The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports on an incident tonight:
The preliminary information is that an employee on the tarmac suffered fatal injuries after being hit by a truck as it was traveling in reverse in the area of a plane, and it does not suggest that he was struck by a plane. At this stage, the fatality appears to be accidental and so the name of the deceased likely will not be released tonight.
The Friends of Meridian Street reports cab drivers continue to act like the bypass built for them to avoid local streets continues to go largely unused:
It's 4am and still a steady stream of empty Logan Airport taxis using Meridian Street and East Boston public streets to Chelsea instead of the multi-million dollar Coughlin Bypass Road built with taxpayers money specifically to keep commercial traffic from Logan Airport off the public streets of East Boston. These words of Massport and Massachusetts Department of Transportation leaders have never been backed up and East Boston residents, families and children are still paying with their health, safety and maintenance.
Sarah Bourne captured Air Force One at Logan shortly before 3 p.m.
About 15 minutes later, David Finnerty spotted his motorcade on the other side of the harbor:
And not long after that, Neal Gaffey watched him exit his limo at Faneuil Hall.
UPDATE: After his speech, the president shut the turnpike and the neighboring Worcester Line for a ride to a fundraiser in Weston. Michael captured the motorcade near BU:
Seems nobody's happy with the current cab situation in Boston, not riders, not drivers and owners and not large institutions that employ the sort of people who would be likely to need a cab.
The mayor's office today released a lengthy report on the state of cabs in Boston that features a number of findings and recommendations. Among them:
Terminal C was partially evacuated by State Police due to a suspicious package. A robot was brought in to check it out.
Passengers were told to head to Terminal E for transportation out of the airport. Around 8:50, Michael Ratty, just off a flight, reported:
Logan Airport is a NIGHTMARE right now. Mass confusion outside Terminals C and E.
A group of East Boston clamdiggers yesterday sued Massport and a company that gases up jet planes for a fuel spill they say ruined some of the most productive clam beds in Boston Harbor - and possibly jeopardized the future of the clamming in the entire state.
Jess recounts going through a security line at Logan the other day: After 12 years of heightened awareness of shoe bombs, she started taking her shoes off, only to have a TSA worker yell at her because TSA no longer checks for explosive shoes. OK, but then when she started putting her shoes back on, he yelled at her again.
Updated, 7:15 p.m.
Massport and Boston firefighters battled a two-alarm pump fire that broke out around 5 p.m. in the "fuel farm" used to gas up jets. Although it was brought under control around 5:30 p.m., Boston Fire only declared an all out around 7 p.m.
Massport reports:
Fueling system temporarily suspended due to fire. Flights impacted. Please check with airlines for flight status
Massport is apologizing for scheduling routine fire training at Logan today, because not everybody would realize that was only an old fuselage on fire rather than something more sinister on this anniversary date.
An airman upset at finding the USO at Logan's Terminal closed on Tuesday angrily harangued an airport worker about the situation and, after sputtering about the Marathon, allegedly said he had a pressure cooker in his backpack and asked what he was supposed to do with it, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office and State Police.
Two Delta flight attendants based at Logan Airport charge the airline would only pay them for time they spent in the air and say they're owed back wages for all the time they worked before and after flights.
Nancy DeSaint of Cranston, RI and Barbara Keenan of Salem filed a class-action lawsuit last month in Suffolk Superior Court. Delta moved this week to have the case moved to US District Court in Boston, in part because of the amount sought - more than $5 million.
In their suit, the two flight attendants - one of whom still works for Delta - say:
Looks like Turkish Airlines is getting ready for direct service between Logan and Istanbul - five flights a week, starting next May (report's in French, but easy enough to get the gist).
H/t Muerl.
Lindsay Birch snapped the scene in South Boston around 5:45, adds:
Looks like I got my run in just in time at Castle Island.
Chris Weigel watched lightning hit the ground at Logan Airport:
Five Logan Airport "cab starters" arrested in February were indicted yesterday by a Suffolk County grand jury for allegedly taking bribes from cabbies to move them up in the queue at the airport.
Each of the five were indicted on at least five counts of soliciting or accepting a bribe as a public employee and at least two counts of soliciting or accepting an unlawful gratuity as a public employee, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.
Massport CEO Tom Glynn summed it all up today:
Today we welcome a world class airline to a world class city.
A Utah professor today acknowledged he viewed sexually explicit image of little girls as he flew to Boston for a professional conference in 2011, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
In East Boston District Court, Judge Roberto Ronquillo, Jr. gave Grant Smith a 2 1/2-year suspended sentence for possession of child pornography and five years' probation, which he will serve in his native Utah, after registering as a sex offender, the DA's office reports.
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