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October 20, 2007
NEWTON
Kathy Glick-Weil has announced she will retire as director of the Newton Free Library in January, with plans to move to Pennsylvania with her dog, Nino to volunteer at hospitals and nursing homes.
Glick-Weil, the library's director for 14 years, also served as president of the Massachusetts Library Association last year. She made headlines last year when she made FBI anti-terrorism agents wait nearly nine hours to seize three computers by insisting that they get a warrant.
Glick-Weil will remain in her position until Jan. 2, when she will move to Bethlehem, Pa., to join her husband, Gordon, who on July 1 began serving as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Moravian College.
A celebration in her honor will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 2 in the Newton Free Library's main branch, at 330 Homer St.
-- Megan Woolhouse
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:17 AM
October 19, 2007
DOVER
Hollywood location scouts have set their eyes on the intersection of Springdale Avenue and Farm Street in Dover for a country road scene and another scene for the upcoming horror file "The Box" starring Cameron Diaz.
The production, directed by Richard Kelly, is also asking to shoot at Baggs Field, according to Police Chief Joseph G. Griffin, who brought the filmmakers' request before the board of selectmen. The production must get town approval to film at night and to film at Baggs Field, which is conservation property.
Board chairwoman Kathleen Weld asked that the location scout come before the board at its Nov. 1, 2007 meeting to address concerns over noise, lighting and logistics of the proposed shoots.
-- Nadia Salomon
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:31 AM
October 19, 2007
HOLLISTON
The sporting goods company REI has given a $10,000 grant to the Holliston Trails Committee, to support the committee's efforts to create bike trails in town.
The committee is attempting to create bike paths that would eventually connect with trails in Ashland, Milford, and Sherborn.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:41 AM
October 18, 2007
NATICK/REGION
Natick-based Boston Scientific Corp., facing flagging sales for its two key product lines, has announced that will eliminate 2,300 jobs, or 8 percent of its worldwide workforce, restructure parts of its business, and go forward with plans to shed some less-critical assets.
The Natick maker of medical devices said it expects the cuts, set to begin this month and be substantially completed by 2008, will help it reduce annual expenses by 12 to 13 percent, boost profits, and make it easier to cope with the firm's crushing $8 billion in debt, staff writer Todd Wallack reported in the Globe's Business section.
Boston Scientific, the state's third-largest life sciences company, behind Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc., did not say where the job cuts will be made. But only 2,400 of its 28,000 workers are in Massachusetts, suggesting that a fraction of the layoffs will be in the Bay State. Boston Scientific employs nearly 1,000 at its corporate headquarters in Natick and about 1,000 at its endosurgery unit in Marlborough, which makes products for minimally invasive surgery.
Another 500 employees work at the Quincy distribution center, but some analysts think Minnesota, where the company's stent business is based, could bear the brunt of the layoffs.
"I don't think it will have a significant impact at all on total employment in the medical device industry in Massachusetts," said Thomas J. Sommer, president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council.
Read more about the looming cuts at Boston Scientific on Boston.com.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:11 AM
October 18, 2007
WATERTOWN
A Watertown man is being held on bail after he allegedly went to his ex-girlfriend's home in Hatfield home where he said he wanted "one of the troopers there to shoot him to commit suicide," the Springfield Republican newspaper is reporting on its web site.
Robert L. Nicol, a 49-year-old former Northampton Police sergeant, was arrested by state police early Saturday morning after holding more than a half-dozen police officers at bay and asking them to shoot him, according to a report from state police.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:06 AM
October 18, 2007
Newton's Brae Burn Country Club reported on 2006 tax forms it had assets of $21 million and income of $9 million.
(Globe file photo)
REGION
Call it municipal fantasy math. There's hardly an official of almost any suburb who has not cast a longing gaze at the campus of a tony private school or the expansive headquarters of a local social-service agency and wished that nonprofit organizations had to pay local taxes on the properties they own.
In Newton, it's a fantasy worth millions. In February, the city's Blue Ribbon Commission, a citizen advisory group, urged officials to confront its five local colleges with a combined assessed property value of $450 million, Globe West bureau chief Erica Noonan reports in today's edition. If Boston College, Lasell College, Mount Ida College, Andover Newton Theological School, and Hebrew College paid property taxes, the city would collect nearly $6 million annually, the commission found.
