The suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings killed in a shootout with police received welfare benefits from the state up until last year, when he became ineligible based on family income.

Boston Marathon suspect photos
FBI / Boston Police Dept.
loading...

A spokesman for the state Office of Health and Human Services on Wednesday confirmed a Boston Herald report that 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, his wife and their toddler daughter had received benefits.

A lawyer for his wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva, has said that she worked 70 to 80 hours per week as a home health aide while her husband cared for their daughter.

The state says both Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his brother and the other bombing suspect — received welfare benefits as children through their parents while the family lived in Massachusetts.

Neither was receiving benefits at the time of the bombing.

Thousands expected at slain MIT officer's service

Sign memorial service for slain MIT officer Sean Collier
Sign memorial service for slain MIT officer Sean Collier (Twitter via WCVB TV)
loading...

Thousands of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, faculty and staff as well as law enforcement officials from across the nation are lining up for a solemn tribute to fallen campus police officer Sean Collier.

MIT officials say they are expecting as many as 10,000 people at Wednesday's service at Briggs Field.

The line of mourners stretched for about a half mile an hour before the ceremony was scheduled to start. They had to make their way through tight security, including metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs.

Authorities say Collier was killed by the Boston Marathon bombing suspects Thursday. He had worked for the department a little more than a year.

Vice President Joe Biden, MIT President L. Rafael Reif, police chief John DiFava and members of Collier's family are scheduled to speak.

Boston Marathon finish line area reopens

Forum restaurant on Boylston Street
Forum restaurant on Boylston Street in Boston (Twitter via WCVB TV)
loading...

The area near the Boston Marathon finish line is reopening to the general public.

Traffic was allowed to flow all the way down Boylston Street on Wednesday morning for the first time since two explosions on April 15 killed three spectators and sent more than 260 to the hospital.

Delivery trucks made their way down the street under a heavy police presence.

Workers at some businesses and hotels in the area were allowed to return to their jobs on Tuesday to prepare for reopening.

Some stores directly affected by the blasts are still boarded up.

The Copley subway station that had been closed since the bombings also reopened, while the main branch of the Boston Public Library also was scheduled to reopen Wednesday.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

More From 92.7 WOBM