November 30, 2007
Jane Goodman during her arraignment yesterday in the death of a pedestrian. (Image courtesy of WBZ-TV)
NEEDHAM
For shoppers and retailers on a small commercial strip along Route 135 here, Michael Dorfman, 67, was the kindly clerk who patiently measured children's feet and gave them a lollipop as they left Michelson's Shoes.
Authorities say Dorfman was in a crosswalk when he was fatally struck by a Saab driven by Jane Goodman, 72, of Dedham around 6 p.m. Wednesday, staff writer John C. Drake reports in today's City & Region section. He had just left work and was steps away from his Mazda sedan, which was still parked near the intersection yesterday afternoon.
Goodman was arrested in Wellesley after witnesses provided a description of the car. She pleaded not guilty in Dedham District Court yesterday to charges of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation, leaving the scene of an incident causing personal injury and death, and negligent operation of a motor vehicle. She was released on $20,000 bail, and her license was revoked.
Michael Dorfman's widow, Elinor, said there was no excuse for the driver not to stop after striking her husband, who also leaves two adult daughters and two grandchildren.
Read more about the tragedy in the online edition of today's City & Region section.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:39 AM
November 27, 2007
(Globe file photo)
NEEDHAM
Needham officials are asking for residents to give their input on what Town Hall should look like after a planned renovation project.
The Board of Selectmen and the Permanent Public Building Committee will hold a public hearing on Dec. 10 to see what Needhamites would like to change about the building. The meeting will take place at 8 p.m. in the Needham Public Library.
The building was constructed in 1902. The goal of the project, which is in the design phase, is to preserve the history of the building while modernizing it for the town employees who work there.
-- Laura Colarusso
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:33 AM
November 14, 2007
NEEDHAM
Needham began adding fluoride to its water supply again last week after a period of several weeks when the town could not get any of the chemical through its supplier, officials said.
The town had not expected not to receive any fluoride until January 2008, water treatment manager William Wanberg said, but officials were able to purchase an emergency 800-gallon supply of the substance from another chemical company.
-- Laura Colarusso
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:00 AM
November 9, 2007
NEEDHAM
Faced with a decision this week whether to fund a $500,000 project to design a new senior center at Ridge Hill, the Needham Board of Selectmen punted.
The board voted earlier this week to refer the issue for further study. The money would have been used to develop a construction plan and to develop a project cost estimated to be presented to the 2008 Annual Town Meeting.
-- Laura Colarusso
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 06:51 AM
November 8, 2007
Hillel Neuer, a visiting civil rights official from Geneva, walks out of Stone Hearth Pizza at gunpoint after jittery employees called police and reported his behavior as suspicious.
(Globe staff photo by Yoon S. Byun)
NEEDHAM
A murder is always a traumatic event for a quiet suburban town like Needham, but technology transformed Friday's tragic killing of a 78-year-old homeowner into a townwide convulsion, during which both the advantages and pitfalls of instant communication were on display.
With a suspected murderer on the loose, an entire town full of children and innocent civilians was alerted, locked down, and finally reassured, all with remarkable speed, staff writers Ralph Ranalli and Lisa Kocian report in today's Globe West
At the same time, holes in the system were exposed, mistakes were made, and the heightened state of alert resulted in a televised armed standoff in the middle of Needham Center that turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
Read more about 3 1/2 hours that turned a peaceful suburb inside out.
-- Ralph Ranalli
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 02:11 PM
November 5, 2007
Hillel Neuer leaves the Stone Hearth Pizza restaurant in Needham Center and is taken into custody by heavily-armed police.
(Globe staff photo by Yoon S. Byun)
NEEDHAM
The executive director of a Geneva-based human rights group was "victimized" and "traumatized" by his arrest after a tense standoff with armed police, his lawyer said this morning.
Employees of Stone Hearth Pizza in Needham Square reported that a jittery man who might have been armed entered the restaurant. Manager Maria Paranagua said the man kept checking the front of the building and changed his clothes in the bathroom. After receiving cellular telephone calls from off-duty employees that a murderer was on the loose, employees called 911, Paranagua said.
That report led town and State Police to essentially shut down the town center and deploy SWAT teams to rooftops.
