North End

Southiegirl captured the scene on the Zakim this afternoon, when police stopped traffic as the Biden motorcade departed the memorial for MIT police officer Sean Collier.

A good Samaritan jumped into Boston Harbor near Long Wharf shortly after 11 this morning and helped keep somebody foundering in the water afloat until a State Police boat arrived and troopers pulled both out. Boston EMS treated the man at the scene and then transported him to Mass. General for further care, Boston Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald says.

The Herald reports he died not long after his arrival at the hospital and that police are investigating.

NorthEndWaterfront.com quotes President of the Friends of Christopher Columbus Park that the man may have been pushed by somebody he was brawling with.

But an annual "Pray for Boston" procession through the North End took on added meaning on Saturday.

Paul Revere hoofed it out of the North End this morning to warn the colonists the Redcoats were coming.

Afterwards, Minutemen stood at attention in front of the Paul Revere statue and Old North Church as Taps were played and a wreath laid at a memorial for fallen patriots on the Prado.

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on an altercation last week.

NorthEndWaterfront.com shows us that just because they don't often change the configuration of that geometric thing on the Greenway doesn't mean they can't.

NorthEndWaterfront.com holds its nose while showing us the sordid conditions on Cooper Street:

Early this morning, I observed a rat eating something and as I approached the rat, saw that he was eating a roasted chicken disposed of in front of 19 Cooper Street. I scared the rat away and went home and got some rubber gloves and put the chicken back in it's plastic container. As you can see from the photo, I put the chicken back into it's plastic container. As I was doing so, several young people exited from 19 Cooper Street and looked at me as if I was crazy because of what I was doing, they shrugged their shoulders, looked down at me while I was bent over attempting to mitigate this disgusting sanitary situation and walked away.

NorthEndWaterfront.com posts a photo of the traveling turkey on Lewis Wharf today.

Just out: "The Great Boston Molasses Flood" by the Dead Milkmen:

Sweet holy Jesus, there's a wall of molasses coming for me and my fam-i-lee.

Listen to the lyrics at the beginning, and you'll notice that whoever wrote them obviously read their Puleo.

H/t Liam Sullivan.

The Boston Business Journal reports the city is looking to buy the furniture store turned failed-presidential campaign headquarters at 585 Commercial St. for use as a K-8 school.

The possible purchase comes with the Eliot school bursting at the seams, Back Bay and Beacon Hill residents clamoring for a school of their own and downtown becoming an increasingly popular residential neighborhood.

Ed. note: Wouldn't it be something if they named the new school after Scott Prouty, the bartender who took the infamous 47-percent video and somebody who grew up in Boston?

The North End Regional Review reports on the two intoxicated 20-something 6-footers who unleashed "a torrent of screaming and cursing" on the 4'5" elderly lady in a motorized wheelchair.

NorthEndWaterfront.com ponders the provenance of a carving that recently went up for sale on Craiglist: Did it come from St. Mary's, demolished in the 1970s?

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.

Police report a Suffolk University student was arrested on assault and battery charges early this morning when she allegedly slammed her door on the shoulder of an officer investigating a loud party in her apartment.

Police say officers responding to loud-party complaints at an apartment at 28 Fleet St. in the North End knocked on the apartment door for 20 minutes without an answer:

State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz will support efforts to make "Roadrunner" the official Rock Song of the Commonwealth. Mark Krone posts a copy of a note Michlewitz sent him:

I am a full supporter of making Roadrunner the official Rock song of the Commonwealth.

To give you a little history, my aunt Ellie was a member of The Modern Lovers from 1977-1983 and Jonathan actually sang at my first birthday, so I am certainly happy to see him getting this type of recognition after all these years.

Fortunately, only a Volkswagen was under them.

Karen Cord Taylor blames lazy-ass dog owners for part of the North End's invasion of repellent, rapacious rodents:

"Dog waste is to rats what fuel is to fire," Pistorio said. She estimates there are about 1,000 dogs in the North End and too few owners pick up after their dogs, leaving rats to feast on the feces. Yuch.

Leslie Jones photographed a worker changing a lock at the Brink's warehouse in the North End following the $2.7-million robbery on Jan. 17, 1950. It turned out that part of the gang's two years of preparation involved secretly replacing several locks at the warehouse beforehand to make their entry easier.

The warehouse still stands today, as a parking garage at 600 Commercial St.

• FBI review of the robbery
• The Brink's Job - the Peter Falk movie.

Photo from the BPL's Leslie Jones collection. Posted under this Creative Commons license.

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on the latest neighborhood meeting about excessive noise by all those blow-ins:

Sgt Lema added that he is "amazed at the droves of young professionals" walking through the North End. "They are a happy crowd that unfortunately are impacting the quality of life of others."

A man charged with stealing donations from churches across Boston in 2010 was arrested this morning on charges he stole envelopes from donation boxes at St. Leonard's Church in the North End last month, Boston Police report.

Police say church video shows Richard Shiner:

Standing in front of a wooden candle box, sticking a white wooden stick through the money slot, removing cash bills, and placing them in his pocket. Upon seeing the witness, Shiner fled the scene on foot with a large canvas bag and shouting, "Please do not call the police."

Police do not have an estimate on just how much money was taken, but add he also took envelopes out of another collection box. Shiner will be arraigned on a charge of larceny over $250.

Innocent, etc.

From the BPL molasses collection. Posted under this CC license.

On an unseasonably warm January 15, 1919, a 50-foot-high storage tank of molasses - meant to be turned into rum in the rush before Prohibition - burst on Commercial Street in the North End, creating a giant wave of sticky brown death that destroyed buildings, bent the el and killed 21 people.

• BPL molasses photos
• More from Wikipedia
• Dark Tide - The definitive book on the disaster.

On Prince Street, WCVB reports. Another photo.

Sometimes drivers there don't take turns too well.

Darryl Houston captured the daylight-powerful lights on Fairmount Hill in Hyde Park - put up by a guy who rents an aerial lift to ensure no surface is unilluminated.

Uma Mirani photographed Cambridge Common:

NorthEndWaterfront.com introduces us to Bostoniano.