Recently, if you look out the windows on the Red Line between Harvard and Porter, you'll almost always find workers pressing against the wall to let a train by. In case the water-stained tunnel walls don't give it away: they're working on the corroded tracks as we speak. However, that may not be enough time to keep the tunnels in shape, and as The Globe explains:

The Massachusetts Court of Appeals today upheld a judge's sentence against a man convicted of repeatedly punching and kicking a pregnant supermarket worker who tried to stop him from shoplifting - a longer sentence that was imposed after he refused to accept probation as a condition of his original, shorter term behind bars.

Gene A. Jackson was convicted for a 2009 incident at the Porter Square Shaw's, involving a loss-prevention officer who followed him out of the store:

Eggplanet Cabernet reports on the cause of the fire alarm going off this evening at Porter Square Galleria:

I went outside (not that long since we evacuated a building for an earthquake, after all) to my car in the small garage at the back, to find someone in a U-Haul trying desperately to back out of the low-height portion of the garage. They had hit the water main pipe that feeds the sprinkler system there. I might add also that the U-Haul was directly under a sign that said "7-foot clearance"

Why people as far away as Watertown could smell it. Photo by Kris.

Wheeling up from lower Hyde Park, I swung over to the Porter Square Bob Slates. I thought of Lily Tomlin - they don't care; they don't have to; they're closing.

A half dozen of us, all of whom had shopped the mini-chain for a long time were browsing. Everyone felt compelled to tell the two Bob Slate Stationer clerks how sorry they were the stores were closing. We didn't get any feel-good in return.

Oddly, the store had virtually nothing discounted. The calendars were 50% off, but hell, Borders did that the first week in January. Customer after customer would ask what the discounts were, only to hear that if it wasn't marked with a red slash, as nearly nothing was, it was full price.

Repeated word from the clerks was that the Church Street Harvard Square store had to clean up and get out before the end of the month, so its last day was Sunday. The bigger Mass Ave Harvard Square one would close a week later. Then all the remaining merchandise would move to Porter for the End of Paper Days.

Time was, people who didn't want their bags searched at one of the random checkpoints could just turn around and find another station - or even just another entrance to the same station.

Dan reports that when he arrived at Porter this morning and got pulled aside for screening, he declined to submit and walked out to look for a cab. Finding none, he started to board a T bus, but "two plainclothes MBTA police stopped me because I refused bag screening." He says he walked to Harvard Square, where he did find a cab.

Cambridge Day reports on efforts to build a center in Porter Square for cooking classes and food-based entrepreneurs.

Elm Street by Cherry Street was shut shortly after 1 p.m. AlertNewEngland tweets there's a possible hostage situation there and that the SWAT cops have set up a command center behind the Kennedy School.