It was a costly weekend nor'easter in Newton.

Three days of round-the-clock plowing and salting cost the city around $800,000, said David Turocy, Newton's deputy commissioner of public works.

It was one of the more expensive storms in recent years, he said, a massive effort requiring 160 street plows, eight sidewalk plows, and 5,000 tons of road salt to clear Newton's 310 miles of roadway of the 12-plus inches the series of snowstorms dumped on the city.

"We appreciate a weekend storm, because it's usually easier to deal with, but not when it lasts all weekend," he said.

The city's snow removal costs were about $3 million last year, with an above-average number of storms requiring plowing.

Turocy said officials hope fervently to spend less this year, though this storm did not get the season off to a cheap start.

"This was a tough one because it never let up and so many people were on the roads'' shopping, he said. "We were reluctant to tow people because of the season, but cars on the streets did make it harder and we had to work around them."

The city used up almost all of its salt supplies over the weekend, but new shipments were arriving today, he said.

-- Erica Noonan

By Globe Staff

The superintendent of public works in Maynard pleaded not guilty today to a charge that he accepted cash payments from a developer in exchange for smoothing the approval process for a construction project.

Paul Camilli, 38, of Newton was arraigned in Concord District Court on one count of a public employee accepting or receiving a bribe. Judge Steven Ostrach set bail at $1,000 cash and ordered Camilli to stay away from the victim and witnesses in the case, the Middlesex district attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors said the developer began a project earlier this year. Camilli had frequent contacts with the developer and, at one point, Camilli allegedly made known to the developer that he was looking for cash.

After the two agreed on a number in the thousands, the developer paid the money in multiple installments in multiple locations. During this time, prosecutors said, Camilli began relaxing standards for the project.

Camilli was arrested Saturday. The investigation being conducted by Maynard and State Police included undercover and video surveillance. Camilli’s attorney, Kenneth Reisman, didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

The Newton History Museum has launched two new online exhibits-- Hyphenated origins: Going Beyond the Labels and Seeking Freedom in 19th Century America-- available for your viewing pleasure. They can both be found at www.newtonhistorymuseum.org. Here are brief descriptions of the two:

Hyphenated-Origins: Going Beyond the Labels:

This exhibit, which was mounted at the Newton History Museum from February
2006 and through May 2008, was curated by seven high school students from
Newton whose families recently moved to the community. The exhibit explores
the past, present, and future of an ever-growing number of Newton residents
who have emigrated here. Between 1990 and 2000, the foreign-born population
of Newton increased by more than 40 percent, and as of 2000, more than
15,000 foreign-born people now call Newton home.

The exhibition’s curators were themselves the exhibition's subjects --
seven students from Newton's high schools, whose families have immigrated
to the United States. The young men and women who created this exhibit are
the future of our city and our nation. Through their stories they ask us
all to answer the question, "What makes us American?" They encourage us to
see beyond what they look like and hear beyond what they sound like. They
urge us to go beyond labels and to see people. The students planned,
designed, and created a full-scale exhibit that focused on their personal
life experiences. Their work interpreted the meaning of coming to another
country and forming an American identity while balancing a life between
cultures.

In the Web version of the exhibition, many of the student's captions for
their photos and annotations that they added to their display cases appear
in pop-up windows.

Seeking Freedom in 19th Century America:

Many people visit the Newton History Museum because they know the 1809
Jackson Homestead is a documented stop on the Underground Railroad. But the
story of the abolitionist Jackson family is only one of many compelling
accounts of freedom-seeking in nineteenth-century America.
This exhibition, an online version of the Seeking Freedom in Nineteenth-
Century America exhibit presented at the Newton History Museum in 2004-
2005, explores American slavery and anti-slavery activity through four
stories of individuals who sought their own freedom or assisted other in
gaining freedom.

A Newton man who is the Maynard Superintendent of Public Works has been arrested on charges of soliciting bribes from a private developer, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone announced Sunday.

A release from Leone's office said that Paul Camilli, 38, of Newton, was arrested Saturday afternoon by Maynard Police and Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s PACT Unit. He is charged with corruptly receiving money and gifts, the release said.

“We allege that this town official abused his position of authority, soliciting cash kickbacks from a private developer in exchange for relaxing the inspection process,” District Attorney Leone said in the press release. “Inspection standards are put in place for a reason, and by relaxing those standards in order to line his own pockets, he undermined public safety and violated the public’s trust placed in him.”

According to the press release, "a private developer began a construction project in Maynard earlier this year. Camilli had frequent interaction with the developer because the construction project required permits and code inspections from the Town of Maynard in order for it to be completed. ''

The release from Leone's office follows:

"Camilli would frequently remind the developer that deadlines were coming up and that Camilli had control over how or if those deadlines would be met. Camilli also had many verbal arguments with the developer and made numerous technical demands to be met before he would sign off on specific portions of the project.

"At one point, with a deadline looming, the developer asked Camilli what it would take to get a particular project done, and it is alleged that Camilli made known to the developer that he was looking for cash money in order to see to it that the project moved along easier.

"It is further alleged that the developer later asked Camilli how much cash it would take and that they agreed on a number in the thousands. The developer paid that money in multiple installments in multiple locations.

"It is also alleged that during this time, Camilli began relaxing necessary standards for the construction project, including important environmental protection safeguards.

"The investigation into these alleged crimes included undercover and video surveillance.

"These charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.''

For more information and news from Newton, go to boston.com/newton.

In honor of the season, I’d like to bring up some of the wonderful things
the Newton Firefighters do for their community.

Last week they made their annual holiday stop-over at the Newton Wellesley Hospital Pediatric Unit. They entertained the children by dressing-up as beloved characters: Elmo, Cookie Monster, Pooh, the Grinch, Santa Claus, and of course, as firefighters in full gear. The volunteers of this day-long effort bestowed gifts to the children and took photos with the staff, then proceeded to visit other ill and disabled children throughout the community.

They also visited Ray McNamara, a retired fire lieutenant who suffered serious injuries during an explosion at the 1993 Stark Fire.

Through a generous donation from Best Buy, the firefighters held a raffle and were able to raise over $1,000 for their annual Toys for Tots drive. To donate, stop in at any firehouse with an unwrapped toy.

This week, the Newton firefighters wanted this column to remind residents about the dangers of thin ice:

"Every winter, somewhere, a child or adult drowns going out on the thin ice of a river or lake. Please ask all parents to warn their children about the dangers of thin ice." They also warned that if a dog or other animal has fallen through ice, never attempt a rescue; call 911 instead.

Here are the facts regarding the Newton Fire Department’s ability to perform such a rescue. The department owns just one boat, constructed of aluminum. It is so heavy, six men must carry it. Whenever 911 is alerted to a possible drowning, the boat is transported and deployed to the location, but due to the time it takes to transport the boat, it may just be too late to manifest a rescue. In most of the surrounding communities, fire departments use air-inflated boats. They are lightweight, reliable and – most importantly – quickly and easily transported.

Should we wait until someone drowns before the Newton Fire Department gets the proper equipment to do the job of saving lives?

A few safety tips from the firefighters: Water your tree, unplug your lights when leaving the house, check those smoke detector batteries, make sure your chimney is clean, and install carbon monoxide detectors for the safety of all. Happy Holidays!

(Jessica Locke is Executive Director of the Firefighters Fund (www.firefightersfund.org) and author of Rescue at Engine 32, a memoir about her work with New York City firefighters after 9/11.)

Newton's public schools will start on time, but end early Friday because of the snow storm, and several private schools are also cutting their hours.

According to this notice on the school website, high schools will be dismissed at 11:30 am, middle schools dismissed at noon and elementary schools dismissed at 12:30.

Trinity Catholic High School is closed Friday, according to its website.

Solomon Schechter Day School will be closed Friday, according to its website.

By Ben Terris

I went down to a Newton fire station today to see just how different Busa's helmet really was.

I found a group of fighters on their lunch break, and all of them had substantial decorations on their helmets (one, even with a large American flag sticker). Unlike Busa, none of these firefighters have been asked to alter their helmets. Here are some photos:

By Ben Terris

A Newton firefighter has decided to stop wearing his red, white and blue helmet, after Fire Chief Joseph LaCroix deemed it inappropriate to the uniform.

Firefighter Richard Busa, an Iraq war veteran, had been wearing the spray-painted, red, white and blue helmet for nearly three years, when LaCroix objected.

Facing a possible suspension, Busa decided it would be best to don another helmet lest he jeopardize his career.

"I have been part of the fire department for over three years and I have never disobeyed an order, never been reprimanded for anything, and now was not a good time to start," Busa said in an interview. "I have a family, I am getting married, and I am going to buy a house, and the money I get from this job is the only money that is allowing me to survive."

Meanwhile, Newton Mayor David Cohen issued a statement Thursday backing LaCroix and the chief's reasoning. Cohen said the issue was not one of patriotism or freedom of speech.

"If Chief LaCroix allows Firefighter Busa's display on his helmet, then he is allowing every firefighter in the Department to decorate theirs as well. It is the duty of Chief LaCroix's to maintain a level of professionalism within his department. If we had 160 different decorations on each firefighter helmet, that would be compromised,'' Cohen said in the statement.

Busa said he was disappointed with the decision, but had no regrets.

"Just because I am going to be putting on a black helmet, doesn't mean this issue was a waste," he said. "It's opened the door for the public to see that the fire department isn't all that it says it is. Now that the public is talking about the fire department, maybe the conversation will start to turn to the real problems we are facing, like the lack of good equipment we are provided."

Not willing to pay the $225 dollars for a new helmet, Busa will be borrowing Union President Tom Lopez's old one.

The episode generated controversy, with dozens of readers posting comments on boston.com.

"Save your individuality and free expression for when you're out of uniform,'' one reader said.

"The chief let it go for 3 years without a warning. Sounds like precedent has been set,'' said another.

For more news and information about Newton, go to Boston.com/newton.

Someone just forwarded me your article (‘‘Running up the Score,’’ Globe West, Dec. 14). As nice as it is to see our school mentioned, I was sorry that you are leaving people with the impression that not only does a student HAVE to prep but that they also have to have an outside counselor. Our counseling department (including me) does a wonderful job of ushering these kids through the process irregardless of family income. Since the counselors here follow their students for four years they are in a much better position to make recommendations and offer assistance. I feel like you’re telling our families that do not have the means to pay for services that they are somehow at a disadvantage. Don’t believe that a private college counselor is the reason that a kid gets into his first or second choice school even though that is what they’d like you to believe. It is the student who gets himself/herself in. This is a hard time of year for seniors. Our job is to try to help them do everything they can to get into a college that is the right match. Your article may leave them feeling like they haven’t been successful.
Barbara Brown
College/Career Counselor
Newton South High School
NEWTON

By Christina Pazzanese, Globe Correspondent

It was a routine Saturday morning, except for the black ice on the road.

Gianfranco Esposito said he was driving his girlfriend, Patricia Sciacca, from Malden to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, where she works as a medical assistant, and they took their usual shortcut along Nonantum Road.

Noticing icy road conditions en route, Esposito had just remarked to Sciacca how dangerous the ice could be for drivers when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye: a sport utility vehicle that had flipped over and was partially submerged in the Charles River.

Esposito slowed down his Dodge pickup truck, and then turned around to get a better look.

‘‘He said, ‘Oh my God, there’s a car in the water,’’’ said Sciacca, 23, who hadn’t noticed anything.

‘‘She didn’t believe me,’’ said Esposito, 24.

Esposito and Sciacca remained deeply shaken this week as they recalled stumbling on the scene of a one-car crash in Newton on Saturday that killed Lauren Tsai, a 26-year-old graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who lived in Waltham. It was at least the third fatal accident since 2006 along the narrow four-lane parkway that stretches from Galen Street near Watertown Square to Soldiers Field Road in Brighton.

State Police said Tsai was driving her 2002 Nissan Pathfinder westbound when she lost control of the vehicle, which struck the curb and skidded down the embankment into the river. Tsai was pronounced dead of her injuries at the scene.

State Police believe the crash occurred several hours before she was found, said spokesman David Procopio, and the cause remained under investigation.

Tsai had been at a Celtics game with her brothers and father earlier that evening and had dropped off her younger brother at MIT before heading back home to Waltham, said Timothy Condon, whose fiancee was a close friend of Tsai.

Tsai earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 2004 and worked at Raytheon, according to an obituary posted Tuesday on the school’s website. She also played on the women’s basketball and field hockey teams. A brother, Michael Tsai, graduated from MIT in 2002 while another brother, Geoffrey Tsai is a senior there now, the site said.

A memorial service for Tsai is scheduled for Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Rand Wilson Funeral Home in Hanover, N.H. A funeral is to be held in the Rollins Chapel at Dartmouth College on Sunday at 10 a.m., the website said.

Esposito said that at the scene of the crash Saturday, he tossed his cellphone to Sciacca, told her to call 911, and then scrambled down the steep river bank. ‘‘I said, ‘Is anybody in there?’ I didn’t know if it just happened or if it had been there all night.’’

With the driver’s side door under water, Esposito waded into the river to try to open the passenger door. That’s when he peered into the car, darkened by the cold water, and saw Tsai’s body.

‘‘There’s someone in here!’’ he called out to Sciacca, who was by then, almost in tears. ‘‘It was just too much,’’ she said. ‘‘I didn’t want to see it.’’

Stunned and not sure what to do next, Esposito said he ran back up the embankment just as a state trooper pulled up to the scene. The men raced down to the car, uncertain how many people might be trapped inside. Though it appeared she had been driving, Esposito said Tsai was not strapped in by a seat belt. ‘‘We just reached in and pulled her right out,’’ he said.

The two men struggled to climb up the steep embankment made slippery by wet leaves and twigs. Once there, a jogger who happened upon the scene offered his assistance just as a second state trooper arrived and began performing CPR on Tsai. But Esposito said it seemed clear that it was too late.

Sciacca said the sight of the woman really hit home. ‘‘I knew it was someone our age,’’ she said. ‘‘I was really upset.’’

State Police said police and fire departments from Watertown and Newton, as well as Mass. Highway, assisted troopers at the scene. The road was closed for about an hour.
Nonantum Road has long been known as a treacherous, and often deadly, riverside speedway.

In February 2006, a Waltham couple were killed when their minivan spun off the road and hit a pole by Water Street.

In June that same year, a Waltham man was killed after his motorcycle struck a van at the intersection of Nonantum Road and Galen Street.

By Ben Terris, Globe Correspondent

A veteran of the Iraq War, Richard Busa is used to fighting for the American flag. But never quite like this.

After more than three years of rushing into fires with his signature red, white and blue helmet, the Newton firefighter has been told to paint it black. Newton Fire Chief Joseph LaCroix wants the patriotic decoration gone, saying it does not conform to the department's rules.

LaCroix, himself a veteran of the Vietnam War, said that his decision has nothing to do with the flag, but with how he wants his department to conduct business.

John Bohn/Globe Staff

"We run a quasi-military operation here," LaCroix said in an interview yesterday. "You think people in the Marine Corps wake up for drills and say, 'I think I'm going to wear this shirt today even though everyone else is wearing that one'? Of course not."

Busa, 32, who has been in the department for seven years, decorated the helmet with heat resistant paint, the same type used on automobiles and grills, and it has refused to fade after numerous fires. He said he checked departmental rules before painting it, and found no prohibition against decorating the helmet.

"Firefighters are people of tradition and I wanted to alter one in a positive way," Busa said of his decision to give his helmet a patriotic flavor. "I wanted to show my patriotism and show that the flag and what it stood for was tough enough to come with me in burning buildings."

The controversy surfaced in a column by Tom Mountain, who frequently writes for the Newton Tab. "Who would have the audacity, the indecency, to ask any fireman to remove the flag from his helmet? Where in America is such a place? Newton, Massachusetts,'' Mountain wrote in the column, which was posted online earlier this week.

LaCroix said that the department allows small decorations on helmets like shamrock stickers but that painting the entire helmet goes over the line.

"Where does it stop if we allow this?" LaCroix said. "What if someone wants to paint an Italian flag, or cartoon characters? We just can't give up our appearance of professionalism."

For more news and information on all things Newton, check out www.boston.com/Newton

To celebrate its 25th anniversary the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center recently held the Greater Boston's Lights and Spice Ball. In addition to raising $650,000 dollars to help support programs and services such as camping scholarships, early learning centers, hot lunches, and special needs programs for all ages for JCCs around Boston, the gala also gave local residents the chance to dress up. Let's check out the proverbial red carpet:

Paula Sidman (event co-chair) of Newton with Don and Devra Lasden of Brookline.

Michael & Linda Frieze with Richard Cohen all of Waban.

David Geller (Needham), Jeff Savit (Needham) and Jeff Glassman (Sharon).

There was another shivering man holding another brightly colored sign trumpeting bargains on Needham Street over the weekend.

This time the sign is touting deep discounts at KB Toys, which filed for bankruptcy last week and plans to close its stores. An employee at the Needham Street outlet said they would close Jan. 31.

KB Toys joins Tweeter and Linens N Things in the roster of closing retailers with a Needham Street store.

As the Globe's Steven Syre wrote, "You know the economy stinks when a toy store goes bankrupt during the Christmas season.''

By Rachana Rathi, Globe Staff

Newton South High School athletes and parents erupted in cheers Monday night after the Board of Aldermen approved a $4.8 million proposal to install four new athletic fields -- two made of natural grass and two of synthetic turf.

The aldermen's chamber at City Hall overflowed with parents and athletes who have long been frustrated with drainage problems at the existing fields that have forced teams to practice indoors and late into the night, and play games away from the school.

Aldermen approved using $1.6 million from the city's capital stabilization fund and borrowing the remaining $3.2 million for the fields by a vote of 20-4, with Aldermen Ted Hess-Mahan, Anthony Salvucci, Amy Sangiolo, and Greer Tan Swiston opposing. The board approved setting aside $500,000 from the capital stabilizaton fund for maintaining the fields by a 23-1 vote, with Sangiolo in opposition.

The proposal to install synthetic turf fields at the high school was first brought before aldermen about three years ago, and went through numerous changes because aldermen and residents raised concerns about potential environmental and health and safety impacts of the synthetic turf. The issues surround possible lead content in the fields, as well as the environmental impact and cost of disposal at the end of their 10- to 15-year lifespan.

"We're very excited," said Newton South lacrosse coach David McCullum, who coached on synthetic fields at Acton-Boxborough. "It's a great advantage to have for your program. They're just fantastically useful."

Several aldermen said their concerns about lead abated after a study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission was released in July. In a memo to the board, Mayor David Cohen said the study's evaluation "concludes that there is no risk from exposure to lead in new synthetic turf fields."

But others were not persuaded.

Hess-Mahan said he would have supported the proposal if the product being used as fill in the fields was not made of crumb rubber.

"I support having these fields," Hess-Mahan said. "I don't support installing a product that involves known carcinogenics."

Hess-Mahan said there are natural alternatives that would be more expensive, but could be used if the city installed one fewer synthetic turf field. Several aldermen said they would also have preferred having a single synthetic turf field, but supported the proposal because they felt the issue had dragged on long enough and the high school is in dire need of new fields.

"While I would have preferred a one-field solution using the best material possible," said Alderman Stephen Linsky, "it is time to move on."

Proponents, such as alderwoman Sydra Shnipper, called the approval "long overdue," and said the board has done its "due diligence and come up with the best combination of plans. The standard right now is to consider turf."

Some members of the Newton South track team said they didn't care whether the fields and track were artificial or natural, just that they were usable.

"It's just appalling they that they let it go this long," said John Beck, a 17-year-old senior who runs on the track team. "As long as it gets fixed and the fields are usable, any solution is okay."

By Rachana Rathi, Globe Staff

Boston College officials presented the university's annual $100,000 payment in lieu of property taxes to Mayor David Cohen at a press conference Monday.

The university, which occupies 223 acres in Newton and Brighton, also contributed $2,860 apiece to seven local nonprofit organizations.

Boston College is the largest tax-exempt institution in Newton, and the payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, agreement reimburses the city for the expense of services Newton provides BC and replaces some of the revenue the city would otherwise collect on the university's properties.

The city has one other PILOT agreement, with the Stone Institute nursing home, which paid $34,460 last year, city comptroller David Wilkinson has said. In June, city spokesman Jeremy Solomon said Cohen intended to act on a recommendation from the Blue Ribbon Commission, a city taskforce, to ask the university to renegotiate the agreement and pay more.

Today, Cohen said Boston College has been "very generous" with the money and in-kind support it gives the city. He added that he would not "comment on specific discussions" with the university but intends to look "at all the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission."

From the Newton History Museum at The Jackson Homestead:

The City of Newton is defined by the Charles. It has the river on its borders in the south, west, and north, and it was on the river's banks that the city got its start -- not as one unified town, but at first as a string of villages that grew up along the watercourse that provided abundant power for mills and manufacturing effots. Improved transportation -- first roads, then rail -- gave those factories better access to markets. It also tied together the villages of Newton and brought the 18 square miles of farms and woods bounded by the Charles into a closer relationship with the metropolis at its doorstep, Boston.

Through the nineteenth century, Newtonites enjoyed their life in the country as they turned farm lanes into residential streets and rode the trains and trolleys to work in town. And as the mill economy waned at the end of the 1800s, the Charles took on a new role. The trains and trolleys began to bring Bostonians out to the river in large numbers -- not to work, but to play. They came with picnic baskets to wander the parks and preserves newly created by the Metropolitan Parks Commission. They marveled at the menagerie at Norumbega Park. They rented canoes, or kept their own, at the many boathouses on the river. On summer Saturdays and Sundays the Charles near Riverside could become a sort of bank-to-bank party room, crowded with canoes full of young people out for a good time on the river.

All this leisure time and recreational opportunity was a new thing, and the populace created a record of it in a new way. They bought and sent picture postcards -- millions of them. Postcards printed with colored views were an innovation of the 1890s, a happy conjunction of the technologies of photography and printing with railroads, which had steadily lowered the cost of transporting freight -- including mail. Penny postcards captured the public imagination as no other fad had before them.

The popularity of postcards in the decades between the 1890s and World War I is indicated by the numbers that still survive a century later. If you want a newspaper or a phonograph cylinder from the era before the first World War you will have to look high and low, but any Boston-area flea market worthy of the name will offer a score of views of local weekend destinations postmarked anywhere from 1905 into the 1920s -- the brightly lit dance halls of Revere Beach, the leafy promenades of Salem Willows, and of course the sun-splashed boathouses of the Charles River.

The picnickers and canoeists left Newton carrying huge quantities of postcards that pictured the Charles and its landmarks -- Upper Falls, Lower Falls, Echo Bridge, Hemlock Gorge, Riverside, Norumbega Park, the mills, the bridges, the dams, and the canoeists. Millions went into the mail, and millions more went into albums that became family heirlooms. Some of these were eventually donated to the Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead, and that's where the collection of postcards you see on this site began.

The postcard craze wasn't confined to the Charles, by any means. All the important landmarks in Newton (and many puzzlingly unimportant ones) appear in the postcard documentation of Newton's life. But no subject appeared on nearly as many postcards as the Charles.

The hard-working river

The Charles today is slow and civilized, tamed by dams that have turned it into a series of elongated, picturesque lakes that make the river a marvelous resource for recreation and natural beauty. The original purpose of those dams was almost the opposite. They made the Charles a very hard-working river.

Water power made Newton Upper Falls a manufacturing center as early as the late 1600s. In 1688 the first dam was built to power a sawmill, and soon the banks of the Charles in the area of Newton Upper Falls were spotted with mills that used water power to saw lumber, grind flour, and to "full" woolen cloth -- to pound the fabric with fuller's earth -- and more. By 1790 the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. Simon Elliot owned four mills in the growing village devoted to grinding tobacco into snuff, under the supervision of a master snuff maker recruited from Germany. After 1800 the Newton Iron Works used water power to manufacture thousands of tons of nails and other hardware each year. By the 1840s Otis Pettee's Elliot Mills, where 252 looms were installed in a single room, were producing 60,000 yards of cotton calico cloth a week. Later, in the 1880s, the Upper Falls mill complex was sold and converted to a silk factory, and the new owner operated it into the 1950s. The mills begun in 1840 are still in use -- restaurants, offices and shops now fill the space.

Industry followed the river over time. Just downstream, Newton Lower Falls got a slightly later start: in 1704 a dam was built to supply power for an ironworks. Other businesses soon followed: a nail factory, a tannery, a snuff mill. But it was papermaking that put Lower Falls on the map, literally. A second dam was constructed slightly downstream in 1788. In 1790 one John Ware built a paper mill at the upper dam. By 1816 there were three paper mills at the lower dam and four at the upper dam, and legal battles erupted over the rights to the power the Charles provided.

The paper industry that flourished in the village through the first half of the Nineteenth Century was doubly dependent on the Charles -- for water, and for power. Paper was made from cotton and rags, softened in water and beaten into a pulp by water-powered machinery. Other machines separated the pulp from the water in a continuous process that made long rolls of paper. Demand was so great that rags were imported Europe and the Near East. A search for other materials resulted in the 1850s in technology that used wood pulp, and the mills at Lower Falls suffered from the competition of newer paper mills built closer to the abundant sources of wood in Western Massachusetts and elsewhere. The Civil War boosted paper prices temporarily, but by the 1870s the mills were either converted to other uses or demolished. By 1900 only one paper mill was still operating.

Weather may have been a factor in a fatal crash in Newton Saturday morning, according to State Police.

At 7:15 a.m., Lauren Tsai, 26, of Waltham, died when her 2002 Nissan Pathfinder drove off Nonantum Road and crashed into the Charles River. Tsai was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash remains under investigation, said Trooper Timothy Finn, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police.

The dangers of Nonantum Road -- which runs east from Galen Street near Watertown Square to Soldiers Field Road in Brighton -- are no secret to local residents. They have been complaining for years that the lanes are too narrow and the speed limit too high.

Two people were killed on Nonantum Road in 2006, according to this Boston Globe story.

Earlier this year, officials announced a new design plan for the road.

For more news and information about Newton, go to Boston.com/newton.

The final steel beam was placed in the Newton North construction site Friday morning. The "Topping Off Ceremony" marks the completion of the first phase of construction.

About 100 people in hard hats stood on gravel covered mud, amid intermittent light rain and the smell of construction vehicles, to listen to speeches and sign the last beam before watching it be hoisted up to fill the final gap of the infrastructure.

One of the speakers, Mayor David Cohen, thanked the members of the Local Seven Ironworkers for putting up more than 4,000 tons of steel and paid homage to the work they have done.

"I walked up to the third floor the other day, and when I came down I thought I was going to die," Cohen said. "I just want to thank the workers who spent all their days walking on these beams of steel and risking their lives to make this building."

Cohen also thanked the crew for helping keep the project "on time and under budget," and said "the kids and citizens are worth this building."

Superintendent Jeffery Young said, "Newton North is already a great school, just not a great building," and said that the new facility will "enhance rather than impede" the learning of the students.

After the beam was placed, attendants of the ceremony filed into the new Newton North to eat barbecue as the first meal in the still unfinished cafeteria.

By Lisa Kocian, Globe Staff
While Diane Alten’s son, a high school senior, is in the throes of applying to college, the Newton mother is already worrying about her ninth-grade daughter.

Her son took SAT-preparation classes, but Alten wants to get even more help for her daughter before she enters the suburban arms race of college admissions.

‘‘I think it’s good to start with a coach early who can encourage her to join clubs and that sort of thing,’’ said Alten. ‘‘I absolutely think I better call now.’’

Despite the flagging economy, the test prep and college counseling industry seems to be going strong.

Besides teaching students how to take standardized tests, seen as a key ingredient to getting into a top college, many companies offer packages covering the entire admissions process — from deciding where to apply to picking essay topics and preparing for interviews, even deciding which school to attend.

Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions is seeing growth of nearly 200 percent this year in its admissions consulting services in Greater Boston, after hiring a full-time director to respond to the rising demand, a company official said.

‘‘This kind of investment is the last thing to go,’’ said Anthony Manley, Kaplan’s general manager for precollege programs. ‘‘In this environment, boosting test scores has become even more important, since higher scores can mean the difference in the amount of merit-based scholarships and financial aid awarded to the student.’’

But as applicants try to gain an edge, the pressure just gets higher. Students who attend competitive high schools are vying with their classmates to take advantage of the increasing array of admissions services. As students purchase more and more help, classmates must buy the same services just to keep the playing field level.

‘‘There’s certainly the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses aspect of it all,’’ said Joann Kenney, director of guidance for the Dover-Sherborn school district. And the business world is responding to the demand: ‘‘You can see that in the number of cottage industries that have cropped up,’’ she said.

Chyten Educational Services started off providing test-preparation courses but has expanded into college counseling, said Neil Chyten, the company’s founder and chief executive. This is the first year, he said, that application assistance has been offered at all of Chyten’s franchise centers, which are scattered across eight states.

The company’s history says a lot about where the demand is for test prep and other college help. The first center was in Newton, followed by Wellesley, Lexington, and Concord, some of the most affluent towns in the state — with some of the best schools.

Business is increasing despite the poor economy, Chyten said, and he thinks it’s because with money tight, parents are more concerned than ever about making sure their child finds the right college fit on the first try. One year of college counseling, with unlimited hours but not including test-preparation courses, costs $4,900 at Chyten.

‘‘In comparison to what they’re about to spend on college, it’s minuscule,’’ said Chyten, who tries to distinguish his company by requiring instructors to have master’s or doctoral degrees.
But there are signs that parents are starting to think harder before plunking down their cash or credit card on an expensive test-prep program or college counseling.

Michael London is president and chief executive of College Coach, a company founded in Newton that uses former college admissions officers to guide students through the application process. Comprehensive assistance, including unlimited access to a counselor via phone, e-mail, and in-person meetings, costs $3,699 for a high school senior and $4,199 for a junior.

He said his business has had more new customers this year, but they signed up a little later than usual. ‘‘To equate it to a retailer, they bought all their toys right before Christmas,’’ said London.

Alten, whose son is a senior at Newton South High School, said she thinks the preparation courses give wealthier students an unfair advantage on the SATs. But in her community, there’s little choice for students applying to colleges in the Northeast. ‘‘They only want a certain number of students from Newton,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s tough because there are so many kids applying to those schools.’’