About 20 minutes later, Hillel Neuer, the executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, walked out of the restaurant. Police arrested him at gunpoint and charged him with disorderly conduct. UN Watch is a non-governmental organization based in Geneva whose mandate is to monitor the performance of the United Nations. Neuer was in Boston to deliver a speech, according to his attorney, David G. Eisenstadt.
Norfolk District Court Clerk Magistrate Salvatore Paterna dismissed the charges against Neuer, saying he reviewed police reports and found no probable cause to go forward. Officials confirmed that Neuer was not armed when he was in the restaurant.
After charges were dropped, Eisenstadt read a statement to reporters that said Neuer had been traumatized by the incident and that his reputation had been tarnished.
-- Ralph Ranalli and John Ellement
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:07 PM
November 5, 2007
Murder suspect William G. Dunn of Norwood
(Photo by Robert E. Klein for the Boston Globe)
NEEDHAM
Prosecutors alleged that today in court that a baseball bat was the weapon used in an attack Friday in a Needham basement that killed a 78-year-old man and sent his daughter-in-law to the hospital with severe head trauma.
Dressed in a blue prison jumpsuit, William B. Dunn, 41, kept his head bowed during his brief arraignment in Dedham District Court, staff writer John Ellement reports on the Globe's Local News Updates blog. Norfolk assistant district attorney Michele Armour told the court that Dunn had been installing a lawn sprinkler system at the home of Robert J. Moore Sr. when there was a confrontation.
Dunn grabbed a baseball bat, Armour said, and beat Moore and his daughter-in-law, Nancy Moore. Armour did not say what sparked the alleged attack.
Dunn pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, armed assault with intent to murder, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was ordered held without bail, and is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 13.
Dunn's attorney, Robert Griffin, spoke briefly with reporters outside court and rebuffed questions about an insanity defense, saying only, "I'm not ruling anything out."
The Globe reported Sunday that Dunn was voluntarily committed to the psychiatric ward of Norwood Caritas Carney Hospital in August after making paranoid statements to his wife, according to a missing person report his wife filed with Norwood police.
Griffin said today that to his knowledge Dunn did not have a prior history of violence. He added that his client's family was devastated.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:48 PM
October 30, 2007
It's not too early to start thinking about catching rising Red Sox stars like Jacoby Ellsbury during the 2008 baseball season.
(Globe staff photo by Jim Davis)
NEEDHAM
Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Needham is hosting its ninth annual fundraising gala on Friday night, and among the prizes at a live auction will be 2008 Red Sox tickets and a tour of Fenway Park.
The event, which will take place at the Newton Marriott at 2345 Commonwealth Avenue, is open to the public with tickets available for $150 per person. Anyone seeking more information is urged to call 617-754-0779.
-- Laura Colarusso
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:34 AM
October 9, 2007
NEEDHAM
Needham residents and officials will honor astronaut Sunita Williams Oct. 27 with a parade.
The celebration will include the Needham High School Marching Band, the Pollard Treble Choir, the Highland Glee Club, Needham Girl and Boy Scout troops, as well as the Fire and Police Departments' honor guards.
Williams will lead the parade, which will start at the Fire Station on Chestnut Street and end at Town Hall. State Senator Scott Brown and State Representative Lida Harkins are both expected to attend.
-- Laura Colarusso
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:03 AM
October 4, 2007
REGION
The state will begin feasibility studies for local school projects about a month earlier than anticipated, potentially allowing some projects to be ready for Town Meeting votes next spring, staff writer James Vaznis of the reports in the Globe's City & Region Section today.
On Nov. 2, the state School Building Authority will decide which school districts' proposed projects to study first. Other districts will be selected on a rolling basis after that.
Being selected for a feasibility study doesn't automatically guarantee construction funding, but it is a prerequisite. More than a dozen school districts west of Boston are among 161 districts statewide competing for about $500 million in construction funds this year, the first time in four years the state is doling out school construction money.
In choosing which feasibility studies to pursue first, the state has been dispatching inspection teams to analyze building conditions and enrollment trends, visiting 90 districts so far. Those districts include Berlin-Boylston, Franklin, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Maynard, Nashoba, Natick, Needham, Norfolk, Shrewsbury, Wayland, and Wellesley.
The resulting studies, which should be completed this winter, will give the state the first glimpse of how much it could potentially cost to do all the projects. In all, 161 districts have expressed interest in 422 school projects.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:51 AM
October 3, 2007
NEEDHAM
Town officials are looking to qualify for funding from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the state’s development agency for renewable energy, through the Clean Energy Choice program.
