Newton Woman Tells Off Caller After Realizing Hostage Situation a Fake

Fake Hostage Calls Are a Thing. Shobha Menon, of Newton, received a call claiming that her husband was being held hostage—and that she should wire money to Puerto Rico for his safe release. Thinking quickly, she drove to her husband’s gym, found him, and told the caller that “he should be ashamed.” (Side note: Wouldn’t you love to be minding your own business on a nearby treadmill during this one?) Newton police believe the scammer has targeted thousands of women, and at least one woman has wired money so far.  [WHDH]

A Union for Cafeteria Workers May Be Forming at Simmons College. Some students, professors, and union workers from UNITE HERE Local 26 worked for the past year to petition Aramark and Simmons dining director Andy Allen to exercise their right to organize. About 80 percent of the school’s cafeteria workers have signed on, according to The Phoenix.  [The Phoenix]

Deval Patrick Mum on What The Next Pope Should Be Like. “I’m not going anywhere near that,” he said when asked what qualities the Church should put forward in the next pope. But Patrick did share a few words about the Archbishop of Boston, Sean O’Malley, whom he was supposed to join for breakfast the day O’Malley wound up heading to Rome. “He wears the weight of the issues facing the Catholic church in a very personal way and a very compassionate way,” Patrick said. “But I don’t have a sense of the field and I don’t get a vote.”  [MassLive.com]

This Is Maybe Possibly a Slight Overreaction from an Off-Duty Cop. An unnamed officer drew her weapon because of an unleashed German shepherd in Franklin Park. “I was in shock. I was like, ‘What the [expletive]?’ … It is Franklin Park, and things do happen,” Geoffrey McGaffigan told the Herald. “I was just like, ‘OK.’ I put the dog on a leash, and we started to walk away.”  [Herald]

Harpoon Has a New Stout Just In Time for St. Patrick’s Day. Harpoon hopes to rival the city’s Guinness taps.  [Boston Business Journal]