With somebody else's placard, Channel 4 reports.

Samantha Star snapped a photo of some burning Green Line tracks in Coolidge Corner around 6 p.m. today.

And now the state loses out on $145 million in federal stimulus funds; money was to have gone to a fancy-shmancy Silver Line extension through Roxbury and Mattapan that state officials tried to foist on the neighborhoods as a fait accompli.

Lawmakers ask state to withdraw 28X proposal (from the Dorchester Reporter a couple weeks ago).

Steve Poftak is sad.

Earlier:
Gloria Fox, Byron Rushing objected to bus cramming.<!--break-->

Boston Police report that officers responding to a 4:45 a.m. call from Wyvern Street found two guys a couple blocks away on Hyde Park Avenue acting suspiciously.<!--break-->

Lee Harvey, 18, of Dorchester and Jesus Ortiz, 18, were both arrested and charged with larceny from a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property after, police say, officers spotted one of them throwing a bag over a fence. Police say they found a bag under a car one of the two was crouching behind containing a laptop stolen from a car on Wyvern - and another bag containing numerous stolen items and cash.

Police say "this immediate area has been recently experiencing larcenies related to motor vehicles." Word, however, is that almost every district in the city has experienced an increase in car break-ins of late.

Innocent, etc.

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports a lawyer has filed "the first libel and defamation lawsuit brought on behalf of a herd of goats."

In the suit, filed in federal district court in Springfield, the herd of Nigerian dwarf goats alleges continued baad behavior on the part of two rival breeders - who are also judges at goat shows - including repeatedly bleating out rumors that the goats are "impure." Not for mutton, one of the allegations was that the goats were being bred with larger goats to produce offspring with bigger udders, which apparently judges, if not male goats, find more attractive. The lawsuit also gruffly charges the two butted heads with the herd's breeder at a show in Grafton, accusing him of being a cross dresser.

Photo by Joe Stammers. Used under this Creative Commons license.<!--break-->

They put up trees gaily decorated with lobster traps. Good Morning Gloucester is running a completely impartial poll that lets you pick the best one: "The Fantastic Majestic Gloucester Lobster Trap Tree" or "The Crappy Unimaginative Maine Lobster Trap Tree."<!--break-->

The Globe reports the state will use $30 million in federal stimulus funds - plus another $30 million that's been sitting in a Big Dig account for years - to erect a Colossus-size statue of Kraft bestriding Boston Harbor build long promised footbridges across and near the mouth of the Charles River, by the Zakim Bridge.

The Globe doesn't say if any of that money will go toward the skate park that state planners have been promising is about a year away for roughly 10 years now.<!--break-->

Please, Mr. Patrick, get your schedulers to get on the ball so you can see the reporters and editors at GateHouse New England before March 9:

<!--break-->

Brian Lee faces life without parole if convicted of the 2006 murder of his father, who had taken out several restraining orders against him in the years before his death. More from Channel 4.<!--break-->

Boston Police report a senior citizen who'd just taken money out of a Bank of America ATM at 221 Mass. Ave. had some guy walk up behind him and grab his cash.

Adam Sawallich, 24, of Boston, was arrested yesterday on Washington Street on a charge of unarmed robbery on a person over 65. He was picked up with a friend who matched the description of another man the victim saw running away, but who was not charged yesterday.

Innocent, etc.<!--break-->

Would I make that up?

Via Geoff Edgers.<!--break-->

Pretty please? With jimmies on top?

Rob Sama expresses disgust for the apparent bloodsucking leech who sucked all the money out of the chain and then dumped its sodden remains on a bankruptcy judge, adds:

... I think that the best hope for the brand is that somebody buys it out of bankruptcy court. I think it's unlikely that a PE firm would emerge to do that, but either a wealthy New Englander might, or the remaining franchisees may want to band together to save the brand. Or maybe even Hood might be convinced to step in. Or a local chef like Barbara Lynch who just opened a high-end restaurant modeled on Brighams. ...

Ed. daydreaming note: What about the hospital? Surely there's some synergy there?<!--break-->

District A-7 reports a man entering his Princeton Street apartment Wednesday night was robbed at gunpoint. He told police:

[A]n unidentified male speaking Spanish stated you just dropped your keys. The victim stated that he replied "no I didn't" and entered his residences' hallway. ... The victim then stated that the suspect followed behind him and pushed him against a wall. He then pushed the suspect away and noticed that the suspect was holding a black gun. The suspect then went into the victim's pockets and took a cell phone charger and fled down Saratoga Street.

<!--break-->

District A-7 reports two men were arrested after officers found a man lying on the ground with stab wounds on the Greenway near Gove and Bremen streets around 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The victim was taken to a local hospital with non-fatal injuries. Names of the two men, charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, were not released.<!--break-->

The Herald reports Republican Jack E. Robinson was outside Park Street last night, calling for the feds to pour enough money into the MBTA to eliminate fares and to spend $3 billion on a bullet train to Springfield.<!--break-->

100 gallons at 422 Bennington St., Local 718 tweets.

Wicked Local West Roxbury reports on two of yesterday's three bank holdups (the third was in South Boston).<!--break-->

Adam Weiss reports one of those black-suited special-forces T cops told him to stop taking pictures at the Government Center T stop this afternoon because, apparently, nobody's ever told him about the MBTA's official photography policy - which says picture taking is allowed on T property (just without a flash or tripod). Weiss says:

At least he was nice about it this time. He apologized, saying he didn't know the rules. Let me go on my way. Nothing against the cop, just the T for not informing him.

<!--break-->

Panera Bread goes before the Boston Licensing Board on Dec. 2 for a license to open a restaurant and patio at 75 Spring St. - in the same little mini-mall as Finagle-A-Bagel (Ed. question: Hmm, does this mean that never overly crowded bagel place is closing? Or staying on to compete?).<!--break-->

If approved, the patio would have seats for up to 16, and would mean a certain kidlet who loves Panera Bread would no longer have to ask her father to drive her all the way over to Dedham.

Meanwhile, renovation work continues apace at the old Spring Blossom, 1249 VFW Parkway, where, according to this article, Gasshan Samaha, the owner of Nicole's Pizza in the South End, is building a Lebanese restaurant. He also has a permit for a patio.

When the two restaurants open, that will bring the number of West Roxbury restaurants with outdoor seating to four (Bertucci's and Skara Grill also have patios) - six if you include the little tables the King puts out and the two tables DeNo's has.

Chanie Infante Louisma reports (Facebook login required):

A Brookline Metco parent called this morning to report recent crimes
against METCO students. Another Brookline Metco parent, who happens to be a Boston police officer, reported that Metco students have been targeted by Boston Public School students.

Boston students are jumping Metco students after they get off their bus and stealing electronics (i.e. Cell phones, digital cameras, etc).

<!--break-->