Logan Airport

Travelers on Japan Airlines' new non-stop service between Boston and Tokyo are in for a Boston treat: Donuts AND chowder, on one convenient tray that just begs you to dunk the donuts in the chowder.

Apparently, Mister Donut is a huge donut chain in Japan that has its roots right here in the greater Hub area. In fact, it's sort of the yin to the Dunkin' Donuts yang - it got its start when two budding donut entrepreneurs (brothers in law, no less) couldn't agree on the future of donuts and so separated, one to form Dunkin' Donuts, the other Mister Donut.

So if you've ever wondered about the possibility of alternate-universe Dunkin' Donuts donuts, just book a flight to Tokyo to get your exclusive "AIR MISDO set, which includes a chocolate-coated cinnamon ring and a maple-flavored ring of classic Mister Donut doughnuts, alongside a bowl of Boston's signature clam chowder."

H/t William Bradshaw.

WBZ reports Massport is expected to make a final decision on April 26 on a three-month pilot project.

The following just in from State Police:

Troopers from Troop F of the Massachusetts State Police, along with a State Police bomb squad K-9, the Massport Fire Department, and TSA security personnel, responded to a bag room at Logan Airport this morning after TSA personnel noticed a noxious odor coming from a checked bag. The bag room was evacuated and people who had been in the room were quarantined until the identify of the item was determined. Troopers and Hazmat personnel identified the source of the odor as a common household chemical item that a couple had placed into their bags to ward off mice. The chemical was disposed of, and the situation determined to pose no threat. The couple was traveling overseas. They were allowed to continue on their way, and the bag was allowed on board. The room was aired out; no one who smelled the odor required medical attention. The scene has been cleared.

Two Logan Airport baggage handlers were arraigned today on charges they stole thousands of dollars' worth of electronics, tobacco and cash from luggage at Terminal E, which mostly handles international flights.

LaShawn Fontenot, 25, of Lynn, and Joshua Wright, 25, of Mattapan, were arrested yesterday in the baggage area, according to State Police. Wright allegedly had some freshly stolen goods on his person; additional stolen stuff was recovered from both their houses, State Police say.

State Police say Massport contacted them several weeks ago about complaints of thefts from checked luggage.

Both were arraigned in East Boston District Court today on single charges of larceny over $250, but additional charges are expected, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. East Boston District Court Judge Roberto Ronquillo, Jr., released them on their own recognizance with orders to stay away from Logan while their cases are pending.

Innocent, etc.

No, not because Massport would want to buy some 40-story ferryboats if it agrees to take over ferry service from the MBTA but because the FAA is concerned the authority might use some of its airport revenue to subsidize commuter boats, Jon Chesto reports. T officials have floated the idea of handing the ferries over to Massport as a way to keep them running as the T runs out of money.

Scott Arfin was at Logan today when Wally helped Jet Blue inaugurate its new Soxjet service (see it larger).

Our own homegrown tough guy and Whitey wannabe is now apologizing for saying if he'd been on Flight 11 out of Logan on 9/11 - like he was originally planning to be - things would have turned out differently.

So if you've been to Chicago and think Potbelly is the cat's meow of sandwich places, well, you'll have a new reason to jump on the Blue Line to Airport.

Fans of sandwich chains will recall, of course, that Earl of Sandwich first came to Boston via Logan before winning a bid to turn the former Boston Common men's room into an outlet.

H/t Jim.

The TSA breaks its silence on Cupcakegate (and mad props to them for calling it Cupcakegate and getting in a Wile E. Coyote reference); notes the cupcake in question wasn't just some delicious pastry on a napkin but a suspicious looking wad in a jar filled with icing - with a spoon attached.

So stop trying to sneak jars filled with icing onto planes:

If you're not familiar with it, we have a policy directly related to the UK liquid bomb plot of 2006 called 3-1-1 that limits the amount of liquids, gels and aerosols you can bring in your carry-on luggage. Icing falls under the "gel" category. As you can see from the picture, unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar.

In general, cakes and pies are allowed in carry-on luggage, however, the officer in this case used their discretion on whether or not to allow the newfangled modern take on a cupcake per 3-1-1 guidelines. They chose not to let it go.

Every officer wants to finish their shift and go home with the peace of mind that they kept potential threats off of airplanes. They're not thinking about whether their decisions will go viral on the internet – they’re thinking about keeping bombs off of planes. This incident may seem like a silly move to many of our critics, but when we can't be exactly sure of what something is, every officer has the discretion to not allow it on the plane. This is done purely for the safety of everyone traveling.