Gil J. Villanueva, dean of admissions at Brandeis University in Waltham, said he’s keenly aware of the ‘‘Type A’’ behavior that goes into the admissions competition. ‘‘If the neighbor is working with a private counselor and we’re not and we attend the same high school, then we have to go ahead and participate in the arms race,’’ he said.

Brandeis doesn’t only want students from affluent suburbs, he said; in its effort to have a diverse student body, the college actively recruits low-income students and children of immigrants.
When looking at SAT scores, Villanueva said, Brandeis takes into consideration that low-income students probably don’t have access to high-priced prep services.

‘‘Students in resource-poor areas tend not to score as well as those in resource-rich areas,’’ said Villanueva. ‘‘We have to be sensitive to that.’’

But it’s not just suburban teens who feel the pressures to perform on standardized tests.

Muhan Zhang is a junior at Boston Latin, which as the country’s oldest public school requires a highly competitive exam to gain admittance. He signed up for an SAT course at the Newton office of Princeton Review, thinking it was best to start studying early for the test, typically taken in the fall of senior year. At his school, Zhang said, many kids can ace the SAT without really studying. ‘‘I do take this course because it helps me keep on par.’’

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@ globe.com.

Welcome to Firefighter Friday, a periodic weekly column that will focus on the Newton fire department, and issues that affect the safety of Newton’s firefighters and the citizens they protect.

My connection to the Newton firefighters came about as a result of volunteering after 9/11 at a NYC firehouse. What I witnessed there changed my life forever. The job of a firefighter is based on the premise to do good. No amount of money can convince a man or woman to do "the right thing"; to lay their lives on the line for any stranger in need. Their willingness to do so requires an extraordinary level of commitment, intelligence, awareness, and selflessness most of us rarely see in our everyday lives.

A group of such dedicated and extraordinary people come together to protect Newton. Yet, unbelievably, the Mayor and the Fire Chief have undermined their department, routinely risking the safety of their members, and ultimately that of the public as well. Since coming onto the Newton scene in late 2006, I have been repeatedly stunned that city employees could be treated with such disrespect and disregard for their well-being.

In the weeks ahead, I will report on the issues and conditions which affect the Newton firefighters’ ability to successfully serve their community. Hopefully, this forum will allow the residents of Newton to come together to seek the solutions that will make their fire department better – and safer - for everyone.

(Jessica Locke is Executive Director of the Firefighters Fund (www.firefightersfund.org) and author of "Rescue at Engine 32". Questions or comments: jessica@firefightersfund.org)

Newton South and North did well on SAT scores for the 06-07 school year, according to numbers released by the state Dept of Education.

South finished eighth statewide, while North finished 12th in statewide rankings. The rankings are based on the total of all three scores in Reading, Writing, and Math. Each category has a max score of 800, with a perfect score in all three is 2400. South had an average score of 1810, while North had 1770.

The numbers are also in today's Globe West edition.

Weston (1841; 5th in the state) and Wellesley (1822; 6th) also did well.

(Video by George Rizer, Produced by Mark Micheli)

By Brian Ballou and Rachana Rathi, Globe Staff, and Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

Part of the suspended ceiling abruptly gave way this morning in the parking garage under the upscale Atrium Mall in Chestnut Hill, sending debris crashing down onto cars, but no injuries were reported, officials said.

The incident happened at about 11:07 a.m. and eight cars were covered by debris when the 25-by-100-foot area collapsed, officials said. There was no word on the extent of damage to the cars.

A tangle of wiring and drywall hung from the ceiling in a section of the garage that appeared to be under the Bertucci's restaurant. Piles of drywall were also on the ground, apparently where the material had been stacked by firefighters. Cars could be seen covered with drywall and dust, but they didn’t appear to have sustained major damage.

Mall manager Bob Wodogaza said in a statement that the cause of the incident on the first level of the parking deck had not been determined and a structural engineer would be on the site shortly to evaluate the situation. No cars are allowed to enter the garage, but people are being allowed to leave by Florence Street.

FULL ENTRY

By Brian Benson
Globe Correspondent

School administrators and police officers dominated the list of Newton's top 100 most highly compensated employees last year, according to a Globe analysis of city records.

The highest-paid city employee was the school district's superintendent, Jeffrey Young, who earned $239,486, and who is widely known as being near the top of the pay range for his colleagues across the region. But others among the top 100 earners in Newton may be a bit more surprising: 20 principals, two teachers, and five deputy or assistant school superintendents.

In all, 44 of the 100 worked for the school district, based on figures for the 2007 calendar year, the most recent available from the city.

The Police Department had the next largest number, with 40 names on the list. Most received overtime and detail pay that pushed them into the highest earners among the city's roughly 3,500 full- and part-time employees.

Mayor David Cohen did not make the list, after being paid $97,500 last year, according to the records provided to the Globe. He had sought a $27,500 raise in May, but abandoned the effort after a political outcry. All of the top 100 earners made more than $100,000, based on salary, overtime, detail pay, and other compensation.

The head of the teachers union, which will begin negotiations on a new contract next year, said the school district employees' salaries were in line with other professions.

"I'm glad to know that people in education are earning a full professional salary that compares with some other industries," said Cheryl Turgel, president of the Newton Teachers Association. "People in education, as far as I'm concerned, are doing the most important work in this country."

Turgel said she would like to see more teachers in the top 100. But she noted that principals and superintendents earn their salaries because of the high levels of stress and responsibility they face every day.

"I don't think there's a principal across the state that shouldn't make more than $100,000," she said.

Turgel said she is "not upset" by Young's salary, noting it needs to be that high to be competitive with other states and districts.

"Do we want to have a superintendent that's constantly leaving to better his financial status by going to another state, or do we want to have someone who's dedicated to our city and students?" she said.

For more information, go to boston.com/newton.

Wellesley voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved an $86.6 million debt exclusion to fund a $130 million new high school, the largest capital project in the town's history.

The tally was 5,026 to 2,869, according to unofficial returns available from the town clerk Tuesday night. Selectman Owen Dugan, in announcing the results, called the vote a "resounding mandate."

Supporters of a new high school had argued that the existing building - which includes a 1938 main building, a 1956 wing, and several later additions - does not meet current enrollment or educational needs and could jeopardize the school's accreditation. But opponents had urged voters to renovate and add to the existing building.

Read more here.

Wellesley voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved an $86.6 million debt exclusion to fund a $130 million new high school, the largest capital project in the town's history.

The tally was 5,026 to 2,869, according to unofficial returns available from the town clerk Tuesday night. Selectman Owen Dugan, in announcing the results, called the vote a "resounding mandate."

Supporters of a new high school had argued that the existing building - which includes a 1938 main building, a 1956 wing, and several later additions - does not meet current enrollment or educational needs and could jeopardize the school's accreditation. But opponents had urged voters to renovate and add to the existing building.

Read more here.

The Globe's recent article on environmentally friendly restaurants singled out Lumiere, the West Newton bistro. Here is the full article and read below what Devra First had to say:

LUMIERE

The menu here is environmentally friendly. Literally - it's printed on paper high in post-consumer content. Chef Michael Leviton has always showcased local, sustainable ingredients at his West Newton bistro. "During the height of the growing season, we're almost entirely local," he says. Fish doesn't come from any farther than Chesapeake Bay, meat comes from North-east Family Farms (below), and chickens come from southern Quebec.

Lumiere also uses recycled paper towels and environmentally friendly to-go containers (above). Fryer oil is picked up by a company called Green Grease Monkey, which converts vehicles to run on waste vegetable oil. And the restaurant composts. "We compost and recycle everything, so our trash footprint is pretty small," Leviton says.

As for lighting, it's fluorescent, but not in the dining room. At a restaurant called Lumiere, some green measures just won't fly.

Brian Benson, Globe Correspondent

Newton South principal Brian Salzer said Tuesday afternoon that he has pulled out of the race for superintendent in Lynn because the position’s start date would not leave enough time for Newton South to find and train a new principal.

“That position begins on January 1st and given the timeline there would be no time to transition here,” Salzer said in an interview with the Globe.

Salzer, who said in a letter to parents last week that he was seeking several other superintendent and assistant superintendent jobs, would not elaborate on those positions except to say he had not pulled out.

“I’d rather let those districts release the names when they’re comfortable doing that,” he said.

Given the large number of superintendent vacancies in Massachusetts, Salzer said he felt now was an ideal time to look at advancement. With no openings within Newton, he looked outside of the district, he said.

“I’d like to look and see if the superintendency is right for me in this time of my life and the only way to do that is to go through the process and see if a district is right for me and it’s the right time for a move,” he said. “I can’t discover that if I can’t investigate it.”

Salzer also said he is only applying for superintendent and assistant superintendent positions.

He is not looking to become principal of another high school. "Newton South is the last high school I will be principal of," he said.

Salzer said he will begin contract negotiations with Newton in January, while searching for another position. He said the search would not impede his ability to do his job. And he has received "overwhelming support" from students and parents, who are at the school this week for parent-teacher conferences.

Salzer, who became principal at Newton South in 2006, said if he does accept another job, he will look fondly upon his time in Newton.

“It’s always hard [to leave] because you develop relationships with the teachers and families of the schools,” he said. “It’s nice to cultivate and develop relationships over time.”

The remaining Lynn candidates, including four Lynn educators, would replace current Superintendent Nicholas P. Kostan, who is retiring on Dec. 31 after a 38-year career in Lynn schools. The School Committee will interview the candidates during three public sessions scheduled for Dec. 11, 17 and 18.

"Newton Public School enrollment has grown for four years in a row, and is projected to level
off for the next two years before growing again,'' a Newton school report says.

Read it all here.

"Net growth of 288 students in total over the past three years was followed by a smaller increase of 14 students this year. The current 2008-09 enrollment of 11,570 students includes continued growth at the elementary schools, the start of growth at the middle schools, and continued declining enrollment at the high schools. Looking ahead for the next five years, the total school population is expected to increase by a total of 221 students,'' the executive summary says.

Want to know how many students those big housing complexes have brought to the schools?

Arborpoint at Woodland station: 33 students

Avalon at Chestnut Hill: 40 students

Avalon at Newton Highlands: 63 students.

The report also refers to several developments that are in the planning stages.

Here's one interesting tidbit (on page 12): the number of elementary students has increased by 523 students over the past five years.

By Brian Benson
An important source of state aid to Newton and other communities for open space acquisition, affordable housing construction, historical preservation, and recreation is dropping dramatically this year.

On average, communities in the western suburbs received 23.8 percent less in state funds under the Community Preservation Act this fiscal year than in fiscal year 2008.

Newton's total dropped 30 percent, to $1.4-million. Hopkinton suffered the biggest loss in the region, at 33.2 percent, while Upton was the only community to receive more state funds, gaining 9.6 percent. Statewide, communities collected approximately 19.8 percent less than last year, according to data released by the state Department of Revenue.

For the first time in the Community Preservation Act’s history, Massachusetts is not providing dollar-for-dollar matching funds.

Communities previously received a 100 percent match from the state of whatever money they raised. But, that dropped to 67.6 percent this year and could go to 35 percent next year, said Robert Bliss, spokesman for the state Department of Revenue.

The decrease is attributable to declining revenue collected by the Registry of Deeds, which funds the state matches, and an increase in the number of communities participating in the CPA, said Doug Pizzi, a spokesman for the Community Preservation Coalition.

Fees collected by the Registry of Deeds have declined from $53.8 million in fiscal year 2003 to $27 million in fiscal year 2008, according to state figures. Meanwhile, the number of communities which have adopted the act has grown from 34 in the 2002 fiscal year to 133 for fiscal year 2009 with seven cqmore approving it this fall.

“We feel that at [approximately] 65 percent it’s still a great deal because there aren’t too many government programs that do that,” Pizzi said.

By Ben Terris

At his weekly press conference Monday, Mayor David Cohen said the Massachusetts School Building Authority would begin reimbursing the city for $46.6 million for the building of the new Newton North starting in January.

He said that the money was guaranteed in 2004 so "was never in doubt" and that the "financing o the project would have continued regardless of the timeframe of the MSBA funds."

Still, despite the "substantial cash reserves" that could have been used to "meet any cash flow challenges," Cohen said it was "very good news that we are nearing a project funding agreement with the MSBA, and these important funds will be released soon."

In honor of December being Human Rights month, the Newton Human Rights Commission presented their yearly award to Ellen Lubell and Doris Tennant last Thursday.

Lubell and Tennant, two Newton lawyers have spent nearly two years representing Abdul Aziz Naji, an Algerian Muslim incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay.

At the Mayor’s press conference, Marianne Ferguson, the Chairperson of the Commission praised the lawyer’s internationally renowned work, but also called for the community to “think locally, paying attention to your own neighborhoods and schools.”

Mayor David Cohen agreed saying, “They say if human rights are denied anywhere they are denied everywhere. The opposite is also true, if they are upheld anywhere they are helped everywhere.”

The Boston Globe ran a profile on the two lawyers last year and can be seen by clicking here.

By Ben Terris
In 1875, nine African-American Baptists whose families had lived in Newton since it was a stronghold on the Underground Railroad built a church. Now, 133 years later, the Myrtle Baptist Church and the surrounding neighborhood has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

The city first identified the neighborhood as a candidate for the NHRP eight years ago when students from a Boston University preservation studies program found that this historically African-American neighborhood—which runs along Curve Street in Auburndale and consists of 28 houses, many of which have been inhabited by the same family for nearly a century—has had a storied history within the community.

“Between the vibrant community and the church, both of which has been there for years, there is no doubt that the place is historic,” said Katy Holmes, the preservation planner for Newton. “It’s time the neighborhood be recognized on a national level, and I think it looks really good that in the next couple of months it will be.”

Holmes said that if it is put on the NHRP the neighborhood would be safeguarded from outside development. The construction of the Mass Pike demolished nearly half of the original community in the 1960s.

The NHRP will not place any new restrictions on renovations local residents can do on their homes, said Holmes.

“Any change to any house more than 50 years old needs to be approved by the city anyway,” she said. “The only limitations will be on federally funded projects that might have a negative impact on the area.”

Many of the buildings in the neighborhood have maintained the same basic structure since they were built in the late 19th and early 20th century. The houses on the block range in size and style from single-family Colonial Revivals to two three story Second Empire.

The church itself, the second manifestation of the building after sparks from the abutting railroad tracks burnt the first down, showcases a three-story front-gabled steeple and two large stained glass windows from the late 1800’s. Many congregants mistake the stained glass window behind the pulpit as being a black Jesus. It is really meant to depict Philip Baptizing the Ethiopian Eunuch.

Reverend Howard Haywood —who has been a lifelong member of the church, and it’s reverend at the church since 1985— believes the recognition is much deserved.

“Imagine nine people who worked so hard to get this church built, and that it’s lasted through depressions, through war times, the turnpike, and it’s still here and still going strong,” Haywood said. “It’s living history.”

Haywood said, however, that there’s much more to the area than just an old church and some old houses.

“When cities or towns make historic districts it’s usually more about the age, or architecture, or one famous person used to live there,” he said. “Here’s it’s really about the people. It’s about the tenacity of a small minority of people who maintained good lifestyles under not the best conditions. There’s more to Newton than the fact that we had houses in 1870, more than celebrating structure, it’s time to celebrate community.”

Some families have been a part of this Curve Street neighborhood for decades.

Members of William Turner’s family have lived at 25 Curve St. since 1938, and the home even played host to regular dinners with Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was in Divinity school in the 1950s.

“I think it’s great that the area is being recognized,” Turner, 69, said. “We have managed to have a community built on love and peace, and it will be nice to be recognized and protected from outside development that might try to disrupt what we have had for 130 good years.”

When the locals here speak of disruption, they speak from experience. Some members of the community, like Leslie Lewis, were around in 1962 when the Mass Pike redefined the confines of the neighborhood.

“Before the pike came, us young folks could walk anywhere,” said Lewis who was 13 at the time. “We used to walk to school down the road there, past a little broom factory that used to be owned by the minister and all these houses that were owned by neighbors we all knew. Then the pike came and really did a number on the neighborhood. But I’ll tell you what, the community bent, but it did not break with the building of the road. It might have separated us, but the spirit remained. People returned to come to church, and we stayed like a family.”

Haywood agreed that the community was able to rebound even after the initial shock and impact of the highway.

“I’ll never forget the move,” he said. “I came back from work on the Monday after we moved, and every home and house on the street was gone including mine. There were 25 homes and 34 families that were disrupted when the turnpike came through. We thought the church had lost them, but they came back every Sunday from wherever they moved and even brought new people with them.”

Haywood said that the Curve Street neighborhood’s resilience echoes an American story, not just and African-American story.

“I think this community is a microcosm of achieving the American dream,” he said. “This community shows that any community, whether it be African-American, Jewish, Irish, et cetera can be viable. This is the story of Newton as a whole, of the country as a whole, for the community could only exist with the help of what surrounded it.”

Two Massachusetts high schools -- but neither of Newton's -- made the US News & World Report's list of top 100 high schools for 2008.

The lone Massachusetts schools on the 2008 list were Belmont and Boston Latin.

No. 1 in the US was Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., for the second year in a row. Said the magazine: "The school, which focuses heavily on math and science education, bested more than 21,000 other public high schools in 48 states for the honor.''

You can see what School Matters, the outfit that US News used to crunch the data, has to say about Newton's schools here and use the tool to compare it with other towns and cities. MCAS scores can be found here.

Several Massachusetts schools, including Wellesley High, were on the 2007 US News list. A separate list, courtesy of Newsweek, can be found here.

The rankings are often controversial, as the New York Times noted last year. "The ranking is a centerpiece of what we might call the Anxiety Industry, the same booming market that includes test-prep classes and private college-admissions consultants. Nobody should feel exactly sanguine about that reality,'' the Times wrote.

Check out the US News methodology here.

You may soon may have a hairdresser, real estate broker, or repairman working out of the house next door.

Newton aldermen are considering a proposal to expand the city’s home-business ordinance to include more businesses. It’s a delicate balance between encouraging home businesses, and protecting neighbors’ quality of life.

‘‘We wanted to stop giving preference to some businesses, like doctors and dentists, but not others,’’ said Alderman Stephen Linsky, a lawyer who works from home. ‘‘We recognize that now a whole range of people are using home offices. It’s not going to be about the nature of the business as much as what impact it has.’’

The planning and zoning committee will take up the proposal again Monday before it heads to the full board for a vote.

The ordinance — which currently prohibits businesses such as barber and repair shops, as well as animal hospitals, music groups, restaurants, and clothing rental operations, from being based out of a residence — would be changed to include allow ‘‘any occupation, profession or activity that is conducted for gain.’’

Those businesses would have a number of restrictions, however. They would be unable to store or display inventory or materials outside, and could only post a single sign smaller than 1 square foot in size. And they could not result in a ‘‘noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors, smoke, dust ... heat, humidity or electrical interference in excess of that otherwise common in the neighborhood,’’ or ‘‘disrupt the peace, tranquility or safety.’’

A special permit from the Newton city’s Planning and Development Board would be needed for businesses that require more than four people or two employees who are not residents on the premises at any time, or more than two parking spots on the street. All home businesses would still have to file with the city clerk’s office.

Special permits would also be required for businesses that generate more than 16 daily vehicle trips (a patient coming to and leaving a doctor’s office is considered two trips). Businesses would be exempt from this rule four times a year.

The ordinance would also give special permit-granting authority for home businesses to the Planning and Development Board. Currently, the Board of Aldermen is responsible for granting grants special permits for home businesses.

‘‘To put home businesses that are used for things like piano lessons through our extensive special permit process is ... a little bit onerous, and it’s expensive and time-consuming,’’ said Alderwoman Marcia Johnson. ‘‘We thought this would simplify it.’’

-- Rachana Rathi

You have until Dec. 14 to check out the New Art Center's 15th annual Icons + Altars exhibition. The show features altars made by more than 100 local artists who use an eclectic range of materials to make statements about their background or the world around them. This one, for instance, is Heidi Dauphin's "Making a Point." There's a closing reception on the 14th that includes the chance to bid on the works. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Reception on Dec. 14 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Free. New Art Center, 61 Washington Park, Newton, 617-964-3424. www.newartcenter.org

Brian Salzer, the principal of Newton South High for 2 1/2 years, has notified parents that he has applied for jobs outside the school district.

Confirming a story broken by boston.com/newton, Salzer sent a note to parents Thursday morning that he is seeking a new job, but has made no firm decisions about leaving.

"I want you to know that I am currently interviewing for positions as Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent in a few districts. Though I enjoy the role of principal at South and find this school exceptional in many ways, I am interested in investigating opportunities to increase my leadership role in a school district,'' Salzer wrote. "The prospect of leadership in challenging times intrigues me to want to look at how I can make a difference in the lives of students and educators in a role of greater responsibility. I want you to know that I have made no firm decisions about my future here or the development of my career elsewhere.''

Salzer became Newton South's principal in July 2006, and sparked a controversy when it was learned he installed five security cameras at the school.

Afternoon update: Superintendent Jeff Young responded to our request for comment.

“I admire Brian’s interest in extending his leadership work,” Young said. “He’s done a lot of very nice things in Newton and I would wish him very well in this particular pursuit. I think he’s really helped to make the high school even more student-centered. He’s very involved with the kids and builds effective relationships with them."

Young said that it is a fairly common career path for a high school principal to advance to a superintendent or assistant superintendent position.

He said the letter Salzer wrote to Newton South parents Thursday morning was “very sincere.”

“I think you heard his real voice and he expressed his affection for the school community as well as his desire to take on new challenges,” Young said.

School officials in Lynn told the Boston Globe this week that Salzer is among eight candidates to fill the superintendent's opening in that north shore community.

The Lynn candidates, including four Lynn educators, would replace School Superintendent Nicholas P. Kostan. Kostan, the superintendent for seven years, is retiring on Dec. 31 after a 38-year career in Lynn schools.

The School Committee will interview the candidates, during three public sessions, scheduled for Dec. 11, 17 and 18. The job was advertised with a salary range of $130,000 to $150,000.

The other candidates are Jaye Warry and Catherine Latham, the current deputy superintendents; Claire Crane, principal of the Robert L. Ford School, and Warren White, principal of Classical High School. Besides Salzer, applicants from outside Lynn are Lore Nielsen, a past superintendent in Ayer; Art Stella, superintendent in Taunton; and Stephen Mills, deputy superintendent in Worcester.

Read a past Globe article about Salzer here. For more news and information about Newton, go to boston.com/newton.

-- Kathy McCabe and Brian Benson

It's tax-rate-setting season, and property taxes are going up in Newton -- and almost every city and town in the state. The difference is that Newton has emerged as a community in which assessed property values for single-family homes -- used to calculate the tax rate, along with the total amount of money to be raised -- did not drop from the last fiscal year to this one.

The new residential property tax rate in Newton is $9.96 per $1,000 of assessed value, up from $9.70 in fiscal year 2008. The assessed value for a median single-family home rose slightly from FY08 to FY09, from $690,800 to $695,400, according to the city's assessing department. The annual tax bill for that median home this year will be $6,926, an increase of $226, before adding in the additional 1 percent ($69) for the Community Preservation Act, which sets aside money for affordable housing, historic preservation, open space, and recreation land.

"Things are pretty stable in Newton," said Elizabeth Dromey, head of Newton's Department of Assessment Administration, of year-to-year home values in the city and nearby communities. "In some of the suburbs close to Boston, you'll see there was either no change or it had either a minor decrease or a minor increase in value."

Property assessments for a fiscal year -- which runs July 1 to June 30 -- are designed to reflect market values on the previous Jan. 1. That means FY09 assessments reflect Jan. 1, 2008 values and are primarily calculated using sales figures from the 2007 calendar year.

-- Eric Moskowitz

Few people can attribute their successful career to a job they had in middle school, but for Sam Hurwitz, that’s precisely the case.

Hurwitz, co-owner of the Old Time Garage, located in Newton and Needham, began repairing cars when he was 14. He started in the space where his Newton Lower Falls garage is now. Nearly three decades later, he also runs a thriving business buying and selling used automobiles. He and his brothers Billy and Kenny are the fourth generation to make a living in the auto business.

Hurwitz, age 44 and himself the father of four, credits his late grandfather Charles for many of his accomplishments. The two traveled remarkably parallel paths, which Hurwitz said he didn’t fully realize until after his grandfather’s death eight years ago, when he discovered an audio diary in his grandfather’s dresser drawer.

The 32 minutes of tape is a biographical timeline that follows his grandfather from high school through his days at the Brighton auto-repair shop and car dealership that he owned for decades.

‘‘Here I am now — traveling to Florida and Connecticut to buy cars for a better value during these poor economic times — and this is just what my grandfather did right after the Depression,’’ said Hurwitz. ‘‘Who would have ever thought that we’d see days like that again?’’

The family’s first generation in auto repair and sales began in the late 1900s with William Hurwitz, Sam’s great-grandfather. He was a horse dealer and stable owner, and did carriage repair. When automobiles gained popularity, he changed his business plan to accommodate mechanical horsepower.

Charles worked with his father for a few years, then started a wholesale used car business during the Depression. He called it Highland Motors, for the Highland telephone exchange in Roxbury Crossing, where it was located. In the mid-1950s, his son Matthew opened Mat’s Good Gulf, a small gas station and repair shop in Newton Corner. Mat wound up leaving to earn a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT. His sons, however, preferred to work with their hands.

FULL ENTRY

It could be another month before the state releases a $46.6 million grant for the $195.2 million Newton North High School building project.

At a meeting Wednesday between officials from the Massachusetts School Building Authority and the city, state officials said Newton must revise its cash flow document and submit more paperwork before they will sign a funding agreement to release the grant.

"We seem to be moving along at a good pace right now," authority spokeswoman Carrie Sullivan said after the meeting. "We're optimistic that this could happen before the end of the year."

The grant will be paid out in increments as money is spent on the project, meaning the state will review invoices submitted by Newton before making payments. There is a 15-day turn around time for payments, Sullivan said.

-- Rachana Rathi

In a state that sees itself as a high tech hub, North Reading and Shrewsbury stand out as the two most tech-friendly communities in Massachusetts, according to a ranking released by the Massachusetts High Technology Council.

Newton ranked 318 out of 351 towns and cities statewide, according to the ranking at www.masstrack.org. Other low ranking nearby communities were Framingham and Sudbury.

The Tech council, a Waltham-based nonprofit lobbying group, evaluated all 351 cities and towns on 12 factors including commercial tax rate, business incentives, number of college graduates within a 30-minute drive, and MCAS scores, to come up with its annual ranking.

The adoption of “expedited permitting,” a state initiative that allows communities to fast track certain stages of building permitting to attract development, was a key factor in the rankings, according to Chris Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council.

“We compete with a number of states that are doing a very effective job of welcoming the innovation economy,” said Anderson. “Unlike many other states, Massachusetts has strong local rule or home rule history. It’s more difficult for some of the statewide policy initiatives to take root because you have to overturn the historic role of the cities and towns in determining what goes on in each city and town.”

North Reading topped the list thanks to its low tax rate ($11.50 per $1000), its large number of college grads in the area (552,446), as well as its adoption of expedited permitting.

Shrewsbury ranked second because of its low tax rate ($9.14), adoption of expedited permitting, and use of the Tax Increment Financing Program. The latter factor helped attract Charles River Laboratories, which is the town’s biggest taxpayer, according to Town Manager Dan Morgado.

-- Lisa Kocian

While Newton residents debate the merits of the $197 million construction of Newton North High School, or the millions the city can allocate to public schools this year, William Ellery Channing Elementary School in Hyde Park is still without a gym. At Channing, physical education class is often bowling in the hallways.

Reverend Cheryl Lloyd of the First Unitarian Society of Newton is working to lessen this equity gap. As the coordinator of the William Ellery Channing Elementary School Project, Lloyd is in charge of 24 volunteers (six of which are Newton residents) who do everything from tutoring math to teaching writing skills. And, with a budget of $26,000 (part from fundraising and part from a Unitarian Universalist social responsibility grant), Lloyd can also afford to bring in people to teach extracurricular programs like Hip Hop dancing and drama classes.

Living in Newton, Lloyd is only a fifteen-minute drive away from the Channing school, and the disparate nature of the two neighborhoods has not been lost on her.

“When I was in Divinity School in Roxbury I used to come home to Newton and not know where I was.” Lloyd said. “There was such a disconnect between where I lived and where I worked. My son would tell me he needed a third tennis racket because everyone else on the team had three, and I would have just come back from an area where the schools don’t even have gyms to play tennis in.”

This Unitarian-sponsored but nondenominational program began in 2007. Struggling to keep up with the high academic demands of Massachusetts, Channing, a school of 325 students and 60 faculty members, needed some outside help. Since the school is named after one of the most prominent Unitarian preachers of the 18th century, they wrote to the Unitarian Universalist Association, and a partnership was soon born.

“The volunteers are simply invaluable,” said Dr. Deborah D. Dancy, the school’s principal and only administrator. “The economy is suffering and resources are becoming less available. But at the same time, demand is getting much higher. Massachusetts has one of the highest standards for education, yet we are not where we need to be. There’s no administration, and some students can’t even get their hands on pencil and paper. How are we supposed to keep up? Well, the only way we can come close is with the help of volunteers.”

For Catherine Senghas, a ministerial intern at the First Unitarian Society of Newton, tutoring at the school is one of the highlights of her week.

“It’s much easier to get up on Tuesdays, because I know I’m excited about going in and helping the kids out with math,” she said. “I love it for two reasons. First, I really enjoy seeing that ‘aha’ moment that kids have when they first understand a problem. And, just as important, when you start volunteering on a regular basis like this, you realize its not charity work, its social justice kind of work. You are making a difference systemically, not just case by case.”

Dancy said that for her, many of the problems with Channing stem from a lack of equality in the public school system.

“The lack of equity is unbelievable,” she said. “On one side of the street a school might have art, music phys ed, and on the other side of the school there is nothing other than the required subject areas.”

With the help of the program, Channing is hoping to do more for students than just teach them what’s going to be on the next MCAS.

