World Press Freedom Day 2003 – New Hampshire’s famous Old Man of the Mountain collapses.  Other anniversaries.

Abruptly, making do becomes a new normal
By Brian MacQuarrie and Maria Sacchetti
Globe Staff / May 3, 2010

For much of Eastern Massachusetts yesterday, a ruptured pipe washed away the routine.

Two million residents grappled with the sudden challenge of living without safe tap water, finding new ways to brush their teeth, wash their dishes, and even to get a cup of coffee.

They stood in long lines at stores, boiled water in big pots, and began rethinking old habits to determine what’s safe.

“It’s awful,’’ said Dawn Giordano, 40, of Watertown, as she watched her sons play lacrosse. “I’m trying to avoid things with water.’’

Many people tried to muddle through with good humor. At the sink, they reached for bottled water instead of the faucet. They drank soft drinks instead of hot coffee. They used paper plates and plastic forks.

But in a region saturated with coffee-and-doughnut shops, the starkest effect may have been caffeine withdrawal.

“You can’t get coffee any where,’’ said Mark Norton, 30, who went to five shops before he finally gave up and made the instant variety at home in Medford. “There’s probably going to be tons of road rage because nobody can get their coffee today.’’

On Newbury Street in Boston, the coffee shops turned away hope-filled cappuccino fans who thought their espresso-based drinks would be safe.

Region’s coffee sales grind to just a trickle
By Michael Corcoran – Globe Correspondent / May 3, 2010

The massive pipe leak that cut off clean water to two million Eastern Massachusetts residents also sharply curtailed the availability of another critical beverage: coffee.

Dunkin’ Donuts, one of the largest coffee retailers in the country, stopped serving coffee in areas affected by the water break yesterday. Customers were greeted by signs on the entrances that said: “We are not offering hot or cold coffee products until further notice.’’ Dunkin’ Donuts was pushing Coolattas, a frozen coffee drink.

And many independent retailers also cut off the flow of joe, leaving groggy brunchers yesterday searching for other sources of caffeine.

At Flour Bakery and Café in Boston’s South End, a sign on the door warned diners that no coffee was available because of the water crisis. Across Washington Street, at Code Ten, salads and coffee were both off the menu.

Amrita Bajwa, a medical student from Boston, sat outside Code Ten with a friend, sipping from a bottle of water.

“I tried to get an iced chai tea from Flour, but had to settle for something else,’’ she said.

…snip…

“It is terrible for business,’’ said Lauren Krakauskas, an employee at Espresso Royale Caffe on Newbury Street, which shut down its espresso machines yesterday. “All we have to sell is orange juice.’’

Stores try to obtain, maintain supply – Coakley to investigate reports of price gouging
By Erin Ailworth – Globe Staff / May 3, 2010

Bottled water manufacturers stepped up production yesterday as they rushed to supply Greater Boston following a major break in a pipe that pumps drinkable water to the area. But deliveries were hampered by a shortage of drivers, who typically do not work on Sundays.

“We have plenty of water,’’ said Larry Gillis, with Nestle Waters North America, which bottles Poland Spring water and has a factory in Framingham. “Finding fleet resources to get the product we need into MEMA has been the challenge . . . We’re really scrambling.’’

There were sporadic reports of price gouging yesterday, and Attorney General Martha Coakley said her office plans to investigate.

“Businesses and individuals cannot and should not take advantage of this public emergency to unfairly charge consumers,’’ she said in a statement.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency is also working with Belmont Springs and CPF Inc., of Ayer, to get water to those most in need, said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the state agency. He said that each company has committed to providing about a million gallons a day for the duration of the crisis.

Thirty Massachusetts communities and more than 2 million residents are under notice from the state to boil water for at least a minute before drinking it or cooking with it. As a result, many are trying to buy as much bottled water as possible, some venturing into neighboring towns to do so.

On Saturday, police were called to a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Revere after shoppers started pushing and shoving in their rush to buy water.

40 years after tumult, a ceremony – BU invites class of Kent State year
By Steven Rosenberg – Globe Staff / May 3, 2010

Marsha Halperin was sitting in her dorm room at Boston University, studying for final exams, when a friend burst in to tell her the news: Four students at Kent State University, in Ohio, had been killed by the National Guard.

It was May 4, 1970, and the BU campus, like many across the country, had been roiling with protest since President Nixon had announced four days earlier that US forces were entering Cambodia.

“I felt like the whole world had gone crazy,’’ Halperin — now Halperin-Epstein — said.

Outraged students marched on the State House to protest the Kent State killings. The next morning protesters threw firebombs at a BU administration building, and several fires were set on campus.

BU officials decided they had to end the unrest. So they scrapped final exams. They ordered students off campus. And they canceled commencement — graduating seniors got their diplomas in the mail.

Now, four decades later, BU is making amends to the class of 1970.