Newton

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.

Wicked Local Newton reports Newton Mayor Setti Warren wants to fire the police chief following the release of a report that said he called a subordinate a "bitch" and told her once she looked like "a whore."

Bit of a problem at Eliot on the Riverside Line tonight, where wires have come down, trapping a train, Brian D'Amico reports. Buses to the rescue, the T says.

Newton Patch reports police are looking for a guy who allegedly slapped a cell phone out of man's hands on the Riverside line this morning - and slapped his face for good measure. The phone slapper then bounded out of the train.

The Charles River Watershed Association is warning people to stay out of the water in the Lakes District portion of the river in Newton, Waltham and Weston, due to a bloom of blue-green algae. The group says this is the first time that's ever been spotted in that part of the river:

Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, are aquatic bacteria that can produce toxins which are harmful to humans, dogs and other mammals. If you see water that looks bright green or contains bright green strands avoid contact with the water as much as possible and wash contacted areas after exposure. Common reactions to the toxins include rashes, eye irritation, and possible gastrointestinal distress.

Anyone want to help get the MBTA to get rid of the closed door policy on the Green Line?

Checked and no one else had set up Facebook page so I did. Welcome any and all suggestions. It's only going to get worse when school starts in the fall.

URL is www.facebook.com/MbtaLetYourPeopleGo

Thanks.

Stephen Walsh reports the bear has been spotted tonight near Skyline Park near the West Roxbury Parkway.

UPDATE: Spotted at the Baker School, really just a hop, skip and a jump from Hancock Village and the West Roxbury line.

Police in Newton and surrounding communities are looking for somebody who tried to hold up a West Newton convenience store around 9:30 a.m. He had a "device" strapped to his chest and was holding a remote-control device. He had on a backpack, a Halloween mask and a hoodie.

The Globe reports on the two guys arrested at the 1,000-foot tower yesterday.

One of them has a relevant Facebook page, with some nice photos of him in mid-air on past jumps.

Newton police and firefighters teamed up tonight to arrest two men who may have been trying to climb a 1,000-foot radio tower on Chestnut Street in Newton.

Ted Pendergast reports rescue crews arrived shortly before 9:30 p.m. Firefighters got the two men to the ground around 9:40 p.m.

Boston Radio Watch reports it's the same tower from which a worker fell some 1,000 feet last October. It houses the main transmitters for SportsHub 98.5 and Jamn 94.5, as well as backup transmitters for a number of other local stations.

The Herald reports on the possible impending sale of the doomed mall. Poetic justice, of course, demands they turn the Cheesecake Factory into the cardiology wing.

Paul Levy photographs an enhanced Rte. 9 sign.

If you guessed Friday afternoon rush hour, you win! Unlike the people now stuck waiting for shuttle buses to get them around the downed wire at Newton Centre, who lose.

Almost everything else there has closed, Bertucci's joins the club, forcing fans of pizzas with an olive in the middle to make the long, long journey over to West Roxbury.

Around 8:20 a.m., an inbound Kat Powers reported:

On a D Line train in Newton delayed by a turtle on the track. Driver has announced she can't move the train because the turtle will die. Waiting for an official to move the turtle.

A few minutes later, she reported two MBTA officials arrived to try to move the recalcitrant reptile.

Action-news reporter Steve Annear adds:

Officials removed it with a shovel.

Inbound turtle-free service then resumed.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today the city of Newton will have to show a lower court why it shouldn't be made to pay a softball player for serious injuries caused by a tree falling on him while he was waiting his turn at bat.

Newton Patch reports the driver of an ice-cream truck was cited by police for parking too close to a playground at Albemarle Field - after he'd been warned several times to back his truck the hell up.

Paul Keleher watched the Marathon near the Newton/Wellesley line. He captured both the women's leaders (winner Sharon Cherop was fifth at that point) and the men (winner Wesley Korir was fourth):

“Farmers To You” a partnership between Boston area families and Vermont farmers, is pleased to announce the addition of Newton Center to their serviced communities. The Newton Center Montessori School (on Crescent Ave off Center St.) is the local pick-up site on Wednesdays between 2:00 and 3:30.

A "CSA with choice", Farmers To You delivers the best of Vermont farms direct to Boston neighborhoods and strives to establish a regional food system. Already established in Cambridge, Beverly, Newburyport, Arlington, Lexington, Jamaica Plain and Somerville, the addition of Newton rounds out the weekly delivery.

Farmers To You inspiration grows out of a deep commitment:

• to provide access to highly nutritious and trustworthy food
• to rebuild a safe and sustainable local food system
• to support healthy families and healthy farms in our communities

Their skills in farming, distribution, business, and education combine to create a local food system that brings interested families and committed farmers and producers into a transformational partnership that is having a profound effect on the health of their families and communities.

Farmers To You provides:

• more choice than a CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture)
• more convenience than a farmers market

“Farmers To You” a partnership between Boston area families and Vermont farmers, is pleased to announce the addition of Newton Center to their serviced communities. The Newton Center Montessori School (on Crescent Ave off Center St.) is the local pick-up site on Wednesdays between 2:00 and 3:30.

A "CSA with choice", Farmers To You delivers the best of Vermont farms direct to Boston neighborhoods and strives to establish a regional food system. Already established in Cambridge, Beverly, Newburyport, Arlington, Lexington, Jamaica Plain and Somerville, the addition of Newton rounds out the weekly delivery.

Farmers To You inspiration grows out of a deep commitment:

• to provide access to highly nutritious and trustworthy food
• to rebuild a safe and sustainable local food system
• to support healthy families and healthy farms in our communities

Their skills in farming, distribution, business, and education combine to create a local food system that brings interested families and committed farmers and producers into a transformational partnership that is having a profound effect on the health of their families and communities.

Farmers To You provides:

• more choice than a CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture)
• more convenience than a farmers market

Ari Alexinberg did the video. Also see the last five miles of the race via Google Earth.

Demonstrators who said they were Brandeis students and who wore T-shirts with "Apartheid" in Hebrew on them briefly disrupted a forum last night at Temple Emanuel in Newton by five members of the Israeli Knesset on the topic of "Israel and American Jews."