The Boston Police Department reports delivery men for two separate Chinese restaurants were held up on the same street last week.  Read more

The Boston Fire Department blames "careless disposal of smoking material" for a two-alarm blaze at 22 Gaylord St. Thursday afternoon that displaced two people and did an estimated $200,000 in damage.

The fire broke out around 5:20 p.m. in a second-floor bedroom, the department says.

A wide range of Dorchester theater artists–many of them from the talent-rich Savin Hill–are in last-minute rehearsals for upcoming performances in both professional and semi-professional local musical shows.  Read more

Savin Hill Little League players and their coaches paraded to McConnell Park on Saturday. Photo by Paige Buckley

The Savin Hill Little League opened its season last Saturday with players, friends, and families marching from the Little House on East Cottage Street to a short ceremony at their home fields at McConnell Park. Though largely joyful, this year’s celebration was marked by the absence of 8-year-old Martin Richard, who played for the Rangers and was killed in the Marathon Monday bomb explosions.

“Everybody made a little extra effort to make sure the kids felt good about playing baseball again,” said Mike McCann, the league’s treasurer. “The focus was on starting again.”

Boston firefighters turned out in large numbers wearing baseball t-shirts bearing Richard’s name and his number 8 and emblazoned with the phrase “We are Martin’s firefighters” on the front. Behind a vintage police car and a fire truck with a banner honoring the Richard family and the firefighter’s bagpipe band, the Little Leaguers carried a banner that read, “We are one team.” Boston Police officers wore “Boston Strong” t-shirts and a handful of state troopers stood at attention as the players and their families poured onto the fields.  Read more

State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry of Dorchester hardly flinched in the mid-evening hours of Tuesday as The Boston Globe and the Associated Press were reporting that state Rep. Nick Collins, her opponent from South Boston, would win the Democratic nomination in the special election to represent the First Suffolk District in the state Senate.

Despite those calls by the local media, all the ballots in 77 precincts across South Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, and parts of Hyde Park had not yet been counted, and when the unofficial results were posted a few hours later, it was Dorcena Forry who was on top, by 378 votes out of 21,730 cast.

See a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of the election returns (PDF).  Read more

State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry on Tuesday eked out a win in a three-way Democratic primary as part of a special election to replace former state Sen. Jack Hart in the First Suffolk Senate District seat, her campaign said. Dorcena Forry, a Dorchester Democrat, bested state Rep. Nick Collins of South Boston and Maureen Dahill, who also lives in South Boston, her camp said.

Campaign manager Cayce McCabe said by their count, Dorcena Forry, who was first elected to the Massachusetts House in 2005, won by 370 votes.  Read more

As voting got underway Tuesday, ballots that did not include the state Senate race for the First Suffolk District were discovered in two wards in South Boston, according to campaign staff and the Secretary of State's office.

Phones started ringing early Tuesday morning at state Rep. Nick Collins' campaign headquarters with supporters reporting the First Suffolk District race was missing from the ballot, said Kristen Franks, a spokeswoman for Collins, a South Boston Democrat running to succeed former Sen. Jack Hart.  Read more

A newspaper ad featuring a photo of Gov. Deval Patrick and a candidate for the vacant First Suffolk Senate seat is “misleading,” Patrick said Sunday.  Read more

Rev. Jeffrey Brown said on Friday that he isn’t endorsing anybody in the First Suffolk Senate race. His statement to the Reporter came after a release from state Rep. Nick Collins’s campaign erroneously claimed the reverend as a supporter.

Days later, Rev. Brown was featured in a 30-second robocall to voters on Sunday, endorsing Collins's opponent, state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry. "Let there be no confusion about who I personally support for the state Senate this Tuesday, April 30," he said, calling Dorcena Forry his "personal choice" and citing her legislative experience.  Read more

Senate primary on Tuesday: Democratic candidates Maureen Dahill, Linda Dorcena Forry, and Nick Collins at Monday’s DotOUT forum in Savin Hill. Mike Deehan photo

Voters in Dorchester, Mattapan, South Boston, and a portion of Hyde Park will go to the polls next Tuesday as the campaigns in a special election to replace former state Sen. Jack Hart wind down their efforts.

Because of the district’s deep-blue shading, the results of a three-way Democratic primary between a Dorchester candidate and a pair of contenders from South Boston are expected to be determinative. The winner of the April 30 primary will face off against Dorchester Republican Joseph Ureneck on May 28.  Read more

Peace is possible.

It’s a message of hope. It’s a message of empowerment. And on Sunday, May 12th 2013, it’s the message that survivors of homicide and their supporters will take onto the streets of Dorchester in the 17th Annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.  Read more

Candidates hoping to succeed Mayor Thomas Menino slowly returned to the campaign trail this week after most of them had suspended campaign activities following last week’s Boston Marathon bombings.

Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley appeared at a First Suffolk State Senate forum organized by DotOUT, a group of LGBT activists from Dorchester. He worked his way through the crowd at Savin Bar before heading out to another event. And District 8 City Councillor Michael Ross, also a candidate for mayor, came by as the Monday night forum was winding down.  Read more