No, not that Big Dig, an earlier one one. This one, described by some as The Incredible Ditch was completed a long, long time ago. Of course you don't remember it, no one today does, so Burlington Retro's Rob Fahey fills us in on the history of the Middlesex Canal.

The challenges faced by the Boston housing market have been well documented in 2020. The pandemic has caused massive shifts in urban population distribution in metropolitan areas all across the country, and Boston is no exception. It effectively took one of the nation’s hottest real estate markets and caused it to come to a grinding halt as apartment vacancies soar all over the city.

Broadway Jay shows us the emptiness that is the Burlington Mall parking lot this afternoon.

The Burlington Fire Department reports that Ryan Baldera, 32, of Lawrence, the manager of the Buffalo Wild Wings across from the Burlington Mall, died yesterday after a worker mixed two cleaning products in the kitchen: Read more.

Boston Restaurant Talk reports the Del Frisco's Grilles in Chestnut Hill and Burlington are closing in a week.

Burlington Police thought they were dealing with a local Nazi when they found a sort of swastika like symbols spray painted on the Pine Glen Elementary School and on a nearby stop sign Thursday. Read more.

A fox that went after three women in separate incidents yesterday was tested for rabies and found to be infected with the brain-destroying virus, Burlington Police report. Read more.

A firm with no apparent Web site of its own that holds a patent it claims gives it ownership of a way to index information stored in online databases is suing two local companies for patent infringement. Read more.

State Police report a trooper overseeing roadwork on Rte. 128 northbound in Burlington suffered injuries Sunday night when an Andover man drove into the back of the cruiser he was sitting in. Read more.

Prevailing sentiment in progressive haunts is “2016, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Between a stressful election season, acts of terror, and the crisis in Syria, many of us will be glad to see the calendar page turn on Sunday night. Still, to every cloud there is a silver lining, and at least when it comes to tackling climate change in the US, Massachusetts was a bright spot amidst the clouds of 2016.