Petition to try to convince Starbucks to close the Starbucks on Centre Street in Newton Center instead of the one in the Union Street train station:

Mr. Shultz, please be advised that I will NEVER spend a dollar at the Center Street location, nor any other Starbucks for that matter. There is a Peets Coffee and Tea location in Newton Center as well, and they will be getting my daily business going forward if you proceed with this closing. ...

Via The Missus, who writes people go to Starbucks for the ambiance, not the awful coffee and stale pastry.

The official list shows stores to close in Burlington, Dartmouth, North Attleboro, Sharon, Stoughton and Worcester, in addition to the one at 70 Union St.

Call them Shaw's or Star Market or Shirley, but just make a decision and stick with it already.

Somebody slashed the tires on 40 cars in Crystal Lake on Sunday.

Fireworks over Albemarle Field in Newton on the Fourth.

Theresa has enough of "corporate coffee" and so tries out locally owned shops in Newtonville.

Stop having a stupid ad truck drive up and down crowded Needham Street.

About the last place you'd expect to see a guy in full leather garb walking down the street is in laced-too-tight Newton. GStorm17 reports on what he saw on Winchester Street around 9:30 last night:

... Leather pants, leather vest with no shirt and gut hanging out. I had all I could do not to swerve off the road laughing so hard. I mean the guy looked like he just strolled out of the Ramrod. So is THIS what Newton is like after dark? ...

Chuck Tanowitz provides the photographic proof that should quell even the most vociferous doubter.

Margalit reports on "Insane Dad," a Newton father who has taken such an intense dislike to a group of Newton kids that he put up a Web page with their photos and detailed descriptions of why he hates them. The page came down in about four hours after Margalit and others complained to the hosting company. Naturally, it doesn't end there.