WBUR: MBTA Receives $51.5 Million Stimulus Boost.

Herald: Ashmont reconstruction two years late, 74% over budget

A Mattapan man with a history as a high-risk sex offender was arrested at Ashmont station this morning after an MBTA inspector saw him masturbating as he followed a woman walking toward a Red Line train, the MBTA says.

Boston Police report arresting a Mattapan man who allegedly boarded a bus armed with a semi-automatic weapon at Ashmont station this afternoon.

Dereck Gray, 28, was arrested on a bus on Talbot Avenue after they received a tip a guy in a blue hoodie and a Red Sox cap had gotten onboard with the weapon, police say. He was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and carrying a loaded firearm.

While on Talbot Avenue, officers observed the described bus heading in their direction and directed the driver to stop the bus. Officers boarded the bus and therein saw an individual in the back of the bus matching the suspect description.

Officers approached the suspect and as they did so, the suspect stood up, reached in his waistband and discarded a black object on the floor. Officers quickly detained the suspect and recovered a semi-automatic loaded firearm right where the suspect had been dropping the item he discarded from his waistband.

Gray will be arraigned in Dorchester District Court on Friday, police say.

Innocent, etc.

Boston Police tweet a person was shot around 5:15 p.m. at 2020 Dorchester Ave., hurt seriously enough to be taken to Boston Medical Center in an ambulance.

A correspondent spotted him down in Ashmont this evening, asking passers-by for, well, you know.

The tweets are pouring in: Hour-long waits on commuter rail; piss-poor plowing around Ashmont station, inaccurate advisories. All leading to:

i hear the CIA is looking into a new torture technique - commuting on the MBTA

Part of a new T ad campaign that started today.

A man arrested Friday night for trying to avoid paying for the T will be arraigned this morning on illegal gun possession charges, the Suffolk County DA's office says.

Transit Police nabbed Cristobal Garcia after they spotted him walking through a fare gate at Ashmont station right after somebody had used his CharlieCard, the DA's office says. On a pat frisk, officers found a .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic loaded with nine rounds of ammunition, including one in the chamber, prosecutors say.

Christopher Stanley credits the T for making a bad situation (keeping Ashmont station open even as it's completely rebuilt) as good as possible:

... To their credit the MBTA has been thinking on their feet. They have added bus stops, moved fences, altered signs in a genuine effort to make the station work better for the riders. ...

Christopher Stanley reports:

The machines that knocked Ashmont Station this weekend were the heralds of a great transformation for Peabody Square. ...