Needham Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick said the town would earn matching grants from the MTC for each resident that opts to pay a premium on their energy bills to support renewable energy. The cost of the premium depends on the supplier.
If 150 Needhamites enroll in the program by April 30, 2008, the town will qualify for a 2-kilowatt photovoltaic solar system.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 07:46 AM
September 12, 2007
NEEDHAM
The Needham Human Rights Committee has decided to send a strongly worded letter to the regional and national offices of the Anti-Defamation League, demanding not only the unambiguous recognition of the Armenian genocide but support for the genocide resolution in Congress.
The committee made the decision at its Sept. 5 meeting, which was attended by dozens of Needham residents, Armenian activists, and others including Mark Sedaris, the vice-president of the Watertown Town Council, Watertown councilor-at-large Marilyn Petitto Devaney, and Holocaust scholar Jack Nusan Porter.
Stay tuned to Globe West and Globe West Updates for further details.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:19 PM
September 7, 2007
Nordstrom was the big early draw
(Globe staff photo by Mark Wilson)
NATICK COLLECTION BLOG-A-THON
So far (by 11:35 a.m.) Nordstrom appears to be the big early draw for the Natick Collections.
Healthy -- but not overwhelming -- crowds are walking the main corridor of the new building and checking out stores like Juicy Couture, Coach, and LaCoste, but Nordstrom is elbow-to-elbow. The department store is also the early leader in the battle for shopping bag visibility supremacy.
-- Ralph Ranalli
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:34 AM
September 5, 2007
(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
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:28 AM
August 20, 2007
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
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:22 PM
July 16, 2007
(NASA photo)
NEEDHAM
While Needham native and astronaut Sunita Williams was big news in Globe West, she was a bona-fide megastar in India, where news that space shuttle Atlantis' heat shield was damaged prompted demonstrations and eruptions of public prayers for her safety.
But should the half-Indian Williams have been embraced so worshipfully as an Indian hero? An article by Shekhar Hattangadi in Little India (which bills itself as "the largest circulated Indian magazine in the USA) has an interesting take.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:42 PM
July 2, 2007
NEEDHAM
Selectmen have hit two local restaurants with liquor license suspensions after they were caught serving alcohol to teenagers.
Mandarine Cuisine off Highland Avenue and The Rice Barn off Great Plain Avenue will not be allowed to serve up booze for two days in July, according to Gerald A. Wasserman, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
Teenage decoys who attend school outside Needham were sent in May to every restaurant in town with a liquor license. Local police and Mothers Against Drunk Driving collaborated to make the undercover operation happen. When the teenagers ordered beer and wine, bartenders at the Mandarine Cuisine and The Rice Barn served them without asking for identification, according to Wasserman.
Town officials have clamped down on underage drinking and drug use in a number of ways recently.
Last month, the high school revised its drug abuse policy for next year to include prescription and over-the-counter medications. Superintendent Daniel E. Gutekanst and Police Chief Thomas J. Leary also recently signed a “Memorandum of Understanding,” in which both departments will keep each other informed and coordinate in punishing students caught participating in illegal activities.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:47 AM
June 23, 2007
Atlantis lands in California
(NASA photo)
NEEDHAM
Needham native and astronaut Sunita Williams returned to Earth yesterday, her record stay in space lengthened to 195 days because bad weather delayed and diverted the shuttle Atlantis.
Family and friends sighed with relief when the shuttle landed smoothly at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the backup landing site, Globe correspondent Claire Cummings reports.
"Until they really touch down, you're not really sure," said Williams' s sixth-grade teacher, Angela DiNapoli , who has been e-mailing her former student throughout the six months.
"I'm just glad that she's back," DiNapoli said in a telephone interview. "Deep down inside I knew she'd make it back OK. It was a beautiful landing."
Williams flew back in a reclining position so she could readapt to gravity more easily and underwent an immediate medical checkup. She will be monitored for 45 days and will be on a strict diet and exercise regimen, including swimming.
Williams, 41, was expected to stay overnight in California and return today to Houston, where her family, including her parents, Deepak and Bonnie Pandya , who live in Falmouth, await her arrival.
Williams set an endurance record for the longest space flight by a woman at 195 days. During her stay on the International Space Station, she also set the record for most time spacewalking by a woman.