“We’re trying to teach the whole child, from the right side of the brain to the left.” Dancy said. “We want to encourage creativity in addition to math skills, and we wouldn’t have the resources to do that without volunteers. They don’t just save us tens of thousands of dollars, but they save us hundreds of thousands of dollars in teaching costs. Now the children can learn from lawyers and doctors and writers and can really see what’s out there for them in the future.”

-- Ben Terris

Dan Payne, a political commentator for the Boston Globe and WBUR radio, spoke Tuesday night at a Democrats of Newton event about the epic presidential campaign. Payne discussed both how Barack Obama won the election, and also how John McCain let it slip away.

Payne began the evening by discussing how the candidates won their primaries. He said that for Obama it was about successfully setting himself up as the anti-war candidate and focusing on caucuses

“When Hillary voted yes for Bush to go to war, it opened the doors for an anti-war candidate,” Payne said indicating that Obama filled that role. “[And Obama’s campaign] realized that caucuses counted. Caucuses were like field goals. You might only get a few points, but it could be enough to win.”

On the other hand, Payne said McCain won the primary by just outlasting his opponents.

“McCain won by attrition,” he said. “He was the last Indian standing. Romney changed his mind so many times, and became the least liked candidate. Giuliani had no clue how to run a campaign. Thompson didn’t want to work before noon or after 3 pm. He wanted to sit on his porch and have his sippin’ whiskey. And Huckabee was too new, and was pigeon-holed as the evangelical candidate.”

Payne said that Obama’s biggest advantage over McCain in the general election was that he did not have to alter his message.

“Change became the mantra of the Obama campaign,” Payne said. “I’ve worked in lots of campaigns and tried to use change as a device. It’s hard to make it stick. The fact that Obama was able to stick with it and freshen it up is tribute to candidate himself.”

While Obama managed to keep his message and look presidential throughout the campaign, Payne said that McCain made three crucial mistakes: sticking to the federal public financing limit, nominating Sarah Palin as his vice president, and suspending his campaign during the economic crisis.

Payne said that by accepting public financing McCain put himself at an almost insurmountable financial disadvantage, that by nominating Palin he appeared reckless, and that by going to Washington to try and “fix” the crisis he appeared foolish.

In the end, Payne said that Obama really won more than McCain lost the election.

“Obama won because he was Obama,” Payne said. “People believed in him. They believed he was going to take charge of a system that was really out of control.”

-- Ben Terris

Members of an advisory committee Monday answered questions from members of the Newton Board of Aldermen and School Committee about their recommendations for saving money and increasing revenue in the city.

The Citizen Advisory Committee, a 14-member body established by Mayor David Cohen to identify revenue streams and cost savings for the city, released a report last month identifying up to $10 million in potential revenues and savings from measures such as asking for higher payments from universities and other non-profits and increasing fees for garbage, parking and recreation. But it warned that these measures could only close the city's growing budget gap for one to two years.

Committee Chairman Malcolm Salter said the city needs to set priorities and know that “there are reversible choices, and there are irreversible choices.”

Aldermen asked questions about issues ranging including merging departments between the municipal government and school department; how much money to put into maintenance; hiring a federal grant writer on retainer; and charter reform.

The committee clarified some confusion, and also said it has yet to discuss or analyze in detail some of the issues aldermen raised, including charter reform and the details of maintenance.

And their answers were frank. For instance, when the issue of transparency in governance was raised, vice-chairman Ruthanne Fuller said, “The lack of transparency really helps elected officials. It gives you guys wiggle room to say yes to the person who wants that and yes to the person who wants that when you can’t afford to fund both."

Aldermen also wanted to know the committee’s thoughts on changing the way the city government is set up, including the powers given to the board and the size of the board. “The governance structure is archaic and prevents us from moving forward,” said Alderwoman Sydra Schnipper.

Salter said the committee has yet to discuss government structure. The group expects to release a more comprehensive and detailed report in late January.

-- Rachana Rathi

Newton Aldermen Monday night approved a police chief search committee to replace John O'Brien, who is retiring in January after three decades with Newton's police force.

The committee will present its findings to Mayor David Cohen, giving him a list of six or seven candidates. Cohen has said he wants to appoint a new chief by Jan. 1.

For the committee, Cohen recommended resident Jane O'Hern, who would act as chairwoman, businessman Tim Braceland, attorney Gail Glick, Needham Police Chief Tom Leary, resident Tabetha McCartney, retired judge Peter Kilborn, Officer Jay Babcock of the Newton Police Association, and Lieutenant Gerry Mahoney of the Newton Police Superior Officers Association, who would serve in an advisory capacity. Board President Lisle Baker recommended alderman Stephen Linsky and resident Gayle Smalley, a former assistant city solicitor in Newton.

All of the appointments were approved by voice vote. There were three dissentions for Mahoney and Leary, who is not a Newton resident. Some aldermen disagreed about whether the city's rules, amended in 1992 to make the police chief's job a managerial position with a five- to seven-year contract, allow a non-resident to serve on the search committee.

Mahoney represents an association that didn't exist when the rules were amended. Cohen recommended appointing him in an advisory role -- he wouldn't get a vote -- and amending the rules to add a representative from the association to the committee. The mayor's request to amend the rules is still before the aldermen's public safety committee.

Also, some aldermen had expressed frustration at their last meeting about the committee holding meetings without first being approved by the board, and even narrowing down about nine internal candidates for the position. The committee held off on meeting pending approval once its members spoke to aldermen, Alderman Verne Vance informed his colleagues yesterday.

-- Rachana Rathi

The waiting list for membership was long when the Jewish Community Center opened in Newton 25 years ago.

Families who once played, shopped and lived together in places like Dorchester and Roxbury were now living disparate lives in the western suburbs, and searching for a way to maintain their identity.

"We were excited because it was really the begining of an institution that would bring us together in the western suburbs," said Rick Mann, the son of the late Theodore Mann, who was the mayor of Newton when the community center opened. Rick Mann, a newly married attorney at the time, thought it was imperative for his family to be part of the center.

"We had become victims of our own affluence," Mann said, describing how the Jewish community became more dispersed as it moved west. "The places that held us together -- the corner store, the grocery store, the deli, the singular place where people went to meet -- was no longer available. The JCC became the place where we could congregate and recreate. It brought us out of isolation and back to being a tight community."

Twenty-five years later, the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center remains a place where the Jewish community -- and its extended network -- gathers to play basketball or swim, send the kids to preschool and make new friends.

The facility was the product of a push by leaders of the Jewish community, such as Norman Leventhal and Ed and Paula Sidman, for whom the center is named, said marketing director Larry Keller. They allayed the fears of some Jewish leaders, who wondered whether the center would take away the role of the synagogue, and worked with Mayor Theodore Mann to acquire the building, a former Catholic monastery and orphanage. The center opened in October 1983, with broadcaster Ted Koppel at the opening ceremony. Since then, several Israeli prime ministers and presidents, a poet laureate and other leaders have visited the facility, Keller said.

About 80 percent of the center's budget comes from membership fees, while the other 20 percent is from gifts and donations, said Mark Sokoll, the president of Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, which includes several overnight and day camps, a handful of preschools, and a small community center in Framingham.

The single largest fundraising event the center hosts will be held on Saturday, and serve as the cornerstone of the facility's 25th anniversary. Called the "Lights and Spice Gala," the proceeds will go toward scholarships for membership and other activities. The facility expects to raise about $600,000, Sokoll said.

The center provides activities for members ranging from preschoolers to senior citizens -- and even brings the two groups together regularly.

-- Rachana Rathi

Bundled against the cold, the human billboards are out on the weekends at both ends of Needham Street in Newton, their bold-colored, bold-lettered signs — STORE CLOSING! EVERYTHING MUST GO! — pronouncing the end of Tweeter and Linens ’n Things, where an acre of combined shopping space is being liquidated of merchandise.

In between the bookends of this shopping corridor, other chains have already closed: Fabric Place and Mattress Discounters, where a doormat at the locked entrance still beckons, ‘‘Have a Good Night’s Sleep on Us.’’

Pockets of empty stores are appearing in Boston’s suburbs, the result of a string of bankruptcy filings or store-closure announcements by regional and national chains, including Tweeter, Linens ’n Things, Circuit City, even Starbucks. The closings, scattered for now, have retailers, landlords, employees, local officials, and shoppers — as they hold tighter to their wallets and scout for going-out-of-business sales — worrying as the holiday shopping season begins. This area may fare better than the rest of the nation, but the worst is yet to come everywhere, retail and commercial real estate analysts say.

‘‘Things are so unpredictable right now, and it’s very frightening to think what the future brings for the retail business,’’ said Judy Post, a Needham resident who was shopping for furniture recently.

‘‘Every furniture store I went into, I was the only one in the store, and all the sales people were sitting and waiting around for somebody to come in,’’ said Post, 65, a retired clinical nurse specialist, as she paused before entering the Newton Linens ’n Things. ‘‘It was a very eerie feeling.’’

The human billboards are out in Natick and Framingham, too, and yet some places along that route remain crowded. ‘‘I was at the Natick mall last weekend, and it’s still pretty full. We’re definitely in an economic crisis, but people are still spending,’’ said Ilana Schwartz, 34, of West Newton, as she prepared to peruse discounts at the housewares store, where even the shopping carts were for sale.

Over the last decade, big-box stores and chains flourished. Now, commentators in some parts of the country are pronouncing the demise of an era in suburban shopping — with people in big SUVs going to big stores to buy stuff for big houses — and warning of a landscape littered with empty big-box stores and scarred shopping plazas.

Around Boston, analysts predict a slowdown, not devastation. The current and looming closures reflect economic troubles as well as the realization that the retail scene is oversaturated, with many stores selling the same products.

Until recently, Newton offered a stark example of an ‘‘overstored’’ market: two Starbucks stores within a couple blocks of each other in Newton Centre. One has closed.

‘‘You can have a Starbucks on every corner in a good economy, but in a bad economy you have to have one every few miles,’’ said Linda Grignolo, 58, a Wellesley homemaker who nonetheless voiced cautious optimism about the retail outlook.

Jonathan D. Miller, a New York-based analyst and author of an annual industry outlook, ‘‘Emerging Trends in Real Estate,’’ said the weakest malls and ‘‘power centers’’ — meaning plazas with multiple big-box retailers that have sprouted near regional malls — could become empty in the coming years.

‘‘Over time, with an improved economy, Americans will buy again, and malls will thrive again. It’s just not going to be in the next two or three years,’’ said Miller.

At the Newton Tweeter, Tom de la Cruz, 27, said he will soon be looking for work for the first time since 2001.

Without the store, consumers will lose the personal service and expertise from the retailer that once promoted ‘‘a boatload of know-how,’’ he said, but they can still buy flat-screen TVs from ‘‘Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Circuit City — until they go under.’’ That is, if people are still shopping for flat-screen TVs.

‘‘Everything we have is a luxury item,’’ de la Cruz said. ‘‘No one needs a 52-inch TV.’’
Nearby, a middle-aged man who gave his name only as Yuri browsed the final-sale items but left without buying — yet.

‘‘They’re not giving it away,’’ the man said, outside the store.

‘‘The end of the world is not coming,’’ he added, climbing into a Volvo. ‘‘But things will be tight for a while.’’

-- Eric Moskowitz

"Vicki Myron is passionate about libraries, about Iowa, about the town of Spencer, and especially about Dewey, the cat who ran the Spencer Public Library.,'' begins a review on the Newton Reads blog of Dewey, the Small Town Library Cat who Touched The World.

The Newtonville Books Blog reports that a movie is in the works: "Meryl Streep is set to play a librarian in the upcoming cat movie adaptation of Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. We get the following scoop this morning thanks to the good people over at Variety:

Meryl Streep is purring over “Dewey,” a fact-based film about a stray cat’s impact on the town of Spencer, Iowa. The project has landed at New Line Cinema. Streep is attached to star in the adaptation of the Vicki Myron book Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. Pamela Gray will pen the script.''

Other selections recommended by the bloggers at the Newton Free Library are: Twisted Head, What the World Eats, and The 10-year Nap.

The Globe's Off the Shelf blog lists area paperback fiction bestsellers at area stores, including Newtonville and New England Mobile Book Fair.

A Newton man on Wednesday admitted to groping a teenage girl and exposing himself on the T in a number of incidents in 2006 and 2007, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Jeffrey N. Berman, 61, pleaded guilty to open and gross lewdness, assault and battery, and two counts of indecent exposure, Conley said in a statement released Wednesday.

Berman could face up to two years in prison if he does not abide by strict probation conditions until 2011, the DA said.

Boston Municipal Court Judge Paul K. Leary sentenced Berman to two years in prison, but suspended his term for three years, during which he must stay away from MBTA stations, subways, buses, and commuter rails, Boston public schools, and all victims in the case.

Berman also has to undergo sex offender treatment and serve 25 hours of community service within the next four months, Conley said.

Berman was charged with touching a teenage girl inappropriately on an inbound Green Line train in Nov. 2006. He also allegedly exposed himself at least three times between Mar. and Sept. 2007.

The teenage victim – a student at a Boston high school – approached school officials last Dec. 2007 with a photo she took of the man who allegedly assaulted her on the Green Line.

School officials contacted Transit Police, who learned the man had also exposed his genitals to two other teenage girls on the T. Each of the victims identified the man in the photo.

When Transit Police released the photo to the public on Dec. 6, 2007 several people identified the man in the picture as Berman. The next day, Berman contacted authorities and was taken into custody.

Berman’s attorney, Roger Witkin, did not return a message seeking comment.

For more coverage of Newton, go to Boston.com/Newton.

Newton South plays Lincoln Sudbury at L-S Thursday at 10 a.m. and North plays Brookline at 10 am at Brookline. Area schedules here.

“The game has been going on for more than 100 years and it’s when all the grandparents, aunts and uncles come to watch,” Newton North coach Peter Capodilupo told the Newtonite for this story. “It’s a timeless event.''

Read Eli Davidow's set up of the North game in the Newtonite here.

Who will win Thursday's games around the area? Go to boston.com, and check Chris Forsberg's online game of pick 'em right here.

Other area games include:

Natick at Framingham, 10 a.m. (Bowditch Field)
The 102nd meeting will be a dandy. The host Flyers (8-2) already have a Division 1A playoff game lined up with Atlantic Coast champ Marshfield next Tuesday. Natick (9-1) suffered its only loss to Bay State Herget champ Walpole. The matchup features two of the area's best quarterbacks, Framingham senior Dan Guadagnoli (22 touchdown passes, 15 rushing touchdowns) and Natick junior Scott McCummings (14 TDs rushing, four passing).

Shrewsbury at Milford, 10:15 a.m.
Shrewsbury (7-3, 4-1 Division 1 East) can clinch a playoff berth with a victory. But Milford, 6-4, 3-2), featuring an unorthodox defensive scheme anchored by linebackers Brendon Casey, Manny Lopez and Evan Burns, has registered three shutouts. Shrewsbury senior Paul Tizzano will be used in a multitude of roles. Running back Hunter Beckmann has missed the last four games with turf toe, but could be available.

Franklin at King Philip, 10 a.m.
The last time both teams were this good, Lofa Tatupu was under center for King Philip. Junior Brendon Howard (16 touchdown passes) pilots an explosive offense for KP (8-2), while the Panthers (7-3) will try to establish the run behind junior running backs Matt Carini (14 TDs) and Nick Colson (7 TDs).

After September 11th Jessica Locke was so mad she wanted to kill a terrorist. Instead she traveled to New York to heal fire fighters.

This is fortunate, for Locke—now the founder of the Newton-based Jessica Locke Fire Fighter’s Fund— was a lot more qualified in healing than killing. Locke is trained in the Alexander Technique, a method of body and movement reeducation that brings you in accordance with what she calls “your primary movement.” It’s a holistic method that combines aspects of massage, psychology, and physical therapy to alleviate all kinds of pain. In some ways it’s very intuitive—like how the way you walk affects how your back feels—and in other ways it seems nonsensical—like how having had braces on your teeth could affect how your back feels.

“The first time I experience the technique it was like having my spine unwound and uncoiled,” Locke said. “You spend your entire life building up small pains and aches in your body, and you can’t imagine living without them. Then someone can make it all go away with just a touch. It was like how Jesus could put his hands on people and heal them.”

When Locke realized that she could do more good by applying this technique to the weary and worn fire fighters of New York than by seeking vigilante justice, she knocked on the door of Engine 32.

“I was very nervous when I got to the station,” Locke said. “But when the first fire fighter let me in, I knew I had to prove myself. I put my hands on him, and I felt his energy and realized he didn’t want the work, but was going to sit there for my sake. I felt so bad because I was not down here to take but to give. So now it was a contest to see whether I could give more to him than he gave to me. I won.”

Locke said that with that first body session, she was able to remove the fire fighter’s shoulder pain, something he said no physical therapy had ever been able to accomplish.

“In that moment I finally felt like I had gotten back at Bin Laden,” she said. “And for everything I did for my country’s heroes, they gave it back with respect. It became a symbiotic relationship, and it was the best relationship I had had with any men for as long as I can remember.”

This experience put Locke on a completely different life path. Until this point Locke had been a struggling composer with a masters from the New England Conservatory of music and a desire to be the next John Williams. Now, she dedicates her life to serving the fire fighters who serve the public.

New York may have been the catalyst for her involvement, but it is the Newton fire fighters that Locke spends most of her time with now. After seeing an article in the Newton Tab a few years back about conditions in the local fire stations, Locke realized that work needed to be done closer to her home in Watertown.

“When I learned that the buildings were crumbling, heat was failing, windows didn’t have screens, toilets backed up, sewage leaking from ceiling, there were no smoke or carbon monoxide detectors, and that engines were 23 years old and shouldn’t be on the road, I knew I needed to do something,” she said.

Now, in addition to having her own Alexander Technique practice in West Newton Locke has become a one-woman advocate group for the Newton fire fighters. Whether giving free bodywork to 15 firemen, raising awareness about working conditions, or standing outside of City Hall at least once a week for a year to protest Mayor Cohen’s assertion that the department used too many sick days, Locke certainly devotes much of her time to the cause.

For this reason, Locke officially founded her own nonprofit—The Fire Fighter’s Fund—and wrote a book about her post-9/11 experiences in 2005. The organization is just Locke and two other volunteers in New York, but members of the fire department say her presence has been invaluable.

The firefighters know her, that's for sure. On Tuesday evening, we visited Firehouse One and talked to a group of firefighters. Their dinner conversations ranged from how hot Punky Brewster had become, the sexual deviancy of female chimps, and how great Cinnamon Toast Crunch was.

But they also talked a little about Locke.

“She’s really lit a bunch of fires under people and helped get us the equipment we needed,” Lt. Mike Murphy said without a sense of irony “There should be a statue outside that says, ‘This is the station that Jessica built.’”

And, for a bunch of hardboiled firefighters these were some true believers in the Alexander Technique. Chris Lessard is such a fan of the technique that he has even brought in his wife and young child to have it done.

“All the other treatments I had were like getting a Band Aid for a bullet wound,” Lessard said between bites of ziti and meatballs. “But [Locke] understood what was going on better than anyone else and has really helped with the pain. She’d touch my shoulder and say, ‘you feel that in your toe?’ At first I’d have no idea what she was talking about, and then… I felt a tingling in my toe.”

A Newton fire lieutenant was charged with driving under the influence of drugs and other offenses after police say he allegedly fled the scene of an accident and led them on a foot chase through a Newton neighborhood Saturday, court papers show.

Daniel Doherty, 41, of Newton, was arraigned Monday in Newton District Court on charges of operating under the influence, drugs, third offense; leaving the scene of property damage; and disorderly conduct. He entered a plea of not guilty and was committed to Bridgewater State Hospital for 30 days of observation, said Cathy Coughlin, assistant clerk magistrate.

Police were called to the scene of a traffic accident at about 10:50 a.m. on Saturday at the intersection of Washington and Walnut streets, where Doherty’s Ford F150 had hit a tree, the police report states.

Several people attempted to stop Doherty when he began walking away from the scene, and he ran north on Walnut Street after a police officer asked him to stop, according to the report. Doherty ran onto Foster Street and jumped into the backyards of several houses before he was arrested in the backyard of a home on Page Street, the report says.

‘‘He was unable to walk by himself. He was unable to get up off the ground by himself and had to be lifted by several officers. There was a very strong smell of burnt marijuana on his person. His eyes were very watery and bloodshot,’’ according to an account by one of the arresting officers in the police report.

Doherty’s next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 23. The court also revoked bail on a case pending against him in Dedham.

Doherty was charged with assault and battery of a police officer, malicious damage to a motor vehicle, and disorderly conduct in connection with an Oct. 13 incident involving a Dedham police officer, said David Traub, spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney’s office. Doherty was arraigned and released on $2,000 bail, and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Dec. 19.

The fire lieutenant was placed on 30 days unpaid medical leave this week in response to his arrest Saturday, city spokesman Jeremy Solomon said. He said the city was already in the process of negotiating a disciplinary hearing date with the firefighters’ union following Doherty’s arrest in Dedham.

‘‘We were also trying to see if we could get him some help,’’ Solomon said.

Assistant Fire Chief Bruce Proia said that ‘‘the department has no comment at this time.’’

For more coverage of Newton, go to Boston.com/Newton

-- Rachana Rathi

This morning the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce held its 93rd annual Achievement Breakfast and award ceremony with special guest speakers Governor Deval Patrick and TripAdvisor President and CEO Stephen Kaufer.

In an event that combined politics with business, Patrick signaled a willingness to consider a gas tax increase, saying he was not hostile to it as part of a reform of the state's transportation system.

Timothy Braceland, the Chairman of the chamber's board, began the breakfast by talking about the importance of overlapping entrepreneurial and political relationships.

“For far too long there has been a divide between businesses and the political system,” Braceland said. “There is a sense by the politicians that businesses only care about making money with no regard to the community. And on the other side many business people think that politicians only want to tax us and burden us with regulation...The future is too important not to come together and get this mission done correctly.”

Governor Patrick represented the political side of the event and talked about what was on the mind of many Newton residents: the debate between a gas tax and a Mass Pike toll increase.

“We have an opportunity for real reforms,” he said. “There’s nothing like limited resources to lead to that. Transport has suffered from chronic neglect for more than decade.“

He has backed a toll increase, but he also indicated a willingness to debate a gas tax increase, saying he wasn't hostile to the idea.

"The toll proposal comes up in a context. A context of chronic neglect of our transportation infrastructure. A strategy that is not very coherent of dealing with the Big Dig debt. In comes up in context of trying to deal with long term strategy,'' the governor said.

"Others prefer a gas tax. And by the way, that's not a bad idea. I'm not hostile to it. But I think if we're going to go there, whether it's in the context of a toll increase or a gas tax, let's have a discussion that is complete. It needs to address at least three principles. Is it enough, is it dedicated, is it comprehensive set of reforms.''

Although Patrick did not lay out a specific plan, he discussed the importance of creating a serious discussion about what to do next.

“I am asking for a mature debate,” he said. “A lot of people have spent a lot of time thinking about gas tax over the years, and have figured out their soundbites. This is equally true for toll increases. But the solution doesn’t lend itself to soundbites, it lends itself to people who have open minds and have mature conversation. It’s time to leave aside who is to blame for the situation.”

After Patrick spoke, Kaufer gave the keynote address about the history of his company, TripAdvisor. Kaufer spoke of the importance of being quick with your innovation and noted that it wasn’t until his company was backed into a corner financially that they broke through.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” he said.

The list of the awards given is as follows:

Volunteer of the year: Mike Ciolino owner of the Web design company Verve Creative for his help with the Chamber of Commerce Website.

Non-Profit of the Year: West Suburban YMCA for its continued support for the community and its expansion in facilities and membership.

Leading Business Award: Roche Brothers Supermarkets for its constant support of the community and its dedication to going green.

Leading Communities Award: To Needham Field of Dreams, for the new turf field in Needham.

Robert L. Tenant Award: Cabot’s Ice Cream.

Chairman’s Award: To Mt. Ida College.

Retailers are not the only ones cutting holiday shopping prices this year. Many artists and organizers of holiday craft fairs are getting creative about pricing, too.

Some artists are bargaining down the cost of supplies to keep their prices low. Others, like Newton jeweler Lauren Berman, who is showing at the Celebrate Newton! Holiday Arts & Crafts Festival on Dec. 7, are switching to more affordable raw materials.

‘‘I’ve been creating more jewelry using lower-cost but interesting stones and staying away from the high-end stones,’’ said Berman, who said she is more likely to use chalcedony instead of blue topaz. ‘‘This means that I have to be a bit more creative in my designs, which has been pushing me from an artistic standpoint. So, this is a good thing — necessity being the mother of invention and all.’’

Newton quilters Karen Mondell and Diana Galson-Kooy are downsizing in the literal sense. ‘‘We decided to make some smaller items. We have regular quilted wall hangings and are now making ‘mini landscapes’ that cost significantly less,’’ said Mondell, who also is showing at Celebrate Newton!’s event at Newton South High School.

Here are some craft fair highlights:

Celebrate Newton! Arts & Crafts

This annual Newton PTO fund-raiser offers more than a wealth of juried fine arts and crafts. The holiday festival also boasts live music, a café, craft activities for youngsters , and many unusual gifts. Highlights this year include hand-dyed table linens, funky rubber stamps, Lynda Goldberg’s dream-like miniature monotypes, and Jean Lindsay-Dwyer’s huggable hand-knitted teddy bears. Details: Dec. 7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Newton South High School, 140 Brandeis Road. Admission: $2, or $5 per family. 617-558-3695, www.perugi.com/newton.

Newton Art & Craft Sale

Thirty-five New England artists and one inventive chocolatier will gather for this juried show. This show with ‘‘a thousand gifts’’ includes crafts ranging from tiny earrings to hefty furniture. Notable items include potter Mark Bentz’s African violet planters. Chocolate Paradise will also tempt with the likes of chewy cherry chocolate-chip cookies and white and dark chocolate caramel corn. Proceeds support city arts programming. Details: Dec. 13, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Dec. 14, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., at the Newton Cultural Center, 225 Nevada St., Newtonville. Admission $3; $8 per family. 617-796-1540, www.ci.newton.ma.us, click on Cultural Affairs under the Departments link.

As the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority pressed its plan to raise tolls, city and town officials along the highway’s corridor this week said they feared an increase would drive motorists to already congested secondary roads such as routes 9, 20, and 30.

Officials in Watertown, Natick, Wayland, and Newton expressed concerns about the effect a toll increase would have on pedestrian safety, emergency vehicle access, and quality of life for residents.

Newton’s City Hall spokesman, Jeremy Solomon, said the toll increase could affect many local roads, including Washington Street, Beacon Street, Commonwealth Avenue (Route 30), and Route 9.

‘‘We’re watching these proposals very closely,’’ Solomon said. ‘‘We are concerned it would lead to a fairly dramatic rise in traffic on our local roads and we just want to be sure that state leaders are considering that impact when deciding toll policy.’’

Echoing statements of other community officials, Solomon said he does not think additional traffic would provide a boon to businesses along the thoroughfares.

‘‘In general, my sense is when people are commuting to work they are not dallying in the communities through which they are passing,’’ he said.

At this month’s board meeting, the authority gave preliminary approval to raise tolls by 75 cents at the Weston and Allston/Brighton plazas and by $3.50 at the airport tunnels for drivers without Fast Lane transponders.

However, 36 state legislators signed on to a bill last week that would strip the Turnpike Authority of its power to set toll rates until Dec. 31, 2009, or ‘‘comprehensive transportation reform legislation’’ is approved.

The Turnpike Authority has scheduled a public hearing on the toll increases from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 17 in Framingham’s Memorial Building, 150 Concord St. Other hearings were slated in Worcester, Boston, and Lynn.

-- Brian Benson

I was in fourth grade and my teacher asked everyone to write down their goals and share them with the class. I remember the boy next to me, who was Hispanic, got up to share his. He talked about how he would either want to be a doctor or be president. Most of the class laughed, and one girl, who was also Hispanic, said, "But you don't look like you could be president!"

At the time, I thought she meant the boy was short or funny looking. Now I realize she meant that he wasn't white.

Seven years later, I'm standing in line to vote for the first time, and for a biracial candidate. Barack Obama not only represents change for our country, but hope for people of color— hope that anything is possible, hope that things might be getting better. For many, like the boy in my fourth grade class, it means no longer being told that you cannot achieve certain goals.

Obama has not only influenced the minority community. He has inspired a generation that four years ago did not care about politics. Now, people my age and younger have been finding any way to get involved. Walking through the halls at my high school, I can hear the excitement about Obama's win.

Obama is more than just a President. He represents change in our country. Hopefully I'll see the boy from my class in office one day.

Tomorrow morning the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce will hold its 93rd annual Achievement Breakfast and Awards ceremony and will feature a speech by Governor Deval Patrick.

Being held from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m at the Newton Marriott Hotel, the breakfast celebrates local businesses, and is always one of the largest events hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to having Governor Patrick as a special guest speaker, this year's event will feature keynote speaker will be Stephen Kaufer, the President and CEO of the Newton-based company TripAdvisor. Since 2000, TripAdvisor has become one of te internets' leading travel companies.

Tickets are $50 are chamber member and $70 general admission. To register call 617-244-5300.

CQ Press came out with the annual rankings of safest cities in America today, and Newton climbed up four spots on the list to number four in the country. For the complete list click here.

Newton was the "safest city" for two years (2004 and 2005) in a row in the list, then put out by Morgan Quitno Press, an independent research and publishing company based in Kansas. The city slipped to fourth on the list in the 2006 rankings, which are compiled using FBI crime data. In 2007 the city dropped another four spots to eighth in the rankings.

On the heels of the swastika incidents and the news that hate crimes have doubled in the city in the past year, it's an interesting fact to see Newton move back up into the top five of America's safest cities.

(Read more about those incidents and other news from Newton at Boston.com/newton.)

This year Newton falls behind Ramapo, NY; Mission Viejo, CA; and O'Fallon, MO.

Cambridge comes in at number 80 and Boston at 286.

