Suspicious package closes Boston highway

[cal04]

Bomb squad is trying to get at it; witnesses said it seems to have wires

A section of highway north of Boston and a busy public transportation hub just outside of the city were shut down Wednesday morning in the midst of the busy rush hour as police investigated a “suspicious package.”

A bomb squad unit was trying to get close to the package which witnesses said looked like it had wires sticking out of it, a spokesman for the region’s public transportation agency said.

“The package is on an elevated structure and they are trying to get at it with a cherry picker,” MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16902707/

[Jacobin]

1. Everyone Panic!!

:evilgrin:

[Tiberius]

16. More suspicious devices found

Not that we should panic, but this is getting a little strange:

BREAKING NEWS: Traffic is snarled downtown as more suspicious objects have been found by police in various locations. State police bomb experts are now examining a suspicious item attached to the Longfellow Bridge. Storrow Drive Eastbound is partially closed before the Longfellow Bridge.

Meanwhile, Boston police are investigating suspicious items at Columbus and Stuart streets and near the New England Medical Center. Earlier today a device was found on the BU Bridge and on an underpass of I-93 North at Sullivan Station.

[NoodleyAppendage]

21. AGAIN NONE were bombs. Many had prank LED lights on the circuit boards. n/t

HOAX.

J

[Tiberius]

22. You are right

I just found read it on the wire. Pretty sick that someone would perpetrate a hoax like that.

[hippiechick]

2. I'm sure there will be a strategically placed return address label ..

... with "Tehran" written on it. :eyes:

[soothsayer]

8. lol! yes indeedy!

[meegbear]

3. Update from the local newstation ...

State Police shut down a section of Interstate 93 North near Sullivan Square in Charlestown for about an hour Wednesday morning to investigate a report of a suspicious package.

The MBTA also closed the T station there as a precaution.

The device was blown up around 10 a.m. and the highway was re-opened.

Buses are still being used between Wellington & North Station. Orange line trains are not stopping at Sullivan Square.

http://cbs4boston.com/topstories/local_story_031092841.html

[cal04]

5. thank you meegbear

for the update
:hi:

[AlCzervik]

15. traffic must have been a nightmare in that section, i used to park at Sullivan and take the orange

line to washington street. the traffic in that area was always bad on nice sunny days with no accidents in sight.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Did it have wrapping paper with candy canes and Santa Claus stickers?

Probably some kid's missing present.

[Bake]

6. You'd feel pretty stupid if it turns out to be a bomb

At least the local cops are doing their job and putting public safety first. Which, apparently nobody did when McVeigh blew up the Murrah Bldg. in OK City.

Bake

[Ian David]

7. Yes, I'm sure the villagers felt pretty stupid when the little boy finally WAS eaten by a wolf.

[Drum]

9. lol!

:D

[Tesha]

12. "No one could have imagined"...

> Which, apparently nobody did when McVeigh blew up the
> Murrah Bldg. in OK City.

"No one could have imagined" that a bunch of good, clean,
white, Christian, militia-minded assholes would have wanted
to blow up the Federal Guv'mint.

Isn't that what the Environmentalists, Hippies, Lefties,
and Feminazis were supposed to be doing back then?

Tesha

[kestrel91316]

10. They will probably find out this was just a package full of some

homeless guy's junk. That's all it was when we had a bomb scare a couple of years ago near my office.

Thing is, it LOOKED like a duffel bag full of some homeless guy's junk. And we have a significant homeless problem here. But NOOOO, they had to go shut down Ventura Bl (huge main drag) for HOURS and just stand around. It was a Sunday and I think the bomb squad must have been at brunch. Don't get me started on LAPD. Sorry for the hijack...........

[Larkspur]

11. I thought we were fighting terrorists over there (Iraq) so they wouldn't fight us here

(/sarcasm)

[SayWhatYo]

19. Didn't you hear?

The Iraqi PM said that we can't do that anymore...

[Massachusetts]

13. Back Away

Upon further investigation the package was found to have a pair of Larry Bird's old basketball shoes. 20+ years and counting since our last World Championship.

[Ian David]

14. Local bloggers chime-in on today's suspicious package incident

Who doesn't love a little excitement first thing in the morning?
Submitted by adamg on Wed, 01/31/2007 - 1:20pm.

On a morning when the lead story in the Globe announced the T's new random-bag inspections have turned up nothing, the Sullivan Square T stop and I-93 both get shut down so police could blow up a suspicious device found on a girder above the station. The Globe quotes a guy who ran toward the station to see what all the commotion was about:

"It was nerve racking," said Robert A. Ellington, 29, who ran to Sullivan Square to investigate when he heard whirl of television news helicopters. "It's scary, but exciting though."

Private Idaho reports:

So a friend of the family, Christie called my wife at home to say "Please help! my cell phone is running out of power and they've closed the subway and I'm stuck somewhere called Wellington Station!!! Can you come get me?" ...

Cindy and Jeff at SmartRoutes made it official: This morning was an eventful Wednesday.

More:
http://www.universalhub.com/node/7458

[Marrah_G]

17. 5 packages

5 packages on bridges, even if it is a hoax I am damn glad our law enforcement is taking it seriously. Not everything is a government conspiracy and there are a HELL of alot of pissed off people both here and abroad. I am personally surprised there hasn't been more things like this.

[crim son]

18. Here in town last winter, they closed down a main street and had the

cops crawling all over the place. Apparently somebody had noticed what looked like "sticks of dynamite" poking up through the snow. Our security force took action! The dynamite turned out to be a set of plastic nuchucks. :eyes: Better safe than sorry, I guess.

[NoodleyAppendage]

20. NONE were bombs. Fed official reported that circuit board lit up w/ smiley face & middle finger.

There's some report that the devices tripped to reveal a lit up smiley face and extended middle finger on the circuit board. Sounds like the kids at MIT are bored...

J