She told reporters Wednesday that she looked forward to a slice of pizza and walking on the beach with her husband and dog, Gorby. But she was going to miss the space station.
"When you've been somewhere for six months, it becomes your home and it's hard to leave," Williams said.
Williams proudly displayed her Massachusetts roots during her stint on the space station. She talked often of her love of the Red Sox, and ran a version of the Boston Marathon on a special treadmill, while her sister Dina Pandya ran the race on Earth.
In May, Williams held a video conference from space with DiNapoli's students at Newman Elementary in Needham.
-- Globe City & Region section
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 06:27 AM
June 22, 2007
NEEDHAM
Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned to Earth safely Friday, ending a two-week mission to deliver an addition to the international space station and bring home a crew member and Needham native Sunita Williams from the outpost.
Atlantis crossed the Pacific and glided to a stop on a runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California. NASA managers had hoped to land the shuttle in Florida, but bad weather forced controllers to abandon that plan.
It was NASA's first manned flight of the year.
-- AP
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 04:13 PM
June 22, 2007
Clouds hang over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a second day.
(AP Photo by Chris O'Meara)
NEEDHAM
For the second day, rain prevented space shuttle Atlantis from landing at Kennedy Space Center on its first try, leaving NASA managers to decide whether to try a landing in California instead. Needham native Sunita Williams is one of the astronauts on board.
"Our mindset down here is we're going to land you somewhere safely today," Mission Control told the shuttle crew Friday morning.
The first landing attempt at California's Edwards Air Force Base, the shuttle's usual backup landing site, would be at 3:49 p.m. If the weather cleared up over Florida before then, NASA could instead try bringing the shuttle into Kennedy at 3:55 p.m.
"We're going to take a hard look at (Kennedy) at the next rev ... and we'll also be looking at Edwards," Mission Control told Atlantis' astronauts.
Despite the initial wave off, Atlantis' astronauts took two steps in preparation for landing -- they put on their orange spacesuits and closed the shuttle's payload bay doors, which are kept opened during flights to keep heat from building up.
The crew has five chances Friday to land, the first had been at 2:18 p.m. in Florida and the last at 6:59 p.m. in California. If the weather spoils all those opportunities, mission managers would try again Saturday, with another backup landing site in New Mexico in the lineup.
The preferred landing site is Kennedy, where it is easier and far cheaper to get Atlantis to its hangar to be prepared for its next mission in December. If it lands in California, it would cost $1.7 million and take up to 10 days to get the shuttle home to Florida aboard a jumbo jet.
Read more about NASA's troubles getting Atlantis home on Boston.com.
-- AP
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:44 PM
June 21, 2007
Ominous clouds fill the sky over the shuttle landing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
(NASA TV image)
NEEDHAM
Space shuttle Atlantis will stay aloft until at least tomorrow due to adverse weather conditions in Florida, delaying Needham native Sunita Williams' return after six months in space, NASA officials said.
"Thunderstorms in the vicinity of Kennedy forced flight controllers to wave off both opportunities today," an update posted on NASA's web site states. "Controllers and the Spaceflight Meteorology Group will closely monitor forecasts for Friday’s opportunities in Florida and at Edwards Air Force Base in California."
-- Ralph Ranalli
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 04:00 PM
June 21, 2007
NEEDHAM
Space shuttle Atlantis, with Needham native Sunita Williams aboard, skipped its first landing opportunity today because of showers and clouds at Kennedy Space Center.
The showers were within 34 miles, and there were clouds within 8,000 feet of the landing strip at Kennedy Space Center, both violations of flight rules, NASA said. The shuttle's next chance to land will be in about two hours, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
-- AP
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:23 PM
June 21, 2007
Even Harry himself seems a little awed by all the hooplah.
(Image courtesy of Warner Brothers via AP)
NEEDHAM
Apparently looking to head off a hype shortage in advance of the July release of the latest Harry Potter movie, the Needham Libary is hosting a free four-week Hogwartsapalooza film fest.
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" will be in theaters next month, so the library is showing each of the four previous Potter movies on successive Fridays in the Community Room.
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone," the first in the series, will be shown tomorrow at 2 p.m. The showings will conclude July 13 with "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
Little wizards, muggles, and their parents are urged to visit the library online for a full list of times and dates.
-- Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:47 AM
June 21, 2007
NEEDHAM
State officials ordered a Needham doctor yesterday to stop practicing medicine, charging that he provided poor care to at least 30 patients, including improperly prescribing strong painkillers to some who later died of overdoses.
In three cases, patients died within several days of their appointments, during which the physician prescribed drugs such as methadone and OxyContin, Globe Heath & Science writer Liz Kowalczyk reported today.
The state Board of Registration in Medicine, which licenses physicians in Massachusetts, said Dr. Joseph Z. Zolot, 56, a specialist in nonsurgical orthopedics, "poses an immediate and serious threat to the public health, safety, or welfare," requiring immediate suspension of his license. The board ordered Zolot to surrender his wall certificate and wallet-size card.
Zolot can appeal the temporary suspension. One of his lawyers, Jeffrey Catalano, did not return a phone call to his Boston office yesterday.
A woman who identified herself as Zolot's wife, Jane , said in a telephone interview last night that her husband was not available. "He denies all the allegations and the decision of the medical board will be appealed. That's all we can say," she said.
Zolot also is under investigation by law enforcement officials. Federal and state officials armed with a search warrant raided his office May 17, seizing dozens of patient records, according to one law enforcement official.
Read more about the suspension of Zolot's license in the Globe's City & Region section.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 07:21 AM
June 20, 2007
NEEDHAM
Astronaut Sunita Williams’s father, Dr. Deepak Pandya, radiated pride today after watching a news conference between the shuttle Atlantis crew and television reporters.
“[Suni] was answering the questions very nicely. She looks good,” said Pandya, of Falmouth. “She appeared to be quite happy.”
The Atlantis is scheduled to land at 1:55 p.m. tomorrow at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Weather forecasts show the possibility of thunderstorms in the area. The landing could be delayed to 3:30 p.m. if the weather is bad, according to NASA.
As the hours tick toward Williams’s return, Pandya said he is focusing on the joy of the occasion rather than the dangers.
“We are God-loving people,” said Pandya. “We leave everything in the hands of God. We don’t worry.”
Pandya acknowledged that last week was a tough one. Astronauts repaired a tear in the shuttle’s thermal blanket and also dealt with a crash in the computers that operate the space station’s oxygen and navigation systems.
“At that time we had many ups and downs in our minds,” said Pandya.
Pandya and his wife, Bonnie, will wait for Williams in Houston, where NASA is headquartered. Only Williams’s husband, Michael, is allowed to meet with the astronaut immediately after her landing in Florida, said Pandya. He said he expects his daughter to arrive in Texas sometime next week. Astronauts may take at least two days to be able to walk after space travel, he said.
After Williams recovers from her six-month stay aboard the International Space Station, the astronaut is planning to travel across the United States and possibly India, said Pandya.
She has received dozens of invitations to talk with schoolchildren in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and her hometown Needham. Pandya said Williams also has received an invitation from the Red Sox to throw the first pitch at one of the team's games.
Even while she's been in space, the astronaut has spoken of embarking on more cosmic adventures, her father said.
“She has talked about going to the moon,” said Pandya.
-- Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Martin Finucane at 05:21 PM
June 20, 2007
A Muslim boy prays for the safe return of astronaut Sunita Williams from space in Ahmadabad, India
(AP photo)
NEEDHAM
Astronaut Sunita Williams’s older sister, Dina Pandya, will breathe a sigh of relief when the shuttle Atlantis lands tomorrow at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a tumultuous 12-day mission.
Pandya watched NASA TV round-the-clock last Thursday after the computer system crashed on the Russian side of the International Space Station. The computers control the craft’s oxygen and navigation systems.
“The quicker she gets home, the better,” said Pandya last week. “Everyone’s totally fine and safe. I feel confident she’ll get home safely.”
The shock of the computer meltdown came after NASA discovered that a piece of the shuttle's heat shield shortly after the June 8 launch. NASA officials have said they believe the heat shield is safe for the shuttle's reentry into the earth's atmosphere.
Williams, a Needham native, spent the last six months aboard the orbiting laboratory. She has logged more time in space than any other woman.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:24 AM
June 19, 2007
NEEDHAM
After astronaut Sunita Williams recuperates from her six-month stay in zero gravity, some of her young fans in Needham are hoping to welcome the space traveler back to her hometown.