CQ press acquired Morgan Quitno in 2007. SAGE, an academic publisher, then acquired CQ Press earlier this year.

Ever thought about where all your garbage goes after it's pick up off the street? It goes here.

Garbage has become a hot topic in Newton. With the town abuzz about what to do with all of its waste, few people actually think about where it all goes. It just so happens that I visited the refuse incineration plant that all of Newton's garbage goes to. Here is that story:

I pulled off Route 20 into the unmarked driveway that belonged to Wheelabrator Technologies' Millbury facility-a plant that disposes of refuse from around the area, including what we ship from Newton. Trash you throw out onto your curb ends up in this facility. The only reason I knew that I was heading to the garbage-to-energy plant was because I was following a big, blue Allied Waste Services truck. The truck-outfitted with a yellow and black sign that read "caution" and nine blinking red, orange and yellow lights-cruised easily over a speed bump. My 1997 Toyota Camry had more trouble, its undercarriage scraping against the ridge of yellow pavement. Clearly this road was designed with trucks, not midsized sedans, in mind.

The Waste Services vehicle stopped on an in-ground scale for its initial weight measurement. (It would return after dumping its garbage to be weighed again and charged for the difference.) Not planning on dumping any of my own garbage here, I drove around and pulled up to a large, gray building, steam and smoke mixing into the already crepuscular air. The facility was made up of three multi-storied cubes, a series of four one-story cylindrical cooling towers and a 300-foot tall smoke stack. In the shadows of the building, the dump trucks that rumbled by looked as though they were made by Tonka.

The waiting room in the administrative building held clues to the principles of the company. A trophy case greeted visitors with nearly 30 artifacts: two keys to the city of Millbury for public service (1993, 1995), plaques for supporting various community sports teams, a thank-you note from the fire department, a statue of a cardinal from the Massachusetts Audubon Society, a plaque from the Millbury Council on Aging, numerous tablets and certificates from the Lion's Club and a 2002 Environmental Merit award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

An array of magazines and newspapers lay strewn atop the coffee table-Construction Equipment Guide, Power Engineering, Waste News, Earth Preservers and Business and Industry-demonstrating a confluence of environmental and business concerns.

Ronaldo Peña, a soft-spoken man with a dirty white hard hat (think Manny Ramirez's tar-covered batting helmet) and a neon yellow vest entered the room and greeted the group as our shift supervisor. Peña, seemingly unenthused about giving a tour, took us up through the facility with the impatience of a father trying to guide his family out of an airport. Our first stop in the waste incinerator-cum-power plant was the dumping pit-a room with the capacity to hold 6,000 tons of garbage.

"We can hold enough garbage in the pit to tide us over for weekends and holidays," Peña said. "Even when trucks stop delivering, we are burning garbage. We've got refuse burning 24/7."

Five stories above the piles of trash, a man sat in the most badass chair I have ever seen. Located inside a glass-encased deck that overlooked the pit, the chair connected to a metal track that slid forward and back like a rowing machine, allowing the occupant to move about and see every section of the room. A joystick controlling a 5,000-pound crane that plunged into the heap, each time lifting six tons of the garbage in two arms. The crane, which when open resembles a giant metallic spider, mixes the trash around before picking it up and dropping it all onto an incinerator-bound conveyer belt.

"You must be pretty damn good at winning stuffed animals," a touring student from Clark University said.

"Not yet," the operator said, swaying back and forth in the seat, his twisting wrists causing the crane to swing five feet from the glass directly in front of us and drop thousands of pounds of municipal waste. "I just started a couple of weeks ago."

We turned out of the room and walked down two flights of stairs. We soon discovered that the only smell more putrid than 1,500 tons of garbage was 1,500 tons of burning garbage. The aroma in the dimly lit hallway that surrounded the two gas-powered burners caused some members of the tour to put earplugs into their nostrils. Peña took us to a small window that looked into the belly of the incinerator. Through the thick glass I saw an expansive inferno of flaming refuse burning at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

This fire, fueled partially by Newton's' own trash, is used to boil water, turning it into steam, which travels into a turbine generator. The pressure of the steam is converted to electricity, producing 46,000 kilowatts of energy a day, 5,000 of which go to powering the entire plant while the other 41,000 are sold to the New England Power Company. It sells enough energy to power 41,000 homes. Metals in the garbage are sorted out by a magnet and recycled, and ash from the fire is brought to a landfill that Wheelabrator owns down the road. In the end, this process reduces the volume of incoming garbage by more than 90 percent.

As I retraced my steps through the building en route to the exit, I noticed a sign. "71 days without an accident," it read. Going a fifth of a year without an accident didn't seem so bad. Then I remembered the 5,000-pound crane and the 2,000-degree heat. I was glad to only be visiting.

In response to the discovery of swastikas spray painted outside two places of worship last week, about 200 people gathered outside Temple Shalom in Newton Sunday afternoon to condemn the incidents and spread a message of hope and tolerance to the congregations and the local community.

A swastika was found on a sign outside the temple last Saturday as members of Temple Shalom’s congregation were arriving for a bar mitzvah and a bat mitzvah. Another swastika was found on Wednesday on a curb outside of Eliot Church.

“We’re incredibly touched, honored and feel embraced by the outpouring of support from the community,” said Rabbi Eric Gurvis as he began Sunday's event at 12:15 pm. “This is Newton at its best.”

Rabbi Gurvis thanked the Newton Police Department, local residents, and community leaders for their support in the wake of the vandalism.

“I know that out of something very bad, we’re going to make something good,” said Newton Mayor David Cohen. Addressing residents’ potential safety concerns from the podium, Cohen urged the crowd not to be afraid and “to be whoever you are.”

“We have to reaffirm our commitment to diversity,” Cohen told the crowd.

Reverend Richard Malmberg of the Second Church in Newton and former chairman of the Newton Interfaith Clergy Association highlighted his church’s more than 50-year relationship with Temple Shalom and denounced the incident at the Temple as a “cowardly and vulgar act of vandalism.”

“This is the real Newton, the city I love. This is a place where intolerance is not tolerated,” Malmberg said.

Telling the crowd to turn “outrage into blessing,” Rabbi Gurvis stressed a need to promote understanding in the community and find constructive ways to deal with disagreements.

“Acts such as the one perpetrated last week are no way to disagree,” Gurvis said.

“Sometimes you don’t think these things happen, but it does,” said Richard Carroll, a member of the First Baptist Church in Newton who said he attended the event after his pastor spoke about the gathering during a service. “It was amazing today to see how many groups came.”

Derrek Shulman, New England Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League, said after the event yesterday that the civil rights organization is working closely with Temple Shalom, law enforcement officials, and educators “to give a voice to the outrage and make something positive out of it.”

The Anti-Defamation League and the Second Church in Newton are offering a $4,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of those responsible for the swastikas, Shulman said.

The incidents are under investigation and no arrests have been made, said Lieutenant Bruce Apotheker, spokesman for the Newton Police Department, after the event. There is no evidence linking the two swastikas, Apotheker said.

Elizabeth Connolly, a member of Temple Shalom’s congregation for 10 years, said after the event, “The message was that we have to come together as a community and respect one another and respect one another’s differences. Doing that will defeat the forces of hate.”

-- John S. Forrester

After swastikas were discovered outside two separate places of worship over the course of the same week, Newton community and religious leaders plan to gather Sunday to condemn an apparent outbreak of hate crimes.

Last Saturday, congregants assembling for weekly services at Temple Shalom discovered a large swastika spray painted onto an outdoor sign. Rabbi Eric Gurvis condemned the graffiti from the pulpit and called the incident a hate crime.

On Wednesday night, a police officer discovered a swastika scrawled onto the curb outside of Eliot Church. Though the drawing was just four inches in diameter and appeared to be faded, Lieutenant Bruce Apotheker, a spokesman for the Newton Police Department, said police were thoroughly investigating the apparent hate crime.

“We'll give 110 percent, the same as we would something that was 100 feet tall,” he said.

Police said the incidents at Temple Shalom and Eliot Church do not appear to be connected.

Hate crimes in Newton have more than doubled this year, Apotheker said earlier. The graffiti outside Eliot Church was the 16th case reported this year; compared to six cases that were reported in 2007.

A congregant of the Second Church in Newton and the New England Anti-Defamation League are offering a $4,000 reward for anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the graffiti discovered at Temple Shalom last Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.

City and religious leaders, including Mayor David B. Cohen, Derrek Shulman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of New England, Newton police and local religious leaders, are expected to gatherer outside Temple Shalom, at 175 Temple St., Sunday at 12:15 p.m. to speak out against hate crimes.

“It’s been a really nice interfaith outpouring of condemnation of this act,” said Jennifer Smith, the associate regional director for the Anti-Defamation League of New England. “The thing important is that [when] these things happen, they have to be taken seriously.”

Reverend Anthony Kill, who has been pastor of Eliot Church for the past 14 years, said yesterday he would not be able to attend today's interfaith gathering. Instead, he said he will address what he sees as societal changes in the wake of the election of the nation’s first black president at his church’s annual Thanksgiving Sunday service.

“I think the very fact there has been an increase [in hate crimes] says it is a last ditch effort,” he said at his home Saturday. “Obviously the nation isn’t buying this anymore.”

-- Matt Collette

The Jewish Genealogy Blog reports that Brown University Professor Omer Bartov will speak on "Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia," at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston's 2nd Annual Genealogy Lecture co-sponsored by Hebrew College.

The Lecture, jointly sponsored by JGSGB and Hebrew College, will take place at Hebrew College, 160 Herrick Road, Newton Center on Sunday, November 23, 2008, at 3 pm in Berenson Hall.

Admission is free and advance reservation is required due to limited capacity. Register at www.hebrewcollege.edu or at 617-559-8733.

Omer Bartov, an international authority on genocide, traces the destruction of the region’s Jewish communities under Nazi and Soviet rule, and explores the contemporary politics of memory in Ukraine. He is the Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History at Brown University. His lecture draws on his most recent book, Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine (Princeton, 2007).

See more here at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston and Tracing the Tribe - The Jewish GenealogyBlog.

The folks over at the Newton Free Library are talking up The German Bride. "The characters and Western landscape are beautifully described, and the dust, heat, and sense of isolation Eva feels are palpable.''

Newton South student Nathan Yeo, writing in the Denebola, reviews Nixonland, by Rick Perlstein.

Meantime, for younger readers Newtonville Books is touting The Lightning Thief.

Says Newtonville's blog: "The Percy Jackson series, an enormous hit with middle school readers, is scheduled to end next May. On his blog, Riordan talked about what comes next: “My plan is for another five-book story arc, featuring a new set of demigods, but with several of the original cast from Percy jackson making appearances.” And what about the big question: Does Percy Jackson live? “Well, I should probably be secretive about that,” he wrote, “but as a general rule I do not believe in killing off main characters, especially when I’m using a first-person narrator.” Next up: The Demigod Files, due out February 10, followed by The Last Olympian in May.''

Thirty-five of the area's best artists will be showcasing their work at Newton Open Studios' first ever juried show this weekend. The exhibition will be open November 22nd and 23rd from 11 am to 5 pm at the Newton Cultural Center (225 Nevada Street).

The show will feature artistically diverse works from oil paintings of landscapes to abstract sculpture, and at least one of the pieces consists of food products. Coming to town to judge this eclectic work is DeCordova Museum Curatorial Fellow Nina Bozicnik.

So, if you are looking for art but don't want to deal with the Green Line to get to the MFA, then mosey on over to the Cultural Center and see the best that your neighborhoods have to offer.

Check out the Newton Open Studios site here and look for more news and information about Newton at boston.com/newton.

Harry Sanders as "Trash Man" and Jeff Seideman at the "Cash in the Trash" forum.

If you live in Newton and you throw things away, you might notice a few changes in the coming months. After 20 years of the same trash removal service, the contract is up and Newton is looking at doing some things a little differently.

With options such as automated pickup (a truck that uses a robotic arm to pick up barrels), single-stream recycling (meaning you don’t have to separate your various recyclables from each other), and pay-as-you-throw (or a set fee per barrel or bag of trash you put out on the curb) on the table there is much to be discussed. So the Newton Free Library decided to hold a discussion.

The League of Women Voters organized a public forum Thursday night to try and make sense of this watershed moment in Newton’s refuse services, and figure out how to lower the town’s $5 million spent on trash removal.

Brooke Nash, of the Environmental Protection Agency, discussed the next steps the town could take environmentally and fiscally, saying that technology has come a long way in the past decades.

“In 1971 Newton was a real leader in state and nation in beginning curbside recycling,” she said. “Some of you will remember we had to separate glass by color, and maybe you could recycle number one and two plastic, but three, forget it.”

After Nash discussed how other Massachusetts towns have adopted innovative recycling plans to much success, Tom Daly, the Commissioner of Public Works, talked about Newton-specific numbers.

He said the Department of Public Works spends 35% of its $18.7 million on the removal of solid waste. Noting that the city spends $152 per ton of trash, Daly said the obvious goal was to lower the amount of refuse produced.

“If just 200 communities reduced our waste by 20% it would be the equivalent of getting 2.8 million cars off the road,” he said.

With the pilot programs of automated pickup and single-stream recycling underway, Newton will soon have an idea if these innovations can help reduce its trash output.

Newton resident Eric Friedberg is hoping that his latest creation — a
live Internet game show — does better than some of his other endeavors.

He would rather not have a repeat of the $180,000 dollars he lost with
his 1992-prototype of fantasy football or the $35,000 that vanished
seven years later in the making of the world's thinnest and most
indestructible wallet.

"I have so many ideas I can't remember half of them," Friedberg said. To
prove his point he shouted up the stairs to his wife, who is the Vanna
White of his game show: "Hey Veronica, complete this sentence I say all
the time, 'Honey, I have an…'"

"Idea," she called back.

With these various entrepreneurial attempts under his belt, Friedberg, 40, has learned from his mistakes and has moved on to a new venture.

Now a successful businessman as a partner in the marketing firm
Cohen-Friedberg Associates, Friedberg spends a portion of his 14-hour
workdays in the basement of a Newton company that restores furniture after
floods and fires. He uses a rented room in the basement to stage his game
show that runs three evenings a week on ItsEasytoWin.com.

The web site offers a variety of on-line games but the game show is the
most innovative. The game is open to the first 5,000 people to log into a chat room at least 20 minutes before the start. Contestants are randomly selected by computer from the people logged on. There is no studio audience.

The game show always involves picking among 40 metal briefcases from
shelves in the basement room. In a game called "State Your Case'' a
contestant must properly guess which license plate is in a case in order to
win a prize between $50 to $1,000. Occasionally a contestant can
win even if he doesn't guess the license plate but picks a case with a
prize in it.

Friedberg says that since he launched the site on October 11 he
has spent $150,000 to make this game show happen. He figures his audience
is at least 8,000 and says he has given away about $5,000 in
prizes.

Standing in front of the 40 cases, Friedberg really seems like your
typical game show host. His face is creased by 22 years of smiling during
sales pitches, and he speaks like he's trying to sell you something. A
self-described fitness nut, who even invented a specially designed leg
workout platform he called "Diamond Cut Calves", Friedberg maintains a
strong slender build at 5'7'. His curly hair is slicked up.

"Everything I do to keep the show interesting and looking good is off the
cuff," he said. "This is a learning experience for me too. The other day a
lady told me that my suit looked too big, and she was right. So I brought
it to the tailor and thanked her the next day. The show, like me, is
constant work in progress."

What sets Friedberg apart from other game show hosts is his impossibly
difficult task of interacting with his guests who are not present in the
room. Friedberg spends a good portion of the 20-minute program rocking back and forth on his heels and waiting for his viewers to type their responses to him. Then Veronica opens the case to see if they have a winner.

There are some awkward silences and some glitches, like when Friedberg had
to answer a wrong number in to the middle of the show, and when he forgot
to put a license plate into briefcase 24 and had to give away $250 for his
mistake. But Friedberg says he manages to get 200 new users a day, a fact
that his advertisers Jolly Time Popcorn and Modell's Sporting Goods have taken note of. He attributes this initial success to the devotion he has to his clientele.

"I had a show on Sunday at 11 o'clock," he said. "Well, I got a message
from a lady in the heartland who said to me, 'I notice that your name is
Friedberg and maybe are not going to that holy place every Sunday, but some
of us are.' Well, she was totally right. So I went to the studio after
football, gave her and five friends their own game.

"I run this business by treating every customer like they are the only
customers,'' said Friedberg. " It is new technology, but it's old-school
values."

-- Ben Terris

An advisory group recommended Wednesday that Newton increase fees for garbage, parking, and recreation, and also pursue higher payments from universities and other nonprofits in the city in order to raise money.

But even those steps would fall short of a large budget gap created by the city’s demands for high quality services and a tax base that cannot keep up.

The draft report by the Citizen Advisory Group stops short of calling for a property tax increase but suggests that ‘‘it is inevitable that tax overrides and debt exclusions will remain important options in Newton’s financial future.’’

Mayor David Cohen appointed the committee of 14 citizens in May to identify how the city can cut costs and generate more nontax revenue. At a meeting Wednesday night to present the report, members of the panel emphasized that their job is not to decide what tradeoffs Newton should make, but to articulate the choices.

The first of three reports expected by the group focuses on how the city can increase revenue by between $2 million and $10 million, or 1 percent and 4 percent of the city’s general fund budget.

The suggestions also include raising building permit fees, increasing user fees for community education and cultural programs, augmenting cell tower rentals on municipal properties, enhancing grants and other donations, and selling or leasing underutilized municipal properties.

But even if the city implements all of the recommendations immediately, the report says, the additional revenue would only fill the budget gap for one to two years.

‘‘Even if the full potential of these recommended operating efficiencies and the revenue enhancements presented in this report is achieved, it appears that Newton will still not be able to fully fund the scope and quality of public services that Newton has historically provided,’’ the report states.

Since by law cities and towns must have a balanced budget, the report states, ‘‘the ‘big choices’ currently facing Newton’s residents and their elected leaders are more profound than simply increasing revenues or reducing costs. Rather, we must consider reductions in the historic scope and scale of municipal and educational services.’’

Deciding when and under what conditions tax overrides and debt exclusions should be considered ‘‘is a political judgment beyond the scope of this committee’s work,’’ the report adds.

Several of the conclusions are consistent with a blue ribbon commission’s report on the budget in February 2007 that concluded Newton faced a significant structural deficit, the advisory group said.

Panel members stressed Wednesday night that Newton's residents and leaders need to engage in a conversation about the city's priorities.

"We've been making choices that are covert and not explicit," said Malcolm Salter, the group's chairman, pointing to examples such as deferred maintenance of roads and sidewalks. "We need to have explicit conversations around the city to get a sense of what's really core and essential."

Philip Herr, a resident who attended the meeting, said that many of the report's recommendations would generate revenue by imposing additional fees.

"It's not taking the burden off of Newton residents," he said in an interview. "It's just shifting it."

-- Rachana Rathi

By David Abel, Globe Staff

NEWTON -- A firefighter suffered minor burns and injured his shoulder when he fell through the floor of a million-dollar home engulfed in a two-alarm blaze, a fire official said.

The firefighter, who also had elevated carbon monoxide levels, was held overnight at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and is expected to recover, said Assistant Chief Bruce Proia of the Newton Fire Department. Firefighters responded to the blaze on Nobscot Road at 11:08 p.m. and found the white, clapboard home in flames.

The five-bedroom home was under renovation and unoccupied last night. The fire appears to have been caused by an electric meter in the basement and is not considered suspicious, Proia said. A second firefighter twisted his ankle while fighting the blaze. He was treated at the scene.

FULL ENTRY

Newton Fire Chief Joseph LaCroix said that the firefighter who fell through the floor while battling the two-alarm blaze on Nobscot Road last night, John Schroeder, should be released from the hospital sometime today.

"They kept him overnight because he had high CO levels and a burn on his hand," LaCroix said. "He fell right down there where the fire was, but he should be OK and they'll be letting him go home soon."

As for the cause of the fire, LaCroix said all indications point to an electrical origin, most likely a short of a service panel.

For Newton South students, and for high school students around the country, right now is crunch time.

With college admissions more competitive than ever before, we lucky seniors are avidly focused on our grades, SAT I and II scores, and list of extracurricular activities. I know of seven South seniors applying early to Brown, about that many applying early action to Yale, a handful to Cornell…you get the idea. And with the financial crisis, scoring a scholarship has become more and more of a priority. I have come to regard five hours of sleep as adequate, six hours of sleep as comfortable, and seven hours as positively luxurious.

All this has made us less and less focused on our classes and more and more focused on our grades. The two are inextricably linked, of course, but they have less in common than you might think.

For example, getting the “easy teacher” as opposed to the “hard teacher” in a particular course has become crucial. No admissions committee is going to know if you took the class with the teacher who cancels class once a week or the teacher who gives two hours of homework a night. All they know is that the kid in the former class got an A and the kid in the latter class got a B-.

Furthermore, participation has dropped off significantly. A friend of mine taking AP Literature put it best: Let’s stay you have a calculus test tomorrow, applications due on the weekend, and sports practice before you go home. Are you really going to read and mark up a sonnet for discussion in tomorrow’s Lit class when it doesn’t count for a grade and you can just sit out the discussion? Of course not.

It is in this spirit that we’ve developed a complex system of triaging the work we have to do. It looks something like this:

Starbucks fix > common app essay > SAT studying > supplemental essays > homework for APs > sleeping > eating > homework for regular-level classes.

Our parents are worried about our well-being, and with good reason. The sole comfort is that the end of first semester awaits us. I’ve never been happier about the weather turning cold.

--Rebecca Goldstein '09

When it comes to violinist and Newton native Peter Zazofsky, conductor Ronald Knudsen has every right to say ‘‘I knew him when.’’

After Knudsen joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra 44 years ago, assistant concertmaster George Zazofsky was quick to befriend him and gain his awe. Soon Knudsen would meet George’s son, Peter, and his respect for the young violinist’s talent would grow, too.

‘‘At a young age, you don’t quite know which way a person will go, but Peter was surrounded by classical music and he seemed very talented,’’ said Knudsen. ‘‘And in the end, he did stay with it and has done extremely well.’’

It’s true. Zazofsky went on to solo with many of the world’s top orchestras, to perform in the best halls, and win numerous honors, prizes, including in the grand prize at the Montreal International Competition, which no other American has done. won. Currently, he performs with the Muir Quartet and teaches at Boston University.

On Saturday and Sunday, he’ll join his old family friend in his hometown for a Scottish-themed classics concert, ‘‘Scotch Plaid,’’ with Knudsen’s current ensemble, the New Philharmonia Orchestra, in Newton.

‘‘I’ve wanted him to perform with us for years,’’ said Knudsen. ‘‘He’s very expressive both physically and musically. He obviously loves what he does, which engages an audience as well as produces very good music.’’

The program features Zazofsky performing Bruch’s tuneful, rhythmic, and seldom-heard ‘‘Scottish Fantasy,’’ as well as Mendelssohn’s ‘‘Scottish’’ Symphony (No. 3 in A minor).

The New Philharmonia Orchestra performs ‘‘Scotch Plaid’’ at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at First Baptist Church, 848 Beacon St., Newton Centre. Tickets $25; seniors $22; students $8; families $60. 617-527-9717. Website: www.newphil.org.

-- Denise Taylor

A firefighter has been injured battling a two-alarm fire burning in a two-and-a-half story wood frame building on Nobscot Road in Newton Tuesday night.

According to Jeremy Solomon, a spokesman for the city, fire crews struck a second alarm shortly after 11 p.m..

The injured firefighter reportedly fell through a floor that gave way. The extent of his injuries are unknown, and his name has not yet been released.

According to Solomon, there were no reports of civilian injuries.

-- John M. Guilfoil and Jeannie M. Nuss

The number of hate crimes in Newton this year have more than doubled over the previous two years, police said Tuesday.

The spray-painted swastika discovered Saturday at the entrance of the Temple Shalom in West Newton was the city's 15th hate crime this year, said Lt. Bruce Apotheker, Newton's civil rights officer and police spokesman. Newton police classify acts of vandalism and assault as hate crimes, while incidents involving verbal slurs are called hate incidents.

Between 2001 and 2005, the city reported a string of racial and homophobic vandalism incidents. A mural at Bowen Elementary School was spray-painted with "KKK" and "white power" in 2004, which some suspected was aimed at the school's black principal. The same year, racist and homophobic literature was left on the lawns of homes in West Newton. The vandalism and graffiti continued into 2005, when there were 31 hate crimes, primarily in Newton Centre and at the city's schools, Apotheker said.

But over the last two years, the hate crimes and incidents were down. There were six hate crimes in 2007 and seven in 2006. In addition, there was one hate incident this year, two in 2007 and six in 2006. Nine of the incidents this year were anti-semitic in nature, five of them were aimed at African Americans and two were homophobic, police said.

Apotheker said he couldn't point to any specific reason for the increase, but said police aren't calling it a spike.

"We don't see something that hasn't existed in the past," he said. Apotheker said police work with different partners, including the human rights commission, anti-defamation league, and the civil rights division of the attorney general's office to address hate crimes.

"When violations like these are allowed to fester they can grow like a cancer, bringing about fear on an unprecedented scale," Apotheker said. "Based upon this premise, the department uses all available tools allowed by law to investigate these violations."

Mayor David Cohen invited the city's residents to show their support at a community event at the Temple Shalom on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

"Our community is uniting with a loud and clear message that acts of hate and divisiveness such as this one will be and are condemned by all of the people of goodwill in Newton," Cohen said during a press conference on Monday.

-- Rachana Rathi

Kosher businesses in the greater Boston area are bracing for price hikes from a potential meat shortage after the country’s largest glatt kosher meat slaughterhouse stopped production.

Agriprocessors, an Iowa-based slaughterhouse, ceased meet production while battling criminal and labor violation charges stemming from an immigration raid that temporarily closed its main plant in May, according to Associated Press reports.

“Prices keep going up and up,” said Walter Gelerman, owner of The Butcherie, a kosher supermarket in Brookline. “We certainly hope things will stabilize but I don’t see that happening soon.”

Gelerman said prices rise approximately 20 cents/pound every two weeks on poultry and meat. He said prices started increasing a year ago because of high fuel prices and a livestock feed shortage.

“When Agriprocessors started having their problems that aggravated the situation to the point that it seems to be spiraling right now,” he said.

At Gordon & Alperin butchery in Newton, owner Ricardo Bosich said although he does not buy meat from Agriprocessors, he is feeling the residual effects of the shortage.

“My belief is they have to raise the prices,” Bosich said. “You have people working overtime to try and make up the demand.”

In Stoughton, NRM Catering owner Neil Morris has been forced to increase prices by 10-15 percent. He said he is trying to spare customers as much of the hike as possible, even if it means cutting into his profits.

“It’s certainly a lot more difficult to get the product or get it when you want it,” Morris said. “The direct impact is having to order quite a bit in advance and, thus, having to order more than is necessary to make sure you are covered.”

The situation is similar at Levine’s Kosher Meat Market and Deli in Peabody where owner Todd Levine said he has been able to fill all his customers’ orders although it is getting more difficult to obtain meats.

“We’re trying to keep the price down and so far, my clientele has understood a lot of it is beyond my control,” said Levine, who expects the situation to get worse before it improves.
Levine said the weak economy has hurt business more than the meat shortage so far.

“[Customers] watch what they buy and try to get the most for their buck,” he said. “When you get the economy the way it is and a little shortage of kosher meat, it’s like a double hit.”

For more coverage of Newton news and information, go to Boston.com/Newton.

- Brian Benson, Globe Correspondent

Getting your driver’s license is one of those “rites of passage” that most teenagers look forward to for the first 16 years of their lives. Like a Bar Mitzvah, Confirmation, or Quinceañera, it acts not only as a milestone in an individual’s life, but also as a prime opportunity to exert independence and maturity.

Driving to school is an inherent part of that “milestone” experience. For almost 50 years, since Newton South’s initial construction, students with cars have abandoned the school bus and parental transportation for the far more gratifying experience of driving themselves to school.

Over the years, however, the parking situation for Newton South students has become increasingly difficult. In the 1960s, no distinction was made between “student” and “faculty” parking spaces. This changed with time and even more so with the most recent renovation, leaving students with an incredibly limited choice of “good” spots. Furthermore, students must pay for the “privilege” to park in these limited spaces – $180 per semester, totaling $360 for the year – while faculty and staff can park – at no charge – in more convenient, “better” spaces.

This problem escalates, however, when faculty and staff – although given free parking on a majority of the campus – instead choose to take up one of the few, highly coveted student spaces closer to the school.

For those unfamiliar with the consequences for quite the opposite offense (a student parked in faculty parking), an orange sticker is affixed to the student’s car with a strong adhesive, a written warning is sent to the student in his homeroom, and a letter is sent to the student’s parents from his housemaster. Towing is threatened as a consequence for subsequent offenses.

Teachers parked in student spaces, however, are not treated nearly as much like criminals as students are. Although teachers are technically supposed to receive that same orange sticker warning and threats of being towed, rarely, if ever, is a teacher cited for his offenses. In lieu of these warnings, he receives a polite email, and consequences for subsequent offenses are never implemented.

While teachers should not necessarily receive those infamous orange stickers on their vehicles, they should, however, be treated equally to the students who are actually paying for the right to park at Newton South. If the administration believes that the orange warnings are effective, then both students and staff should be subject to their use; if not, then a new system – applying to everyone in the school community – should be put in use. Our school is, of course, dedicated to “equality and opportunity for all,” as so clearly stated in the mission statement.

If you drive down Walnut Street at night, then you've noticed the Newton North construction site looking a lot like Rockefeller Center. If you're curious why the city is spending money on keeping the area lit up all day and night, it's not just for the holiday season.

"During working hours, the lights are there for the safety of the workers," Jeremy Solomon, the mayor's spokesman, wrote in an email. "After hours, they are on to (1) deter trespassers, and (2) to protect the safety of trespassers. Clearly, an unlit, partially constructed four-story structure presents a significant public safety hazard."

For more news and information about Newton, go to Boston.com/newton.

Mayor David Cohen ended his weekly press conference Monday by condemning the vandalism at Temple Shalom.

