Pond LLC, Pinkberry’s New England franchisee, couldn’t say when the Hub shop, which still needs permits, will debut. The company first will open a Pinkberry at the Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham, tentatively by late August.

Specializing in tangy fro-yo, Pinkberry started in 2005 in West Hollywood and has spawned a string of local imitators in the last few years.

Flavors include the non-fat “original” and seasonal offerings. More than 30 fresh fruit and other toppings range from Cap’n Crunch to almond slices and pomegranate juice.

MFS plans move in Back Bay
By Thomas Grillo/Boston Herald – Friday, June 18, 2010

Mutual fund giant MFS Investment Management has a deal to fill the space vacated by Bain Capital at 111 Huntington Ave., sources said.

MFS, which leases 300,000 square feet of office space at 500 Boylston St. from Equity Residential at about $60 per square foot, has a letter of intent to take about the same amount of space in the 36-story tower on Huntington owned by Boston Properties for rent in the $50 range, according to sources. MFS’ current lease ends in February 2013.

None of the parties would comment on the transaction. A Boston Properties executive denied knowledge of the move, while David Richardson, MFS’ broker, did not return calls seeking comment. An Equity Office spokesman could not be reached for comment.

1815 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo leads to Napoleon Bonaparte abdicating the throne of France for the second and last time.  More anniversaries.

1650 – The Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the two administrative boards of Harvard, is established. It is the first legal corporation in the Americas.  More anniversaries.

City asks state to OK plans for cafes, shops to replace restrooms
By David Abel – Globe Staff / June 9, 2010

The city’s parks commissioner urged state lawmakers yesterday to approve a plan to replace long-shuttered bathrooms on Boston Common and in the Back Bay Fens with outdoor cafes, bicycle rental companies, or other businesses.

At a hearing before the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, Antonia M. Pollak, commissioner of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, sought legislative support so the city can begin soliciting bids on what would be a multimillion-dollar restoration of two landmarks.

She also asked the Legislature to grant the city the right to lease the properties for up to 25 years. The city is restricted from leasing such properties for more than three years.

“In these difficult economic times, parks agencies are trying to find models that will ensure our parks will be clean, green, and safe in the future,’’ she told lawmakers in her prepared remarks.

“Positive uses like park-related vending can assist with this goal.’’

Police ask newspapers to remove boxes where Celtics revelers gather
By Stefanie Geisler, Globe Correspondent – June 8, 2010
As a safety precaution during the NBA Finals, Boston police are asking newspaper outlets to remove distribution boxes from parts of the city to prevent revelers from using them to commit vandalism or injure themselves and others.

North Station, home of TD Garden, Faneuil Hall, and Kenmore Square are areas of particular concern.

“They get tossed around and things of that nature,” said Officer James Kenneally, a police spokesman. In the past, the boxes have been thrown through windows, for example.

After the Celtics won the title in 2008, more than two dozen people — some of whom toppled newspaper boxes — were arrested when celebrations turned rowdy.

Beth Israel parent agrees to $8.5M wage settlement
By Christine McConville/Boston Herald – June 8, 2010

CareGroup Healthcare System has agreed to an $8.5 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit brought against its four hospitals and their affiliates over claims of certain unpaid wages.

If the settlement agreement is approved by a judge, it will resolve all asserted claims for employees who worked at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Needham, Mt. Auburn Hospital and New England Baptist Hospital on or after Sept. 3, 2006.

The employees sued after accusing the medical group of not paying them for working through lunch breaks and past their scheduled shifts.
Union organizers applauded the pending deal.

“This settlement is a tremendous victory for workers at (Beth Israel) and other CareGroup facilities,” said Veronica Turner, vice president of 1199SEIU, a health-care union that has been working with certain CareGroup employees who want to unionize the hospitals.

Early harvest – Local farmers markets open for the season
By Mat Schaffer/Boston Herald – June 9, 2010

It’s the beginning of the farmers market season and personal chef Julia Grimaldi is excited.

Even in early June, there’s plenty to buy.

“You’ll see lots of strawberries,” she says as she begins to wander the Copley Square market (Tuesdays and Fridays, 11 a.m.- 6 p.m.), basket in hand. “A lot of green – lettuces, arugula, chard, kale, collard greens and choys. All kinds of radishes. And green garlic. It’s harvested before the garlic matures and looks like a big scallion; you’ll never see it in a supermarket.”

Plus eggs, baked goods, cheeses, honey, pasture raised meats, an assortment of prepared foods and brightly colored herbs and flowers.
Grimaldi will share her enthusiasm for buying and cooking local ingredients in two evening classes she will teach next month at the Boston Center for Adult Education (July 14 and 28).
…
To locate a farmers market near you, go to massfarmersmarkets.org.

Alumna to star in newest MTV’s ”The Real World”
by Bill Shaner, Huntington News Staff – 6/08/10

Like almost every university, Northeastern has produced many a scholar, businessman, lawyer and public official. But now the Husky has a more rare product to tout: a soon-to-be reality TV star.

Ashlee Feldman, a 2009 graduate with a degree in communication studies and former captain of the women’s basketball team, will star on “The Real World: New Orleans” with seven other young adults from around the country.

The season is set to premier June 30 and will be the 24th season of a program known for its drama, hook-ups and drunken revelry.

Feldman and her roommates shared a house from February to April. The crew arrived two weeks before the New Orleans Saints won the Superbowl on their home field, leading into a nearly week-long Mardi Gras celebration. In an interview with The News, Feldman said that timing helped make the show memorable.