Williams has kept in touch with her former sixth-grade teacher, Angela DiNapoli, now a fifth-grade teacher at the Newman elementary school.
DiNapoli's students chatted with Williams via a satellite link before and during her mission. Now they may get to meet the astronaut in person. Williams is planning to visit the school this fall, said DiNapoli.
The Atlantis shuttle undocked from the international space station at 10:42 a.m. today over the Coral Sea north of Australia.
Atlantis circled the space station so that crew members could gather video and photographs of the recently-expanded solar wings. Williams and the crew are scheduled to land at 1:54 p.m. Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The trip hasn't gone completely smoothly.
Dina Pandya, Williams’s older sister, said she watched NASA TV around the clock last Thursday after the computer system crashed on the Russian side of the space station. The computers control the craft’s oxygen and navigation systems.
The computer meltdown came after NASA discovered a tear in the thermal blanket that protects Atlantis during re-entry. The tear, discovered after the shuttle's June 8 launch, has been repaired.
“The quicker she gets home the better,” Pandya, of Falmouth, said last week. “Everyone’s totally fine and safe. I feel confident she’ll get home safely.”
Williams has logged more time in space than any other woman.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Martin Finucane at 02:41 PM
June 18, 2007
NEEDHAM
The Curves for Women fitness chain is again trying to set up shop in Needham -- this time above the Starbucks at 902-910 Highland Avenue -- regrouping after an unsuccessful attempt to locate the fitness studio on Chestnut Street.
The Planning Board is expected to vote on Curves franchisee Owner Cathy Frost's application tomorrow. Planning Director Lee Newman said she expects the board to approve Frost’s application, though members will likely set parking limits and restrict the number of people who can use the facility throughout the day.
Frost’s original application to open on Chestnut Street failed two years ago after the Planning Board decided the fitness studio did not offer a one-on-one service – a zoning requirement for that district. She applied for a zoning change to allow fitness facilities in Town Center, and Town Meeting approved her request in May 2006. After finally receiving the Planning Board's approval to open on Chestnut Street, Frost scrapped the plan after running into building code problems.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:38 AM
June 15, 2007
NEEDHAM
Town planners will soon next week conceptual plans for the redevelopment of Needham Center, the Heights, and the Chestnut Street Business District. Residents also will learn why businesses such as the Gap never come to town – and why Needham is fast becoming the retail banking capital of the western suburbs.
The Planning Board and the Needham Center Study Committee will discuss the existing land use, zoning, parking, traffic, transportation and local market trends at an informational meeting later this month.
Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick said she has made it her goal to revitalize Needham’s local economy.
Over the past two years, the town has approved a 350-unit affordable housing project in the Needham Business Center. The town also has aimed to revamp the Heights section of town, by green-lighting the jazz restaurant Blu on Highland and paving the way for a combination apartment and business complex in the vacant gas station on 868 Highland Avenue.
The informational meeting will take place Monday, June 25, from 7 to 9:45 p.m., at the Broadmeadow school’s Performance Center.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:09 AM
June 10, 2007
Needham High School Principal Paul Richards
(Globe staff photo by Tom Landers)
NEEDHAM
Needham High School Principal Paul Richards has revised the substance abuse policy to include safeguards against the abuse of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.
Students who are under the influence of alcohol, illegal drugs, and now legal drugs used illegally will be suspended for at least three days. Students possessing these drugs on campus without permission from a nurse will be suspended for at least five days with the possibility of expulsion. Distributing drugs, legal and illegal, is grounds for at least a 10 day suspension or expulsion.
Richards also revised the code to include mandatory substance abuse counseling within 30 days of a violation.
In April, Superintendent Daniel E. Gutekanst and Police Chief Thomas J. Leary agreed to collaborate to prevent juvenile substance abuse and violence on and off campus. Gutekanst also implemented a zero tolerance policy in which students who bring drugs, weapons, or cause violence on campus can be prosecuted.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:08 AM
June 8, 2007
After six months in space, astronaut Sunita Williams is heading home.
(NASA photo)
NEEDHAM/OUTER SPACE
When astronaut and Needham High School graduate Sunita Williams arrives home in eleven days, members of her family will travel to Houston to quietly welcome her and help her physically recover, her sister Dina Pandya, tells Globe West.