Two days after a swastika was spray painted on the Temple's entrance sign, Cohen said:

"While our police department continues its investigation into the incident, our community is uniting with a loud and clear message that messages of hate and divisiveness do not resonate with our people."

Cohen said he was proud of the police department who arrived on the scene "within five minutes of it being called in."

The mayor also announced that on Sunday, November 23rd at 12:30 p.m. there will be a community event at Temple Shalom regarding this incident.

To find more Newton news and information, go to Boston.com/Newton

The fast approaching winter season to Newton brings with it at least two slightly bothersome things, people saying, "Cold enough for ya?" and overnight parking restrictions. The rhetorical question should come into effect in a couple of weeks, but overnight parking restrictions began this past weekend (does the fact that it happened two weeks later than normal prove the existence of global warming?). The restrictions make it illegal to be parked in the street between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. For other exciting news, like "Hints for coping with winter storms" check out this city website.

(Photo by Randy H. Goodman)

Officials conferred at the scene this morning.

Saturday was supposed to be a day of prayer and celebration at Temple Shalom in West Newton, but a swastika spray-painted on the sign at the entrance to the temple marred the celebration.

Rabbi Eric S. Gurvis told the congregation about the vandalism from the pulpit Saturday, addressing both a bar and bat mitzvah as well as a prayer service at the temple.

"We're preaching for openness, understanding, peace, justice and tolerance, and here is this act of injustice," he said in an interview. "Even if it was a prank, it's not funny. It's a hate crime."

Newton police did not respond to phone calls about the incident. But the offensive graffiti appeared less than a week after the 70th anniversary of Kritallnacht, a two-day anti-Semitic rampage in Nazi Germany that is considered to be the beginning of the Holocaust. Gurvis said the Reform temple had never faced a similar problem in the 10 years he has been rabbi there.

Newton saw a string of racial and homophobic vandalism between 2001 and 2004. The Bowen elementary school, one of the city's most diverse schools, was once spray painted with the words "KKK" and "White Power" were spray-painted on a school mural. Some suspected that the graffiti was aimed at the Bowen School's black principal Patricia A. Kelly.

The same year, several residents found racist and homophobic literature left on their lawns in West Newton. The National Alliance, which is based in West Virginia, claimed responsibility for the literature.

In response to those incidents, Gurvis told the Globe in 2004: "When threats are made, it needs to be responded to. The community needs to stand up as one and say that this has no place in this community, or in any community."

On Saturday, others stood with him. Newton mayor David Cohen said he went to the temple shortly after he learned about the vandalism from police. He said he stayed for the shabbat prayer service led by Gurvis.

"The Temple Shalom community has been wounded by this event," he said, "and it's important that we all stand together."

Richard Malmberg, pastor of the Second Church of Newton, also joined the prayer services in a show of solidarity with the congregation. Gurvis, who was leaving for Israel Saturday afternoon, said he will formulate a plan for how to handle the vandalism that will coincide with the Thanksgiving holiday.

-- Meg Woolhouse

Someone spray-painted a swastika on the sign at a Newton temple Friday night or early this morning.

Rabbi Eric Gurvis of Temple Shalom said a number of teenagers and their parents attending a ceremony today noticed it, prompting him to scrap his planned comments and condemn it from the pupit. He also talked about the incident with members of a prayer group of about 40 people.

"There is a collective sense at a troubled time that we need to be optimistic and try to make things better," he said, paraphrasing his remarks. "Something like this reminds you how much more there is to do, and on how many fronts."

Gurvis, in his 10th year as rabbi at the temple, which is on Temple Street in the West Newton area, said there had been no similar problems during his tenure.

Newton Mayor David Cohen came to the temple and sat through services to show his support, Gurvis said, as did Richard Malmberg, pastor of the Second Church of Newton.

Gurvis said grounds crews from the temple were able to remove the swatika from the sign. Gurvis said he decided it should be removed quickly because hundreds of young students would be arriving for Hebrew school on Sunday.

"I don't know that they need to see that," he said. "Even if it was a prank, it's not funny. It's a hate crime."

-- Megan Woolhouse

The restaurant at Hotel Indigo, the boutique hotel in an old Holiday Inn along Route 128, gets a decent review in the recent Boston Phoenix.

The place is called Bokx 109. Reviewer Robert Nadeau liked the calamari and the crab cakes, and gave the place two stars, out of four. He also gets off a few good lines about the suburban location and the gutsiness of running a restaurant in this economy.

"The description of the salmon also lists “Karma jitters.” That’s not the condition of a boutique hotel investor in October 2008, but a tangy barbecue sauce based on Karma-brand coffee.,'' Nadeau writes in this review.

The Tablecritic also reviewed the restaurant recently.

See previous Globe coverage here and here.

Newton officials are scheduled to meet with the Massachusetts School Building Authority on Dec. 2 to move forward with the release of construction funds to the city.

In September, the authority requested more information about the scope and budget of the $195.2 million Newton North High School project as a condition of releasing the $46.6 million grant promised to Newton for the new high school.

The December meeting is a precondition to signing the project funding agreement, which details a timetable for release of funds to the city. Newton officials are expected to provide a few more details to the state before the meeting, said Carrie Sullivan, spokeswoman for the state authority.

The city currently has $11 million available in its project fund, said city Comptroller David Wilkinson. It spends about $5 million to $6 million a month on the project, he said.

"With the October and November bills, I'm practically certain we'll burn through it all by the end of this month," Wilkinson said.

But Mayor David Cohen said at a press conference Monday that the city doesn't "anticipate any cash flow problems."

Wilkinson said if the city needs money before the project funding agreement is signed, it would come from general cash, which would otherwise be invested. The city does not intend to borrow any more money until next spring.

"But the project's not going to stop. The real consequences from all this is the amount of investment income that the city earns to support the budget would be less," Wilkinson said. He said the city would lose about $2,000 for every $1 million that would otherwise be invested.

-- Rachana Rathi

While other high school students may have been watching election coverage well into Tuesday night, Becca Goldstein—along with two other Newton South High School students—was creating coverage of her own, often times breaking news on her blog before CNN or MSNBC. Culling material from local newspaper websites, Goldstein posted gubernatorial and ballot initiative results while her friends covered congressional, senatorial and presidential news.

The site, Starboardbroadside, whose name is a maritime allusion to an attack on the right side (in this case referring to politics), netted nearly 150 unique visitors during the night of live blogging.

Goldstein’s began writing for the blog—a brainchild of fellow Newton South students Nate Yeo and Bill Humphrey—after years of high school debate.

“During my freshman year my coach said one of the things you are going to learn doing speech is that the talking heads on TV have no idea what they are talking about,” Goldstein said. “He said that everyone on the debate team could analyze just as well as they do. For a long time I didn’t believe that, but eventually I learned that information empowers you so much. Really, anyone can be an expert on nearly anything.“

Not only did her debating earn her the national extemporary speech title last year (topic: Does America’s interventionist policy put the country more at risk? Short answer: yes), but it catalyzed her to articulate herself beyond verbal competitions.

“Debate forced me to keep up with the news, to stay in touch with what is going on, and the blog gives me the opportunity to take all of this information and to express myself to a larger audience,” she said. “Internet journalism is the true democratization of news. A lot of people have good things to say but are not talking heads on TV, now their voices can be heard on blogs like ours.”

For Goldstein and her friends the inspiration to keep this blog going comes naturally.
“There really never is any struggle to keep up with the blogging,” Goldsetin said. “ All of our posts are just the online and public versions of the notes we would be passing in journalism class.”

In a case stemming from Newton, the state's highest court ruled has ruled that a property tax surcharge collected by communities under the Community Preservation Act cannot be used to improve existing parks, a decision that will likely impact park and recreation area improvement projects across the state.

More than 130 communities participate in the Community Preservation Act, a law that pools a surcharge from participating communities to pay for the acquisition of new park land, affordable housing, and historic renovation. Since its inception in 2000, the Community Preservation Act has funded more than 3,000 open space and preservation projects, from the purchase of 27.5 acres of open space in Weston to the construction of artificial turf fields at Lincoln-Sudbury and Acton high schools.

"I'm sure every community in the Commonwealth is watching this decision," said David Luberoff , executive director of the Rappaport Institute at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The Supreme Judicial Court's decision Friday upheld a lower court ruling in a lawsuit brought by 10 taxpayers in Newton two years ago. The group challenged the city's appropriation of $765,825 in Community Preservation funds for improvement projects at Stearns Park and Pellegrini Park, including a new basketball court, tot lot, and baseball diamond.

Many of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are current or former members of the Newton Taxpayer's Association, a tax watchdog group that has advocated for lower taxes. Their lawyer and cohort, Guive Mirfendereski, called the ruling "very, very good."

The CPA was enacted in 2000 and allows communities to vote on whether to adopt a 1 to 3 percent real estate tax surcharge. Money collected locally is matched by the state from a trust fund subsidized through $10 and $20 transaction fees imposed statewide at the Registry of Deeds. Communities may use the funding for income-linked housing, open space, historic preservation and recreation projects.

Mirfendereski said many Newton residents spoke out against the city's passage of CPA because it increased the city's tax rate. But Mirfendereski said he and the plaintiffs were later outraged to see the city spend CPA money on questionable projects. For example, the city proposed spending $2.9 million in CPA funds to install an artificial turf field at Newton South High School. And the city did spend $180,000 in CPA funds to fix windows at the local YMCA.

"The YMCA charges fees, why can't they go to their members for this?" Mirfendereski said of the funding. City officials "were dipping into this honey pot and there were all sorts of misappropriations."

-- Megan Woolhouse and Brian Benson

With less than three months remaining before cash designated for the Newton North High School construction project is expected to run out, Newton officials say they are working to resolve an impasse with the Massachusetts School Building Authority over its release of a $46.6 million grant to build the new school.

Newton still hasn't received the grant because it has not submitted an itemized budget and project scope to the satisfaction of the school building authority. Without the state grant, existing funds will run out by November or December, said City Comptroller David Wilkinson, and Newton would have to either take out another bond amid a difficult credit market, use money that would otherwise be invested, or stop construction.

However, City Spokesman Jeremy Solomon says halting construction is highly unlikely and he's optimistic an agreement can be worked out before those measures would become necessary.

“We are working with the MSBA closely to provide them with the information in as much detail as they need in order to move forward,” Solomon said. “The city stands ready, willing, and able to do what is necessary on our end to get the [project funding agreement] signed.”

Carrie Sullivan, spokeswoman for the school building authority, said the budget information that Newton supplied to the state did not “provide sufficient detail.”

“Once Newton has submitted this info to our satisfaction, then we can set up a meeting to discuss the next steps,” Sullivan said.

Newton North is one of 428 projects statewide that the school building authority inherited from the Department of Education when the authority was created in 2004. Of those projects, 300 have received their grants and the rest are in various stages of completion, Sullivan said.

In August, Newton officials provided the authority with a one-page document containing budget and scheduling information for the $197.2 million project. Last month, the authority sent an e-mail to the city solicitor's office saying it needed more information, something Solomon told the Globe in September would be submitted “in a matter of days.”

Solomon said Tuesday that Mayor David Cohen is speaking directly with the school building authority’s executive director, Katherine Craven, although Sullivan would not confirm that. She did say that the city of Newton has been in contact with the authority since the authority requested more detail.

Wilkinson, the city comptroller, said Newton has $11 million in cash to pay for the construction of Newton North, after having recently paid a $5 million construction bill. Those funds came from a $23 million bond sale last June.

Given the tumultuous credit market, the city would be unlikely to want to take out an additional bond before the next scheduled one in March, Wilkinson said, noting doing so could result in higher interest rates and restraints on accessing the credit markets. The city would also have to pay for the preparation of documents related to a bond sale and obtaining a credit rating.

“There’s a whole series of costs that go with a bond sale,” Wilkinson said. “You don’t want to have more of them than you plan on unless you absolutely have to.”

Wilkinson said the city could continue construction by tapping its general fund. However, using that money for Newton North would mean less of it could be invested, generating less revenue from interest. That interest revenue is already figured into the city’s operating budget, he said.

“Today, it’s not a major problem,” Solomon said. “If it drags on into the next year, then it would become a problem and raise our expenses. We would certainly like to get the [agreement] sooner rather than later but we respect the MSBA’s desire to examine the project thoroughly.”

Despite the struggle to obtain the state funds, Solomon said construction has been running on schedule.

“We have an aggressive project construction schedule and we’ve been meeting it everyday,” he said. “The structure’s steel [frame] is nearing completion and you can visualize the building when you drive by the site.”

The new high school is expected to open in September 2010.

Earlier, Newton officials cautioned that the city needs to go slow on other spending projects due to the financial crisis.

As for school building, the building authority has gone ahead with other projects in recent days, including the Wellesley High building, despite the stock market collapse.

-- Brian Benson

Rocker Bruce Springsteen and his wife, Patti Scialfa, watched BC blow out URI Saturday from the comfort of the president's box at Alumni Stadium, the Globe's Names column reports. (It was parents weekend at the Heights and the couple's son Evan is a freshman.)

At halftime, the Globe's Mark Blaudschun, who grew up in New Jersey, briefly talked to the Boss about their shared history. "At some point, Patti said to me, 'You have beautiful blue eyes,' " Blaudschun told us. "I put my hand on Bruce's shoulder and said, 'That's why I love Jersey girls.' " Springsteen laughed.

(Broadcaster Bob Costas, whose daughter Taylor is a BC freshman, was also in the box.) We're told Springsteen and Scialfa attended the Pops on the Heights concert the night before the game.

Meantime, there are reports that Springsteen and Scialfa stopped by a grocery store in Newtonville on Sunday.

It was announced this week that Springsteen and the E Street Band will play at the 2009 Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa.

Heavy-duty shovels wielded by heavy-duty Star Market and Shaws executives and their guests hit dirt Wednesday afternoon at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Star Market on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill.

Eco-friendliness was the watchword at the swanky launch party next to Hammond Pond, a parking lot away from the crumbling demolition site of the old Star Market.

The new store will boast the latest in environmentally-conscious technologies, including a natural gas fuel cell, energy-saving light-emitting diodes that last about 10 years, and advanced heating and refrigeration systems. If the technologies work, Supervalu, the parent company of Shaw's and Star Market, could adopt them in other stores, as well.

Even Mayor Cohen of Newton was in a green mood for the event. He posed a rhetorical question to the crowd on the advantages of LED lighting, and then answered it himself: "I have no idea, but they're good."

Those involved in the project spoke enthusiastically of what they described as an innovative plan.

"This is unique for a supermarket design," glowed Walter Yarosh, a lead architect for the project.

Yarosh cited an open layout, ease of accessibility, an outdoor marketplace aesthetic, and the use of natural light as elements that will improve the consumer experience at the future supermarket, which is also slated to feature increased parking and a particularly wide selection of prepared and ready-to-cook foods.

"We think that people will come back and say [the wait] was very much worth it," predicted Bill Nasshan, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Merchandise for Star Market and Shaws.

However, Newton and Brookline residents inconvenienced by the closing will not know whether or not the wait was worthwhile until at least the summer of 2009. That's when the store is set to open.

-- Sol Israel
sol.israel@gmail.com

Newton's kosher butcher is kosher no more.

Ricardo Bosich, the owner of the Center Market and Grill, a Newton kosher butchery formerly known as Gordon & Alperin, decided last month to suspend his kosher supervision.

“I can’t afford the kosher supervision,” said Bosich, who is actively looking for a new supervisor that is less expensive. “It’s a hard time for everyone right now since the economy is so bad.”

A message from his former supervisor, Rabbi Aaron Hamaoui of the Sephardic Community of Greater Boston, published on Kosher Blog, explains that this “was not due to a violation, but a business decision made by the proprietor.”

In 2007, Bosich expanded his Commonwealth Avenue business, opening a grocery store, a catering operation, and a restaurant called the Avenue Deli, according to a 2007 Globe West story.

However, a decline in business after losing his supervision has forced Bosich to sell the bakery and he is considering selling the deli too, he said.

Despite losing his supervision, Bosich said nothing has changed in how his food is cooked or prepared.

“The customers that know me for so many years, they are still shopping with me because I still do kosher,” he said.

Bosich said if he is unable to find a supervisor by Rosh Hashanah, which will be observed from sunset Sept. 29 to sunset Oct. 1, he may be forced to stop selling kosher.

“I do business just shaking hands,” he said. “I hope to keep my business kosher but business is business and I have to support my family.”

Traditionally, kosher restaurants and bakeries have earned kosher certification by hiring rabbis who oversee food products that are sold in the facility. Rabbis inspect all canned and pre-packaged goods to make sure they have kosher labels, and also check the origins of meat to confirm that it was sold by a kosher meat processor. Kosher supervisors are also vigilant in making sure that dairy and meat are not mixed together.

-- Brian Benson

Following up on Globe West's story on local police detail costs, we found a Patrick administration report that estimates millions in savings if flag men replaced police details at some construction sites.

The estimate: between $5.7-million and $7.2-million a year for the state. Details on state projects cost between $20-million and $25-million, the report said. Globe West reported local towns and cities are spending millions as well.

The report also found wide spread usage of police details by municipalities and disparity in the way the details are assigned.

"Under the draft road flagger and police detail regulations and the revised traffic management plans, the Commonwealth will realize cost savings through lower hourly rates for road flaggers, efficient use of road flaggers and police details on public works projects, and through greater control over the administration of the traffic management plan,'' says the report by the Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works.

The report was released last week in preparation for Monday's hearing on Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to limit usage of police details. The transportation agency has posted several documents on the plan here.

NEWTON/REGION

Governor Deval Patrick has finally cracked the monopoly that police officers on paid road and construction details. Or has he?

Today's Globe West examines the issue of details and explores how it's not just local police officers, but also the cities and towns that they work for, who have powerful incentives to say "Thanks, but no thanks" to Patrick's bid to introduce flagmen on some road construction projects.

We also take a look at the amounts that some officers are getting paid for details, which they regard as legitimate pay for legitimate work but which critics decry as wasteful. As an added feature, we've also included a link to the complete list of detail pay for the Newton Police Department for the 2008 fiscal year.

The marijuana discovered last week by firefighters in Newton Fire Chief John LaCroix's city-issued car belonged to his grandson and was mistakenly put in the vehicle by his wife, Marlborough police said today.

Sean LaCroix, 19, who lives with his grandparents in Marlborough, admitted to police that he owned the drugs, Marlborough police captain Paul Valianti said. Police will determine whether to file charges this week.

"It's extremely clear as to whose marijuana it was," said Valianti, adding that it was an "extremely small amount" of marijuana.

The drugs fell out of Sean LaCroix's pocket on Wednesday night inside the LaCroix home, Valianti said.

LaCroix's wife found the drugs, and they decided to put the drugs in her car with the intention of taking it to the police station the following day, Valianti said. LaCroix's wife mistakenly placed the marijuana in the the fire chief's car without his knowledge, he said.

Firefighters doing a "routine" cleaning of the chief's car on Thursday discovered the drugs under the driver's seat and alerted LaCroix, who then went to city hall and informed officials there, city spokesman Jeremy Solomon has said.

After hearing LaCroix's explanation, officials from the city's human resources, legal and executive department advised the chief to go to his hometown police station.

In a written statement on Friday, LaCroix said, "The discovery came as a shock to me...I have never imperiled the safety of Newton firefighters or the general public by using or possessing illegal drugs."

Solomon said today that the 62-year-old LaCroix voluntarily took a drug test at a hospital nearby to "eliminate any question about his fitness for duty." The drug test, however, was "not at the city's behest or recommendation," Solomon said.

-- Rachana Rathi

Newton firefighters are expected to receive $6.1 million in retroactive salary and benefits pay from the city thanks to a binding collective bargaining award from a state labor panel, according to a memo to the city's Board of Aldermen from Mayor David B. Cohen.

The Aug. 6 ruling settled a five-year dispute between the firefighter's union and city. Cohen filed a request today asking the Board of Aldermen to appropriate the money.

"As is typical in an arbitrator's decision, there are no absolute winners and losers," Cohen wrote in a memo to the board today. "Both sides in this dispute gained some of what we wanted and both sides failed to gain some of what we wanted ... it is now time for us to move forward."

Along with five years of retroactive raises, the contract determination by the Joint Labor-Management Committee gave firefighters money for education, set aside a request for random drug testing on firefighters and eliminated a controversial clause requiring firefighters to present a doctor's note confirming each time they or family members are ill.

The award rejected requests by the firefighters for an additional training stipend and an additional union pay step, however.

The contract is only valid until June 2009, and both sides will sit down again in January to begin the collective bargaining process on a new contract.

Tom Lopez, spokesman for the firefighter's union, has declined to comment until the board appropriates the money. The board is expected to take up the matter at its Sept. 2 meeting.

-- Rachana Rathi

Aldermen Amy Sangiolo and Lenny Gentile got the majority of their colleagues to support a measure challenging Mayor David Cohen's decision not to reopen the city's four branch libraries, but it wasn't enough.

The aldermen needed support from 16 of their 24 colleagues to use a relativel obscure state law to override the mayor's decision and appropriate $259,000 for the branch libraries. According to Newton's city charter, the mayor is the only one with the authority to appropriate money within the budget, but Chapter 44, Section 33 of state law allows city councils to add funds for specific expenditures if supporters can muster a two-thirds majority.

The aldermen voted 13-10, with one person absent, in favor of the measure at their meeting on Monday.

The board's programs and services committee will now take up several additional docket items, ranging from calling on the library trustees and the library director to explain their financial accounting to exploring public-private partnerships to keep the branches open. The branch libraries, which were shut down after a $12 million property tax override failed in May.

-- Rachana Rathi

Newton Mayor David Cohen announced today that the state's most expensive school building project, the new Newton North High School, will cost $195.2 million, said mayoral spokesman Jeremy Solomon.

After six and a half weeks of negotiation, the mayor signed a contract with construction manager Dimeo Construction Co. at a press conference today. The city hired Dimeo Construction under a relatively new law that allows municipalities bypass competitive bidding and hire a "construction manager at risk."

As such, Dimeo must bring the project in at a "guaranteed maximum price" (GMP) or pay the difference out of its own pocket.

"The signing of the GMP signifies the end of the cost increases we have endured during the life of this project," Cohen said at the press conference. "With construction well underway, and with the project ceiling solidified, the Newton North project is on track."

According to Cohen, the final GMP for Dimeo's part of the project will be $162.8 million. The city is also spending about $33 million for design work and other costs associated with the new high school.

In recent weeks, the city was able to negotiate the price down by about $2.2 million, Cohen said in a letter sent to the Board of Aldermen earlier in the day.

"In negotiating the [guaranteed maximum price] with our Construction Manager, Dimeo Construction, our project team scrutinized every assumption in every line item in the project," Cohen wrote. "Working together with Dimeo, we were able to bring down cost assumptions based on the project’s progress and on the bids that we received earlier this summer."

"We remain on track for a September 2010 opening, with our pace of construction proceeding as expected," Cohen wrote. "Now that we know the maximum price of this facility with certainty, it is my hope that our community can collectively look forward to this project for what it is: an investment in Newton’s future schoolchildren."

The high cost of the project prompted state officials -- who will pay reimburse the city for roughly a quarter of the project's cost -- to launch an unprecedented crackdown on local school construction spending.

-- Rachana Rathi and Ralph Ranalli

A month after entering their sixth year without a contract, Newton firefighters got word Wednesday of a ruling by state arbitrators that awards union members with retroactive compensation and benefits.

The binding Joint Labor Management Committee decision covers "salary and other compensation adjustments, health insurance benefits, and other aspects of working conditions within the Fire Department," and describes the types of retroactive compensations that are due, according to city spokesman Jeremy Solomon.

Solomon and Tom Lopez, spokesman for the firefighter union, said they would not comment until they had an opportunity to review the decision thoroughly. Solomon said the ruling is not a public document until aldermen approve funding for the award. The city administration has 30 days to docket a funding request with the board. The city is in the process of calculating a dollar amount.

Newton firefighters have been without a contract since June 30, 2003.

--Rachana Rathi

Two historic train depots that were designed by renowned architect H.H. Richardson will be getting new tenants soon.

Both the Newton Highlands and Newton Center depots, which are located along the Riverside Branch of the MBTA's Green Line trolley system, were built in the 1880s by the Boston and Albany Railroad. They were designed by Richardson, who is also responsible for other local landmarks including the Masonic Temple in Newtonville, in collaboration with Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Boston's "Emerald Necklace" park system and is widely acknowledged as the father of American landscape architecture.

About a year ago, the MBTA sold the old Newton Highlands depot, which housed an auto parts store for years, to Leonard Strauss, a Newton periodontist. Strauss said he hopes to relocate his practice from Washington St. to the new space, which he is renovating now, around Jan. 1. Strauss said he also plans to lease the other half of the depot to another professional service.

The former depot at Newton Centre currently houses a Starbucks coffee shop that is slated for closure, one of seven in Massachusetts that are part of a national 600-store closure plan by the Seattle-based company.

The MBTA owns that building but has a long-term lease with American Companies Inc., a division of Boston Development Group. David Zussman, the chairman and CEO of BDG, said he doesn’t yet know who the replacement tenant will be.

-- Lisa Kocian

Newtonites can be justifiably proud of their city's recent lofty rankings in CNNMoney.com's 2008 "Best Places to Live" survey, but they may need to take the honors with a grain of salt.

According to the annual survey, Newton is the most desirable place to live in Massachusetts and the 49th best place to live in the entire US. But how much could CNNMoney know about Newton if the editors think that the Newton Police Department is headquartered in a church in Newton Corner?

In the Newton page for the online version of the survey, CNNMoney ran this photo with the caption "The Police Station of Newton." The photo credit reads: "Courtesy: City of Newton"

(CNNMoney online image)

Whoops. Actually, that's an old picture of the Newton Corner Worship Center, an innovative religious space that offers worship and office space to fledgling religious communities until they can afford a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque of their own. (For more information, see Globe West Bureau Chief Erica Noonan's excellent story on the worship center.)

This is a picture of the building taken yesterday.

(Globe staff photo by Ralph Ranalli)

This is Newton Police Headquarters in West Newton.

(Globe staff photo by Ralph Ranalli)

The rest of CNN/Money's Garden City sales pitch wasn't all that convincing either. While the editors included a cautionary note about high housing prices, there was no mention of the fact that Newton consistently ranks as one of the safest cities of its size in the US. As amenities, the piece mentioned a couple of city-run seasonal concert series, but omitted the fact that Newton is home to not one but two (count 'em) critically acclaimed symphony orchestras.

In fairness, they did get the city's village character right, however, noting that: "Instead of one main downtown, Newton has six to seven downtown areas, making shopping and eating out easy for everyone."

Jeremy Solomon, the spokesman for Mayor David B. Cohen and the person who usually handles such things, said today that he didn't know where CNNMoney got the photo. But, he added, it's the thought that counts.

"We appreciate the appropriate recognition of the city as one of the best places to live in the country," he said.

-- Ralph Ranalli

The construction management firm for the Newton North High School project has proposed a guaranteed maximum price for the project that will keep the total cost under the $197.5 million pledge made by Mayor David B. Cohen, the city announced today.

Newton North is now under budget! Well, sort of ... (City of Newton image)

In a letter addressed to the city's aldermen, the School Committee, and the design review committee for the project, Cohen revealed that Dimeo Construction has proposed a guaranteed maximum construction price of $164,900,132. Other costs for the project are expected to total about $30 million.

"Given the $164,900,132 figure we can now be assured that the final price tag will meet the $197.5 million target we set several months ago," Cohen wrote.

The guaranteed maximum price, or the maximum amount the city will have to pay for the project, is expected be finalized between the city and Dimeo during the next two to four weeks, Cohen's spokesman, Jeremy Solomon, said this week.

The city is building the project using a relatively new state statute that allows it to hire a "construction manager at risk."

The statute allowed the city to hire and negotiate with Dimeo Construction without a competitive bidding process, but once the negotiation is complete, Dimeo will have to pay any costs over the negotiated amount.

-- Ralph Ranalli and Rachana Rathi

Mark Parsons returned to his home in Newton and found that a tree had been uprooted by yesterday's violent storm. NStar customers lost power - mostly in Newton, Watertown, and Waltham - largely because of trees or limbs falling on power lines.
(Globe staff photo by Essdras M Suarez)

REGION

A violent thunderstorm tore through Greater Boston yesterday afternoon, causing flash floods, pelting pedestrians with pea-size hail, knocking out power, and uprooting trees with wind gusts exceeding 55 miles per hour.

About 20,000 NStar customers lost power - mostly in Newton, Watertown, and Waltham - largely because of trees or limbs falling on power lines, said Kate Leonard, a company spokeswoman. Power was restored for most customers by the evening.

Lightning strikes set off fires in the penthouse of a seven-story Beacon Street building in the Back Bay and a three-family house on Pearl Street in Cambridge. Flash floods caused the eastbound lanes of Storrow Drive, near Kenmore Square, to be shut down, and a sink hole on Route 9 in Brookline forced a closure there.

Two-thirds of an inch of rain fell at Logan International Airport in roughly 30 minutes, said Bill Simpson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Taunton. He said the low number can be misleading in characterizing the storm's ferocity. Wind gusts at Harvard Bridge topped out at 57 miles per hour.

"It's not how much rain falls," he said, "it's the intensity of the storm."

A local advocacy group has filed a complaint with the state Attorney General under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming people with disabilities will lose ready access to library services when the city of Newton shuts down its branch libraries July 1.

"You have to take three buses to get to the main library, and it can take hours," said Maryan Amaral, author of the complaint and founder of Friends of Newton Corner Branch Library and Chaffin Park. "People depend on the branches, particularly in Newton Corner."

Amaral said the branch is across the street from an assisted living facility for people with disabilities, where book clubs with the branch librarian are conducted. She said the complaint asked for either the branches to be kept open or for the city to provide transportation for people with disabilities to the main library.

The complaint was filed Friday, according to Amaral.

The attorney general's office is "aware of the situation," said Amie Breton, a spokeswoman for the attorney general. Breton would not comment further.

The city's four remaining branch libraries were marked for closure after voters rejected a $12 million property tax override in May.

