The Herald reports on several "sacked MBTA punks" whom arbitrators ordered the T to hire back. In the case of the sleepy coke user - fired less than a month after a fatal trolley crash in Newton - the arbitrator found the drug test violated her privacy rights by ordering a drug test.
Joe Curtatone is not the least bit thrilled at the news that end date for the Green Line extension through Somerville has become asymptotic:
The T reports "an electrical power surge due to weather" is causing problems with outbound commuter-rail trains at South Station.
Boston Police report a nearly month-long operation with their MBTA counterparts has resulted in 24 arrests of alleged drug dealers and their minions in and around the Andrew stop on the Red Line:
Since July 6, 2011, this effort proactively targeted a criminal element who frequently utilized the station to arrive, enter and leave the Andrew Square area to conduct unlawful drug transactions.
State Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville) posted on her Facebook page:
Early today, I was extremely disheartened to learn from MassDOT that the expected completion of the Green Line Extension has been delayed again – this time until at least 2018. While I appreciate MassDOT’s efforts in appropriate mitigation and community input, I am extremely disappointed that this vital project is, yet again, being postponed. ...
MassDOT's annual status report to DEP on its SIP commitments - which was due July 1 - was submitted today, estimating a 2018-2020 completion date for the Green Line Extension.
In a statement, MassDOT says:
MBTA Transit Police report a man stopped for jumping through a broken fare gate at Andrew station yesterday afternoon tried to bolt from officers questioning him, possibly because of the gun with the safety turned off that he was packing.
According to a police report, officers spotted Hamilton Rodriguez of Chelsea jumping over a cone at a broken fare gate around 1:20 p.m., which would have gotten him a citation.
Instead, as officers were talking to him, he tried to run away:
Paul Levy wonders why the T still takes liquor ads; notices:
[T]he T seems to be targeting those ads to the poorer sections of town and near colleges and universities
A homeless man was arrested in the pedestrian tunnel between the Orange and Blue lines at State Street last night after a chase that began on an Orange Line train, MBTA Transit Police report.
According to a police report, Francisco Hernandez Diaz, of no particular address, took off his black leather belt on an inbound Orange Line train at State Street and began swinging it over his head and screaming, around 8:30 p.m., Monday.
As passengers swarmed out of the train to get away from him, a T inspector boarded the car. Hernandez took a swing at her with his belt, then stopped and undid his pants to expose himself to her. At that point, she fled as well, just as a police officer arrived on the platform, the report continues.
WBUR reports, adds the T has not gotten to the point of specific proposed increases, let alone public hearings on them.
Or, at the least, make sure they have a hand free to keep their skirt down, due to a dramatic wind-tunnel effect, the Accidental Fiddler reports.
Not that Frank Oglesby isn't the Man with the Voice, but Kevin Flight got a large number of suggestions this morning when he tweeted he'd rather have Gilbert Gottfried making announcements on the train.
Denis Leary: "Hey turn your IPod down slick - yeah you. Now move from the door so people can get out, jackwipe."
If you have a Twitter account and your train or bus has non-functioning AC, give a shoutout to @mbtaGM with your car or bus number.
Nhu Nguyen and Derek Matulina were once friends who fell out over money Nguyen felt Matulina owed him for a drug transaction, Suffolk County prosecutors said today. When the two crossed paths at the Savin Hill T stop on May 7, they began to fight and Nguyen pulled out a gun and fatally shot Matulina, according to the District Attorney's office.
Nguyen was arraigned today in Suffolk Superior Court following his indictment for manslaughter and firearms charges. A judge ordered him held in lieu of $100,000 cash bail.
State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez reports Boston and Transit Police will install the cameras because of 12 assaults in the area around the station this summer.
MBTA Transit Police report they are looking for a black male, a Hispanic male and a white female on charges they attacked a man because of his sexual orientation on a State Street Orange Line platform around 10 p.m. on July 10:
The victim was on the northbound platform when an unidentified male # 2 shoved him onto a train as the doors opened because of the victim's sexual orientation. The unidentified male # 2 as well as the individual depicted as # 1 directed several homophobic slurs at the victim after shoving him. The suspects depicted above along with an unidentified female companion, boarded an Orange Line train at State Street Station with the victim and continued to harass him about his sexual orientation. The suspects then fled the train at Haymarket Station.
If caught, they'll be charged with assault and battery and civil-rights violations.
It's a mess on the Green Line tonight due to a "minor derailment" of an outbound trolley between Hynes and Kenmore.
MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera says trolley 3602 derailed around 6:15 p.m. after leaving Hynes. No injuries were reported and passengers were evacuated through the tunnel to Kenmore, Rivera says, adding the T hopes to have repairs made by 8:15 p.m. In the meantime, it's shuttle buses between Kenmore and Copley in both directions.
Scott Madin reports:
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