Newton

Last month, the MBTA announced a contest in which anyone could design what could be the next MBTA map.

Transit Maps has not one, but two contest submissions posted for our viewing pleasure. While no submissions have been officially heralded by the MBTA at this time, it is clear that some very talented cartographers are partaking in the festivities.

The MBTA had previously announced a deadline of April 30, 2013, however no mention of the contest has been made since the original announcement of the contest.

Wire problems mean bustitution between Riverside and Kenmore.

The heart of Downtown Crossing at 9:50 a.m. Photo by Gary Waldeck. Note plucky banana vendor in lower right.

Deserted Haymarket. Photo by David Schachner.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Via BPD.The MBTA is closed. Boston residents get emergency robo-calls from police warning them to stay inside. People in Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Belmont, Cambridge also told to "shelter in place." Courts in Cambridge, Brighton, Newton and Waltham are closed. Businesses are urged to not open. Amtrak stopped service to and from Boston.

Also shut this morning: The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth: "UMass Dartmouth has learned that a person being sought in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing has been identified as a student registered at UMass Dartmouth."

Logan Airport, however, remains open. Also on the job: Cambridge garbage men. Also, their counterparts in Boston. Around 10 a.m., Boston Police let taxis resume service. Dunkin' Donuts, of course, remained open, even in Watertown, because we do have our limits.

Last November, I spotted a Lexus with an ironic Yiddish license plate. Turns out the owner, Ruth Shuman, saw the post. And she reports:

This Saturday I was in Auburndale and pulled into a parking spot. When I looked over to the car next to me, look at what I saw! Interesting how we both drive the same model car! I thought this was pretty hysterical.

This useful bit of information is brought to us by the Herald, which informs us a state elevator inspector was suspended after he used his ID badge to "aggressively" make a driver in Newton Corner pull over for a reason tight-lipped state officials won't disclose.

Newton Police report a laptop-using patron at the main Newton library who got up to use the restroom around 11:30 a.m. today returned to find some guy making off with his laptop:

Join Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders at our annual Summer Party held outside in the heart of Provincetown, MA on Saturday, July 27 from 4:00-7:00PM. Enjoy the view of the harbor, mingle with other GLAD supporters and learn more about our ground-breaking cases.

Tickets are $75 online | $85 on site | $30 student
Purchase at www.glad.org/events.

Don't miss our amazing auction and celebrity auctioneer Kate Clinton. You don't have to be present to win. Travel packages, restaurants, massages, and much more - something for everyone!

Children are welcome to attend (at no charge) and will enjoy a range of fun activities.

Delicious summer fare and refreshing cocktails provided.

More information, tickets and sponsorships are available at www.glad.org/events.

JuanJoseOle spotted this gentleman riding down Hancock Street in Quincy Center this morning, reports:

I guess he can't afford a winter hat or is hiding from someone. There was a cut out for his face with a Saran Wrap covering it.

The Newton Fire Department reports firefighters and EMTs responded to a call today for "a finger amputation by snowblower," adds:

Folks, please turn the machines off first before you clear the blockages.

The Mass. Emergency Management Agency warns even that isn't good enough:

Never, EVER, put your hand in a snowblower. Even after the snowblower is turned off, tension can be stored in the rotor blades.

Katie Painter went out tonight and managed to snap this photo of a Brighton snowbank.

Geoffrey Grove tweets:

Very large coyote roaming in Chestnut Hill... People plowing/shoveling beware!

The Wandering Jew reports he isn't wandering all that much on the Green Line this morning:

This T driver is giving me whiplash. Impressive given how slowly we're going.

Joy. Alarms going off on the T. Driver using the emergency brake/door release to let passengers off.

Passengers on board urging the T to move with encouraging chants of "come on, come on" and "you can do it..."

I am not chanting encouragements. I'm muttering curses.

Kinda sorta driving forward (I could walk faster). And only front door operational - and only by the emergency release lever.

The MetroWest Daily News reports that when police in Framingham responded to a report of a house being egged last month, they quickly found the culprits: Three off-duty Newton cops, who claimed they were just pranking a superior officer. They were let go.

UPDATE: Five Newton cops disciplined.

In rush hour at exit 21 by the service area. Mike Moura reports two lanes southbound and one northbound are shut for the investigation.

UPDATE: State Police report:

Preliminary investigation indicates that the victim, an 18-year-old man, was apparently crossing the highway on foot at approximately 6:30 a.m. when he was struck by a motor vehicle on the northbound side of the highway, thrown across the median into the southbound side, and struck again on that side of the highway. He was determined to be deceased at the scene. State Police are in the process of making notifications to next-of-kin. Because that process is ongoing, we will not release any further information – including the victim's name, hometown, and why he was at that location – at this time. As of this point, no charges have been filed.

The T is busing Riverside riders between Reservoir and Riverside because of a tree that fell on the tracks.

Did Brookline relocate their turkeys to Newton?

Not often that I wish I had a cell phone, but I would have liked to share a photo this morning. On the way to work there was a flock of 18 or 20 turkeys crossing the road by Newton Public Library. We all waited three or four minutes for them to cross. They were as unconcerned with traffic as Paris Hilton is with her IQ score. They stood in the middle of the road, then took a step or two, and when somebody beeped a horn, they gave that person a dirty look. If they had fingers, we all would have gotten one.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

Meet HappySpeedy.com, which delivers convenience-store stuff to you up to 2 a.m., if you live in the student-heavy sections of Boston, or Brookline, Newton Center, Newtonville or, of course, 02138 and 02139.

Via Boston Tweet.

G.A. Robinson reports somebody had their cell phone stolen around 8 p.m. at the Chestnut Hill stop on the Green Line by a black man and a Hispanic woman with a rifle.

Don't worry - the fire at Woodland around 8:30 a.m. was quickly extinguished, but it did jam things up on the outbound side.

Taser used on Newton woman at an Apple Store in Nashua. There is, of course, an Apple Store right in Newton, where, however, they add the Mass. sales tax to your bill.

Are you ready for The Street Chestnut Hill?

Courtney Porcella asked where the best place to get a tree in Brighton or Newton is.

Some answers via Twitter:

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Hoot was too badly hurt to be saved.

The MBTA reports workers found this owl huddled near Waban station on the Green Line this morning and named him Hoot, before transporting him to a local animal hospital.

Earlier:
Owl removed from Park Street station.

Newton Patch reports the South Pacific in Newton has closed its doors. Fans have already put up a memorial page on Facebook.

Sounds like the Tahiti in Dedham might need a group hug.

The Supreme Judicial Court today dismissed a complaint by a teacher at a Newton Hebrew school that she was fired because of her age, saying the First Amendment prohibits government from interfering in how religious organizations teach their young.

Gaye Hilsenrath, who had been a part-time teacher at Temple Emanuel's Hebrew school for more than 24 years, filed an age-discrimination complaint with the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination when the school let her go in 2007 as part of an overall reorganization.

In its ruling today, the state's highest court said a US Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that gave religious organizations a "ministerial exception" to workplace bias complaints applied in Hilsenrath's case:

Pouring on State Street.

Paul Levy, who lives near a soccer field in Newton, looked out and saw something disturbing:

Today, as storms approached and lightning and thunder were clearly in close range, the coaches of our boys and girls teams kept practicing with the children.

Some flooding in Watertown.