Cambridge

Complete listing; roads, including Memorial Drive between the BU Bridge and Mass. Ave., and the Mass. Ave. bridge into Cambridge, will be closed during the morning rush hour.

Greg Hum, who took this photo, reports:

Car turning corner plows row of parked cars at Erie and Pearl St. in Cambridge.

Dana noticed the Alchemist at the MIT student center is sporting a new shoulder patch today.

Ben Heyman took this photo of a Charles River sunset a couple weeks ago, but it somehow seems fitting today.

Shortly before 7 p.m., a hearse left the state medical examiner's office on Albany Street, headed toward a Wilmington funeral home with the body of Sean Collier, the MIT police officer ambushed Thursday night. Albany Street was lined with Boston police officers showing their last respects. As the hearse pulled out, a commander went on the radio: "Present! Arms!"

Alyssa Lindley Kilzer writes about how she used to be a regular visit to the Cambridge house now known as the home of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects:

The first few years the third-floor apartment was often crowded with her two sons, now identified as the Boston Bombers, and her two daughters, one of which was around my age. It was definitely not a glamorous place to get a facial, as the “spa” was set up in her living room, and during these years the family expanded. The staircase was crowded with their shoes, the house filled with noises of arguing, cooking, etc. She would often apologize for this. Her daughters and Dzhokar, the younger son, always struck me as perfectly nice and normal kids about my age. As far as I knew the daughters also attended Rindge (the local public high school) along with their brother. She gave a damn good facial, often working on my skin for two or three hours, and this is why my sister, mom and I continued to go back to her home for years.

The heart of Downtown Crossing at 9:50 a.m. Photo by Gary Waldeck. Note plucky banana vendor in lower right.

Deserted Haymarket. Photo by David Schachner.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Via BPD.The MBTA is closed. Boston residents get emergency robo-calls from police warning them to stay inside. People in Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Belmont, Cambridge also told to "shelter in place." Courts in Cambridge, Brighton, Newton and Waltham are closed. Businesses are urged to not open. Amtrak stopped service to and from Boston.

Also shut this morning: The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth: "UMass Dartmouth has learned that a person being sought in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing has been identified as a student registered at UMass Dartmouth."

Logan Airport, however, remains open. Also on the job: Cambridge garbage men. Also, their counterparts in Boston. Around 10 a.m., Boston Police let taxis resume service. Dunkin' Donuts, of course, remained open, even in Watertown, because we do have our limits.

MIT campus alert just sent notification of a suspicious package at 500 Memorial Drive (aka Next house)

My phone has been going off with alerts all night.

If any of the bombing or shooting was related to Aaron Swartz, I will feel VERY annoyed.

UPDATE: At 12:07 a.m, Cambridge Police tweeted the officer died.

Around 10:50 p.m. at 32 Vassar St. The suspect, who fired six shots, is described as a Hispanic male in a cowboy hat, might have the officer's blood on him. The officer was rushed to Mass. General.

MIT Police warned students and staff to stay well away from the Stata Center. MBTA police are swarming the Red Line in case he tried to escape by train.

Photo from inside the Stata Center (somewhat graphic).

Bomb threat at the federal courthouse, following wrong reports about an arrest. Suspicious vehicles checked at Brigham and Women's and in Maverick Square. Sirens all over. After somebody went on Twitter to warn people to stay away from Harvard Square, Cambridge Police had to tweet:

The area is SAFE

On the return-to-normalcy side, people are returning to Twitter to complain about the T, stuff like switch problems on the Red Line and Massholes on commuter rail:

Manners-free MBCR rider visibly annoyed by having to move newspapers/share 3-person seat. just threw papers on the floor.

Some local Boston running groups are getting together to remember those that were hurt or lost their lives in yesterday's tragedy. The Kier Byrnes Freedom Runners have weekly Tuesday night runs from Courtside Karaoke in Cambridge. They decided to gather and raise money for the victims and their families, and to show that Boston is a strong city, and will keep running.

Donations will be taken to give to the Boston Marathon Relief fund, Courtside will also donate a portion of the nights profits.

The run will begin at 7:15pm in front of Courtside Karaoke, 291 Cambridge St, Cambridge, Massachusetts. There will be a guided 3 or 4 mile run around the river, followed by socializing and donation collection.

