Medford

Inside Medford reports state offficials are now saying only most of the project will be finished by the 2014 deadline, due to "funding requirements and the economic crisis." Left for an unspecified "shortly thereafter" is the Rte. 16 stop.

Music instructors are fighting a proposed law that would require them to sterilize wind instruments - a potentially expensive move that could benefit a campaign contributor to the bill's sponsor.

On Somerville Voices, Melissa McWhinney posts a copy of a call to action by Richard Saunders, the music director for Somerville Public Schools, and adds:

The problem is that there's no evidence that the current system is any danger to students, and the guy who invented a system to "sterilize" instruments stands to make a killing, while driving music departments out of business because they will have to spend tons of money they don't have, to fix a problem that isn't a problem, while the proceeds go into the inventor’s pocket!

Earlier this month, the Globe reported the legislation had been filed by state Rep. Paul Donato, D-Medford, one of whose constituents is Lorenzo Lepore, a dentist who spent 10 years developing an instrument sterilization system that costs between $50 and $320 per treatment per instrument, to kill the germs he says can last for long periods in the instruments.

State campaign finance records (search here) show that Lepore has donated $1,550 to Donato since 2006.

Nearly $200,000 in statewide grants help families cope with the economic crisis

Chowhound poster reports.

Via MenuPages Boston.

Here.

Via InsideMedford.com.

The choice is yours.

Wicked Local Medford reports on an incident at a Kelly's drive-thru:

Three men flirting with a drive-through employee got more than they bargained for last Friday night when the girl's boyfriend and six other men apparently took offense. ...

Brian Christiansen posted this photo at 8 p.m. of the scene on Orchard Street in Medford;

New gas main installed today. Leaking tonight.

Used under this Creative Commons license.

Money exploded into the air in Medford today when two alleged bank robbers crashed their getaway car.

A man exploded in Salem yesterday, accusing his neighbor of being a flesh eater and then holding off police with a gun for several hours.

My son's school just got a new wind turbine, and it is a thing of beauty. As we headed down I-93 this morning, it was spinning away, cranking out electrons to reduce my tax burden. The ribbon cutting was set for this morning at 10:30. More details from the Medford Clean Energy Committee.

Being 13, my guy was rather bored of the whole thing. He did, however, say that everytime he used a certain staircase last week, somebody would notice that more of it had been put in place. He relayed this with fashionable ennui, despite his thinly veiled enthusiasm about seeing the blades go on from his perch in the science lab.

In thousands of households in Revere, Everett, Malden, Medford and Melrose, alarm clocks lost their minds and started blinking "12:00," Channel 4 reports.

The Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance rounds up state explanations for why there are now "schedule concerns" related to getting the Green Line extended into Somerville and Medford, including the need to design and buy new Green Line cars (guess Bredas just won't do).

OK, so we know it was pretty bad on the Orange and Green lines this morning. But how awesomely bad was it? You have to read Some Assembly Required's account of the mishegas at Wellington:

... The train sat for a minute, and people were starting to wonder why it didn't go on its way. Then the PA announced that this train WAS going back to Oak Grove after all. Everyone oozed grumpily back out of the train and onto the platform, including all those who had been on the train to begin with, and shortly after a second, empty train came in on the opposite platform, again from the "wrong" direction. The PA announced that THIS train was the one going into Boston, and everyone oozed onto that one. I continued to wait and observe, and both trains continued to sit.

After a minute or two the PA guy, who by this point was probably starting to really hate his day, informed us that BOTH trains would be going into Boston ...

Don Martelli reports that when he got to Wellington this morning, he found "major delays" on the Orange Line, which he didn't expect since he didn't get any e-mail or text messages from the T before he left home:

Check my email. Check my blackberry. No messages.

Major FAIL MBTA. Major.

Ryan: Orange line is an absolute disaster this morning.

StevenMB is not much happier out in Brighton. He tweets:

Waited 45 min for MBTA 501 bus that runs every 7.

Michael Bloomberg comes up to Medford to celebrate his mother's 100th birthday.

Wicked Local Somerville provides its annual coverage of the annual naked-student run at Tufts, held last night. With video showing some Tufts students actually dressed appropriately for the weather, along with, of course, some naked butts.

The Middlesex County District Attorney's office details the gambling-ring charges against Peter Limone - framed for a murder he didn't commit by the Boston FBI office - and 16 associates.

Innocent, etc.

Valerie reports Meadow Glen Mall won't let parents take any photos at all of their kids with Santa; try it and an elf will jump in front of you and tell you you have to spend at least $21 for a single photo.

There's a Christmas smackdown brewing between Medford and some hayseed company in Georgia that claims the city can't hold its traditional Jingle Bell Festival without forking over serious cash.

An Orange Line rider wonders what was up around 9 a.m.:

Yellow taped off parts of the parking lot - tons of cops, a few posted around with binoculars looking at the parking lot. I overheard something about a red car. No one would tell me what was up, but it sure looked like something had the MBTA and police crews out in full force. ...

If only there were some money associated with being a human freak magnet; Jennifer Stewart would be rich:

... Some drunk guy got onto the shuttle bus last night (the Orange Line was shut down from Wellington to Oak Grove) and sat right across from me and tried to engage me in word games. Yes. Word games. Not that they made any sense, really, because he was completely pickled. I refused to make eye contact though, so he finally turned his attention to the guy next to him and started yelling at him to not touch him with his elbow. ...