Framingham, meanwhile, has become the first community to take official action on the dream, formally requesting payments from more than a dozen tax-exempt social service agencies with local holdings. The town's actions are being closely watched in the nonprofit world, concerned that other host towns will attempt to strong-arm nonprofit educational, religious, and charitable institutions - none of which pay local property taxes - into donating payments in lieu of taxes, also known as PILOT arrangements.
Residents and officials alike have focused on affluent local institutions that, by virtue of their tax-exempt status, own properties but pay no real estate taxes. Names of well-heeled suburban educational institutions like Wellesley College and Boston College, both of which reported more than $1.5 billion in assets to the IRS in 2005, surface in discussion groups and letters to the editor when their host communities hit budget crises.
But nonprofits - poor and rich alike - cry foul, saying the payments would threaten their core missions to educate the young, help the needy, or minister to the faithful.
Read more about the tensions between non-profits and their municipal hosts in the online edition of today's Globe West.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:39 AM
October 18, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have stepped up to the plate today with a full lineup of interesting stories from around the region, including:
Staff writer Ralph Ranalli's report on how, with less than a year to go until the MCAS science exams become a mandatory graduation requirement, students in a dozen schools in the region had failure rates of 30 percent or higher on either the biology, chemistry, or physics exams;
Correspondent Kristen Green's story about how Lincoln, a longtime dry town, is in line to see its first drinking establishment as early as next summer;
Correspondent Lisa Keen's story about the debate raging in Wellesley about whether the town can and should use an $825,000 bequest, and raise additional funds, for a freestanding senior center for its aging baby-boomer population, or turn use the money upgrade the modest facilities for seniors currently available at the Wellesley Community Center, and;
Correspondent Tanya Perez-Brennan's report about how the debate over whether Framingham has too many shelters and social service agencies has moved to the internet via a popular local web site.
For a complete listing of all the stories in today's edition of Globe West, visit the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:30 AM
October 17, 2007
UPTON
The main water pump that supplies most of the town of Upton broke down today, prompting local officials to immediately urge conservation efforts in order to avert a crisis.
The town has two days worth of water stored in emergency tanks, town officials said, and workers are trying to install a new pump before that runs out. In the meantime, officials are also trying to arrange backup water from neighboring towns.
"People have to conserve their water," said Marsha Paul, the chairwoman of Upton's Board of Selectmen. "Otherwise there might not be any in the next couple of days."
Paul declared an emergency and authorized funds for the purchase of the new main pump. The broken pump will be repaired and kept in service as a backup, she said.
"I don't want this ever to happen again," she said.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 02:44 PM
October 17, 2007
NEWTON
The creation of new regional cultural arts center in Newton took a step forward last week when the Newton Cultural Alliance received an $18,750 grant to conduct a feasibility study of the project.
The money came from he Massachusetts Cultural Council's Cultural Facilities Fund and will be matched with $31,250 in private donations raised last spring for the project. The city's current Cultural Center is housed in the former Carr School in Newtonville, a building that is being reclaimed by the school department.
State Representative Kay Khan, who has championed the project, noted in a press release that "Newton is a community of artists."
A regional arts center will, Khan said, "enrich the quality of life in the city, while stimulating the creative economy and raising revenue for the entire western suburban Boston region."
The Newton alliance applied for the grant and was one of 62 winners out of 201 applicants. Cultural officials urged anyone seeking more information or looking for ways to get involved in the push for a new cultural center to contact them via e-mail.
-- Megan Woolhouse
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:44 PM
October 17, 2007
WRENTHAM
Selectmen last week tapped Lieutenant Richard J. Gillespie to serve as an Wrentham's interim police chief after the Joseph Collamati retires from the position on Nov. 17.
The board also temporarily promoted Sergeant James E. Anderson to serve as a lieutenant. Both officers earned exam scores that make them eligible for the permanent chief's position, officials said.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:36 AM
October 17, 2007
NORFOLK
Town Meeting voters will decide Tuesday whether the position of Norfolk's town clerk should be appointed by the Board of Selectmen, rather than elected.