Not like the pugnacious poultry of Brookline. Lorcasaur photographed Swifty the Homeless Turkey with a new friend in Central Square this morning. Susan Zalkind took some video:

Paula Soto, who shows documentaries in the community room of her apartment building, yesterday filed suit against the city of Cambridge, which she says is infringing her First Amendment rights by threatening to fine her for the leaflets she used to put on hundreds of car windshields each month.

In her suit, filed in US District Court in Boston, Soto charges Cambridge is the only city in the entire state to interpret a state law prohibiting "defacement" of "natural scenery" as applying to flyers for a non-profit group, such as her Up and Out:

Amanda Fakhreddine snaps a Zipcar ad on the Red Line that promotes the company's utility for booty calls:

Kid sitting next to me asked his mom what that meant #keepitclassy #adfail

Just yesterday:
McDonald's didn't approve those Orange Line ads that got some people upset.

Eater Boston reports some guy is setting up our very first sports bar dedicated to cricket. OK, in Inman Square, but that's right across the river.

Drivers this morning were not prepared for yesterday's shutdown of the overpass on the Cambridge side of the BU Bridge - although they'll now have six months to get used to it.

Kathy reports traffic was tied up in knots on the Boston side. Nikki reports from on board a bus:

Driver of the CT2 is freaking out screaming obscenities at other drivers in this INSANE traffic by BU bridge.

The state Department of Transportation says it's shutting the overpass on the Cambridge side of the BU Bridge on Sunday for some major repairs:

All vehicles will be diverted to the surface roadways and through the BU Bridge/Brookline Street rotary, and back on to Memorial Drive.

WBUR interviews a guy who just finished photographing "the intersections of each longitudinal line and the 40th line of latitude."

Mind's Eye Yarns in Porter Square is up for sale; if nobody wants to buy it and keep it open, it'll shut down later this spring.

Earlier:
Another bit of old Boston gets ripped out: Windsor Button to shut down.

H/t Cara.

The folks at Railroad.net report the Grand Junction bridge over the Charles River - which connects rail lines north and south of the city - has had to be shut again, only three months after it was re-opened following extensive repairs.

The bridge is used for produce shipments to the Chelsea market and lets Amtrak and MBCR ferry trains to repair facilities on either side of the Charles (South Boston for Amtrak, Somerville for MBCR). With the bridge shut again, trains have to go on a circuitous route via Worcester County.

A couple years ago, state officials bought the Grand Junction bridge and East Cambridge rail line in the hopes of routing some Worcester Line trains to North Station. They've since shelved those plans.

Wicked Local Cambridge reports a burst pipe sent 400 gallons of liquid sugar rushing to the ground outside the Tootsie Roll plant near Central Square the other day. Nobody drowned, subway service wasn't stopped, but the street smelled sweet, Wicked Local reports. Compare.

Tony Maws at Craigie on Main explains it goes back to his grandmother:

In Baba Hannah's kitchen I whipped egg whites for meringue frostings on her lemon sponge cake and helped shape the matzo balls for Passover Seder. I remember the taste of her split pea soup and the smell of her brisket. It was awesome and I still crave them. Nothing Baba Hannah cooked came out of left field. But she made it and it was good and it was a great excuse for our family to come together. It was the best time I had around food.

Eater Boston reports on the Jewish-style barbecue place planned for Central Square.

Transit Police are looking for this guy for an incident around 6 p.m. last Tuesday:

On Tuesday, 03/19/13, at approximately 6:05 PM, on an inbound Red Line train from Alewife MBTA Station, the male depicted within was photographed after attempting to initiate conversation with women while committing a lewd act.

Know him? Contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or send a tip to 873873.

Cambridge Day reports on a recent Cambridge City Council meeting about MIT and Kendall Square - scroll down for the interchange between councilors Kenneth Reeves and Marjorie Decker after Reeves described three Kendall Square buildings as having been "raped" because their original facades were removed. When Decker said "stripped" would have been a better word, Reeves retorted "stripped" was a "gruesome" word as well and he didn't understand why anybody would object to him saying the buildings had been "raped."

Flooding on Inman at Broadway. Photo by Aaron Cohen.

Aaron Cohen and Brian D'Amico report a water-main break is causing some major flooding on Inman Street at Broadway, so best to avoid the area.