Universal Hub

Citizen complaint of the day: Somebody unzipped the zip tie on one basketball hoop

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 11:27 pm

A concerned citizen filed a 311 report about the situation at Murray Field in Brighton: Read more.

The empty city: Chinatown Gate, Thursday night

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 10:06 pm

Brian K. Sullivan had no company as he approached the Chinatown Gate tonight.

State shuts parking lots and spaces at beaches in South Boston, Dorchester, East Boston and Quincy to try to keep people away

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 9:55 pm

Starting tomorrow, DCR is closing the parking areas and spaces along the water from Constitution Beach in East Boston to Castle Island and down to Wollaston Beach because too many people were showing up at the beaches and not spacing themselves out enough.

Affected areas: Read more.

Deno's in West Roxbury shuts down

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 9:41 pm

Deno's Pizza and Subs on Centre Street has announced it's closed for now:

For the safety of our customers, employees and families we are currently closed.
We’ll see you soon....

The Patriots mask plane has landed

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 6:17 pm

Patrick posted photos of the Patriots 767 carrying hundreds of thousands of N95 masks at 6:05 p.m.

National Guard trucks already at Logan waiting to move those Chinese masks to a state warehouse

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 4:37 pm

Patrick reports: "Looks like the mask calvary is here at Logan!" Read more.

Walsh: Practice social distancing; don't make him impose fines and call out the police

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 3:05 pm

COVID-19 Media Availability 4/2/20

Mayor Walsh said today that while most Bostonians are taking social distancing to heart, there are still too many people clustering together at local parks, beaches and stores, and that as an anticipated surge of cases approaches the state, he's going to be watching carefully and doing what he feels he has to to curb the virus, and that if he changes his mind, it could be within a couple days. Read more.

Part of South Boston convention center to become 1,000-bed facility for coronavirus patients

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 2:44 pm

Mayor Walsh said today that work has started at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to create an area that can house up to 1,000 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 but who do not need more intensive hospital care. Read more.

Track the Patriots plane filled with masks as it flies towards Logan

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 2:34 pm

Flightradar24 is plotting the Patriots plane in realtime. As I type, it's over Manitoba.

Baker got the Krafts involved in getting those masks to try to keep the shipments safe from the feds

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 2:01 pm

COVID-19 Update: April 2, 2020

At his daily press conference today, Gov. Baker said he managed to keep all those Chinese N95 masks out of federal hands by calling their shipment a "private humanitarian mission" and enlisting the help of the Kraft family, who sent their football team's jet over to China to pick them up. Read more.

Brewheads no longer have to drive to Vermont for a couple of beers

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 12:53 pm

Boston Restaurant Talk breaks the news that a Chelsea company has managed to import some cases of Heady Topper and Focal Banger to the Boston area.

Liberty Mutual tried to screw guy who suffered brain injuries in a 2008 bar fight on Newbury Street, court rules

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 12:36 pm

A man who has already received $5.5 million for traumatic brain injuries suffered in a fight that started as an argument over a bar stool at Sonsie in 2008 could be eligible for even more money under the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today that Liberty Mutual tried to delay paying him anything after it had lost one of two court cases because it knew he was in financial duress at the time and figured it could get him to settle for less than he wanted. Read more.

Brigham and Women's builds a coronavirus testing booth

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 10:26 am

WBZ reports the booth, based on a design from South Korea, lets clinicians examine and test people with Covid-19 symptoms from behind a polycarbonate shield, meaning they don't have to use a new set of increasingly rare personal protective equipment for each patient.

Fewer people playing the lottery these days

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 10:19 am

The Charlestown Patriot-Bridge reports state Lottery sales are down 30%, which could mean less aid to cities and towns in the coming fiscal year.

Boston councilors ask state to hold off on school reorganization plans

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 10:17 am

The middle of a pandemic, when students and teachers are still getting used to doing things online, is no time to talk about what could be a fundamental restructuring of BPS, several city councilors say. The Dorchester Reporter has more.

Tufts students find several miles of elastic cord to repair damaged N95 masks

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 10:13 am

WBUR reports the students jumped into action after Tufts Medical Center got a donation of 6,000 N95 masks that had easily snappable elastic straps. But first they had to find miles of elastic cord with which to replace the bad straps.

Quincy School cafeteria now a Covid-19 screening area

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 9:37 am

Over the weekend, BPS custodians and Tufts Medical Center staffers converted the Quincy Elementary School cafeteria, just down Washington Sstreet from the hospital, into a clinic for screening people with Covid-19 symptoms. Read more.

Charlie Baker, Robert Kraft team up to get 1.2 million N95 masks from China

By adamg - 4/2/20 - 8:23 am

Gov. Baker posted this photo of 1.2 million N95 masks being loaded onto the Patriots plane, after several days of negotiations with a Chinese company and the Chinese government - and a $2 million payment by the Patriots owner. ABC News reports 300,000 masks will go to New York - and that 500,000 more masks are waiting for us in China.