Since Williams’s muscle and bone mass have likely weakened during her six month mission aboard the International Space Station, said her sister, who will care for her during her first week home from space. Pandya, a web developer for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute who lives in Falmouth, said she hopes to get her sister up and walking along the beach as soon as possible.
Williams' mother, Bonnie Pandya, will care for Williams for the next month.
Williams' ride home, the Atlantis space shuttle, is scheduled to take off tonight at 7:38 p.m., as long as weather conditions are clear during the ten-minute launch window. The mission will last eleven days with a seven person crew.
--Lauren K Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:33 PM
June 8, 2007
NEEDHAM
Massachusetts Board of Education Chairman Christopher R. Anderson is considering the Needham Science Center as a model for school districts across the state, according to Needham Superintendent Daniel E. Gutekanst.
Anderson was scheduled on Tuesday to tour the mini-museum housed at the Newman elementary and talk with officials from 9 a.m. to noon. The Science Center contains a menagerie of 80 animals, a display room of exhibits, and a library of classroom activity kits. The school district almost shuttered the Science Center’s doors after a $1.48 million override failed in April 2006.
Fundraisers won the Science Center a yearlong reprieve; Gutekanst put the museum back into the budget after cutting at least one staff member. Anderson also serves as the president of Massachusetts High Technology Council, having been a council member since 1984.
Former Governor Mitt Romney appointed him in 2006 to head the state board of education.
– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:50 AM
June 7, 2007
A prototype of a low-cost laptop for the One Laptop Per Child program. The machine is powered by the hand crank.
(Image courtesy of One Laptop Per Child)
NEEDHAM
One hundred virtual game developers, educators, writers, musicians and artists will flock to Olin College tomorrow for the first-ever Game Jam to benefit the non-profit organization One Laptop Per Child.
Game developers will work for three days to create educational games, which will be distributed to children in developing nations.
After the conference, the games will be available on SourceForge.net, and open source software development website, so that folks at home can experiment. One Laptop Per Child, a Cambridge-based nonprofit, is working to upgrade worldwide educational standards in part by distributing low-cost laptops to children around the world.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:20 AM
June 4, 2007
Sunita Williams (left) on one of her four spacewalks.
(NASA photo)
NEEDHAM
Two Russian cosmonauts living with Needham native Sunita Williams on the International Space Station completed last a 5-hour, 25-minute space walk last week with her help.
Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov installed debris protection panels on the Russian side of the craft. They are scheduled for another space walk on Wednesday. Williams, who has conducted more spacewalks than any other woman, guided the first-time spacewalkers from inside the space station.
Williams has completed four spacewalks since arriving on the orbiting laboratory in December. She is currently preparing for her June 8 mission home.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:55 AM
May 29, 2007
Steven Branfman can now create his dream of an artists' collective in Needham.
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
NEEDHAM
Potter Steven Branfman has received a thumbs up from the Zoning Board of Appeals to renovate and convert the 114-year-old Thorpe Street Mill into an artists' cooperative with 30 studios.
When asked by the board to define which types of artists will be allowed to use the property, Branfman said it would be open to a wide mix, including sculptors, jewelry designers, painters, landscape architects, graphic designers, musicians, Web architects, and craft makers.
Branfman who runs a business called The Potters Shop inside the mill, is purchasing the building for $100,000 from his close friend and landlord Lewis Cohen. Since January, the potter has been trying to save the mill from being sold to real estate developers who covet the woodsy property near the high school.
Now that he has the town’s permission, Branfman said he will commission the architectural blueprints and put the construction out to bid in the next few weeks. He he said he hopes to have the project started by August.
-– Lauren K. Meade
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:39 AM
May 24, 2007
Needham High's new rallying cry: "We're No. 1,028!"
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
DOVER/SHERBORN/WELLESLEY/WESTON/
NEWTON/WAYLAND/NEEDHAM
Six schools in Globe West have made Newsweek’s newly released 2007 “America’s Best High Schools” list, including Dover-Sherborn High School, which ranked second highest in the state.
Of the over 1200 public schools on the list, Dover-Sherborn ranked 127th, Weston High School 186th, Wellesley High School 487th, Wayland High School 686th, Newton South High School 714th, and Needham High School 1028th. The state’s highest ranking school was Boston Latin School, which at 76th was the only Massachusetts school to make the top 100.
Rankings are based on only one factor: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors. Newsw | 
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