John Dempsey

A six-alarm fire destroyed the press box and announcer's booth atop the historic grandstand at Suffolk Downs in East Boston Monday night. The former Massachusetts track was vacant at the time except for security personnel, and no one was injured in the blaze. As firefighters monitored hot spots and tried to determine a cause Tuesday morning, there was a sense of "it could have been worse" among neighbors and onlookers at the scene. Although the roof of the building sustained fire and water damage, the hulking steel-and-concrete structure built in...