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