Just when you thought it was safe to go to the supermarket, things take a turn for the worse. A small plane crashed into a supermarket parking lot in Easton today, bursting into flames and killing three passengers. The plane was so badly damaged that it's not yet been determined what type of aircraft it is. It is also not clear what caused the crash. The closest runway is Mansfield Municipal Airport, 5 miles away.......

The MBTA site says, "Red Line service is experiencing 10-15 minute delays between Park Street and Alewife due to a disabled train." Posted 7:52 AM. Update: alert removed, presumably service is restored. Anyone run into red line problems this morning?......

Bostonist just got word that a police car turned a corner and hit a stroller in a crosswalk in at the corner of Centre and Seaverns Ave in the heart of Jamaica Plain during First Thursday tonight. A witness who asked not to be identified said the baby was very small, went flying after the collision, and was crying. It was also said that the baby was taken away in an ambulance. The baby, the......

Jesse Helms died. [NYT] Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi both ate 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes, then Chestnut won the sudden-death five-dog eat-off to be crowned the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest winner for the second year in a row. [Gothamist] Food prices and food bank need are up, but donations are down. [Globe] A bill in the House would increase access to mental health services. [Globe] A Quincy man fell overboard yesterday......

Jesse Helms, the much-maligned conservative senator from North Carolina, died today of natural causes. He's been called racist, divisive, and anti-democratic in the past, but today, another former GOP rep from NC deemed him "a patriot in the mold of those great men" (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams), while White House spokesman Scott Stanzel called Helms "a great public servant and true patriot."......

The public may not be quite as freaked out by West Nile Virus as it once was, but the disease is definitely still around. WNV was detected in mosquitoes in Worcester on June 27, marking the first time the virus has been found here in 2008. There were six cases of West Nile Virus in humans in Massachusetts in 2007. People over 50 are more likely to be seriously affected by the disease, which is......

The Globe reports that an Orange Line train hit and killed a person at Sullivan Square this morning. The Orange Line is shut down between North Station and Oak Grove while investigations are conducted. Riders are being bused between the two stops. More information when it comes in. This is the third person killed by an MBTA train this week.......

The car crash on Harvard Street in Coolidge Corner last night turned out to be much more serious than we realized at first. Updated information from WBZTV and Wicked Local Brookline reveals that the crash involved five cars. The driver who apparently caused the crash (possibly due to speeding) died in the accident, and another driver was trapped in her burning vehicle. Firemen rescued the woman, who was badly injured but is expected to survive.......

Photo by Pam Aghababian Hopefully you're reading this on your iPhone or before leaving work, because you might have a crappy commute home if you go by Coolidge Corner. A couple of cars were involved in a fiery wreck right in front of the Gap store on Harvard Street. Maybe the drivers were distracted by some really nice chinos on display? No definite word on injuries or the real cause of the crash, but......

Our previous commentary on stuff white people like has apparently inspired a double-whammy of news regarding even more stuff that white people like. Tim Russert, host of "Meet the Press," has died of a heart attack at age 58. White people certainly like their liberal newscasters, but Russert was particularly revered and influential. He will be missed by newsies of all types. The Times and CNN report more, and the Wikipedia page has already been......

No, really, she didn't. Despite that dog and pony show earlier today about conceding--especially if Barack Obama got the magic number of delegates (which he so did), Hillary Clinton just came on CNN to say "I will be making no decisions tonight." She cares too much about those 18 million people who voted for her (does she know there are a few more than 18 million people in this nation?) to throw in the towel......

While Young Hillary Clinton fights on with tenacity, the real Hillary Clinton waffles (mmm... waffles). Several reports this morning indicated that she would concede the Democratic presidential nomination to presumed winner Barack Obama tonight. The AP started the dropout rumors, and the Herald picked it up. Now Clinton's campaign says it ain't so, and the Globe reports on the limbo-like situation. The campaign is now clearly saying it "absolutely" won't concede anything until Obama reaches......

The Herald reports that a woman was found dead in Mission Hill early this morning. The woman is Hispanic and in her early 20s, but has not yet been identified. Cops are swarming the scene looking for more information, and appear to suspect foul play.Cops told WBZTV the woman's death was caused by "massive trauma." Update (1pm): the Globe says the woman was shot to death. Neighbors heard gunshots around midnight but alerted no one.......

Commonwealth Ave was closed for a while this morning thanks to a major multi-vehicle crash. MyFoxBoston has video of the charred scene and the Boston Globe has some intense pictures. The Green Line was running shuttle buses for a while in the area. It's back to normal but expecting delays. If you're headed to Allston/Brighton, prepare for a possible additional headache on this already annoyingly rainy day. Via Universal Hub, Boston Daily.......

Republican presidential aspirant and former Massachsuetts governor Mitt Romney is the projected winner of the state of Massachusetts over John McCain this Super Tuesday, according to CNN. And that victory was by no means a given since Romney didn't exactly leave Massachusetts wanting more. However, Romney is still fighting for states, and Mike Huckabee (plus buddy Chuck Norris) is racking up enough votes that neither one can catch up to the front-runner, John McCain. Huckabee......

