Pit bull attacked pupil, witnesses say

A Peabody man suffered a fatal heart attack at the Kelly Clarkson concert at Boston University on Tuesday, university officials said yesterday. Colin Riley, BU spokesman, said the 38-year-old man, who was not identified, collapsed during the pop singer’s show at Agganis Arena shortly before 10 p.m. The man was taken by ambulance to Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, where he died.

The Police Department’s blog, bpdnews.com, is in the process of adding new features that will allow citizens greater access to information regarding crimes in their area. Visitors to the site will find not only community alerts, but links to websites such as Neighbors for Neighbors, Boston Crime Mapping, Neighborhood Alerts and the Text-A-Tip program. All three of these are preexisting websites that police thought would help increase the flow of information to locals. “This is going to increase transparency for the department and make information more readily available to the public,’’ said officer Eddy Chrispin.

A Newton butcher shop has reached a settlement with the state attorney general’s office, which alleged that the shop violated the kosher food law by posting signs in Hebrew advertising kosher meats and presenting itself as having Kosher certification on its website when it was no longer certified, said Emily Lagrassa, spokeswoman for Attorney General Martha Coakley. Ricardo Bosich, proprietor of Gordon and Alperin Butcher Shop, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1,000. Lagrassa said the shop dropped its Kosher supervision and certification around September 2008, but had resumed it recently. Bosich’s wife, Susan Davis, said her husband had continued to sell only Kosher products in his shop and had posted a sign noting that its official Kosher certification had lapsed.

Five members of the seven-member School Committee met last night in a private session and voted to recommend that Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy step down by Nov. 20. Committee attorney Naomi Stonberg said that if Laboy decides not to resign, the committee will explore all legal options. Laboy has been on leave from his $200,000-a-year job since June after police raided his offices and home in a probe of possible financial improprieties. The state Office of Campaign and Political Finance said in September that Laboy and others used school department printing presses to help political candidates. (AP)

The Providence Journal says it’s “saddened’’ that some readers have been offended by an editorial cartoon depicting a mixed-race Rhode Island lawmaker as a shoeshine boy. The cartoon, which ran Saturday, showed House Majority Leader Gordon Fox shining the shoes of House Speaker William Murphy, who was wearing a crown. The cartoon prompted an outcry by the NAACP, which said it was inappropriate to depict a person of color as subservient. Fox is half Irish and half Cape Verdean. The newspaper stopped short of an apology yesterday, but explained that cartoonist Jim Bush did not mean to refer to Fox’s racial background. Cliff Montiero, president of the NAACP in Providence, says he is satisfied and that the paper’s explanation is a step in the right direction. (AP)