The closings were written into the city budget prepared by the amdinistration of Mayor David Cohen. During deliberations on the budget, aldermen approved a resolution to keep the branches open, but a last-minute maneuver by four aldermen on Tuesday placed the mayor's budget, complete with the branch closings, into effect.

"This is not a cut anyone wanted to make, but it is one of the ramifications a failed override has meant for our community," said city spokeman Jeremy Solomon. "We will wait to hear from the Attorney General's office and comply with their ruling."

The branches are open for limited hours during the month of June and are expected to close by the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.

-- Rachana Rathi

The Board of Aldermen approved a resolution Wednesday night asking Mayor David B. Cohen to leave books from Newton's four neighborhood libraries where they are when the branches close.

The satellite libraries are scheduled to close at the end of the month due to budget cuts in the wake of last month's failed $12 million property tax override.

Dozens of people attended a public meeting with the board Wednesday, most of them asking aldermen to keep the branches open. Advocates called the branches an integral part of their local communities and said they are more accessible than the main library in Newton Centre for people who have disabilities or who are lacking transportation.

The aldermen are scheduled to discuss other resolutions, including ones that address the possibility of keeping the branches open, as their budget discussions continue tonight and Monday.

Board of Aldermen meetings are covered live by the Red Channel of the NewTV cable access network.

-- Rachana Rathi

GLOBE WEST VIDEO

Terry Jones went to three different hospitals yesterday looking for his daughter, 24-year-old MBTA Green Line trolley driver Terrese Edmunds. Waiting for news at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, he shared his fears and frustrations with Globe West web producer Ralph Ranalli.

Read the full story of the crash on Boston.com.

The operator of one of the trolleys involved in today's MBTA crash in Newton has died, her father said.

One trolley car on the D branch of the Green Line in Newton smashed into another car from behind this afternoon. The operate, Terrese Edmonds of South Boston, was trapped and died, said her father, Terry Jones.

Edmonds, 24, had been on the job for about six months, he said.

"My daughter died. I'm sorry I have to go," he said in a brief telephone interview.

The collision occurred at about 6 p.m. on the way into the Woodland station. The trolley that was rear-ended was just emerging from a scheduled stop-light when it was hit from behind, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said.

Six people were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, one was Medflighted to Boston Medical Center, and five were treated and released at the scene, said Pesaturo.

-- Ralph Ranalli and Jamie Vaznis

As what many people say feels more and more like a big-turnout, low-margin-of-error election goes down to the wire, both the pro-override and anti-override campaigns are making last-ditch attempts yesterday afternoon to squeeze out every possible vote.

Rob Gifford, one of the leaders of the pro-override group Move Newton Forward, said that about 250 volunteers from the group were spread across the city, some holding signs and some working as "poll checkers" monitoring polling stations. The poll checkers, he said, were observing lists of which voters had shown up to the polls and which had not, then relaying that information back to phone bank workers who were calling and reminding likely "yes" voters to cast their ballots.

On the anti-override site, Jeff Seideman of the group Newton For Fiscal Responsibility said that sign-carrying volunteers were manning about three-quarters of the city's polling stations and that phone bank volunteers were calling likely "no" voters as a reminder. The group did not have poll checkers, he said.

By and large, Seideman said the voters he encountered were well-versed on the issues surrounding the override -- the spiraling cost of the Newton North High School project, the city's structural operating deficit, and the mayor's recent pay-raise snafu -- and were bringing firm convictions into the polling stations with them.

"I don't think I swayed a single person with our literature today," he said. "No one seems to be undecided."

Both sides also said they believe that voter turnout will end up being heavy, a trend city officials confirmed.

-- Ralph Ranalli

Newton North High School is many things: an educational institution, a community resource, a construction zone, a $197.5 million political flash point, and a symbol of either (pick one) municipal excess or a commitment to educational excellence.

And once or twice a year, it is also a polling place, one of the liveliest in the city in fact. And given how hotly contested the $12 million override vote has been, it's not a surprise that voters there expressed a variety of opinions. Here's two:

Voter: Maria Fulwiler, 18 (first time voter)
Occupation: Student, Tufts University
Vote: YES

Her take: "I had a great time in the Newton Public Schools. To have all the opportinutes that you get there is very invaluable, and I think it's very important that that continue. I was more busy at North than I am at college. I worked hard."

Voter: Victor Freeman, 73
Occupation: retired
Vote: NO

His take: I guess I'm mostly angry at City Hall. Mostly about the $200 million high school. I think it could have been handled better, starting with the mayor and working down.

-- Ralph Ranalli

State Representative Ruth Balser voted in favor of the override this morning and said she is "seriously considering" a run for mayor.

Ruth Balser (Globe file photo)

"A lot of people have asked me to consider it and I am seriously considering it," she said after casting her vote at the Memorial-Spaulding Elementary School in Newton Centre. "I love the city of Newton."

Balser has now represented the city of Newton for 10 years in the state legislature and before that served on the Board of Aldermen for eight years.

Others who have expressed interest in running for mayor include Alderman Ken Parker and Setti Warren, a top aide to US Senator John Kerry.

-- Ralph Ranalli

11:15 AM

Turnout at Mayor David B. Cohen's home precinct, Ward Eight, Precinct Two in Newton Centre, was moderate at mid-morning, precinct clerk Gloria Learner reported.

By 11:15 a.m., some 220 votes had been cast, including Cohen's own ballot, Learner said. The mayor did not stay at the polling place long, she said.

"We were a little disappointed when a lot of the mothers dropping off their children didn't come in to vote," she said. "But we're expecting a lot of people at suppertime. From five to eight (p.m.) is really our big time."

-- Ralph Ranalli

7:45 AM

Former Mayor Tom Concannon said he voted "no" on the override this morning, saying that the city's government has numerous structural problems that should be taking priority.

Could Tom Concannon be striking this pose in the mayor's office again soon? (Globe file photo)

Concannon was less definite on whether his place for the future include another run for the office he held from 1994 to 1998. Mayor David. B. Cohen announced last week that he would not seek a fourth term, sparking a wave of speculation about possible candidates to be his replacement.

Concannon said he believes that the city's financial troubles can be traced in large part to structural problems with the way Newton is governed. The city's charter should be changed, he said, to reduce the size of the Board of Aldermen and to place term limits on both the mayor and the aldermen.

But would he also want to be the first mayor to test those term limits?

"I'm thinking about it," he said.

-- Ralph Ranalli

7:32 AM

Early voter turnout for the Newton override election appears moderate, according to Merrill Prejeant, the voting warden for Ward 2, Precinct 1 in Newtonville.

Prejeant said that early walk-in voter traffic to the polling place at the Horace Mann Elementary School was light, but that she had received a fat stack of approximately 50 absentee ballots.

"The absentee ballots are a sign that people care," she said.

Hot-button financial issues like the Newton North High School project and the day's good weather were likely to bring people out to the polls in significant numbers, she said.

"I think it will be a big election, since it's one that hits people in the pocket," she said. "There's certainly no reason not to vote."

-- Ralph Ranalli

Newton voters will go to the polls today to decide a $12 million override, but most believe that there are larger issues lurking between the lines on the ballot.

Will Mayor David B. Cohen's decision not to run for reelection save the override? (Globe staff photo)

For opponents, the override is a referendum on the city's troubled finances and on an administration that ignores the wishes of its taxpayers even while it spends too much of their money. While Mayor David B. Cohen's recent decision not to run for a fourth term has diminished his status as a political lightning rod for the city's voters, his controversial $197.5 million project to build a Newton North High School will be on the minds of many who enter the polling booth.

For supporters, the override is about a fundamental choice: Will Newton voters do what is necessary to maintain the city's reputation for educational excellence? More than 70 percent of the override money will go to the school budget, which has been hit hard by rising costs for energy, health care, and pensions.

When the polls open this morning a little more than 15 minutes from now, the Globe West Updates news blog will be there. We will also be providing online updates throughout the day, including up to approximately 9 p.m. when the results are finally tallied at Newton City Hall.

So watch this space, stay tuned, and even participate in the discussion by using Globe West Updates' comments feature.

-- Ralph Ranalli

NEWTON

A group of Newton residents seeking to repeal $56 million in funding for the Newton North High school project has failed to gather the required amount of signatures to put their petition to a ballot.

In a press release issued this morning, the group behind the signature drive said it had collected more than 1,500 signatures and had delivered them to City Hall as a "protest" of the Board of Aldermen's decision to approve the latest funding for the $197.5 million project, which will be the most expensive high school in state history.

The group needed to gather 2,600 signatures by 5 p.m. yesterday in order to place the funding repeal on a citywide ballot.

"Ultimately, in ten calendar days, with only five full time volunteers and countless committed city residents, we justified this protest, obtaining over 1,500 signatures," the press release stated. "In the past 10 days, it has become increasingly clear that the public shares our concern about the status of NNHS, its increased price, and the process used to fund it."

Jeremy Solomon, the city's spokesman, confirmed that the group had collected 1,550 signatures. He said city officials were happy not to have another distraction as they work to complete the project by 2010.

"We are relieve that this referendum won't go forward," Solomon said. "Now we can be assured that Newton North will be built and that this train has, once and for all, left the station."

Meanwhile, the press release, issued by the group's leader, Newton Corner resident Janet Sterman, also urged a change in the city charter to allow citizen's groups more time to collect ballot initiative signatures.

Under the current ordinance, citizens who want to put a challenge to a decision by the Board of Aldermen before the city's voters have 20 days to gather the signatures of 5 percent of the city's registered voters.

-- Ralph Ranalli

With Mayor David Cohen's nose-diving popularity culminating in last week's announcement that he will not seek reelection, at least three people are seriously considering running for the city's top job.

Among them is Democratic state Representative Ruth Balser, a longtime friend and supporter of Cohen, who said she can be a force for healing in Newton.

Ruth Balser (Globe file photo)

"I like to think that I'm someone who can work with lots of different people," Balser said in a phone interview yesterday. "Hopefully I could help lead a consensus."

Consensus in Newton is a rarity these days, as the city undertakes construction of the most expensive high school in the state and faces a $12 million override. City officials have been criticized for the construction of the $197 million high school by parents, state officials, and a fiscal watchdog group that said it has made Newton a "poster child" for suburban excess. The override vote, set for May 20, remains another contentious issue that has pitted a faction that wants improved funding for city services against residents who say local taxes are already too high.

Cohen, an override supporter, has been a polarizing figure on both fronts. On Friday, under pressure from some of his most trusted political allies, he announced he will not seek reelection. The news came after an ill-timed disclosure by Cohen that he planned to seek a 28 percent pay raise. Some residents said he should have stepped down sooner.

Jockeying among Cohen's would-be successors has begun.

Setti Warren (Globe file photo)

Setti Warren, an aide to Senator John F. Kerry, has indicated he plans to enter the race. Warren is on active duty in the Navy on a yearlong tour in Iraq. His supporters have filed the required paperwork with the city to create an exploratory committee and begin raising funds. They have also launched a website, "Newton for Setti Warren." He is due back from overseas duty in October.

Ward 6 Alderman Ken Parker, a longtime critic of the mayor and his management of the new high school's design financing, has also formed an exploratory committee and a website. He said he supports the override.

Ken Parker (parker2009.org)

"I'm not going there," he said, when asked if the mayor should resign.

"There's been a lot of division recently," he added. "We need to come back together."

Read more about the fight to be Newton's next mayor in the online edition of the City & Region section.

-- Meg Woolhouse

Even as Mayor David Cohen of Newton announced yesterday morning that he will not run for reelection, a new challenge surfaced threatening the $197.5 million high school that many see -- for better or for worse -- as his legacy.

A group of residents has organized a ballot effort to repeal $56 million in funding for the new school, staff writer Megan Woolhouse reports in today's City & Region section. They're trying to collect enough signatures to put the question on a ballot in September.

Will this vision of a new Newton North High School ever come to fruition? Not if a new group of angry Newton taxpayers has their way. (City of Newton image)

News of the weekend referendum surfaced on the same day Cohen announced that he will not seek reelection, calling the city's May 20 override vote "more important than my political career."

Cohen was under pressure by former political supporters to announce that he would not seek reelection after disclosure that he budgeted a 28 percent pay raise for himself, despite the prospect of teacher and police job cuts in the city.

"The hard-working proponents for the override publicly expressed their concern that if I stood for reelection it may have an adverse effect on the override," his statement said. "The outcome of this is far more important than my political career."

However, the proposed ballot initiative signaled that controversy in Newton over the school, the override, and Cohen may not subside, despite the mayor's announcement.

Janet Sterman, organizer of the ballot drive, said yesterday that the soaring cost of the high school sparked the ballot initiative. The Board of Alderman approved $56 million of the total earlier this year.

"I can't believe they [the Board of Aldermen] allowed the project to get close to $200 million without asking anybody if they wanted to pay for it," she said by phone. "For the price to go up 39 percent in one year is just outrageous. I think it's embarrassing."

City spokesman Jeremy Solomon said that if the effort were to succeed, it would set the project back and add more costs to the project. The new high school is scheduled to open in September 2010.

Read the complete story of the latest challenge to the Newton North High School project in the online edition of today's Globe.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

Newton Mayor David B. Cohen announced this morning that he will not run for reelection, saying that he doesn't not want his current status as the city's political lightning rod to undermine the $12 million override vote scheduled for May 20.

In an unprecedented break with the liberal power base that had given him unwavering support during his 11 years in office, Cohen's former campaign manager and the city's main pro-override group this week called on him to step down at the end of his current term.

(Globe staff photo)

"Mayor David Cohen cannot win reelection. He's already decided not to run. He should announce it now," Gerry Chervinsky, Cohen's former campaign manager, said Wednesday.

The pro-override group, Move Newton Forward, said Cohen's decision to insert a $27,000 pay raise for himself in the city budget even as Newton is facing a fiscal crisis threatened to undercut the override campaign. This morning, Cohen said he would heed the group's call for him to step down.

"The hard working proponents for the override publicly expressed their concern that if I stood for re-election it may have an adverse effect on the override," Cohen said in a statement released by his press spokesman, Jeremy Solomon.

"The outcome of this override is far more important to me than my political career," the statement reads. "It is for this reason that I have decided that my third term as mayor will be my last."

A former state legislator who developed a reputation as a savvy political operator, even some of Cohen's supporters said this week that he seemed to have developed a tin ear when it came to listening to the mood of the city's electorate.

For most of the planning phase of the Newton North project, for example, Cohen flatly refused to compromise on the design and blasted critics who called the plan too expensive. He relented earlier this year, but only under pressure from state officials and after it was too late to make significant changes in the design. At $197.5 million, the project is the most expensive high school ever built in Massachusetts and has become a statewide symbol of municipal excess.

Earlier this year, Cohen floated a $24 million override proposal, but was forced to withdraw it when it became clear that he had no support from the city's Board of Aldermen. Even his scaled-back $12 million proposal, anti-override critics point out, includes money for items of debatable necessity, such as tree restoration.

But the pay raise issue was the last straw, even to some of Cohen's strongest longtime supporters. Calling the move "perplexing," Move Newton Forward called on the mayor to step down Wednesday in a statement signed by co-chairs Sarah Ecker, Rob Gifford, and Chris Hill.

"There is a growing consensus that the Mayor will not be able to attract support for another run in 2009," the group said in its statement. "In the interest of clarifying the critical decision that Newton voters will be asked to make on May 20th, we urge the Mayor to announce that he will not run for re-election in 2009."

-- Ralph Ranalli

Mayor David B. Cohen of Newton -- who has come under political fire for the $197 million price tag for the Newton North High School project and for briefly considering taking a pay raise even as he asked city voters for a $12 million override -- announced this morning that he will not seek a fourth term in office.

This is the full text of his statement:

It has been my privilege to serve as Mayor of the City of Newton for the past 11 years. I take great pride in the many accomplishments we have achieved as a community throughout that time, keeping ours a City without equal in our commitment to educational excellence, cutting edge environmental initiatives, an exceptional record of public safety and for providing a wide range of outstanding programs and services to citizens of all ages.

Our ability to continue providing these programs at the level we have all grown accustomed to is in jeopardy on May 20th. The outcome of this override vote will determine whether we build on the progress we’ve made together, or whether we will be forced to make deep and painful cuts that will have a significant impact on students and residents from every village and in every neighborhood in Newton.

My support for this override is unequivocal, and it is rooted in a deeply held belief that the citizens of Newton deserve the same quality of life that I enjoyed growing up and attending public schools here. The hard working proponents for the override publicly expressed their concern that if I stood for re-election it may have an adverse effect on the override. The outcome of this override is far more important to me than my political career. It is for this reason that I have decided that my third term as mayor will be my last.

Over the next 19 months you can be sure that I will work as hard as ever to see that the people’s business continues to get done. The important work to construct Newton North, the improvements to the Newton South fields, the acquisition of property at Crystal Lake, the many projects underway to conserve energy and improve efficiencies all will continue.

We will not stop our efforts to provide Newton schoolchildren with the highest quality educational experience, to provide important and meaningful programs and activities to our senior citizens, and to continue promoting and hosting events that unite the citizens of Newton. The people of Newton can be assured that its mayor and employees will continue our efforts to provide the safest and highest quality of life in our community.

I want to thank the people of Newton for their continued support, and I would urge each of them to move Newton forward by voting Yes on May 20th.

NEWTON

Newton Mayor David B. Cohen has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2009, bringing to a close his tenure as mayor after three terms.

More details to come soon...

The following is a transcript of a 911 call from the DCU Center in Worcester where cheerleader and Newton North High School graduate Lauren Chang was injured during a routine on April 13. She was treated at the scene by a emergency medical technician who was working the event, but died the next day of complications from collapsed lungs. Officials have said it took approximately five minutes for an ambulance to arrive on the scene, and at least one lawmaker is now pressing for standby ambulances to be present at all cheerleading competitions.

You can also listen to the call.

Note: When the participants are talking about a "traych," they are referring to an emergency tracheotomy, a medical procedure where a tube is placed directly into the windpipe through the lower neck to allow air into the lungs. The reference to "one of the privates" refers to a local private ambulance company.

DISPATCHER: 911 this line's recorded. What's your emergency?
CALLER NO.1: I'm at the DCU Center in Worcester. There's a girl passed out on the stage. She's having an allergic reaction.
D: Where is she ma'am?
C1: She just passed out after (inaudible). She's, like, in the DCU Center.
D: All right whereabouts inside, inside ...
C1: In, in one of the exhibition halls.
D: OK. Do you know which one?
C1: What exhibition hall is this? (Yells to someone at the scene)
UNKNOWN VOICE: (inaudible)
C1: What exhibition hall is this?
UNK: (garbled)
C1: Yeah, but which hall?
UNK: (garbled)
C1: Hall A.
UNK: Yep.
D: Hall A?
C1: Yep.
D: OK. Do you know how old she is?
C1: Um, no. But I'm going to give this phone to somebody who can ...
D: All right. Can I transfer you over to the ambulance ma'am?
C1: Yep.
D: Hold on please.
C1: (To Caller No. 2) It's 911 do you want to talk to them?
CALLER 2: Hello?
D: All right, hold on one second OK?
C2: Sure.
PARAMEDIC: Paramedics, what's the address of your emergency?
C2: I'm in Worcester. Um, and we need an ambulance immediately. We have a cheerleader ...
P: What's the address of your emergency?
C2: Do you know the address is here? (talking to someone else at the scene) It's, it's the DCU Center. It's this huge convention center in Worcester. I actually don't know the physical address.
P: OK. Slow down sir. I can't understand you. You're at the DCU Center?
C2: I'm sorry.
P: Where in the DCU Center are you?
C2: We're in the main arena.
P: The main arena.
C2: In the DCU Center.
P: What section are you in?
C2: Um, right now I'm standing next to E7.
P: Section E7.
C2: Yeah there's a big power station at E7.
D: All right, what's going on?
C2: We had a cheerleader -- it's a cheerleading competition.
P: Yep.
C2: And she got ki -- And it looks like she got kicked or um hit in the throat. Her face is all swollen. They're trying to get her air.
FEMALE VOICE IN BACKGROUND: They're trying to traych her.
C2: Um, they're trying to traych her.
P: They're trying to traych her right now?
C2: Yeah, that's what it looks like, yeah.
P: So she's unconscious and not breathing right now?
C2: She ... is she conscious? She is conscious. And they have her tubed.
P: O-kaaay. We're gonna send the amb ... is there an ambulance on scene there, sir?
C2: There, there could be I don't know. Let me ask one of the people who works here. Excuse me, sir (talking to someone at the scene) is there an ambulance here or no?
VOICE IN BACKGROUND: On the way.
C2: On the way. They say that there's one on the way but there isn't one here right now.
P: All right.
DISPATCHER: Sir.
P: You can hang up, sir.
D: Sir, is this in the main...is this in, in one of the exhibition...?
P: Paramedic four with...
C2: Yeah it's in the exhibition hall.
D: OK. And it's, um A, right?
C2: Um, I'm actually not sure of the number. I'm standing next to a post that says E7.
D: OK. All right. Stay on the line with the EMS, OK?
P: ...cheerleader unresponsive. Reportedly tubed at this time. By who I don't know. Downtown, you still on?
C2: Yes sir.
P: Sir, you can hang up.
C2: OK, thank you.
D: It's Exhibition Hall A.
P: Exhibition Hall A?
D: Yes.
P: All right, I got an ambulance going. There should a detail working over there from one of the privates but I'm sending a truck anyway.
D: Yes.
P: All right, thanks. Bye.
D: B-bye.

When Lauren Chang crumpled to the floor at the Minuteman Cheerleading Championships, the medic assigned to the competition was away from the action, restocking her supplies after treating three earlier injuries, according to the private ambulance company she worked for.

As she gathered more icepacks nearby, coaches and spectators rushed the mat, where Chang's team had just finished performing a 2 1/2-minute routine.

Amid the chaos of questioning voices and blaring music at Worcester's DCU Center, two registered nurses, both of them mothers attending the event, and several others checked Chang's pulse, listened to her heartbeat, and forced air into her lungs using a breathing bag that one of the rescuers found in a bag of medical supplies nearby. The panicked cheerleader fought her rescuers as she struggled to breath and at one point vomited blood, the nurses said.

A spokesman for American Medical Response, the private ambulance company contracted by the DCU Center, said its medic responded quickly to help treat Chang. But 20-year-old Lauren Chang died a day later. An autopsy showed her lungs had collapsed.

There would be still one more cheerleading injury that evening, during a competition that spectators later would say was filled with a freakish spate of accidents.

The death of Chang, a Newton North High School graduate, has parents and others scouring their memories of April 13, questioning the safety of the event and whether the medic on hand had been overtaxed.

By the time Chang went down at 7:20 p.m., the EMT already had already dealt with an asthma attack or fainting on stage, and a neck or back injury suffered in a fall during a stunt performed in the warm-up area, according to several witnesses.

Read more about the medical response to Lauren Chang's tragic injury in the online edition of today's City & Region section.

-- Erin Ailworth

Elaine Alpert (left) lost her son Steve Glidden in the crash and later established a charitable foundation bearing his name.
(Globe staff photo by Wendy Maeda)

NEWTON

A remembrance ceremony for Newton's four Oak Hill Middle School students killed in a 2001 bus crash in Canada is planned for this Sunday at 6 p.m. in front of the school.

Everyone is welcome, said Elaine Alpert, who lost her 12-year-old son, Steve Glidden, in the crash.

As in previous years, the ceremony at Oak Hill's permanent memorial to the children is a somewhat open format, but will probably involve music, sharing happy memories of the young victims, and a moment of silence, she said.

"People talk about the community and the kids. It's a gathering point to reflect on how precious loved ones are, Alpert said.

Steve, along with his classmates Kayla Ann Rosenberg and Greg Wai Chan, both 13, and Melissa Leung, 14, were killed when a bus carrying 42 children to a music festival overturned on an exit ramp in Sussex, New Brunswick.

After the tragedy, Alpert established The Steve Glidden Foundation, which over the past five years has raised more than $500,000 to benefit programs aimed at low-income children.

The foundation's annual fundraising event for 2008 -- a huge community yard sale -- is scheduled for June 6 to 8 at the Brigham Community House in Newton Highlands, Alpert said.

Anyone interested in more information can visit the Steve Glidden Foundation online.

-- Erica Noonan

The city's Board of Aldermen agreed last night to spend an extra $56.3 million on the controversial Newton North High School project, bringing to $197.5 million the total authorized for the most expensive school project in state history.

The board voted 17-to-5 in favor of the appropriation, with Amy Sangiolo and Jay Harney absent.

Aldermen approved an initial sum of $141 million for the school in January 2007.

Mayor David Cohen, who requested last night's appropriation, has promised that he will not come back to board for more money in the future, even if it means making changes to the building plans.

-- Rachana Rathi

A tribute to Lauren Chang has been posted on the Energized Athletics web site.

NEWTON/WATERTOWN

Less than a week after cheerleader and Newton North High School graduate Lauren Chang died, hundreds of cheerleaders and their parents and friends gathered at the Jamfest event in Springfield Saturday.

Jamfest attendants held a moment of silence for Chang the afternoon of the competition. The music was shut off and parents hushed laughing and shouting children in the packed hall of the Mass Mutual Center. Afterwards, an announcer called for a round of applause and the hall exploded with sounds of clapping. Chang's teammates, who were overseen throughout the competition by an entourage of protective parents, huddled together.

Team members wore buttons with a picture of Chang taken from her MySpace web page.

"It's definitely been rough for them," said Kim England, the owner of Energized Athletics, the Watertown gym where Chang trained. "You've got to understand. They all turned around and saw what was happening. They saw her on the floor."

England said the two Energy Cheer teams turned their grief into fuel for the Jamfest competition.

"I am amazed, really," she said. "I don't think they did it for themselves. They did it for her."

Dannie Halloran, of Boston, was weeping as he left the convention hall. He did not perform on Sunday with Chang because he was suffering from a herniated disc, he said.

"She was the most important person on the team," he said. "She was definitely the face of our gym."

England said gym members and their parents have been supportive of her. No one has pulled out of the gym or expressed fears about safety. Rather, she said, they've shown solidarity.

"Everyone's pulled together. It's just amazing," England said. "We've gotten so much support today. Remember, we are competing against each other."

The event drew 2,000 spectators and 2,000 competitors over the course of two days, organizers said.

Two Extreme Cheer Teams made up of younger kids from the Energized Atheltics gym in Watertown, all under the age of 13, performed Saturday afternoon at Jamfest at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield. Wearing black, purple and gold uniforms, the eight girls and one boy performed various gymnastic cheerleading moves to a cheering crowd, some of whom were wearing t-shirts depicting Lauren Chang's face.

Chang's squad, referred to as the "open team" and comprised of older more experienced cheerleaders, did not perform, parents said.

"The open team is here to support the two teams we have," said a parent who declined to give her name.

Casey O'Connell, 17, of Watertown, who was wearing a memorial t-shirt but who did not perform that day, said Chang was one of her best friends. She knew Chang for four years, she said.

"She was truly an amazing person," O'Connell said. "She was always happy. She touched everyone who walked into that gym."

O'Connell said Chang was empathetic and a role model for younger cheerleaders in the group.

"If someone was crying and sad with something, and needed help, she would [help]," O'Connell said. "If someone had trouble with their tumbling, she would help."

Many parents were relunctant to talk about the incident. They said the younger children in the squad were having difficulty dealing with Chang's death.

"Some of them are holding up well, some of them are breaking down in tears," said Angela, a parent who declined to give her last name.

Some of the reluctance stemmed from the fact that Chang's friends and teammates still don't know exactly how the injury she suffered during a routine led to her death.

"We really don't know what happened yet," O'Connell said, "so we're not going to give out any kind of false info."

-- John Dyer

The cheerleading stunt just went wrong. It's not clear how. But when the jumble of bodies on the mat Sunday at the Minuteman Cheerleading Championships in Worcester sorted itself out, competitor Lauren Chang was down.

She died a day later.

The accident occured at the DCU Center Sunday, where the 20-year-old Newton North High School graduate performed with her team, Energy Cheer, along with more than 60 other teams. Few would talk about the incident, though rumors and speculation were rampant throughout the cheer community following her death.

Chang's co-ed team -- which trains at Energized Athletics in Watertown -- had been scheduled to take the mat at 7:10 p.m. The accident occurred about 10 minutes later, near the end of their routine.

A Wednesday autopsy ruled Chang's death an accident, according to Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety. He said Chang died of "complications" after air leaked into Chang's lungs and collapsed them "following a kick to the chest."

Worcester police had little to add.

"Apparently, she was accidentally kicked in the chest by a tumbler . . . during this cheerleading event," said spokesman Sergeant Kerry Hazelhurst. A report of the incident, he said, states that Chang was taken to St. Vincent's hospital and later transfered to UMass Memorial Medical Center. She died there at 1:05 p.m. on Monday.

Mike Pare, president of the Florida-based Spirit Cheer event and cheerleading camp company that organized the event, said he was on the side of the performance area and didn't see much of the accident.

"I think we're really in shock and just sad about the whole incident," he said when contacted by phone Wednesday. "We just feel very sorry for the family."

-- Erin Ailworth

(City of Newton image)

NEWTON

The city's Aldermen have approved spending up to $950,000 of Community Preservation Act funds to purchase about 8,000 square feet of a waterfront property at 230 Lake Avenue in Newton Centre.

The land will be used to expand public access to the city's swimming area at Crystal Lake. Under law, Community Preservation Act funds can be used to help communities preserve open space areas and historic sites, and to create affordable housing and recreational facilities.

The city's plan to buy the property has undergone numerous changes since it was first introduced six months ago. In the version approved Monday, a third party buyer would purchase the property from its current owner for $1.9 million. The city will pay the buyer for a portion of the lot, an easement for pedestrian traffic, a conservation restriction along the waterfront, and a preservation restriction for the house's front facade.

Aldermen said there are already three potential third-party buyers interested in purchasing the property.

-- Rachana Rathi

A group supporting the upcoming Proposition 2 1/2 override in Newton is calling for the formation of a fiscal watchdog group to monitor the city's troubled finances.

