Bean Counter

By Dig Staff

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The Milky Way Lounge could close down as early as August, when its 15-year lease on the Jamaica Plain location is up. After that, the rent is scheduled to go up by 85 percent. Mayor Menino, apparently a fan of bowling, wrote to the Milky Way's landlord requesting a temporary negotiated lease for the "iconic symbol of Jamaica Plain." Hipster bowlers, get in as much time as you can. Even if the Mayor's letter campaign is victorious, it only staves off the inevitable for another year. MINUS 1

Underground fires were all the rage (har har) last week, with manholes ablaze in Harvard Square and in Dorchester on Friday. An NStar contractor in Dorchester was treated for minor burns, and no one in Harvard Square was hurt, in spite of the fact that Au Bon Pain (oui oui!), Cambridge Savings Bank and Harvard's Holyoke Center all caught on fire. MINUS 1

A phony bomb threat at Boston University's Mugar Memorial Library prompts a two-hour evacuation, and the arrest of the student who told a librarian she had a bomb. She was carrying a cardboard box that held a cuckoo clock, a framed picture and newspapers ... scary stuff. MINUS 1

Barbara Walters discloses her affair with US Senator Edward Brooke, D-Mass., which apparently lasted several years in the 1970s, while Brooke was still married and serving his second term and Walters was a rising star at NBC. Why should we care? Because Walters has a book to sell! And Brooke's response to the ancient scandal? "I have had a lifetime policy of not discussing my personal and private life ... with the notable exception of what I wrote in my recently published autobiography, Bridging the Divide: My Life." Classy. PLUS 2 book deals.

"Big Brown" wins the Kentucky Derby. He's unstoppable, apparently, so don't get in his way. PLUS 1

Albert Hoffman, the chemist who invented LSD and went on the world's first documented acid trip, dies at 102. Too bad he was Swiss; that would've been some Irish funeral. MINUS 1

Carmen DiNunzio, aka the "Cheese Man," the reputed second-in-command for the Boston branch of the New England mafia, faces federal charges for attempting to bribe an undercover FBI agent (posing as a state official) in 2006 to secure a $6 million contract, providing fill for the Big Dig. Kinda cool to know the city you live in is like the setting for some seedy detective novel, right? MINUS 1

Dedham's Museum of Bad Art is expanding to a second location; the basement of the Somerville Theater, next to the bathrooms (of course). PLUS 2

THIS WEEK'S TOTAL: EVEN

LAST WEEK'S TOTAL: MINUS 8