Channel 5 reports a Peabody woman was stopped from bringing a cupcake back to Boston from Las Vegas by an alert TSA agent who felt the frosting was too "gel-like."

That it was "gel-like" at all was pretty amazing since the woman had brought it with her on a flight from Boston to Las Vegas, where she didn't eat it and then, for some reason, decided to bring it back home again, perhaps (althought the article does not state this) because she lives on the North Shore and the cupcake was from Wicked Good Cupcakes all the way down on the South Shore.

The East Boston Times-Free Press reports on efforts by clammers for compensation for lost wages caused when a large spill at the airport last year that caused the death of clams in beds around the airport.

A fellow passenger alerted a Delta flight crew to the "explicitly sexual and extremely disturbing" photos of children Grant Smith was allegedly looking at on a plane headed to Boston, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Smith, a material-sciences professor at the University of Utah, was ordered held in lieu of $75,000 bail following his arraignment today in East Boston District Court.

With nothing else to do as he slowly inches to the front of a taxi line at Terminal B, Paul Levy analyses the taxi dispatching problem and comes up with a possible solution to the long lines caused, he said, not by demand, but by the way taxis are dispatched from the central cab parking area.

Dude faces arraignment in East Boston District Court this morning on charges he stole US and foreign currency from an Icelandair flight attendant - in midflight, over Greenland - then locked himself in a lavatory and flushed the greenbacks down the toilet, Channel 4 reports:

Ground crews at Logan Airport retrieved the missing cash from the flight's storage tanks.

Channel 4 reports on efforts by inspectors at Logan Airport to keep people from bringing banned agricultural and food products into the country in their luggage, including chilled monkey brains cooked monkeys:

Shortsleeve asked, "So you've actually had someone bring in a cooked monkey before?"

A lot, a Suffolk professor writes.

Shoe cocaine. Photo from Suffolk County DA's office.

A man getting off a plane at Logan Airport from the Dominican Republic was arrested yesterday after State Police found 2.2 kilograms of cocaine inside shoes in his checked luggage, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Vance Gilbert of Arlington recounts what happened after he settled into his seat on a United flight out of Logan:

I had taken out and was reading a book of Polish Aircraft circa 1946 and I was also looking at views of an Italian aircraft from 1921. ...

Storm rakes the Back Bay. Photo by Drew.

An astonished Government Center worker e-mailed about the hail around 3:30 p.m. To be more exact, he wrote:

HAILSTONES THE SIZE OF GUMBALLS IN GOV'T CENTER!!!

At least one hailstone the size of a golf ball came down on Washington Street in Downtown Crossing - look at the size of that thing at the end of this video.

Elsewhere, reports poured in end-of-days torrents and pea-sized hail from the Fenway to Chinatown.

A state trooper and police dog were in a cruiser hit by lightning on Perimeter Road at Logan Airport. Both are reported OK, however.

A tree came down on Dartmouth Street near Warren in the South End.

Ground-eye view of the storm, from the BPL main library. Photo by Penny Cherubino.

Ed. note: No hail here on the Roslindale/Hyde Park frontier, but tons of thunder and lightning.

Jim Romanesko posts Associated Press's 9/11 style guide, which includes:

The first name of an individual and the word international may be deleted from a formal airport name while the remainder is capitalized: John F. Kennedy International Airport, Kennedy International Airport, or Kennedy Airport. Use whichever is appropriate in the context.

Do not make up names, however. There is no Boston Airport, for example. The Boston airport (lowercase airport) would be acceptable if for some reason the proper name, Logan International Airport, were not used.

Amelia Earhart and Medford Mayor Edward Larkin exit the Ritz-Carlton in Boston.

In July, 1928, just a month after she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic (as part of a three-member crew), Amelia Earhart visited the Boston area, where she had worked for a few years as a social worker while living in Medford.

She arrived to throngs of well wishers at the East Boston airport and received roses from the governor on the steps of the State House. And she got a big welcome in Medford. She also took the controls of a smaller plane for a flight from East Boston:

JetBlue found a way. The Toronto Star reports that when Nathan Horton got off a JetBlue plane in Buffalo on his way to his hometown to show off the Cup, the Cup's designated guardian got off, too. But the Cup was nowhere to be found:

"They tried to locate it," said [the minder]. "It wasn't in Buffalo. They called Boston. They did find it. It was on the very next flight."

H/t Kevin Vahey.

Jessica Lipnack reads about yesterday's Delta collision at Logan and is prompted to post about her own Delta Connection experience last week. No tail shearing, no injuries, but no way to run an airline, either.

Tails get bent.

Channel 5 reports federal officials are investigating how a stun gun wound up in a seat pocket on a JetBlue flight to Newark from Logan.