The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) will receive $54.1 million in federal grants to be used for operating assistance and repair improvements at various Orange and Red Line T stations including Braintree, North Quincy and Back Bay Station, according to officials at the MBTA. The funding comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or the stimulus bill, and is part of a $72.5 million grant meant for transit improvements in Massachusetts. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the grant March 5, followed by an announcement by Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration March 8.

While the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is only a 10 minute walk from Northeastern, the minute you step inside it feels like you’ve traveled centuries past back into Renaissance Italy. The museum offers a late night option to view the Gardner’s art collection. The museum calls Gardner After Hours “a new kind of night out.”

Students at the Wentworth Institute of Technology presented 3-D models representing their visions for the redesign for areas of the West Fenway, specifically Peterborough and Queensberry streets, last week as a requirement for a class. In Jan. 2009, a strip of restaurants on Peterborough Street burned down, including Sorentos, Umi Fenway, Rod Dee, Greek Isle, El Pelon Taqueria and Thornton's Fenway Grille, creating a blank canvas for students to put their creativity to use.

Mayor Thomas Menino announced an initiative Feb. 23 that will provide assessments and resources for security upgrades to convenience store owners in wake of the Feb. 21 killing of a convenience store worker on Dudley Street in Dorchester. “The shooting of Geraldo Serrano on Sunday morning is outrageous and we cannot allow this type of brazen behavior to be accepted in our city,” Menino said in a press release Feb. 23.