Boston Police report a man was murdered at the intersection of North and Union streets around 11:51 a.m., Friday.

On arrival, officers located the victim, a 40 year-old black male, who they learned had been assaulted by a suspect who fled the scene. The victim was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital with life threatening injuries where he was later pronounced.

Police say they are looking for anybody who might have seen the incident. Contact the homicide unit at (617) 343-4470 or use the anonymous CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS (or text 'TIP' to CRIME).

Saul Blumenthal took this Zakim rainbow photo yesterday.

If you took all the bricks in the Freedom Trail, and laid them end-to-end, it would be exactly the same length it is today.

Above: Who knew the Boston Transportation Department was up for some wry commentary about the price of gas in West Roxbury?

Below: Katken notices a particularly apt wrong-way sign downtown:

Tom Menino sure pulled a good one on him, slipping $2 million into the city budget to study moving City Hall to South Boston, which Flaherty managed to vote for even though he opposes the move, because, well, it was on page 342 of the budget:

In an interview after the hearing, he said that he did not realize he had already voted to approve the funding for the studies.

As a reporter, I once covered a similar issue in Natick - when one selectman realized he'd been similarly, if not quite so back-of-the-bookishly, bamboozled, he said "If I'd realized what I was voting for, I would have voted against myself."

No offense to Natick, but shouldn't we expect more from Boston councilors, who, after all, get paid full-time wages? Surely a man who would be mayor of Boston would realize he has to be on guard when it comes to the man who is mayor of Boston - even if he does have a point about spending $2 million on a study like that in times like these.

After being sucked through a trans-dimensional portal last evening.

Boston Police report that when several men saw an alleged purse snatcher drag a woman by her purse into the street before he finally wrested it away last night, they ran after him, tackled him and held him until police arrived at North and Lewis streets.

Police also report a manager at the Comedy Connection in Quincy Market was held up and pistol whipped early this morning:

The victim reported to officers that the was in his office putting money from the night away when the suspect, a black male wearing a black mask with purple around the face area of it walked into his office. The victim further reported that the suspect brandished a firearm and directed him to put all the money in the bag. According to the victim, the suspect then threatened him stating that he was going to catch a "hot one." The suspect then struck the victim in the face with the firearm, ordered him to the ground, and fled the scene with the money.

Downtown Boston is just full of symbols from the past. Take this relief on the side of the Flour and Grain Exchange building. On the top, an eagle, showing our strength. On the left, Neptune's trident, symbolizing Boston's role as a seaport, and Mercury's caduceus, calling for protection for our traders (Mercury is the god of merchants and he carried a caduceus), atop, of course, the bounty once traded in the building. On the right, there's a ship's mast, a fish, the money used to buy and sell all the grains and fruits and, in between them, um, what are those things? Anybody know?

There's this cool new fountain on the Greenway near the Aquarium and Milk Street. It has holes arranged in a series of concentric eccentric circles. At random, water shoots out of a different group of holes. The water rises 10 feet or so, the kids rush over and a ton of water falls on their heads. They do need to cycle down the chlorine a tad, though.

Boston Police report arresting a Brookline cabbie Thursday night for trying to pick up passengers on Cambridge Street - only Boston cabbies are allowed to pick up people who hail them on the street in Boston. Ironically, the driver of the Brookline Red Cab is an Allston resident.