If passed, the move would then have to be approved by voters at the ballot box. Town Meeting voters will also decide whether to change the town's bylaws to no longer require a town meeting in the fall. Selectman Jim Lehan said a fall town meeting would still be held in years when one was needed, but the change would give the town more flexibility in scheduling the meetings.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:29 AM
October 17, 2007
WELLESLEY
The town has negotiated a deal to purchase just under one acre of land near the high school for a total of $3.6 million.
The Wellesley Board of Selectmen Monday night gave its approval for the purchase of three residential properties on Seaver Street. The purchase price is almost $800,000 above what town officials had appraised the properties for.
Selectman Katherine Babson, however, praised the three individual homeowners for their willingness to sell the properties to the town, despite the fact that two families have young children and one house was built just two years ago.
The town is purchasing the properties in order to provide more space for a new or renovated high school building. The proposal now goes to the next month's special town meeting, where it will need a two-thirds majority votes to gain approval.
-- Lisa Keen
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:12 AM
October 16, 2007
SPORTS
As a player, Patricia O'Brien won an NCAA Division 3 basketball championship at Salem State College.
As a head coach, she guided the Colby College women's basketball program to the ECAC tournament four times, winning the title in 2001.
Now, she has been hired to turn the fortunes of a Framingham State women's basketball program that has not posted a winning record since the 2002-03 season.
"We really excited to have Trish come on, she comes with pretty good qualifications," said Framingham State College athetic director Tom Kelley. "She's a state college grad, and she knows what it takes to get this program right."
O'Brien, the head women's basketball coach at MIT the past two seasons, will also serve in a newly-created position at Framingham State, recruiting coordinator for athletics. She is the college's only fulltime women's coach.
"The college did an extensive study, and with so many part-time coaches, a recruiting coordinator was one of our top needs.," said Kelley. "This will allow us to streamline our efforts in recruiting. This is a start. And because 70 percent of our students are women, we need to start adding fulltime women's coaches."
O'Brien started her head coaching career at Rivier College (1992-95) before compiling a 140-115 mark in 10 seasons at Colby (1996-2005), winning the ECAC crown in 2001. Last week, she resigned as head coach at MIT, where she compiled an 11-36 mark in two seasons, to accept her new position.
"MIT is a different place to coach, you're kind of dealt a hand," in the recruitment of players, said Kelley. "But she was pretty successful at Colby. She is very competitive and now she's back in charge of her own destiny."
At Salem State, she was a two-time All-MASCAC selection, an All-New England selection and a Kodak District I All-American. She was elected to the college's Hall of Fame in 1994.
Framingham State finished 7-17 a year ago under second-year coach Bob Kelley, who also is the women's field hockey coach at the college.
-- Craig Larson
Posted by Craig Larson, Globe Staff at 03:29 PM
October 16, 2007
WALTHAM
A seven-member selection committee will interview seven candidates this week for the post of Waltham's chief of police, Mayor Jeannette McCarthy said.
Of the seven candidates, four of whom are lieutenants in the department. McCarthy said a city ordinance allows lieutenants to be considered for the post if there are fewer than four internal applicants -- a situation created after a captain and deputy chief removed themselves from consideration last month.
McCarthy said she decided to allow all department lieutenants to apply after she learned that two of them had submitted applications. Captain Thomas LaCroix has been serving as acting police chief since August.
City Personnel Director Brenda Capello will serve as chairwoman of the committee, which also includes Waltham Council of Neighborhood Advocates president Doris Donovan, Council on Aging Director Marybeth Duffy, labor relations and human resources consultant Gerard Hayes, School Committee member Stephen Rando, attorney Soledad Valenciano, and Lynn Police Chief John Suslak.
The committee will give its recomendations on semifinalists for the job to McCarthy, who will make the final decision.
-- Stephanie V. Siek
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:16 AM
October 16, 2007
MILFORD
The proposed expansion of a power plant in Milford has been short-circuited.
Officials at International Power America, which runs a power plant in Milford, said they were recently notified by regional energy regulators that the plant did not qualifty for a upcoming auction for expansion rights in the area.
A company spokesperson said that the reason given was that a key interconnection with the regional power transmission system would not be completed by a 2010 deadline.
The natural gas-fired plant currently generates 140 megawatts during peak usage periods. The proposed expansion would have added a gas turbine to more than double the plant's output during peak loads to 310 megawatts.
The company has already re-submitted qualification documents for the next auction, which has a deadline in 2011, officials said.
