-- A couple of drunks stabbed and robbed a Harvard student this weekend, authorities say. The two men, 24 and 26, accosted two victims on their way home from a party at Harvard's Eliot House early Sunday morning. After swiping the victims' wallets, the suspects stabbed one man in the chest, according to police. He survived the attack. [Cambridge Chronicle] -- MBTA police have arrested a man in connection with a Monday night murder in......

Planning a trip down the Northeast Corridor? Leave the Hitachi Magic Wand at home. Or say hello to the Fung Wah. According to WBZ News, Amtrak officials say that "mobile security teams" are poised to swoop, unannounced, into South Station and other train stations between Boston and D.C. and perform some bag-searching. Here's the proposed procedure: Randomly-selected passengers will enjoy a few squirmy moments as their carry-on bags are probed with a "special swab"......

If Amtrak workers follow through on threats to strike nationwide on January 30, Boston commuters of all stripes will find themselves deeply embedded in a giant snowball of crappiness. If you take the Commuter Rail, you'd better come up with a Plan B -- fast. During an Amtrak strike, South Station and the Providence/Stoughton line would basically shut down until it's all settled. Not so smug, everyone else, because you're screwed, too. If South......

What would Massachusetts be without some sort of infrastructure improvement? Today, the MBTA announced that it will overhaul the Columbia Road, Quincy Street, and Massachusetts Avenue commuter rail bridges. Here's the details from the release on how the construction might affect you--it's basically a lot of switching from inbound to outbound platforms: Work requires a temporary one track operation at Uphams Corner station which will continue throughout the entire project slated for completion Summer......

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. And here it is--the complete list of T stops with the most distinct odors: Aquarium: High tide, dolphin pee Airport: Pleather luggage,......

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. The Red Line offers so much variety that you just might get dizzy--or drunk: Central Square: 40s, vodka, burnt rubber, more 40s,......

If the amount of T alerts entering our inbox is any indication, the new T Alert system appears to be working just fine. In fact, it proves what we already knew--that the green line is a sluggish nightmare thanks to disabled trains. An alert appears when a 15-20 delay happens. But one commenter, boston_sean, left us a note that the T Alert system needs a little work when it comes to the commuter rail: I......

With Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaching, the time has come to focus on travel options. Vamoose buses now offer WiFi access and guaranteed seating, but perhaps it is time to take another look at its oft-maligned competitor, the Fung Wah Bus. Established ten years ago, Fung Wah, which is Cantonese for “magnificent wind,” has gained notoriety for buses slamming into guard rails and getting stuck in a toll booth. But even with these occasional......

Two of the big car-sharing companies are joining forces. Zipcar, which is based in Cambridge, and its competitor, Flexcar announced today that they will merge. Mark D. Norman, who is listed as the current CEO for Flexcar, will become Zipcar's new president and Chief Operating Officer. Scott Griffith will remain as Zipcar's CEO. In a conference call yesterday, Norman and Griffith talked up their companies' new WonderTwin powers. As is the case in any press......

Welcome to "Series of Tubes," in which Bostonist rounds up developments among local bloggers over the past week. If you want to make sure your blog is on Bostonist's radar, please e-mail caroline@bostonist.com or leave a link in the Contribute section. --David at Blue Mass Group describes the horrible conditions animals must endure at the Wonderland and Raynham dog tracks. His post and the facts described within are more than enough to make a person......

Just over a year ago (in June 2006) the ACLU threatened the MBTA with a lawsuit, alleging that their unwritten policy against amateur photography on the nation's oldest subway system was unconstitutional. Specifically the ACLU asserted that it was a violation of the first amendment rights (free speech specifically, though a fair argument could be made for freedom of press, we challenge you to give us a legitimate application for freedom of religion.) The......

Do you have any spare toiletries? Books? Magazines? Anything to relieve the irritation and boredom that the troops in Iraq feel when they're not getting shot at? Bring 'em down to South Station today, then. A coalition of people, including the Commuter Rail Union, the Firefighters Union, the Teamsters, MBCR, and the MBTA are at the station. They have large bins decorated with American flags both inside and outside the station. The items must be......

Update: Good Blotter news! Thank you, tipsters, for spreading the word. Police found Starsha Tupper through bank records, and she is safe, according to the Gloucester Times. --If you're a robber, and you're looking for the big bucks, where are you gonna go? Isn't it obvious? The Yankee Candle store! Some robber dressed all in black held up the Yankee Candle at Quincy Market yesterday afternoon. Boy, he must be a thug – he wears......

Zipcar and MBTA have formed an alliance, and Zipcars have been positioned at various MBTA stations to make life even easier for occasional drivers. A total of 24 Zipcars will be at the following T stops: Red line - Alewife, JFK/UMass, Savin Hill, North Quincy, Quincy Center, Quincy Adams Green line - Riverside, Woodland, Brookline Village Orange line - Forest Hills, Malden, Oak Grove Blue line - Left all alone at this time. Show the......

Bostonist heard the call while passing through South Station: "Girl Scout Cookies! Girl Scout Cookies!" A line stretched toward the stations' back doors as pre-teen girls and their moms raked in the cash. If you aren't swinging through South Station, there's a Girl Scout Cookie finder. The Patriots' Trail Council also provides a list of booth sales. Cookie sales run December through April, but you can find a booth near you. And, no, you cannot......

