Fenway

The scene. Photograph by Cory Gardner.

Updated with MIT info.

Kanako Miura, 36, a visiting scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, died this afternoon when she was struck by a dump truck, MIT and Stanley Staco report.

Boston Police report the victim was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after the 3:30 p.m. incident.

A mangled silver and black bicycle, believed to be hers, was found several blocks away on Bay State Road at Silber Way, Brian D'Amico reports.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that Our House East on Gainsborough Street engaged in "unfair or deceptive conduct" under the state's consumer-protection law by building an illegal and unsafe staircase down which Jacob Samuel Freeman fell to his death in 2007.

However, the court sent the case back to a lower-court judge to reconsider the monetary awards, in particular, some $2.1 million in lawyers' fees.

A jury had ruled for the bar's owners on strict negligence grounds, saying that while the place violated state building codes, that didn't cause Freeman's death. The judge, in the case, however, ruled that his death did violate the consumer-protection laws, and the state's highest court agreed:

This fall, Northeastern students, faculty and staff will have to leave the butts at home - the school tomorrow will announce plans for a smoke-free campus, both indoors and outside. In an e-mail to students today, Terry Fulmer, dean of Bouvé College of Health Sciences writes:

Boston Bites Back at Fenway Park on May 15. Tickets are $211.99 and $1039.95 for food from 100 local chefs.

The mayor's office now says people near Landmark Center can expect to hear three explosions between 1 and 3 p.m. tomorrow as contractors use the sound waves to test pilings and other underground structures near the Muddy River reclamation project.

The sound will last approximately one second each time. Seven police details will be on site during the testing to stop vehicles briefly on nearby roads.

Michal Skrzypek wonders what the cinnamon raisin d'etre is for the bagelful (and rollful) pickup he spotted this afternoon.

A construction company working on the Muddy River reclamation project plans to set off a series of explosions along the river next week to help test the strength of pilings and other underground structures, the state alerts us.

These tests sound very much like cannon blasts or very loud gunshots.

Lovely. But try not to be too alarmed if you hear explosions between 9:30 and 11 a.m. on Tuesday or 1 and 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Four blasts are scheduled for each time period.

H/t Ron Newman.

Huntington and Gainsborough during shutdown. Photo by Keith Foley.

Police shut down the intersection of Huntington Avenue and Gainsborough Street and evacuated the New England Conservatory after a suspicious package was reported around 9 a.m. The bomb squad determined the item in question was an empty bucket and police began packing up and leaving around 9:40 a.m.

Meanwhile, in Brighton, a resident reported a suspicious black backpack on Everett Street around the same time. Arriving officers, however, talked to other residents, who showed police it was, in fact, just part of a collection of black trash bags.

Boston Police are making a concerted effort to find a man who broke into Rutman's Violins on Mass. Ave. and stole a cello around 7:30 a.m.

The suspect, a white man in jeans, was last spotted going down Westland, holding the cello, before he went into haydn. He was balding, with light brown/reddish hair, possibly with a goatee.

Around 5 p.m. outside 320 Huntington Avenue, where somebody stopped by police floored it, at least until he hit the open door of a Boston cruiser. A couple of guys bailed, ran into the Northeastern campus and appeared to ditch something along the way, Bosfiddle reports. Both were arrested.

Later, Neil Diamond took the field to lead the singing of "Sweet Caroline."

Don't even think of complaining to the FCC. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski tweeted after the game:

David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today's Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston.

Yep, things are quickly returning to normal. Around 12:30 p.m., Charles O'Brien reported:

East bound Storrow Drive, truck can't clear BU footbridge. Major back up.

Celebrating the capture on the Common. Photo by Brig Dauber. At 8:41 p.m., a police commander at 67 Franklin St. in Watertown announced, "Subject in custody." Kip Lange tweets:

North End streets just erupted in cheers.

AC reports:

Nathaniel Jewett captured the building across from Symphony Hall last night.

Both the Museum of Fine Arts and the Institute of Contemporary Art are opening their doors at no charge today. The MFA says:

We hope the Museum will be a place of respite for our community.

The ICA says:

We hope the museum will offer a place of community & reflection.

Photographynatalia was in Kenmore Square this afternoon to photograph runners when the bombs went off. A shocked runner reacted to the news of the explosions.

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

David Bernstein reports that with Councilor Mike Ross (Mission Hill, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway) running for mayor, Joshua Zakim, now running Joshua Dawson's campaign to replace Marty Walz in the House of Representatives, will be running to replace Ross. Phew. And yes, Zakim is the son of the late Leonard Zakim, as in the bridge.

He'll be running in District 8 against Greg Timilty, whose own father is also well known in these parts: Former City Councilor, State Senator and mayoral candidate Joseph Timilty.

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.

Opening Day, 1937: Gov. Charles Hurley throws out the first pitch, flanked by managers Joe Cronin of the Red Sox (l.) and Joe McCarthy of the Yankees.

Over the decades, news photographer Leslie Jones spent quite a bit of time at Fenway, including on Opening Day.

In 1963, the Red Sox opened the home season while the Prudential tower was still under construction (see it larger):

Flamey Fens. Photo by Jonathan Berk.

For the second time in less than a week, the Fens behind the Boston Fire Department fire-alarm center caught fire, shortly after 7:15 p.m. today. As with the last fire, firefighters made quick work of the flaming reeds, although unlike last time, firefighters didn't find somebody floating in the water past the reeds. However, the department did call in its arson investigators to help figure out what caused the fire.

Fire closer up. Photo by Masstreehugger.

Meanwhile, BFD spokesman Steve MacDonald reports the man pulled out of the water after the Saturday fire has died. Both the cause of his death and the fire remain under investigation.

For the last week or so, people who live or work along Boylston Street have reported an annoying sulfur smell - possibly caused by construction of the street's latest big project hitting either sulfur pockets or a hellmouth.

Drew Starr tweets:

The sulfur smells bad, but isn't toxic at those levels. Cost of building in the Fens. Better after digging stops.

That can't come soon enough for folks who work in the Fenway Health building. Andrea Karis reports:

The smell is getting into the buildings. A few people went home sick today, headaches, stomach aches.

The Berkeley Community Garden reports on a faucet theft sometime yesterday or early today:

The gates were found locked in the morning, so we're assuming someone hopped over the Alley fence to do the damage. Every tap except the two near tremont were removed - we assume visibility kept them from those taps. There wasn't much metal in the plumbing (minimal copper and brass), but scrap value is the only motive we can think of. This looks like more than just vandalism. Nothing else in the garden appears damaged.

Mike Mennonno at the Fenway Victory Gardens reports the same thing happened there last week:

A large number of brass faucets in our irrigation system were stolen, along with piping. It's a lot of work to repair.

Firefighters move victim to ambulance. Photo copyright T.S. Miller. More photos.

What seemed like your basic springtime Fens fire this evening took on a more somber tone when firefighters pulled a badly burned man out from the water behind the Fire Department's fire-alarm building.

No clue if this is the downtown turkey, or just some fly-in from Brookline (although it doesn't seem particularly mean), but here's a turkey at the New England Conservatory off Huntington Avenue in the Fenway on Tuesday (note to conservatory students: flip your phone 90 degrees when taking videos of fast-moving fowl).

The Herald reports the supermarket chain will open up shop in Landmark Center.