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A Day After Blasts, Boston Tries To Get Back To Normal

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep, good morning. All through this morning, we've been listening to NPR correspondents in Boston, here in Washington and elsewhere, trying to learn the latest about the Boston Marathon attacks - two improvised explosive devices that killed three people and wounded, we're now told, far more than 150 people yesterday. NPR's Jeff Brady is one of the correspondents who's been covering this story. He's in the Back Bay area of Boston, not far from where the attacks took place. Hi, Jeff.

JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: As someone who's been living the story, now, for most of the last 24 hours - most of the last 24 hours - what did you learn, listening to that news conference earlier this morning; Gov. Deval Patrick, FBI officials, others talking.

BRADY: One of the most interesting things that they said, they confirmed that they have no suspects in custody right now. That was the - the authorities said that at the press conference. Of course, they're continuing their investigation; they expect to keep the blast site closed for a few more days. That was a very large area. They're slowly shrinking that area as they sort of cleared different areas of the investigation site. One, key point that Gov. Deval Patrick made: He said that there were no unexploded devices found. Now, that was contrary to some rumors that were out there, floating around, that seven other devices had been found. That's not true. There were just the two that exploded near the finish line at the Boston Marathon.

Also, very touching comments from Boston Mayor Tom Menino. He began his comments by saying that terror was brought to Boston. He said the city grieves for a little boy from Dorchester; and he said, quote, "This is a tragedy, but Boston is a strong city." And then FBI Special Agent In Charge Rick DesLauriers - he said they're asking anyone who may have taken photos or video or any media near that finish line, to pass along that information to the FBI. They said, even if you don't think the information is important, the FBI might find it valuable.

INSKEEP: Well, now that is a sign of how determined authorities are to find some clues, some lead here, Jeff Brady, because normally, that would mostly be noise. You almost wouldn't want people to say too much. But in this case, they're begging for more.

BRADY: Yeah. Absolutely. They want to see every piece of information that anyone might have. Boston's police chief said this is going to be the most complex crime scene his city - his department has ever investigated before. They are looking for anything they can find, at this point, all the way down to pictures and videos that someone has on their cellphone.

INSKEEP: Well, where, exactly, are you, Jeff Brady?

BRADY: We are right in front of the Back Bay Transit Station. We've been sitting here all morning. We - kind of wanted to see the mood among commuters as they were going on the trains this morning. And this is just a few blocks from where the explosions took place. The closest transit station is the only one in the city that's closed; everything else is open. And traffic has been pretty light. I found myself walking across a four-lane road this morning. The sidewalks - not a lot of traffic, pedestrians on the sidewalks. But we talked to quite a few people, and there was sort of this theme emerging among those people, that they were determined to go about their day today. They wanted to go to work; they didn't want to let these explosions change the plans that they had for today.

INSKEEP: OK. Thanks very much. That's NPR's Jeff Brady. He's in Boston, where we'll continue covering this story. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

David Greene is an award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author. He is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, the most listened-to radio news program in the United States, and also of NPR's popular morning news podcast, Up First.
Jeff Brady is a National Desk Correspondent based in Philadelphia, where he covers energy issues and climate change. Brady helped establish NPR's environment and energy collaborative which brings together NPR and Member station reporters from across the country to cover the big stories involving the natural world.