After years of trying to broker a deal to bring in a new owner, some in the Uphams Corner neighborhood are getting their wish: Bell's Furniture store at 28 Hancock St., has been sold.

"I think we've been focused on the Bell's [site] for three years," said Matthew Strauss, treasurer of the Jones Hill Civic Association. "Any time we've tried to do some sort of deal, they would back out of it."

Contact information for the Bell family could not be found for this article, and the Bell's furniture phone number did not answer on multiple attempts.  Read more

Editor's note: The Archdiocese of Boston is finalizing plans this month to restructure our neighborhood's remaining Catholic grammar schools, a process known as the 2010 Initiative. Cardinal Sean O'Malley is expected to announce details of the plan, which is likely to include school closings, by the end of this month. In this context, this article looks back at the roots of Catholic education in Dorchester.  Read more

The portrait hung in a Savin Hill Avenue parlor for at least a century. Its subject, a young boy in a green waist-coat, well coiffed, sits in an ornamental chair holding an orange and petting his devoted puppy.

The six-year-old child's soft blue eyes peer back at us through the ages, daring us to read his thoughts.

One idea that was not likely on his mind: "Someday, this painting is going to fetch my kin a whole treasure trove of greenbacks."  Read more

An MBTA rendering shows the planned archway at the new Mattapan Square station.

Two MBTA station renovations that lost certain design features due to budget cuts are being reunited with their finishing touches. At Mattapan Station, an archway that was never built is back on the drawing board and at Shawmut, a new ceiling and column caps will complete the feel of a new space.  Read more

Violent crime is down citywide, but Andy Barros would say the numbers are up in Bowdoin-Geneva, where he co-owns a bar on Bowdoin Street called Gigi's Palace. Recent events have made Barros, a father of five, fearful for his life. The bar may be sold or relocated.  Read more

In August 2006, Jeffrey Grand-Pierre gave Boston Police officers a workout. The 22 year-old suspect led police on a foot-chase down Washington and Dade Streets, tossing his Ruger .22 revolver before they caught up with him at Shawmut Avenue and Williams Street. Last month, the 22-year-old's case went to trial. Grand-Pierre was convicted and sentenced to two-and-a-half years for carrying a firearm.  Read more

For years, two Clear Channel-owned billboards have occupied prime real estate atop a prominent Adams Corner building, stirring the ire of some neighbors who deem it an eyesore. But in September, after a persistent Clear Channel and a generous landlord offered to donate $150,000 to the St. Brendan School if the signs are allowed to stay influential local civic association agreed that the boards should stay put. If the legal details work out, they will.  Read more

News that the Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester could sell or close has sparked concern among legislators and health care industry leaders, who called the facility both a health care and employment provider. People who spoke with hospital president, Dan O'Leary, at this morning's Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast said he was blindsided by Boston Globe revelations that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston was considering moves to sell or shut down the fiscally struggling hospital.  Read more

If there is anyone most qualified to endure the famed "hot seat" from television's hit show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," it's local firefighter Kevin Meehan. For the past four years, Meehan, 42, has worked with Engine #7, the oldest fire company in the United States. He is used to pressure. Whether working the pump or driving the fire engine, Meehan is well acquainted with the perspiration that accompanies tight situations.  Read more

Susan Abner, who lives on Mather Street near Fields Corner, is a professional pet groomer. She runs her own store, Snippers Hair Club for Dogs, on Dorchester Ave. in South Boston.

So, when Susan spotted a coyote prowling her street last Friday morning around 7:30 a.m., she knew it was not a dog. Out for her morning constitutional with her bijou, Abner spotted the scruffy, white-furred animal as it lept from a stone wall on the sidewalk and started towards her. She scooped up her tiny dog - and the family cat that was tagging along nearby - and got them in the house pronto.  Read more

Influenza starts to make its presence known in October and November. For some - especially senior citizens and health care workers - the dangers are especially acute.

Vaccines are available and, once again this year, a number of opportunities are available to get free flu shots in the neighborhood.

Caritas Carney Hospital will have two clinics inside the hospital next month. The first is on Wednesday, Nov. 7 from 9-11 a.m. at the hospital's basement level medical clinic. A second clinic is set at Carney on Thursday, Nov. 15 from 4-6 p.m. in the Area C basement.  Read more

Kai Leigh Harriott, who was left paralyzed at age three when a stray bullet flew into her Dorchester home, is one of many neighborhood people featured in Bill Brett's new book, Boston: An Extended Family. "Her mother told me her daughter would walk one day," says Brett. "And I thought it was important to show her in that way." Photo by Bill Brett