-- Nadia Salomon
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:58 AM
October 16, 2007
FRAMINGHAM
The second public hearing on the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority's recent vote to approve toll increases at both the Weston and Allston-Brighton toll plazas by 25 cents each for 2008 will be held on Monday.
Globe West reported earlier this month that western commuters who use the pike will end up paying more than nine times as much in gas taxes and tolls -- the state's two user fees for drivers -- as commuters on the South Shore or in the northwest suburbs if the Turnpike Authority Board gives final approval to the hikes.
A Framingham driver commuting 220 days to Boston now pays a little over $800 in tolls. The increase would bring that annual cost to over $1,000, according to Turnpike board member Mary Z. Connaughton.
This is the last public hearing before the Turnpike board makes its final vote on Oct. 29.
The hearing will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Nevins Hall at the Memorial Building at 150 Concord St.
-- Tanya Perez-Brennan
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:44 AM
October 15, 2007
WESTON
Residents age 50 and over and those with chronic illnesses can get their seasonal flu vacciIne for free at Weston's annual flu clinic on Nov. 20.
Participants are asked -- but not required -- to bring their insurance cards with them. In some cases, the town able to recoup the cost of the shot from a patient's insurance coverage.
The clinic will be held from 10 a.m. until noon at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 57 Brown Street. Anyone seeking more information is being urged to call the Weston Board of Health at 781-893-7320, extension 332.
-- Stephanie V. Siek
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:29 AM
October 14, 2007
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
ASHLAND
There's a modest stone marker and a belt of trees that separate the Hindu priests from the everyday traffic on Route 135. It's enough to isolate a ceremony completely from the rest of life in Ashland.
One rings a small bell, and several devotees join him in chanting. The priest waves a candelabra in front of a deity statue, which is dressed in gold and red robes and bedecked in flower garlands. The light represents consciousness, and the priest will offer it to the small audience standing just outside the sanctum, staff writer Lisa Kocian reports in today's Globe West.
It's the beginning of a ritual that is repeated several times daily at Ashland's Sri Lakshmi Temple, the largest Hindu temple in the area but mostly unknown to its host community. If it weren't for a few teenagers throwing homemade explosives in the parking lot this summer, most area residents probably wouldn't know that the white, intricately carved temple even exists.
Read more about Ashland's hidden Hindu marvel in the online edition of Globe West.
Also, check out this photo gallery with more images of Sri Lakshmi.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:28 AM
October 14, 2007
REGION
Globe West's reporters and correspondents have journeyed across the region to bring you an exciting itinerary of stories and reports in today's edition, including:
Bureau Chief Erica Noonan's story about how fast-growing Orthodox Jewish community that has battled the city for nearly five years scored a major victory last week, defeating the last municipal obstacle to building a 12,000-square-foot synagogue in a residential neighborhood in Newton Highlands;
Correspondent John Dyer's report on how, in a counterintuitive measure practiced throughout Massachusetts, conservation workers are hacking and slashing undeveloped areas to add open fields that will create favorable habitats for deer, songbirds, and other animals;
Correspondent Calvin Hennick's story about how Holliston officials, stunned last month when the lowest bid for a police station came in about $800,000 over the town's budget, plan to slash about $1 million off the project and hope to begin construction in the spring, and;
Correspondent Christina Pazzanese's report about about several large properties in Watertown -- including a nearly 12-acre swath of land at Greenough Boulevard and Arsenal Street that was once used to burn depleted uranium from a Watertown Arsenal nuclear reactor -- that are undergoing close scrutiny to determine how badly contaminated they are and who is responsible for cleaning them up.
For a complete list of stories in today's edition of Globe West, visit the section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:13 AM
October 14, 2007
SHREWSBURY
The town has rebuilt its free cash account to more than $4.85 million for the fiscal year, according to Town Manager Dan Morgado.
Free cash had been eroding since fiscal year 2002, he said, and town officials were focused on putting more into the account, which is considered a sort of town savings account or emergency fund. The solid savings "will bode well for the town when discussing with [bond rating agency] Moody's the town’s fiscal condition when issuing permanent financing this year for the various light, water and fire facilities projects," Morgado said in an announcement.
Morgado added that the town tries to use the money only for capital projects when needed rather than for operational expenses.
-- Lisa Kocian
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:09 AM
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