Singing and preaching outside Macy's in Downtown Crossing.

And then promptly kill off the Downtown Crossing store forever so it can rent it to somebody more lucrative, the Herald reports. Vornado teamed up with Syms on what is now apparently the winning bid for the frail Filene's Basement.

The Globe reports Orange Line service was disrupted last night when an apparently drunk guy dropped a bag as he was getting off the train, then got his arm stuck between the train and the platform when he fell over trying to retrieve it.

Lopez

An East Boston man faces a charge he groped an undercover MBTA Transit Police officer near Dudley station yesterday - even after the officer identified himself as a cop.

Ricardo Lopez, 41, is scheduled for arraignment in Roxbury District Court this morning.

Meanwhile, Transit Police are continuing to hunt for a man they say sexually assaulted a teen at a Downtown Crossing Red Line platform last month and who was last spotted getting off the Red Line at Fields Corner.

The Globe has a big story, Last markdown for Filene's Basement.

The story itself is not quite a port-mortem, but the reader comments are a wake for the original Downtown Crossing location that made Filene's Basement a Boston institution.

The Globe details John Hynes' latest possibility for the giant negative space: Fewer floors, more apartments could dramatically reduce costs and make the project more attractive to the lenders who aren't giving him money now.

Interesting photo of two guys hanging out by the Orange Line entrance at the Filene's pit in Downtown Crossing.

Tobyjug doesn't explain why he was at Downtown Crossing at 3 a.m., but no matter: He asks:

... [A]s I was walking by the crater, I started to hear Johnny (or is it Edgar) Winter's "Frankenstein". Strobe lights were going off all over the broken open parts of the building. Fog was rising out of the pit. Little "Enchanted Village" figures twirled in the windows. Did anyone else see/hear it?

Early-morning flood at Washington and Lafayette; be sure to check out Channel 4's artist's rendition of what the area looks like, then click to Channel 5 for actual photos.

Councilor and mayoral candidate Michael Flaherty says the developers behind the BRA Memorial Hole on Washington Street are actually sitting on a large sum of money, so the least they can do is fill in the damn hole already:

... In the spirit of returning and improving the vitality of this central downtown neighborhood, the developers should be ordered to make the graded site available to the Boston Public Market Association (www.bostonpublicmarket.org).

Given that Vornado and Gale have shown no signs of resuming construction before Fall of 2009, the former Filenes site is a perfect location to temporarily host the Boston Public Market. Located in the heart of the bustling financial district, accessible by the various MBTA stations and to the numerous area employees, residents and tourists, a public market offering organic produce will serve as a significant asset to the neighborhood. The Boston Public Market Association offers locally grown, healthy and affordable fresh food and is a refreshing alternative to the various fast food restaurants in the area. This is an interim solution that will seek to reinvigorate the suffering neighborhood and address the serious concern of the existing blighted site. ...