What is it about Boston and bomb threats? This afternoon, someone allegedly brought a package into a post office, set it on the counter, and said it was a bomb, WCVB reports. The man took the package into the office on Avenue DeLafayette and gave the clerk a note that said, "This is a bomb. Put your 20s and 50s in the box or I'll blow this place up." She gave him $40. In its......

--Now we have a possible motive regarding the beat-down rained upon Massachusetts resident Carlos Ortez when he was leaving a New York bar. The cause wasn't a fight over the Red Sox or the Yankees--it may have been the other big reason for barroom brawls--a woman. --Late-breaking news: This afternoon, one person got shot in the leg during an apparent drive-by in Roxbury. Police say witnesses saw a white car leaving the scene. --The BPD......

-- The Boston Police Department's news brief headline summed this one up perfectly with "With Friends Like These...Who Needs Enemies": East Boston guy goes out with his friend on Monday afternoon. Friend goes back to guy's house, breaks through the window and steals some of the guy's toys (iPod, digital camera, PlayStation). When guy confronts friend about the theft, friend smashes guy's digital camera right in front of him. Bostonist says guy needs new friends.......

Ah….. summer in Boston: Lobster rolls, ice-cold Sam Adams, and teen-agers shooting each other on the subway. Boston.com issued a breaking news alert today at 2:44 PM: “Police Search for 2 Suspects after Teen Shot on Orange Line Train.” According to the story by Mac Daniel, at about 1 p.m. a teenager exited the outbound train at Ruggles and pulled a gun on another “18 to-19 year old” male, who was still on the train.......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......

Text messages aren't just our favorite way to vote Sanjaya off of American Idol, they're also the quickest way to get in touch, no matter where we are. The mobile is always close at hand (and usually in the pocket) if we're at a concert, in class, or even in the cube toiling away on our TPS reports a text message won't likely go ignored for long. A number of US colleges and universities have......

Oh, how quickly we forget. Thomas Finneran was all the rage 18 months ago. The subject of literal rage. After being speaker of the Massachusetts House for 8 years and a member for 18 years before that he was caught up in all sorts of political scandal. It wasn't the middle of the road politics or opposition to the same sex marriages that had been declared legal by the SJC, but his involvement in a......

Gothamist has their eyes to the sky today and is keeping us updated on the breaking news story from New York City. Apparently a helicopter has crashed into an apartment building. Reports thus far have indicated that more than one building is on fire. Officials have already come out to claim that they aren't suspecting that it was a hijacking or terrorist related. It seems to have been confirmed that it was not a small......

It appears that there is a disconnect between Google and Comcast going on right now (breaking news?). We've gotten a number of field reports from users of Comcast's cable internet service across the state who are unable to connect to Gmail, Google, and Blogspot. One of our "internet outage spotters" chronicled a tech support conversation he had in which the Comcast operator told him it was a Firefox issue and he'd have to switch......

All local and national news outfits have their eyes turned to London this morning. A terrorism plot has been uncovered in the UK which would apparently have resulted in planes on international routes from the UK to the US blowing up mid-flight. At least twenty-one persons have been taken into custody by British authorities so far, and they're still following leads stemming from the arrests. Here in the United States the Department of Homeland Security......

Ticket to Germany to watch the World Cup 2006: $685 Tickets to see your favorite soccer (or football) teams play in said cup: $400 Cab fare from your hotel to travel to the match: Ten Euros Beers in Germany that help you watch the Cup: Do we have to tell? Riding around in a German squad car looking for your hotel after walking the streets of the city for many hours by yourself, only to......

Bostonist is still recovering from that one-hour loss of sleep due to Daylight’s Savings Time yesterday, so please be kind as we slowly enter into the world of blogging this week. Here’s a round up of the top stories here in the city today…with a couple of highlights in what is turning out to be a gloomy news day. Breaking News: A crane that was working on an Emerson College building at 136 Boylston Street......

Bostonist had our eyes on the altar this morning as we awaited the late breaking news from Italy. It wasn’t Torino but that sovereignty tucked away in Rome we like to call the Vatican. While the paper reported today that there was an impending list, and our very own Archbishop might be in the top ten, we heard it on the radio and found the release online. The Vatican announced today that Archbishop Sean, as......

Bostonist doesn’t have a lot of details on the incident this evening, but it appears that Mama Snoop’s (or Ms. Dogg for those of you infatuated with the formality) presence in the Hub to form an anti-gang group didn’t have the immediate effects she had hoped. Making changes like this do take time, so we’re still hopeful. However, tonight in Dorchester, one of Boston’s Hot Spots for violent crime, three homicides were recorded. Three people......

If you have ever played the popular game, Jenga, you have experienced the feeling of waiting for something to fall. Well, the big news story in Massachusetts today kind of has that same feeling. Some 2,000 residents in Taunton have been told to evacuate their homes while the 173-year-old Whittenton Pond Dam is on the verge of breaking, which would allow the Mill River to flow through the downtown. Since the New England area......