Harvard Square

Cambridge Day reports the Harvard Square IHOP will soon have competition from a gourmet Belgian-waffle house called Zinneken’s on Winthrop Street.

AlertNewEngland reports an armed holdup at Walker and Shepard streets, one night after two people were robbed - and one stabbed - on the other side of Harvard Square. There have been several other similar robberies in the area over the past few weeks.

In the main atrium of the Science Center (under the amino acid sculpture), walk down the stairs to the basement floor. Large men's and women's rooms are immediately ahead. Elevators are also available.

Paul Keleher watched the Head of the Charles Regatta today.

Copyright Paul Keleher. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

More video.

Very excited Cassidy relates her Shaq encounter (actual Shaqness is around 2:35):

The Crimson reports on the coming options, including a Pinkberry - which will open next to the Starbucks planned for the old Alpha Omega place.

Charlie Rosenberg took lots of photos of the Honk parade from Davis to Harvard Square today. Jeff Tamagini gave his shutter finger a workout as well:

The Crimson reports Harvard University recently spent $21 million to buy a 4,000-acre dairy farm in New Zealand.

Starbucks is seeking Cambridge's permission to keep its planned new Harvard Square outlet open around the clock, Stephanie reports.

The Crimson reports on the morning incident:

Katherine C. Mentzinger '14, a resident of Thayer Hall, said that she saw the body from her friend’s room in the dorm and heard one gunshot.

"From my friend's window, I could see him in a pool of blood," she said.

President Obama appoints Elizabeth Warren to establish and lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

This is the boldest step Obama's taken so far to rein in the big Wall Street banks. And it's a major victory for grassroots progressives who rallied for Warren. MoveOn.org made a video of Warren's greatest hits from her appearances on the "Daily Show" and a list of five cool facts about her.

The Crimson reports Starbucks has filed paperwork to build a new outlet in the old Alpha-Omega jewelery store in Harvard Square, roughly 500 feet from two existing Starbucks.

Eerily prescient Onion story from 1998.

The Crimson reports a male undergraduate walking down Garden Street early Sunday was taunted as "fag" and "queer" by three men, who then chased him down a side street and demanded his wallet and cell phone. According to a Harvard Police report, when the three saw the wallet was empty, they threw it and the phone on the ground, threw his keys over a fence and left.

To preview your primary ballot for tomorrow, click on the link from the Secretary of State's website:

then enter your address and select a political party. It will show you what choices you'll have on tomorrow's primary ballot.

AT&T yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against Cambridge because the Zoning Board wouldn't let it put up some antennas in Harvard Square.

If Cardullo's thought removing the large-screen TV from their front window would make their storefront safe for people with money to spend, they thought wrong. Karen Snyder reported from Harvard Square during the Sox/Rays game tonight:

Cardullos took away the TV for the Red Sox games. No problem ... There are 4 guys there with their own chairs and a radio!

Wicked Local Cambridge reports Cardullo's has removed the large-screen TV in its storefront. Seems the owners got tired of people sitting in front of the store watching Sox games instead of looking at window displays promoting the consumption of cheesey comestibles.

"A slap in the face," one disgruntled member of the chair club harrumphed.

Iseut notes with amusement that one of the things for sale at the Charles Hotel farmers' market is purslane, at $4 a pound. Sure, it's crunchy and high in omega-3 fatty acids, but it's also a common weed around here:

... It flourishes everywhere. Gardeners pull it from their cultivated gardens as often as they weed. It pullulates in the cracks and crevices of streets from Dudley to Brattle and anywhere else there's a bit of soil. ...

The Crimson reports on the Monday-night attack near Ash Street.

Harvard Square edition.

Libberding reports a photography class she teaches went into the bowels of Harvard station tonight to, well, take photos. And they were promptly blocked by T workers who told them to knock it off, even though official T policy specifically allows non-commercial photography on T property (with certain safety caveats, such as no use of flash):

As we were talking, another MBTA employee caught another one of our group taking photos, and pulled him towards us. Eventually, I got around to showing each employee (by now, there were three of them gathering us together) what their own website said.

They seemed shocked by this. The woman we initially encountered had already called dispatch, and was in the middle of telling us that three years ago, she underwent training that told her that all photographic activity on MBTA property was strictly prohibited.

UPDATE: Scene cleared around 3 p.m.; roads reopened.

Cambridge Police tweet they're evacuating the Citizens Bank branch on JFK Street and diverting traffic as a precaution due to a bomb threat made against the bank.

Left Bank of the Charles photographs a guy from Sacramento selling paintings of nudes across from the newsstand.

The Crimson interviews classmates of JFK School of Government grad student and alleged Russian spy Donald Heathfield. Most express surprise, etc., etc., but one classmate recalls something particularly odd about him:

Classmate Jeff P. Katz said that he "really didn't know the guy," but had attended a few parties where Heathfield - who claimed to be a Canadian-born U.S. citizen - was present and even noticed a "funny accent" that lacked the Canadian "eh."

Ben Timmins reports the trackless trolley was out between Harvard and Watertown squares because a truck managed to rip out about 150 feet of catenary wire. The T reports the wire has been repaired and the electric buses are starting to roll again.