The group Move Newton Forward issued a press statement yesterday, calling for the formation of a permanent group similar to the Blue Ribbon Commission that issued a sobering report about the city's financial future early last year. Move Newton Forward co-chairwoman Sarah Ecker was a member of the commission.

"Newton needs to pass this override in the worst way, but just as important is the need to figure out a way where voters won't be confronted with budget problems year after year," Ecker said in the release.

According to the Move Newton Forward's proposal, one key job of the watchdog group would be to examine creative ways to balance the city's budget, including:

* Having city workers join the state's insurance plans to save on premiums;
* Installing energy-efficiency measures in city buildings;
* Forming partnerships with other cities to share the cost of providing some services, and;
* Exploring ways to increase the city's tax base.

The release appears to be a sign that, before the polls open on May 17, override proponents want to shore up shaky voter confidence in the city's ability to spend money wisely. While Newton voters have generally favored overrides in the past, proponents of the current $12 million proposal are facing an electorate concerned about the effect of the Newton North High School project's $197.5 million price tag on the long-term health of the city's finances and nervous about the economy in general.

Overrides have been going down to defeat all over the state -- 3 out of every 4 have been defeated -- and the city's aldermen have already cut the proposal in half from Cohen's original $23.9 million proposal.

-- Ralph Ranalli

Sure it's beautiful, but you should have seen the override it took to build it ...
(Globe archive image)

NEWTON

Some wags have dubbed the $197.5-million Newton North High School the "Taj Mahal" of Newton.

Not so fast, says a letter writer in Saturday's Globe.

Read on:

AS A member of the Indo-Iranian community, I take strong exception to the characterization of the plan for a new Newton North High School as a Taj Mahal (Op-ed, March 22). As one who lived near Agra, India, and visited the place many times, I can attest that in all of its grandeur, the Taj Mahal is an enduring monument to simplicity, a testament to the love of Shah Jahan for his Persian bride, and a great public works project that united people from all corners of the East in a singular effort. I find it offensive that the name of this hallowed place is used to deride the architecture of a building that is exorbitant, pompous, environmentally unsustainable, and a travesty as far as urban planning is concerned.

Next time the fiscally minded in Newton wish to find a symbolic reference to way-out architecture, I suggest they pick on St. Peter's Basilica. But please, leave the Taj Mahal alone.

GUIVE MIRFENDERESKI
Newton

A tribute to a Newton high school student who died in March of rare complications from the flu was featured on NBC's hit television show "The Office" on Thursday night.

A freshman at Newton North High School, Nathan Alden Robinson, 15, was known as a excellent student and talented musician. A brief video clip of Robinson playing the piano was played during the closing credits of the television show, with the words "In Memoriam Nathan Robinson."

John Krasinski, who plays sales representative Jim Halpert on the show, is a Newton South graduate, as is B.J. Novak, who portrays intern Ryan Howard.

A scholarship fund in Robinson's name has been established. Checks can be made payable to "City of Newton, Nathan Alden Robinson Scholarship Fund" and sent to Toni Duncan Brown, 18 Dana Rd, West Newton, MA 02465. Check out the YouTube clip of Robinson's piano playing on "The Office'' and read his obituary in the Globe here.

-- Rachana Rathi

A Newton man accused of bringing an illegal immigrant to Maine to obtain a driver's license has been jailed pending a bail hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Guilherme Malaquias, 23, of Newton, allegedly drove fellow Brazilian Marison Celante, 19, to Biddeford, Maine, where they were arrested March 20 at the U.S. Post Office, the Portland Press-Herald newspaper is reporting.

Unlike most states, Maine requires neither proof of citizenship or proof of residency from license applicants. The Legislature is considering a rule change to require proof of residency.

Malaquias' case is similar to that of a Brazilian from New Jersey who was arrested a month earlier at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Augusta after he allegedly brought two women to Maine to get driver's licenses. According to court records, Anderson Dos Santos, 30, told officials that Maine is known among Brazilians for having lax rules for issuing licenses.

A federal immigration agent claims that Malaquias, whose tourist visa expired nearly two years ago, has allegedly transported other illegal immigrants on day trips from Massachusetts to Maine to get licenses.

Read more about the alleged drivers license scheme in the online edition of today's Globe.

-- AP

In an effort to ward off an annual barrage of noise complaints, the city's Board of Aldermen is considering an ordinance that would ban the use of portable gas and electric leaf blowers between April 15 and Oct. 15.

The board's programs and services committee this week recommended the ordinance, which would also prohibit leaf blowers from being used in close proximity to doors and windows, or to spray onto a public way or neighboring lots.

Violaters would receive a warning for their first offense, be fined $75 for the second offense, $150 for the third offense and $300 for all offenses after that. The proposed ordinance will come before the full board on April 7.

-- Rachana Rathi

Newton voters will be asked to approve a $12 million property tax override of Proposition 2 1/2 on May 20.

The final override figure is significantly smaller than the $23.9 million proposed override put forward (and later withdrawn) by Mayor David B. Cohen and smaller than a subsequent $14.9 million figure suggested by board members Ted Hess-Mahan and Susan Albright.

Both earlier figures were criticized by various aldermen as being too high for the city's voters to stomach. The board approved the $12 million amount after several hours of debate Monday night.

The override measure will be the only question on the ballot. The board voted down a bid by members William Brandel and Amy Sangiolo to ask voters to pay for the $197.5 million Newton North High School project through a debt exclusion override.

-- Rachana Rathi

An artist's conception of Newton North students enjoying their new $197.5 million high school. Not pictured: Stressed out parents and taxpayers.
(City of Newton image)

Newton Mayor David B. Cohen said he has drawn a "line in the sand" on the cost of the Newton North High School project, and that line is just south of $200 million.

Cohen has announced that he will ask the city's Board of Aldermen for $197.5 million in bond authorization for the project, which has already broken ground. While the figure is not necessarily the guaranteed maximum price that the city's project manager at risk, Dimeo Construction, will be held to, Cohen said that all the parties involved in the construction -- including Dimeo -- have signed off on the maximum figure.

"This is the line in the sand," said Cohen said in a statement released by his office. "At this price we can be sure that this outstanding community facility will be of the highest quality, meet our high expectations, fulfill our public schools' dynamic academic and wellness curriculum, and provide an environmentally friendly and structurally sound building that many generations of Newton residents will be proud of."

"With this announcement we bring closure to the period of uncertainty regarding the cost of Newton North, enabling us to collectively look forward to building on the significant on-site progress happening each day," Cohen said.

The $197.5 million figure represents a 40 percent increase in the project's estimated price since Newton voters approved the current site plan in January 2007. It is a 6 percent increase over the cost estimate made public by the city just two months ago, although at that time Cohen said that the price was likely to go higher.

-- Ralph Ranalli

NEEDHAM

With cellphones strapped to their hips and the Internet in their pocket, they hustle down suburban streets, always racing off to somewhere. One child's swim lessons, another's choir practice. There's Hebrew school to attend, and science projects to finish, and, finally, from many suburban families, there is screaming.

People want to be unplugged, be unscheduled.

And so, in recent years, town officials have started giving people that opportunity, writes Keith O'Brien, a roving reporter for the Globe's regional editions. Month-long calendars have been created in Needham, Newton, Belmont, and Bedford suggesting daily activities that don't include watching television or instant-messaging. Nights have been set aside in these towns - as well as in Northborough and Southborough - where meetings and school homework are forbidden, freeing families up to spend a quiet evening together. And in Needham - where the local "unplugged" or "unscheduled" movement began - a few brave souls decided to do something radical last Friday.

No e-mail. All day.

"When you combine the number of hours devoted to television and being online, it could be up to 10 hours a day or more," said Jon Mattleman, director of the Needham Youth Commission, who planned "Needham Unplugged." "So I really want people to think about it. If you're doing anything for 10 hours a day, what does that mean for your life?"

Read more about the family time vs. technology time debate in the online edition of today's Globe.

Researchers studying the impact of technology on our lives say it's a valid question, given the ways that digital gadgetry divide us as well as connect us. But in a world gone wired, calls for technological temperance often fall on unwilling ears - even when people say they want to go unplugged. And carving out family time for board games on the living room floor?

Read more about

NEWTON

The Newton Taxpayers Association, a non-profit group that has traditionally opposed Proposition 2 1/2 overrides in the city, has announced the formation of a new group, Newton For Fiscal Responsibility, to oppose Mayor David B. Cohen's plans for a new Newton North High School and a $23.9 million override.

In a press release circulated by president Jeff Seideman, the group said it is now "seeking members and support from the many Newton residents frustrated and angry over the way Newton's budget has been raided to pay for a new, over-priced Newton North High School."

Cohen has announced he will request a $23.9 million override vote for this May, which the group said it will oppose.

The group is also urging the city to scrap the current $186 million plan for Newton North and adopt an alternative proposed by Mark Sangiolo, a local architect, that calls for renovating the current building and adding a new science wing.

The group's press release said that more information is available on the Newton Taxpayers Association website.

-- Ralph Ranalli

NEWTON

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill warned Mayor David B. Cohen of Newton yesterday that extensive design changes would have to be part of any meaningful plan to save money on the most expensive high school project in Massachusetts history.

The warning came in a bluntly worded letter in which Cahill accepted Cohen's request for help in holding down the soaring cost of building a new Newton North High School.

The project has come under increasing fire since Cohen announced last month that its estimated price tag had risen from $141 million to more than $186 million in six months and that the final cost likely could go even higher.

Last week, the mayor sent Cahill a letter inviting state officials to Newton to give their "suggestions on how we could save money on this important project."

In his response yesterday, Cahill raised questions about the timing of Cohen's request for help from the state School Building Authority, which is committed to paying $46.5 million of the project's cost.

The letter included a long list of documents Cahill is asking the city to provide before scheduling any future meeting.

While saying that he and the authority's executive director, Katherine Craven, would be happy to meet with Newton officials, Cahill pointed out that the agency has already been working for three years "to accommodate Newton's selected design for the high school project."

Over that time, the city has considered but rejected a number of cost-saving measures, including renovating the existing building and opting for a simpler design over the complex, zig-zag-shaped structure envisioned by renowned architect Graham Gund of Cambridge.

More recently, the city declined several other smaller cost-saving design changes, including scaling back the school's multilevel theater into a single-level auditorium and using polished concrete blocks instead of brick for the exterior.

While Cohen said recently that he was willing to revisit some of those smaller decisions, Cahill wrote that the time for minor adjustments to the project had already come and gone.

"Given the timing of your correspondence and the fact that the pouring of the foundation for the newly designed school is imminent," Cahill wrote, "I would caution that the opportunities for significant cost savings may no longer be available unless you and the city agree to make changes to the proposed design of the school, which may be extensive."

That sentiment appears to put the two sides significantly at odds. Cohen has said repeatedly lately that any savings from major design changes would be offset by the cost associated with delays in building the project.

The mayor has also rejected any suggestion that construction of the new school be delayed, even temporarily, and crews began pouring concrete this week.

City spokesman Jeremy Solomon said yesterday afternoon that the city would provide the extensive project documentation requested by the treasurer in his letter, but he called Cahill's suggestion of major design changes "a big question mark."

"I am sure the treasurer knows the ramifications of changing the design at this stage in the process," Solomon said.

Opponents of the current plan said they were encouraged by Cahill's offer to help.

"I only wish his invitation would have been accepted sooner," said Alderman Ken Parker, who has backed scrapping the Gund design and has formed a committee to explore a possible run for the mayor's office.

"But I'm optimistic that we can get this project back on track. We need a high school project we can afford, not one that will force us to lay off police and firefighters."

-- Ralph Ranalli and Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Newton residents will have a chance to voice their opinion on Mayor David Cohen's proposed $23.9 million Proposition 2 1/2 override on Wednesday, during a joint meeting of two key committees of the city's Board of Aldermen.

The Finance Committee and the Programs and Services Committee will hold the joint meeting at 7:45 p.m. in the aldermanic chamber in City Hall. If it receives the backing of the city's aldermen, the mayor's request for a tax increase could go before voters in May.

Cohen has said the city would have to eliminate more than 60 positions if the override fails, including 16 police officers, 16 firefighters, eight public works employees, and four library workers.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Young has said the school system would have to eliminate about 100 full-time positions if the override is voted down. Young said most of those losses would come through attrition.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Newton Police released the sketch of a man wanted on attempted murder charges after he tried to strangle a woman Monday inside the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Center.

Police said the man walked into the center on Cherry Street at 3 p.m. Monday and asked for an employee by name. After he was told that person no longer worked there, the man asked to see a book in the library and showed an ID that appeared to be from the cultural center.

Inside the library, the man approached a 40-year-old woman and began to strangle her, police said. After the woman passed out, the man fled, police said.

The woman was taken to the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Police did not release details about her injuries or condition.

The suspect is described as a dark-skinned Asian male who is approximately 40 years old. His is 5 feet 5 inches tall, has a thin build, and weighs about 120 pounds, police said.

Anyone with information about the suspect or the attack should call Newton detectives at 617-796-2104 or the police tip line at 617-796-2121.

-- Jillian Jorgensen

NEWTON

Even as construction crews prepare to pour the first concrete next week for a new Newton North High School, a majority of aldermen are asking Mayor David B. Cohen to "pause, assess, and right this project" by working with state officials to rein in the $186 million plan.

Several members of the Board of Aldermen are sponsoring a resolution that asks the mayor to halt installation of the project's concrete foundations until the board approves a financing plan based on the yet-to-be-determined final project price, and until the board receives a review of the project and its financing from state Treasurer Tim Cahill. A number of aldermen and residents are floating their own scaled-down proposals for replacing the current Newton North.

Seemingly under fire from all sides, Cohen is holding fast, saying not only that the foundation work should proceed on schedule, but the project should move forward as designed. According to Cohen, altering the current plan to one that mixes renovation and new construction, or one that involves renovation alone, could delay the project by years and send costs soaring over the $200 million mark.

"The options that have been discussed are really nonstarters," Cohen said in an interview last Wednesday. "The plans that have been bandied about will put us back to square one."

Cohen is expected to present a financing plan to the board on Wednesday, but it will be based on his cost estimate last month for the project - $186 million. A final guaranteed maximum price for the project is not expected to be negotiated until perhaps May.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Tom Daley, the former director of public works in Duxbury, was hired last week as Department of Public Works Commissioner for the city of Newton, city spokesman Jeremy Solomon said.

David Turocy has been the acting commissioner since Robert Rooney left the position in late to accept a post as Deputy Secretary for Public Works for the state.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Two firefighters suffered severe burns early this morning when they ran through flames and smoke to try to save an elderly woman who had collapsed on the second floor of a family duplex.

The firefighters were able to pull 85-year-old Dorothy Beatrice out of a rear window, but she went into cardiac arrest and died at a local hospital, said Chief Joseph LaCroix of the Newton Fire Department.

Lieutenant Doug Quinn and Firefighter Mark O'Hare lost their helmets as they ran up the flaming stairwell in an attempt to save Beatrice. Quinn suffered second- and third-degree burns on his arms, neck, and ears and was rushed to the burn unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

O'Hare sustained similar burns but was not as badly injured. He is expected to be released from the hospital today, LaCroix said.

Flames billowed out of a shattered picture window when firefighters arrived at a duplex on Ashmont Avenue at 4:30 a.m. after a neighbor called 911. John Beatrice, a blind man in his 50s, met Quinn and the front steps and told him that his mother was trapped inside.

"The fire was advancing, and he knew he couldn't wait for the hose," LaCroix said.

Quinn and O'Hare found Dorothy Beatrice unconscious on a second floor landing. The flames were so intense they could not go back down the stairs and ran to the back of the building, LaCroix said.

The fire started in a front room on the first floor and remains under investigation.

-- Andrew Ryan and John Ellement

NEWTON

Newton's schools would receive about $12 million for next year's education budget from a proposed Proposition 2 1/2 override, with the money going toward building maintenance, technology, and classroom aides, School Superintendent Jeffrey Young said today.

Young said he is preparing two budgets for the 2008-2009 school year.

The first, which he will present to the School Committee this evening, would give the schools a total of $171 million, a 10.5 percent increase over this year's $155 million budget. The increase of $16 million includes both the $12 million in override funds and another bump of $4 million that Mayor David B. Cohen has pledged even if the override fails, Young said.

On Jan. 28, Young is expected to present a second, $159 million budget -- one which doesn't include the override funds -- that would represent a 2.9 percent increase over this year's budget.

Due to rising costs and a system-wide enrollment expansion of 55 students, Young said the schools will need a 7.4 percent increase to maintain current programs and services.

Cohen has not announced a total figure for the proposed override, but the school's portion alone as disclosed by Young is already larger than the city's last override, a $11.5 measure approved by voters in 2002. Voters passed that measure 14,251 to 13,542, with about two-thirds of the money going to the schools and the rest funding municipal services.

City spokesman Jeremy Solomon said Cohen will announce the overall figure for the proposed override next month.

-- Rachana Rathi

Newton Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Young has taken responsibility for controversial video camera systems installed in the city's high schools.
(Globe Staff photo by Suzanne Kreiter)

NEWTON

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Young has taken responsibility for the controversial hidden security cameras installed at Newton South High School and has revealed that cameras were also used at Newton North to catch a thief who had stolen approximately $30,000 in electronics and other equipment.

In an open letter to the school community released late last week, Young said that Newton South's principal, Brian Salzer, installed the cameras after consulting with Newton North principal Jennifer Price. Salzer was attempting to deal with a rash of thefts from a locker room area and repeated vandalism in a bathroom near the school's auditorium, Young wrote.

The presence of the cameras at South was revealed by student journalists in the high school's newspaper and several members of the School Committee have said that they should have been consulted before they were put in place.

Young said that Price, working with Newton Police, installed a similar system near a technology locker where more than $30,000 worth of laptops and other equipment had been stolen.

"Shortly thereafter, the thief was recorded using a pair of shears to cut the chain locks on the closet door and was arrested," Young wrote in the letter. "Much of the stolen property was recovered. No other use was made of the tape, and the system has since been turned off."

Young wrote that there are no other cameras installed at any other schools in Newton, and that they will not be used again until there is consensus on a clear policy for their use.

"The cameras at South are off and will remain off, unless and until the School Committee decides on a policy for their use," he said. "As this security issue occurred 'on my watch,' I accept responsibility for the distress it caused."

-- Ralph Ranalli

NEWTON

While most students enjoy the time off on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students at the Rashi School in Newton are invited to come to school voluntarily on Jan. 21 to participate in service projects in honor of the civil rights leader.

From 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., students and their families will gather to at the Jewish day school to create cards and birthday boxes for children in local shelters; make scarves for people in need; and write letters to local troops in Iraq.

A discussion about King's legacy will also be incorporated into the day.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Newton Mayor David Cohen will provide the Board of Aldermen an updated cost estimate and revised schedule for the estimated $171 million Newton North High School building project during a special meeting Jan. 16, city spokesman Jeremy Solomon said.

After the mayor's short meeting with aldermen in December, which was held before a regular board of aldermen meeting, numerous aldermen left saying they were dissatisfied with the time constraint.

Board president Lisle Baker arranged next week's meeting after numerous aldermen said the first meeting did not provide them with enough of an opportunity to question Cohen about important aspects of the project.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Habitat for Humanity is seeking volunteers for a home-building project in Newton.

The organization broke ground in September on the project, which involves building a duplex for two families at 76 Webster Park, and needs to raise about $300,000 to complete the project, said Ted Kuklinski, co-chair of the Newton Habitat Committee.

The organizing committee is meeting at St. Ignatius Church in Chesnut Hill on Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Volunteers can visit www.localendar.com/public/hfhnewton to find build days.

Donations can be sent to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Boston, P.O. Box 610242, Newton, MA 02461.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Beginning Jan. 1, students and residents can be fined for smoking within a 900-foot radius of Newton North High School.

The board of aldermen approved an ordinance banning smoking on public properties around the high school by a vote of 20-2. Sydra Schnipper and Anthony Salvucci voted against the ordinance, and Marcia Johnson and Ken Parker were absent.

A subcommittee of the high school liason committee, which is chaired by Newton North principal Jennifer Price, recommended the ordinance to help reduce smoking among students and faculty at the high school.

Violators would face a $50 fine for the first offense, $100 fine for the second offense, and $200 fine for all offenses thereafter. Students would also have the option of completing a smoking cessation course in lieu of the fine.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

The board of aldermen has delayed discussion of whether Newton will switch to an automated trash collection system until its Jan. 7 meeting. The board's Public Facilities Committee recommended the proposal, but its Finance Committee rejected it.

The proposed system would provide each household with a 64-gallon trash container that would be collected each week by a truck with a single driver and automated arm. Currently, there is no limit on the amount of trash residents can dispose of each week, and two employees are required to collect it.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

The School Committee is moving forward with plans to build $1.4 million in modular classrooms to address overcrowding at four elementary schools, even though the district can't afford to staff them unless the mayor's proposed tax override passes next year, member Susan Heyman said.

The committee recently approved spending $100,000 to design the four modular classrooms, and could spend another $25,000 in administrative costs to put the construction out to bid next spring. All that money could be lost, Heyman said, if the override fails.

The need for the classrooms is based on a projected enrollment increase of 68 students next fall, Heyman said. Burr and Angier elementary schools would each receive one classroom. Bowen Elementary School would receive a double-decker classroom, and its current single modular classroom would be moved to the Mason-Rice School, Heyman said.

"Although the overall enrollment increase is not huge, it would put these already crowded buildings over the edge," she said.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Newton North High School canceled all classes today after a faculty member found a bomb threat on one of the school doors at 6 a.m.

The note contained a threat and "another element" that raised the concern of school administrators to the point that they decided that canceling school for the day was the safest course of action, said city spokesman Jeremy Solomon. Solomon did not elaborate further on the note's contents.

The Newton Fire Department sweep of the building did not uncover a bomb, Solomon said. Police would not say whether students are suspected of being involved, but said that they are following all leads.

Parents were notified of the cancellation through the city's mass notification telephone system. The high school will be back in session tomorrow, and the lost day will be made up at the end of the school year, Solomon said.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Political support is slipping for the Newton North High School project amid signs that the cost of the state's most expensive high school will climb far beyond the estimated $154-million price tag.

Newton Alderman Paul Coletti told the Globe he plans to offer a resolution saying the board of aldermen have no confidence in the way Mayor David Cohen has handled the project, in order to send "a very strong message to the public that the project and mayor are out of control."

"There's this tremendous void of leadership out of the executive department right now," Coletti said. "In my 30 years in office, I haven't never seen a situation that equals the incompetence of the way this has been handled."

The school project could rise to as much as $171-million, according to figures released this week.

Cohen faced aldermen in a heated meeting Monday to address their frustration over a lack of information on the high school building project and the timing of an expected property tax override Cohen wants to take place next year. He insisted that the override is not needted to fund the school project.

"The Newton North High School project can and will be built whether or not the override passes," Cohen said in an interview Tuesday.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

The city's finance board is pursuing an automated trash collection system that officials say could save taxpayers $2.5 million over the next five years.

"It's more financially responsible and ecologically a better way to go," said Sydra Schnipper, chairwoman of the Public Facilities Committee, which approved the contract 5-2 this week.

The proposed system would provide each household with a single 64-gallon trash container that would be collected each week by a truck with a single driver and automated arm. Currently, there is no limit to the amount of trash residents can dispose of each week and two drivers are required to collect it.

The new contract must be approved by Dec. 31, Finance Committee chairman Paul Coletti said.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Mayor David Cohen will meet with the Newton Board of Aldermen Monday night at 7:15 p.m. to address their questions about the $154 million Newton North High School building project.

President Lisle Baker made the request to the mayor last week, after many aldermen expressed frustration at the lack of communication and accountability from the executive office about additional costs and delays associated with numerous problems encountered at the building site and in the project management.

The issues that will be discussed include the discovery of asbestos and an underground ledge that must be removed through blasting -- both of which were not accounted for in the project's budget or timeline -- as well as the date the city will negotiate a guaranteed maximum price for the project with the contractor.

-- Rachana Rathi

NEWTON

Gov. Deval Patrick has nominated Peter J. Rubin, a 44-year-old Newton resident, constitutional scholar, and Georgetown University law professor to fill one of three vacancies on the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the administration announced today.

Rubin, former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, represented, with others, Vice President Albert Gore Jr. in the two Florida election cases heard by the Supreme Court, Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board.

Rubin, who is a counsel at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers, teaches constitutional and criminal law, and focuses his writing on equal protection, due process and voting rights. In 2001, he founded the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, a national legal organization with chapters at 155 law schools in the United States and in 26 cities around the country.

"Peter Rubin is a dynamic collaborator whose brilliance as both a constitutional scholar and appellate counsel will be appreciated fully by his fellow jurists at the Appeals Court and all of the citizens of the Commonwealth," said Patrick. Rubin will replace Associate Justice Gordon L. Doerfer, who retired in September.

Patrick nominated Superior Court Judge Francis R. Fecteau, 60, a Holy Cross graduate and longtime Worcester resident, and Gabrielle R. Wolohojian, a 46-year-old Boston resident who is a senior partner at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, for the other two slots.

-- Ralph Ranalli

NEWTON

After fighting for a decade with an Italian company that MBTA officials once accused of supplying defective Green Line trolleys, the T said yesterday that it has solved past problems and will take an additional 10 cars from the company.

For riders on the T's most-crowded line, that will mean more trains available for service, resulting in fewer delays, said Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the MBTA, Globe transportation reporter Noah Bierman reports in today's City & Region section.

"It's easily the largest fleet size in the last 25 years, maybe ever," Grabauskas said.

The first of the new trains went into service last week. Once the T gets the last of 10 new cars, by the middle of next year, it will have a total of 209 cars to carry the 200,000 passengers who ride the Green Line each weekday.

Demolition began on the Newton North campus in June
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)

NEWTON

The city announced today that contractors have halted work at the new Newton North High School construction site after workers uncovered a pipe covered in asbestos insulation earlier this week.

The insulation contains a kind of asbestos that can become airborne and pose a health risk said Jeremy Solomon, a spokesman for Mayor David B. Cohen. He said workers at the site had already been taking precautions against airborne asbestos by controlling dust and monitoring the air quality at the site and inside the existing high school building. Newton North High School has been in session during the construction project.

Solomon said "the entire operation shut down" when a worker found the pipe Monday.

Solomon said he did not know the size of the pipe or the amount of asbestos on it. It was then sent for testing and state officials at the Department of Environmental Protection were notified when it was found to contain asbestos, he said.

"Public safety is our primary focus here," Solomon said.

Last May, city officials discovered old floor tiles containing asbestos were buried on the construction site and hired a remediation firm to deal with it. At the time, they minimized health concerns, saying the asbestos was of a "nonfriable" [non-airborne] type.

McPhail Associates, the licensed site professional overseeing the asbestos removal, has submitted an amended work plan to state DEP officials, but work at the site cannot continue until state officials review the amended plan. The overall cost of the new school project is currently estimated at $155 million.

-- Megan Woolhouse

Governor's Councilor Marilyn P. Devaney, right, leaves the courthouse with Rev. Emmanuel Metaxas following her arraignment on assault charges in May at Waltham District Court.
(Globe staff photo by Lisa Poole)

WATERTOWN/NEWTON

Watertown residents bid adieu to a long-serving and embattled town councilor and Newton voters ousted a pair of incumbent aldermen in this weeks election, staff writer John C. Drake reports in the online edition of today's City & Region section.

Watertown Town Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney, who faces felony charges in a recent confrontation at a Waltham beauty supply store and has been an aggressive critic of town administration, came five votes short of maintaining the at-large council seat she has held for 26 years.

Barring a recount, her 1,816-vote tally placed her fifth in a race for four at-large seats, a stunning reversal of fortunes for the 69-year-old, who outpaced challengers by a wide margin in previous elections. Her closest competitor, incumbent John Donohue, finished with 1,821 votes. Devaney could not be reached for comment.

Read more about local election results in today's City & Region section online.

Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman
(AP photo)

NEWTON

With the recent decison by the Anti-Defamation League's national board to take no further action on a Congressional resolution acknowledging an Armenian genocide, Newton Mayor David Cohen must decide whether to sever ties with the ADL's No Place for Hate Program permanently.

Earlier this fall, Cohen dropped the program, as a matter of "conscience" and asked ADL National Director Abraham Foxman to unequivocally acknowledge the Ottoman Empire's World War I massacre of Armenians by supporting a Congressional resolution calling it a genocide.

The ADL did not publicly acknowledge the deaths as a genocide until last summer when Foxman, under pressure from ADL members, issued a statement calling the massacre "tantamount to genocide."

Many criticized his statement as unclear and seven communities including Newton discontinued the ADL No Place for Hate program, awaiting a more concise explanation by Foxman. Foxman has said he feared international repercussions by Turkey, a key ally in US efforts against terrorism and Islamic extremism.

Jeremy Solomon, Cohen's spokesman, said the mayor will discuss the national ADL's decison at the city's next Human Rights Commission meeting. A date has not yet been scheduled, he
said.

"We're going to evaluate the actions taken in their entirety," Solomon said. "Perhaps it is not as black and white as it was when we issued the demand."

-- Megan Woolhouse

The view from there.
(Photo courtesy of the Steve Glidden Foundation)

NEWTON

If you just have to see the Sox in the World Series in person but the thought of lining some greasy ticket scalper's pockets makes you ill, the Steve Glidden Foundation may have the ducats you've been looking for.

The foundation is named for Steve Glidden, a 7th grader who was one of four Oak Hill Middle School students killed in 2001 when their bus overturned during a school band trip to Nova Scotia. The foundation raises money for a summer camp, scholarships, and for other organizations and projects that "foster leadership and advocacy capacity in young people."

The foundation is offering 2 obstructed view tickets to the Thursday night's Game 3 in Section 23, Row 10. The opening bid is $750 per ticket (they have a $150 face value) but the first person offering $2,500 for the pair takes them away, according to an e-mail sent out yesterday by Elaine Alpert, Steve's mother.

Bids are usually taken on the foundation's "Steve-bay" auction site, but anyone interested in buying the World Series tickets is instead urged to bid by sending an e-mail to the foundation. Anyone seeking more information is urged to call either 617-527-0172 or 781-929-5136.

