Cambridge

AlertNewEngland reports a large pile of paper on Red Line tracks near Harvard Square burst into flames around 1:40 p.m., forcing a shutdown of train service so Cambridge firefighters could douse the fire. The T shut all service north of Harvard and terminated service on the other side at Park Street.

Ari Rizzitano explains:

When headed north on the Green Line, waiting for a Lechmere train is like waiting for the skinny Tetris block.

A car chase that started on the Tobin Bridge this afternoon ended in Kendall Square after a state trooper fired at the alleged suspect, who drove away only to crash his car on the other side of the Longfellow, got out of the car, boarded the Red Line at Charles/MGH and then was pulled off the train at Kendall by waiting state troopers.

The MBTA says a Florida man walked off the southbound Red Line platform shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday, possibly because he just couldn't stop while trying to get to a train pulling out of the station - a train going the opposite direction from the one he wanted. He plunges into the pit starting around 1:00 on the video; look down the platform, past the guy who walks all the way down, seems to be right there when the guy goes over the edge, then just turns around and walks away.

At 4:52 pm yesterday, a 56-year old Florida man walked off the southbound Red Line platform, and dropped into the pit at Central Station in Cambridge. Within seconds, he was assisted out of the pit by his wife and others. He did not make contact with the third rail, but he was transported to Mt. Auburn Hospital for elbow and back pain. The man said he fell into pit when he attempted to reach the northbound train (on the opposite track). He said he mistakenly believed the Alewife-bound train was the one he wanted.

Robert Winters reports the Cambridge City Council today takes up three matters related to the recent drive-by murder of a 16-year-old. The council will consider installing security cameras around Donnelly Field, "a youth-focused community forum to discuss issues related to the shooting at Willow Street" and ways "to reach out to the various stake holders in the community, including building managers, property owners, and local business owners, in an attempt to proactively address the summer violence before it has a chance to begin."

R.S.Y. Buchanan photographed this ominous cloud outside his Cambridge office around 2:10 p.m.

Copyright R.S.Y. Buchanan. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Leslie Jones photographed a couple of MDC cops looking at the aftermath of truck vs. underpass on Memorial Drive at the Harvard Bridge on Jan. 18, 1944:

20 ton truck doesn't clear 9 ft. underpass.

The photo, by the way, is part of the BPL's huge collection of Jones photos of traffic accidents. It's a must see for fans of crushed cars, cabs, trucks and buses from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s that are flipped over, wrapped around trees, in the water and scattered in little pieces, sometimes with occupants still in them.

Posted under this Creative Commons license.

Channel 5 reports on an apparent drive-by shooting around 8 p.m. on Willow Street.

Cambridge Day has more.

Follow along as Evan MacIsaac and Peter McCarthy walk from Braintree to Alewife. Why? Because they can.

Roving UHub reporter Charles Bahne stumbled across some distressing news by the Harvard Science Center today:

The tree that has served as Winnie the Pooh's home for many years is scheduled to be cut down tomorrow.

Bahne reports an official looking sign - complete with an official Harvard University seal - says the tree's health is "in serious decline" and so requires the tree be taken out. A new tree will be planted in its place, but, of course, it won't have enough room for a small bear for quite some time.

Roving UHub photographer Bob Meier happened upon an expanding sinkhole in Inman Square in Cambridge last night, reports:

It started out as a sinkhole about the size of a manhole cover. I first saw it around 6 pm yesterday when it was being blocked by two Public Works pickup trucks. By 9:30 (when I took the photo) they upgraded to orange cones and caution tape.

Channel 4 reports Mt. Auburn Cemetery had to bring in somebody to shoot one of the turkeys that have made a home there after it attacked a worker, sending him to the hospital.

Cemetery officials say well meaning but clueless visitors are partly to blame; it seems the more people feed turkeys, the more aggressive they get toward people.

The Herald reports police followed signals from a GPS device slipped into some money taken in an Inman Square bank robbery to a 91 bus in Somerville - and arrested the guy they said had a pocket stuffed with cash.

Cambridge Day reports the Harvest Coop and the Clear Conscience Cafe lose their Mass. Ave. leases at the end of August. The Coop is moving across the street to the old Jax - half the size of the current coop - but the cafe may be gone for good.

Power out. Cambridge Police tweet they are diverting cars away from the area at Third and Charles, Third and Binney and Main and Ames.

The Crimson reports on some ambitious plans for the land behind the Out of Town News stand and the T stop: A complete overhaul of the Pit that would feature patio tables and chairs, stadium seating around it, LED floor lights and a giant flat-screen TV. Bonus: The plan would turn the Out of Town News kiosk into "a glass-walled information center with interactive features."

Mark Levy at Cambridge Day puts Cambridge businesses on record: If you put a giant "Going Out of Business" sale in your window, he's going to write about it, even if you ask him not to. He's tired of getting scooped on stories he knew about first.

There are a quarter of a million stories on the Red Line. Tom Bruno reports from the Red Line this afternoon:

Drunk guy in a track suit just poured himself a drink and took off his shirt to change between Central and Kendall. Only on the MBTA! Looked like something vile mixed with a bottle of Starbucks Frappucino! Worst part was that you could smell it half-way across the car!

H_Boston spotted this plaintive request in Cambridge's Central Square the other day.

Copyright H_Boston. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Aaron Weber reports on the day three cruisers and an ambulance showed up at the Cambridge dog park where he and some other regulars watched in shock as Jay, a 12-ish kid who'd taken to coming by to play with the dogs most days, was taken away:

Jay, it seems, had been running away from a foster home, repeatedly. To us, it didn't look like running away: It looked like unsupervised play. But the lady was his social worker, and when three police cars and an ambulance showed up, they were able to confirm her story.

Jay began to cry, buried his face in Cris's stomach, told her he didn't want to go. She and a couple of the other park regulars calmed him down, and eventually he agreed to get into the ambulance. The social worker said he'd be "Section-twelved." We had to look that up after they left: It means sent for psychiatric evaluation in a locked facility for up to 72 hours.

MIT yesterday sued two TV makers for refusing to pay licensing fees on digital-television patents it was granted in the 1990s.

In lawsuits against Funai - which makes Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania, Emerson, Funai, and Symphonic products - and Vizio - MIT says it held four patents at the heart of American digital television and that it's owed licensing fees and penalties because the two companies refused to buy licenses for the technologies, unlike other makers of TVs and Blu-ray players.

• Funai complaint
• Vizio complaint
• Patient: Source adaptive television system
• Patient: Television system with multiple transmission formats
• Patent: Digital advanced television systems
• Digital advanced television systems

The Tech posts copies of the reports into the death of Phyo Kyaw last Dec. 27 in a collision with an 18-wheeler at Mass. Ave. and Vassar Street.

Forbes interviews the Harvard Book Store's new owner, Jeff Mayersohn.

I respected his mission, even if I didn’t quite believe in its future. So, Jeff shocked me a couple of weeks ago, when he told me with a certain amount of pride and pleasure that he has been seeing double digit sales growth month by month over the last year.

Rush Hour Race pitted the three transportation modes in a battle to the death, um, fastest commute this morning between Davis Square and Kendall Square. LivableStreets reports bike won, followed nine minutes later by the T. The car sputtered in last.

Steve Annear reports that, yes, the bicyclist stopped for all red lights.

Some geese were just hanging out this morning on the train track on the Cambridge side of the BU Bridge.