In case you're passing through South Station Friday afternoon or evening and you wonder what's with all the people and probable increased police presence, it's just the MBTA trying to bribe you with a free Jewel concert. OK, we're kidding. But Jewel will be playing for free tonight at South Station at 7:00 pm. And it's Verizon Yellow Pages trying to bribe you, not the MBTA. Beforehand, she'll ride the Green Line, which will be......

Today most of the MBTA system will be running on a Saturday schedule anticipating lighter rider-ship on the Martin Luther King holiday. Of course there's to "advisory" posted on the website, it's just a press release. The Saturday Schedule might be better for a T rider looking to get to Jamaica Plain than, say, a Friday Schedule. A tip to the blog Charlie on the MBTA indicates that the T’s Trip Planning website is having......

Massachusetts political junkies didn't have an excuse to stay up late because the governor's race was over before it began. Democratic candidate Deval Patrick was projected as governor before the polling places closed. It was hardly a race. Patrick pummeled, pounded, and then mopped the floor with the competition. Anyone hoping for a little political drama was quickly disappointed, and they had to look elsewhere for suspense. The big losers were Republican gubernatorial candidate......

Governor Romney, only weeks away from being a lame duck, announced that the MBTA would resume random bag searches of transit system passengers. We thought at first they'd be riffling through our bags trying to find any tokens we still have in our possession, though really they are indeed looking for bombs. The announced plan will deploy portable machines outside of stations that will test baggage for bomb residue, and, with probable cause, police can......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. This week's films are full of things Bostonist can't say no to (classic movies with classic martinis), things we couldn't stop if we tried (fate, modern architecture), and the purple chunk of the Venn diagram where those two categories overlap (zombies). Cocktails! Cary Grant! Friday......

Besides bombarding us with commercials of Meryl Streep's Anna Wintourized face, the movie people behind The Devil Wears Prada are launching a nationwide free caffeine break this afternoon for all those lowly assistants who work hard for a living. While New York and L.A. have numerous participating coffee houses, our fair city only has the following four joining in the Devil promotion running from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. today. (Update: The freebie is a large......

People in Boston have gotten pretty good at finding new and innovative ways to clear up the rainy day blues. Still in our collective memory is a two-week long wash out that had everyone wondering if we would ever see summer – or just have to build an ark real quick. With gray skies all day today and a weekend looking like it will be another washout, there is a never fail way to......

Last week, mailboxes in Bostonist’s Somerville neighborhood started to get copies of a one-page letter, announcing the existence of one "Daily Museum of Amazement." “Hi,” the letter began. “My name is Raj, and I live on Newton Street. I’ve started a collaborative museum that centers around this neighborhood, and I’d like to invite you to contribute to it.” The letter went on to invite neighborhood residents to call a number and leave messages describing “things......

The Celtics didn’t make the NBA playoffs. The Bruins didn’t make the NHL playoffs. So what’s happening at the TD BankNorth Garden? Not much. The action underneath the Garden is today’s news. Dan Grabauskas announced today that the commuter train platforms for Amtrak and the Commuter Rail will see a more than 100% increase in size by November. If completed this would be an amazing feat for the MBTA, which has been working on......

One of Bostonist's least favorite law enforcement tools, the sex offender registry, jumped unpleasantly into the news this weekend, as some crazy Canadian picked two random people on Maine's list and killed them, then boarded a bus to Boston before eventually killing himself when confronted by police at South Station. Since one of the men killed was on the registry for the not-so-scandalous crime of having had sex with his almost-16-year-old girlfriend when he was......

If it’s time to build the third tallest building in Boston on top of it, the least they could do is get some better signage. South Station has caused more than one headache for us. The most recent frustration, of course, has been the new CharlieCardTicket fares, followed closely by the up and down maze of stairways to get from the Red Line to the Silverline or vice versa. We’ve always wondered, but never really......

When we heard the MBTA was going to bring Charlie and all his accompanying fancy kiosks and turnstiles to our morning destination stop of South Station, we thought..."eh." In defense, this less-than-enthusiastic response to the T's announcement of actual(?) service improvement was based solely on past experiences with 1) Porter Square stop's escalators and 2) South Station's "bomb containing" garbage cans, the lids of which are always sitting neatly on the nearby ground. "Ah,......

At lunch today, this Bostonist found herself with a veritable hot Man-wich, that is, sandwiched between three attractive young professional males (two front/one behind) in the deli line. This caused us to wonder: is the Leather District really "the next Soho" of Boston? Bostonist has noticed at least three major condo developments going up within as many blocks of our place of employment — in fact, Lincoln Plaza, directly across the street, is already......

Ping On Alley is just off of Essex Street in Chinatown, pretty close to South Station. Nothing very special about the alley… a parking lot on one side, a big ol’ brick building on the other. But if you look closely, there is a plaque that tells the tale of that alley. In June 1870, the first wave of Chinese immigrants were brought in by shoe factory owners in western Massachusetts to break a strike.......

So soon we forget. When a record gets to the end (and there’s no auto-return on your phonograph) the stylus skips along the cardboard middle. When a cassette tape gets to the end of a side as you’ve got it lodged in your walkman it clicks a little as the gears slip while they try and advance. A CD player, well, the laser just stops, but a whirring or buzzing sound can often be heard......