The foundation also said that any amount paid that is over face value is considered a charitable donation and that a receipt would be provided for the buyers' taxes.

-- Ralph Ranalli

NEWTON

Mayor David B. Cohen called for a property tax increase through an override in his State of the City address last night, less than a year after voters approved construction of the most expensive high school in state history.

Cohen, who once insisted he would not ask for a tax hike to pay for the $155-million school, said an override is needed to pay for rising city expenses and improvements to public buildings. Cohen said his administration would calculate the cost of an override to taxpayers by Jan. 15, in time for a possible vote next spring.

"The choice before us is to make deep cuts in the level of services we are providing today or to raise the necessary revenue that will allow us to move forward," he said. "Now is the time to seek an operating override."

Judging from what has happened recently in other municipalities in Massachusetts, Cohen will have his work cut out for him. A majority of cities and towns across the state have rejected similar tax increases through overrides. In December, the Globe found that two-thirds of overrides in 2006 were rejected and that 2007 was on track to be the second-straight year in which more override requests failed than passed.

Newton voters approved an $11.5 million override that permanently raised city taxes in 2002. It won by 709 votes.

-- Megan Woolhouse

Expect backups at Exit 17
(Globe staff photo by Lane Turner)

NEWTON/TRAFFIC

From the Globe's "Starts and Stops" column:

Until late 2007, reconstruction work will take place on the Church Street Bridge on the Mass. Pike in Newton.

Lane closures, daytime and nighttime, will be in place at various times in that area on the Mass. Pike east and west. Expect periodic Exit 17 ramp closures.

Also, Church Street traffic near the bridge has been reduced from four lanes to two lanes (one in each direction).

For a complete listing of recent commuter updates, read Starts and Stops online.

NEWTON

Kathy Glick-Weil has announced she will retire as director of the Newton Free Library in January, with plans to move to Pennsylvania with her dog, Nino to volunteer at hospitals and nursing homes.

Glick-Weil, the library's director for 14 years, also served as president of the Massachusetts Library Association last year. She made headlines last year when she made FBI anti-terrorism agents wait nearly nine hours to seize three computers by insisting that they get a warrant.

Glick-Weil will remain in her position until Jan. 2, when she will move to Bethlehem, Pa., to join her husband, Gordon, who on July 1 began serving as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Moravian College.

A celebration in her honor will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 2 in the Newton Free Library's main branch, at 330 Homer St.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

The creation of new regional cultural arts center in Newton took a step forward last week when the Newton Cultural Alliance received an $18,750 grant to conduct a feasibility study of the project.

The money came from he Massachusetts Cultural Council's Cultural Facilities Fund and will be matched with $31,250 in private donations raised last spring for the project. The city's current Cultural Center is housed in the former Carr School in Newtonville, a building that is being reclaimed by the school department.

State Representative Kay Khan, who has championed the project, noted in a press release that "Newton is a community of artists."

A regional arts center will, Khan said, "enrich the quality of life in the city, while stimulating the creative economy and raising revenue for the entire western suburban Boston region."

The Newton alliance applied for the grant and was one of 62 winners out of 201 applicants. Cultural officials urged anyone seeking more information or looking for ways to get involved in the push for a new cultural center to contact them via e-mail.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON/FRAMINGHAM

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority will hold a public hearing tonight in Newton on its recent vote to increase the tolls at both the Weston and Allston-Brighton toll plazas by 25 cents each for 2008.

The authority board took its preliminary vote on the hike last week, passing on proposals to raise the tolls even higher. Globe West reported Sunday that western commuters who use the pike will still end up paying more than nine times as much in gas taxes and tolls -- the state's two user fees for drivers -- as commuters on the South Shore or in the northwest suburbs.

Under the law, the board must hold public hearings before taking a final vote on the 25 cent toll increase. The meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Veterans War Memorial Auditorium at Newton City Hall.

A similar meeting will be held tomorrow night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Framingham at the Memorial Building at 150 Concord St.

-- Ralph Ranalli

Hizzoner and hiz hybrid, fer shizzle

NEWTON

Newton Mayor David Cohen traded in his gas-guzzling Crown Victoria this week, in favor of a new Toyota Prius hybrid. The city bought two of the cars, at $20,800 a piece, unveiling the purchase today.

Cohen receives use of a city car as mayor, not to mention a parking spot close to the entrance to City Hall. The other Prius will be used by the city's inspectional services department.

Jeremy Solomon, the mayor's spokesman, said the Crown Vic got about 18 miles to the gallon. The new car gets 46.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

Ward 5 Alderman at-Large Brian Yates may not have any opponents in this fall's elections, but he has re-launched his website anyway.

On it, he notes that the city's Design Review Committee, which he served on, helped keep the main library construction project "on time and under budget." He also said the committee's current influence over the Newton South High School project was "limited."

Yates, who lives on Chestnut Street, also offers links to his other pet issues, like the effort to restore chestnut trees to Chestnut Hill.

-- Megan Woolhouse

(Globe staff photo by Bill Brett)

NEWTON

Setti Warren, U.S. Senator John Kerry's deputy state director, possible 2009 Newton mayoral candidate, and a Navy reservist, is headed to the war in Iraq.

Warren, 37, has been a Navy reservist since 2002 and he learned last week that he will be deployed to Iraq on Oct. 26. An intelligence specialist, Warren said he had few details about where he will be assigned in Iraq, only that he ill be "on the ground." He is scheduled to return home to his wife, Tassy Warren, in late 2008.

And as for his run for mayor?

"I'm still seriously considering this," he said.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

Newton Superintendent Jeff Young will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. today to unveil a new "five-year strategic plan" for the public schools.

The school department normally sets one-year goals but undertook a long-range planning process last spring. The district hired the Interaction Institute for Social Change in Cambridge to create the plan. Staff, teachers, and parents also participated.

More details to come this afternoon.

--Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

A suspect is back behind bars after making a brief escape from police at the Newton District Courthouse and injuring a court officer while on the run yesterday.

The suspect, Todd Corcoran was in court for a detention hearing. During the hearing, Corcoran learned he was going to have to spend a night in jail and then bolted out of the courtroom, WHDH/Channel 7 television reported on its web site.

Corcoran allegedly threw a court officer to the ground, and then did the same to another, giving him a head laceration. Corcoran then ran into a nearby neighborhood, confronting an elderly man.

"He waved some money at the elderly male asking for his help," Lt. Bruce Apotheker of the Newton Police Department said. "This elderly gentleman raised up his cane and told the suspect to back off."

Corcoran then attempted to carjack a truck with two men inside.

"This suspect jumped into the passenger side of the pickup truck," Lt. Apotheker said. "And an officer, approaching the scene on his motorcycle, observed what was going on, got off his motorcycle and went up to the red pickup truck."

Corcoran fled again, however he was apprehended after a 30 minute manhunt, police said.

WATERTOWN/NEWTON

A bar patron who was allegedly assaulted by an off-duty Massachusetts State Police sergeant and two Boston College football players was charged yesterday with punching the sergeant during the altercation.

Sean Maney, 28, a software engineer from Watertown, was charged with assault and battery against Sergeant Joseph J. Boike during a melee July 1 at The Greatest Bar near North Station. Assistant Magistrate Francis X. Cunningham issued the complaint after a hearing in Boston Municipal Court, staff writer Robert Hohler reports today.

Witnesses for Boike supported the sergeant's assertion that Maney started the fight by punching Boike after the sergeant, a part owner of the bar, asked Maney and his friends to vacate their seats to make room for a group of Boston College players.

"This gives the public a much better, clearer view of what really went on in terms of who started the physical confrontation," said Boike's lawyer, Timothy M. Burke.

Boike, 52, sought the complaint after he was charged with assaulting Maney and Christy Osborne, the girlfriend of Maney's brother Brian, during the brawl. State Police have suspended Boike without pay pending the outcome of the court case. BC players Gosder Cherilus and DeJuan Tribble also were charged with assaulting Maney, who suffered a broken neck and other injuries in the altercation.

"We have faith that justice will prevail," his mother, Maureen, said. "Anybody who knows Sean knows he would never do what [Boike] said he did."

NEWTON

The city's Public Facilities Committee has voted 3-3 on a new rule requiring city contractors to sign a "verification clause" that they do not use undocumented or illegal workers when accepting city contracts.

The city is currently building a $154 million high school, the most expensive in state history. Alderman Ben Weisbuch, a former immigration lawyer who will not run for reelection this fall proposed the ordinance. He said he wanted to make sure the city does not facilitate illegal activity.

"This is a national issue played out on the local level," he wrote in an email. "Many of us would like to see immigration reform on the national level, which has stalled."

For the committee vote, there was one member absent and one member abstaining. The full board is scheduled to vote on the rule Oct. 1.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

A Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled that the city of Newton could not spend $765,000 in Community Preservation Act funds for improvements to two parks in Nonantum because the spending violated the provisions of the law.

Monday's ruling is the first of its kind on the controversial CPA law. The law allows cities and towns to impose a surcharge on residential property tax bills and use the money for housing, open space, recreational enhancement and historic preservation. The state matches the funding dollar-for-dollar.

Associate Justice Bruce R. Henry ruled that the money could not be used to make improvements at Stearns and Pellegrini parks in Newton because they were not bought with CPA funds.

"While using CPA funds for the rehabilitation or restoration of recreational land is permitted under the CPA, it is permitted only for those recreational lands which were originally acquired or created with CPA funds," Henry wrote.

Jeremy Solomon, a spokesman for Newton Mayor David Cohen, called the ruling "a blow."
"The city is disappointed," Solomon said yesterday. "We believe that the [park] upgrades that were to be made under the proposal would have served the community well."

Solomon said its unclear whether the city can afford to make improvements to both parks without the funding. City officials are weighing an appeal.

Guive Mirfendereski(cq), the lawyer who represented the 10 city taxpayers who filed the lawsuit, said the law was clear about how the money could be spend. He and others also opposed a plan by the mayor to use CPA funds to install artificial turf fields at other city playing fields.

"The lesson of this case right now is if you want to spend CPA money on an existing playing field ... you'll be violating the law," Mirfendereski said.

-- Megan Woolhouse

(Globe staff photo by Pat Greenhouse)

NEWTON

Newton Alderman Ted Hess-Mahan recently proposed a ban on leaf blowers in the city, citing the noise and pollution they cause as a widespread problem. The Boston Globe received dozens of e-mails on the issue, mostly from residents concerned about noise and dust they kick up.

"Good for Newton for appreciating the effects of the noise, dust, and other particulate matter on health, quality of life, and safety, especially for children," Cambridge reader Stephen Tournas-Hardt wrote in an e-mail to the Cambridge City Council and the Globe.

National Public Radio also weighed in with a report on the controversy.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

The Newton History Museum is offering free admission to all visitors during its Community Weekends, which are currently being held on the first weekend of each month.

The next Community Weekends will be held on October 6 and 7, November 3 and 4, and December 1 and 2. The Museum Ship is also holding a holiday sale in conjunction with the December dates, in which patrons will receive a 10% discount, and members will receive an additional 10% off in addition to their usual discount.The Museum is open from 12 noon to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Current exhibits at the Museum include "Four-Legged Newton," a family-oriented exhibit and play space that looks at the connections between people and animals throughout the history of Newton, and "Norumbega: Recreation and Romance by the River," which takes a nostalgic look back at Norumbega Park, which was one of the region's premiere recreation and entertainment destinations in the first half of the 20th century.

Museum officials are urging anyone interested in finding out more about community weekends to call 617-796-1450 or visit the museum online.

-- Ralph Ranalli

Tina Fisher holds a picture of herself, pre-surgery. (That's her on the right. Honest.)
(Globe staff photo by David Kamerman)

NEWTON/WELLESLEY/REGION

The findings - released last month from long-term studies of 20,000 dangerously overweight people in Utah and Sweden - were stunning.

Obese patients who had undergone stomach reduction surgery were up to 40 percent more likely to live longer, 56 percent less likely to die of heart disease, and 92 percent less likely to die from diabetes than those who tried diet and exercise alone.

Yet for Tina Fisher, program coordinator for the new Center for Weight Loss Surgery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, the studies only confirmed what she already knew. In the six years since her own gastric bypass surgery, the 30-year-old nurse practitioner has lost 137 pounds. She exercises four times a week, can fit into a standard movie theater seat, and sometimes forgets what her old life was like, staff writer and web producer Ralph Ranalli reports in today's Globe West.

A roller-coaster enthusiast, Fisher used to watch her husband ride alone because she was worried whether the seat belt or safety bar would fit around her 297-pound frame. She also suffered from the litany of health woes common to the very overweight diabetes, joint problems, and sleep apnea, a disorder in which a person literally stops breathing repeatedly during sleep.

"Patients come back and tell me about their experiences, like the first time they didn't have to go into a plus-size clothing store," she said. "And I think, 'Oh yeah, I remember that.' "

Thanks to stories like Fisher's, officials at Newton-Wellesley said they were convinced that gastric bypass operations represent a sound medical option and were aggressively expanding their weight loss surgery practice even before the new findings were released. Last year, the hospital's bariatric surgery program was accredited to operate on even the most severely obese patients, and in June, the program was elevated to a full-fledged department and renamed the Center for Weight Loss Surgery.

As it turns out, the timing of the hospital's push could not have been better, officials said.

Read more about how bariatric surgery is changing lives in the online edition of today's Globe West. While you're there, you can also view an audio slide show about Tina Fisher's experience with the surgery and losing 137 pounds.

NEWTON

Mayor David Cohen's office will launch a $70,000 system next week that allows city officials to send personalized phone and text messages and e-mails to all city residents.

The system would automatically send messages to residents about weather and other emergencies and notify people about routine city business, like hydrant flushing. It could also be used to remind residents to vote.

The city has contracted with NTI Group Inc., a Sherman Oaks, Calif. company, to provide the service. Jeremy Solomon, the mayor's spokesman, said city officials will be responsible for deciding the type and number of messages.

"We have to strike a real balance between calling too much and getting out information people want to hear," he said.

-- Meg Woolhouse

NEWTON

Newton dropped out of the No Place for Hate program today, joining Watertown and Belmont in protesting the Anti-Defamation League's ambiguous stance on the Armenian genocide.

ADL National Director Abraham Foxman has said the mass killings were "tantamount to genocide,'' but a growing number of critics are dissatisfied with that response and with the ADL's refusal to endorse a congressional resolution acknowledging the genocide.

"The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is an important step along the path of freedom and justice, and crucial in combating other genocides now and in the future,'' Newton Mayor David Cohen said in a statement today. Cohen, who is Jewish, said Newton hopes "for the day when national ADL leadership fully and unequivocally embraces'' the effort to acknowledge the genocide.

The ADL, a non-profit established to fight anti-Semitism and bigotry, created the No Place for Hate program in 1999 as a vehicle for local municipalities to take a public stand against bias. In late August, the Newton Human Rights Commission voted unanimously to urge Cohen to end its participation the program.

Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, was critical of Cohen's decision. She said the council officially recognized the Armenian genocide two years ago on the anniversary of the deaths and that New England leaders have already sent a clear message to national ADL officials.

"I think it's unfortunate that a program that is designed to bring groups together to counteract hate against any one group is now the focus of the whole issue," she said today. "I think we're missing the forest for the trees."

-- Megan Woolhouse

(Globe staff photo by Pat Greenhouse)

NEWTON

Elm and maple trees rustled in the breeze on Highland Avenue in West Newton one afternoon last week. Spacious homes cast long shadows across carefully manicured lawns. Gardens brimmed with freshly planted asters.

And the shrill whine of leaf blowers filled the air.

"I hate them," said Lynne Bail, shouting over the noise made by a crew cleaning her neighbor's yard. "They go all day long. It really spoils the neighborhood and the peace and quiet we used to have."

It is a quintessential suburban problem. In the quest for a flawless yard, leaf blowers have become a modern necessity to get a job done efficiently. But with more homeowners and landscapers using them from spring to fall, critics say they have become an ear-shattering nuisance, robbing neighborhoods of cherished quiet. Now, a Newton alderman wants to outlaw gas-powered leaf blowers, joining Cambridge, Lincoln, and other communities around Boston that are considering leaf blower restrictions, Globe West staff writer Megan Woolhouse reports.

Under the law, it would be "unlawful for any person, including a City employee, to operate any portable gasoline-powered leaf blower within the City limits." The ban would take effect in January 2009. Excluded are electric leaf blowers, which have less power than gas leaf blowers and run more quietly. Police, who would be responsible for enforcing the proposed ordinance, could issue warnings and fines of up to $300 to violators.

Newton Alderman Ted Hess-Mahan said he proposed the ban after hearing complaints from residents annoyed by the noise, dust, and exhaust created by the blowers. A lawyer who occasionally works from home, he said the coming and going of landscaping crews using leaf blowers seems to leave a constant cloud of dust, which aggravates his wife's asthma and covers their house and car.

How does he maintain his own yard?

"I have children," he said.

Read more about the dust-up over leafblowers in Newton in the online edition of today's City & Region section and listen to a bonus audio report filed by Meg Woolhouse.

NEWTON

The Newton public schools have launched a new website and it makes getting information about schools and the school committee easier.

Until recently, parents and students had to visit two websites, one for the school district and another for the school committee. The School Commitee website had been created and managed by volunteers since former School Committeeman Andy Vizulis created it years ago. Shelley Chamberlain, director of information technology for the schools, said the new site -- newton.k12.ma.us -- is now managed by a staffer in the school department.

We're really trying to update our look and make it easier for parents to get information quickly," she said.

The site offers information on curriculum, student assessments and evaluation reports, like a recent audit performed by Sun Associates of North Chelmsford. The report looks at technology in the schools and how well teachers are using it.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

State auditor Joseph DeNucci will be honored at a Sept. 30 brunch hosted by the Newton Democratic City Committee.

Ex-governor Michael Dukakis, his wife Kitty, Secretary of State William Galvin, former attorney general Frank Bellotti, as well as Newton Mayor David Cohen and former mayor Tom Concannon are among the guests expected to attend.

The event, which is open to the public with a $20 donation, will take place at the home of Carol and Ken Krems at 55 Saint Mary Street in Newton Lower Falls.

DeNucci and his wife, Barbara, live in West Newton. He is a former professional boxer who served in the legislature 10 years in the 70s and 80s before becoming state auditor in 1987.

-- Megan Woolhouse

(Photo by Jodi Hilton for the Boston Globe)

NEWTON/NEEDHAM

Srdjan Nedeljkovic and James O'Connell have a plan, and they want to share it. The pair of Newton residents have teamed up to discuss the benefits of extending the MBTA's green line through Newton Upper Falls into Needham.

Nedeljkovic is a physician who has written an extensive proposal touting the environmental benefits of the possibility. O'Connell works for the National Parks Service and is a historian with an interest in street railways in Newton. Both advocate that a T extension in Newton is the most economically viable way to spend MBTA transportation dollars.

The cornerstone of their plan would reactivate a long-unused spur of the Riverside D line. The tracks run parallel to Needham Street and past the Depot bakery in Newton Upper Falls. Their ideas will be aired through Sept. 30 on The Environment Show, produced by the Green Decade Coalition on NewTV's blue channel.

-- Megan Woolhouse

Newton Alderwoman Victoria Danberg wants to end tax subsidies for "playgrounds for the wealthy."

NEWTON/REGION

The concrete steps leading into Newton's Cabot Elementary School are crumbling and the building has no handicapped access. Across town at Fire Station No. 7, the roof leaks water into the firefighters' bunk room.

Meanwhile, Charles River Country Club in Newton -- with its rolling fairways and carefully manicured putting greens -- received a $381,000 tax break last year under a state law that exempts private country clubs from paying 75 percent of their property taxes.

According to the Newton assessor's office, Woodland Golf Club also cut $301,000 on its tax bill last year and Brae Burn Country Club shaved $390,000 from its taxes. Counting Charles River, that's more than $1 million in taxes that Newton cannot collect from three private, local institutions. Framingham and Marlborough country clubs also take advantage of the tax break, as do many other private country clubs across the state, staff writer Megan Woolhouse reports in today's Globe West.

That has outraged Newton Ward 6 Alderwoman at Large Victoria L. Danberg, who said the city could use the money for repairing city schools, fire stations, and other public buildings instead of subsidizing "playgrounds for the wealthy." She wants local elected leaders and the city's legislative delegation to toughen the law.

"We can take them on," Danberg said. "I can tell you very few people have sympathy for the poor golfers from these clubs who are crying poverty."

Read more about the controversy over Chapter 61B in the online edition of today's Globe West.

A historic image of the USS Grunion taken during its launch. Note the propeller guard visible above the waterline at the stern.
(Image courtesy of www.ussgrunion.com)

A photo taken by a deep-diving robot submarine yesterday of the stern of a sunken submarine. The configuration of the sunken sub's propeller guard, together with historic records, has convinced the sons of Commander Mannert L. "Jim" Abele that they have at last found their father's submarine.

NEWTON

The USS Grunion disappeared in July 1942, leaving 70 American families grieving and the three sons of skipper Mannert L. "Jim" Abele, a Newton native, without a father. Abele's boys, ages 5, 9, and 12 when their father disappeared, grew up and built their own lives, but they never forgot him.

For years, the sons Bruce, Brad, and John, pored over Navy documents, any shipping records of the area they could locate, and contacted others interested in the Grunion's fate. John Abele, the billionaire founder of Boston Scientific Corp., has paid for much of the search.

Yesterday, those sons received the first in a series of underwater pictures that they hope will very soon positively confirm that they have found the final resting place of their father's submarine.

"It's an amazing story," Bruce Abele said in an e-mail. "And it's still unfolding."

The Grunion, one of the Gato-class attack submarines commissioned in the early part of World War II, was on its maiden operational voyage when it disappeared while patrolling the seas between Alaska's tip and Japan, according to a Navy website. Almost exactly a year ago, the brothers discovered a wreck using side-scan sonar that matched the probably location of their father's sub. But it wasn't until yesterday that they could put a robot sub down on the wreck and take pictures.

Bruce Abele said the pictures have given his family great confidence that they have found the Grunion, although not yet definitive proof. The former crab-fishing boat that is carrying the robot sub has been forced back to port by heavy seas and 75-mile-per-hour winds.

"The evidence is very strong that it is the Grunion but we still don't know what caused its demise," Abele said.

For more information:

Read a story about the search for the Grunion.

Visit the Abele brothers' USS Grunion web site.

View pictures of:
Part of the sunken sub's periscope
An open hatch cover
A portrait of Commander Mannert L. "Jim" Abele

-- Ralph Ranalli

Sean Darcy holds his 22-month-old son Dylan, right, and 4-month-old Carolina, who the couple had also hoped to adopt.
(Globe staff photo by Essdras M Suarez)

NEWTON

They gave her a bottle, put her down for naps, snapped photographs. Over five days in June in Guatemala, Ellen and Sean Darcy lived like a family with Carolina, the 4-month-old baby they planned to adopt.

Back home in Newton, they bought a double stroller for Carolina and Dylan, 22 months, whom they adopted from Guatemala last year. Ellen Darcy sewed Carolina a pink quilt, and bought her pajamas.

Eight weeks later, armed officers seized Carolina's orphanage, confiscated paperwork, and detained orphanage lawyers. Guatemalan officials alleged that babies there may have been abducted or their mothers forced into giving them away, staff writer Michael Levenson reports in the Globe's City & Region Section today.

Now the Darcys fear they may never see Carolina again, and Ellen Darcy worries that authorities are neglecting Carolina. She searches for news from Guatemala. She cannot bring herself to set up Carolina's crib.

"It's been horrible; it's been heart-wrenching," Ellen Darcy said. "I don't think we can breathe easy until we go to pick her up and we have her back in the United States."

Forty-two US families, including four from Massachusetts, who are trying to adopt babies from the orphanage are caught in limbo. Unsure of the treatment the children have received and uncertain whether the allegations will be resolved, they have pleaded with members of Congress to send US officials to check on the babies' welfare. They have turned to one another for advice, solace, and any scraps of news.

Read more about the Guatemalan orphanage probe and the fallout for local families
in the online edition of today's Boston Globe City & Region section.

MBTA officials believe Riverside Station is ripe for development
(Globe staff photo by Dominic Chavez)

NEWTON/WESTON/NEEDHAM

MBTA officials said they will request proposals as early as this fall from developers interested in building housing and commercial space at the Riverside T station.

Transit officials also said they have asked aldermen in Newton to solicit input from Auburndale residents who will be affected by the project and and that they will will incorporate those ideas into the design requests. Several neighborhood residents have spoken out against the project, saying the streets are already jammed with auto traffic.

The Riverside station sits on 22 acres close to the borders of Weston and Wellesley, less than a half-mile from Interstate 95 and the Massachusetts Turnpike.

-- Megan Woolhouse

NEWTON

In the wake of Watertown's decision to withdraw from the Anti-Defamation League's "No Place for Hate" program, Newton's Human Rights Commission is drafting a letter “demanding" that the ADL change its position on the Armenian genocide.

“We’re incredulous,” commission chairwoman Marianne Ferguson said of ADL national director Abraham Foxman’s refusal to characterize the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians by the Turks between 1915 and 1923 as a genocide. “To try and come to understand how they came to this conclusion … it’s mind-boggling.”

Ferguson said that the commission, which includes Jewish and Armenian members, is unanimous in its opposition to the ADL’s stance.

“The Jewish folks are just as outraged and are in as much disbelief as anyone else,” she said.

Commission member Brenda Krasnow, who is Jewish, said she was “really upset” about the ADL’s stance.

“There is no question in our minds that there was a genocide by the Ottoman Turks against the Armenians,” she said. “As a Jewish person, and as a human being, you don’t want to see these genocides repeated. But what you are doing here is opening the door for other groups to deny.”

Ferguson said the commission is scrambling to schedule an emergency meeting to discuss the issue, and that ending the city's affiliation with the “No Place for Hate” program is one possible response being considered.

-- Ralph Ranalli

NEWTON

Newton police suspect a man who robbed the Village Bank branch in Nonantum yesterday may be responsible for two other bank robberies in Westborough and Stoughton earlier this month.

The Village Bank was robbed shortly before 3 p.m. when a man police described at 6-foot tall, clean-shaven, and wearing a Red Sox baseball cap, passed a note to a teller demanding money and said he had a gun. Police said the suspect then fled with cash.

Police said they think the same man robbed Citizens Bank branches in Westborough on Aug. 5 and in Stoughton on Aug. 6. Compare suspects for yourself. Police have posted photos from each of the robberies on the links below.

Newton robbery photo
Wesborough robbery photo
Stoughton robbery photo

Anyone with information is asked to call the Newton Police Department Detective Bureau at (617)796-2104.

-- Meg Woolhouse

(Globe staff photo by Pat Greenhouse)

NEWTON

Former Newton elections' commissioner Peter Karg, who was fired by the mayor after a vote-counting controversy last year, said he has withdrawn from the race for Ward 8 alderman.

In a brief statement issued by e-mail, Karg said he had difficulty mustering support before the Sept. 18 primary at a time when many city residents are on vacation.

Karg is currently suing the city of Newton for $500,000 for his termination last spring. He claimed his one-time friend, Mayor David Cohen, fired him after "intensely pressuring" him to speed up the vote count on a petition to scale back construction of a $154 million
new high school.

Cohen hired a consultant to investigate the vote count error and claimed Karg botched the job by failing to oversee the count properly.

The lawsuit is pending.

-- Meg Woolhouse

MILFORD/NEWTON

Town Administrator Louis Celozzi said officials will notify the state that the town does not support a proposed 180-unit apartment complex on East Main Street.

Celozzi said selectmen objected to the development primarily because it would create rental housing, rather than owned units.

"The rental units are sometimes not conducive to long-term stability," he said.

The town's ability to affect the project, however, may be limited because Newton-based Northland Quarry Pond LLC has proposed setting aside a portion of the units as affordable.

Under state law, towns with less than 10 percent affordable housing have limited ability to reject projects that create more affordable housing. Milford's affordable housing stock is just over 7 percent, Celozzi said.

-- Calvin Hennick

A Newton alderman said she will propose a trans fat ban in the city similar to one already enacted in Brookline.

Ward 6 At-large Alderman Victoria Danberg said the ban would not apply to any food packaged outside Newton and brought into the city. "You could still indulge in Twinkies to your heart's content," she said this week.

The legislature is currently considering a statewide ban on trans fats, but "it will probably be quite some time before anything is passed," Danberg said in an e-mail asking other board members for their support.

--Megan Woolhouse

The Herald is on the move, publisher Patrick Purcell says.
(Globe staff photo by David L. Ryan)

NEWTON

Boston Herald publisher Pat Purcell is teaming with a Newton-based development firm to replace the newspaper's plant off the Southeast Expressway in a deal that could include residential, retail, and office space.

Purcell has sold the Herald building and the 6.6-acre parcel it sits on for an undisclosed price to a joint venture that includes himself and National Development, which is headquartered in Newton Lower Falls, Christopher Rowland and Steve Bailey of the Globe's Business section report today.

While it will potentially add a major new feature to Boston's southern skyline, the deal also marks another step in Purcell's efforts to transform Herald assets into cash and streamline the tabloid's operations. Purcell considers the Herald's antiquated printing presses obsolete in a time when newspapers can be electronically transmitted to be printed anywhere, said Purcell spokesman George Regan. The deal allows the current operation to remain in place for up to six years while the newspaper is relocated.

"This is an important strategic move as we plan for the paper's long-term future," Purcell said in a statement. "We intend to publish the Herald for a very long time and realize that we must do so more efficiently than is possible in our current location."

Last year, Purcell sold the Herald's daily and weekly suburban newspapers surrounding Boston to GateHouse Media Inc., a national chain, for $225 million. Earlier this year, Purcell confirmed he was in talks with Dow Jones & Co. to outsource the printing of the Herald to a Dow Jones press plant in Chicopee. That concept is still in play -- Dow Jones will soon be owned by Purcell's old boss at News Corp., Rupert Murdoch -- and would allow Purcell to eliminate up to 100 of the 650 jobs at the Herald site.

Purcell owns the Herald property independently from the newspaper. The deal to transform th