Copley Square

Cherie L. King spotted this crochet memorial in Copley Square today. Meanwhile, the memorial itself continues to grow.

Matthew Ireland snapped the traffic on Boylston Street last night.

Also visiting Copley Square last night: Rhea Becker, who reports on the impromptu memorials that sprung up around the bombing sites:

[G]roups of people quietly huddled around one of the bombing sites; a woman painting an inspirational ‘Boston Strong’ message in a store window; and a large memorial (bouquets of flowers, stuffed animals, hand-drawn posters) that was taken off the street and placed on Copley Square for the public to view.

Copyright Matthew Ireland. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Stephanie Giunta captured the crowd outside Marathon Sports at lunchtime, around the time a concert was going on inside the BPL in Copley Square.

To try to lure more people back, Mayor Menino announced this afternoon that meters will be free between Arlington Street and Mass. Ave. and adjacent to the Public Garden now through Sunday.

Gina Tomaine photographed the sneakers at the Copley Square memorial.

Michael Ratty spotted this message to Martin Richard in the new memorial in Copley Square park today.

The T announced the news tonight.

Although Copley station remained shut tonight, Alex Mellion notes:

The lights are on again at Copley! What an awesome thing to finally see!

The FBI plans to formally turn Boylston Street in Copley Square back to the city in a ceremony at 5 p.m., the mayor's office announces:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation will present Mayor Menino with a commemorative American flag that has flown at half-staff over the Boston Marathon Finish line in a ceremony that will turn Boylston Street back over to the City of Boston.

After that, the city will start a five-step process to return the street to normal:

As this plan commences we will be respectful with all memorials and other personal effects left at the scene. The Boston Police Department will return personal items secured at the scene that have not been retained as evidence by the FBI. The items that are now part of a memorial to victims at the intersection of Boylston and Berkeley Streets will be temporarily relocated to Copley Square Park as will other items from other memorial sites around the area. As we respect the need for people to continue to express their support for the victims and our city we will place large message boards in the vicinity of the area to allow people to record their thoughts and reflections.

No specific time or date set; depends on the FBI releasing the area as a crime scene.

The items that are now part of a memorial to victims at the intersection of Boylston and Berkeley Streets will be temporarily relocated to Copley Square Park as will other items from other memorial sites around the area. As we respect the need for people to continue to express their support for the victims and our city we will place large message boards in the vicinity of the area to allow people to record their thoughts and reflections.

MassDOT alerts us. Can the opening of Copley Square be far behind?

Neal Gaffey photographed therapy dogs walking through the crowd in the Back Bay this morning. That's Liberty and Independence in the foreground.

The T just announced the station, right by the Marathon finish line, will remain closed tomorrow.

BU Today reports she was Lingzi Lu, a graduate student in statistics and mathematics. Her friend and fellow BU grad student, Danlin Zhou was seriously injured.

Brian D'Amico was walking around Copley Square tonight when he saw these folks who had just gone out and bought some food for the police and National Guard members patrolling the area.

UPDATE: One of the people, Mary Adamczyk, tweets:

Glad we could help out. In those bags were homemade chili, cornbread, chips, water and chocolates. We fed 50 people!

Photo copyright Brian D'Amico.

At a press conference this afternoon, Gov. Patrick said he visitied a Northeastern student named Victoria, at Tufts Medical Center with shrapnel wounds from one of yesterday's explosions. Victoria, he said, told him how scared and hysterical she was as she was triaged in the Marathon medical tent. But then a man managed to calm her down, showed her his own scars from a shrapnel wound and told her she'd be OK.

Patrick said Victoria would love to thank the man, who only gave his name as Tyler. If you know him, call 617-725-4000.

Or the areas where they happened just before, you can submit them to the FBI or Boston Police at:

Boston@ic.fbi.gov

If you have the time you took the photo, include that in your message.

The injuries suffered by bomb victims taken to Mass. General are consistent with those caused by pellets, nails or other sharp objects, the chief of trauma services said at a press conference this morning.

Dr. George Velmahos said several of the patients at his hospital remain sedated and intubated as they recover from emergency surgery.

Dr. Ron Walls, chair of emergency medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, says three patients were hit with "small, round projectiles," another with "a collection of nails."

National Guard watching Red Line entrances. Photo by Gedalia Pasternak.

The heart of Copley Square remains shut down. Boston Common resembles a military encampment. Cafe tables along Newbury Street remain uncleaned as police comb the area for possible evidence.

Kirty Lee took the Green Line into work today:

Held it together until I rode through Copley station pitch black. Haunting.

A.P. Blake reports:

Police Commissioner Ed Davis just announced. He said the exact number of injured is still being tallied, added "there is no suspect at Brigham and Women's Hospital."

Meanwhile, the FBI has taken control of the investigation because it might be a terrorist attack.

Davis added T riders can expect extra bag and backpack checks in coming days.

Crime-scene zone. Map by NotifyBoston.

All of Copley Square, along with blocks going down to Hereford, are considered a crime scene and will stay that way for the next 24 hours, possibly longer, police say. Specifically: Clarendon from Huntington to Newbury, Newbury from Clarendon to Hereford and Huntington from Belvidere to Clarendon.

The MBTA says Copley station on the Green Line will be shut indefinitely.

Runner reunited with husband after explosions. Photo by Dani B.

Second explosion. Photo by Dan Lampariello.At least two bombs exploded near the Marathon finish line around 2:50 p.m. killing two people. One was an eight-year-old boy, the Globe reports. WCVB and WBZ report scores of people are being treated at local hospitals.

The windows of Marathon Sports blew in. Every ambulance in the city was ordered in as first reponders rushed in to help people with limbs ripped off. Boston University reports one of the critically injured was a BU student.

As late as 3:30 p.m., police were continuing to find injured runners, as far away as Mass. Ave. and Commonwealth Ave.

Don't.

Jed Hresko captured the scene down Boylston yesterday. Mike the Mad Biologist has more photos.

We wandered around the BPL in Copley Square today, and the kidlet got her first ever look at an actual card catalog - and microfiche readers - in the shabbier, lesser known reading room, the one upstairs from the grand Bates Hall reading room, the one with the peeling paint and the, well, card catalog and microfiche readers. She also got her first look at one of the request slips you'd fill out after finding the book you wanted in the card catalog.

But even in the Bates Hall reading room, it seemed like half the people in the place were scanning laptop screens rather than actual printed material, so all those lamps were more for mood lighting than anything else.

Tristan reports a water-main break shut the main BPL library in Copley Square today.

Officials at the Westin Copley Place say that drunken Tufts students who left the hotel lobby filled with empty nips and urine in February have forced it to increase security for all future college events. Well, except for the Tufts Winter Bash, which they said they will never allow back, even if the university decides to rescind its decision to cancel it permanently.

The officials made their comments at a hearing by the Boston Licensing Board on citations issued by police for the now infamous Feb. 1 soiree, which ended with EMTs trying to deal with upwards of 20 students drunk enough to require a trip to the hospital.