The Boston Herald reports:

For the third time in a little over a year, residents of a Peabody apartment complex were forced to flee as their flame-plagued complex caught fire again.

A three-alarm blaze broke out on the roof of a building at the Highlands at Dearborn yesterday after a lightning bolt struck.

Beantown Bloggery picked up on a Time magazine article in which 17 teenage girls, 4 times the number as the previous year, at Gloucester High School were found to have made a pregnancy pact and to want to raise their children together. The article explains:

All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Then the story got worse. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," said principal Joseph Sullivan.

Some girls described the desire to give birth to something that unconditionally loves them. Other observers wonder if the in-school daycare and strollers mingling with students in the hallways might be presenting the wrong impression of teen pregnancy.

If this was covered here, I missed it ...

Play "Beat L.A. !" at http://masscrosswords.com

I'm not a big action movie fan, but it's cool when scenes for a film are shot just a few buildings down from where you live. Here's the article from the Lynn Item and a link to some photos I took as they were getting ready the night before.

http://itemlive.com/articles/2008/05/31/news/news03.txt

Earlier in the week I thought this was going to be a real store. I wish we were getting more shops. Maybe the film buzz and the crowds coming down will help? Lynn isn't as bad as its reputation. Except for a few neighborhoods, most of it is quite nice.

http://cityoflynn.upsidemedia.com

1:35pm, sitting here on the PC reading my blogs for the afternoon and WHAM! huge flash of lightning followed immediately by the thunder. They weren't kidding this morning when they said we'd get some.

It is snowing like mad right now... but in the last 5 or so minutes haven't heard another rumble or seen another flash.

anyone else getting a dose of the thundersnow?

The Salem Gazette reports Salem police have arrested a man wanted in connection with 10 years' of graffiti on MBTA trains and on buildings across the North Shore and Boston.

Adam Michael Brant, a.k.a. SPEK, was arrested Wednesday on 16 counts of tagging and 16 counts of malicious destruction of property.

Some examples of his oeuvre.

My husband just called me. He works for a hospital in Boston (not Paul Levy's hospital) and as non-essential personnel he was released at 2:30pm today.

It is now 7:45pm. He just passed Kappy's on Rte 1 North.

Do the math -- 5.25 hours, yes.
But, even more disconcerting is -- Kappy's was closed.

"Think of the amount of booze they COULD BE SELLING to people like me who have spent 5 hours to go less than 10 miles. Think of the revenue! Think of the ... "

Doug was a little upset.

Good thing it only took me 2.5 hours to get home from Marblehead (to Haverhill) and I stopped at the wine store in Georgetown on the way home. Pinot Grigio Awaits.

Good luck to any and all still out there battling the elements. Be safe, not stupid.

Lynn has another blogger. Some of these blogs have been mentioned right here on Universal Hub, helping to put Lynn back on the map as a place to be. (Um. Yes. Lynn was once hopping mad with activity that wasn't all sin.) Downtown, in particular, is on the rise and full of potential, even in this current real estate market.

http://cityoflynn.upsidemedia.com

This poster invites all Lynners, wannabe Lynners and potential visitors to take a look, visit Lynn, and contribute comments.

The state wants $2 billion to fix its college system, but does that conceal a classist public/private school divide? A Salem Blog is not optimistic.