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CANDIDATES NIGHT - Interested in asking Braintree candidates a few questions about the town’s future? Tomorrow is your chance. A number of civic associations are sponsoring a Candidates’ Night at 7 p.m. at the Cahill Auditorium in Town Hall. Candidates for contested Town Council seats and other boards will attend. The event is sponsored by civic associations from East Braintree, Granite Park, and North Braintree. The moderator will be state Representative Joseph R. Driscoll. Mayor Joseph C. Sullivan will make remarks beforehand. - Matt Carroll

AUTHOR TO SPEAK - Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder will sign and discuss his new book, “Strength in What Remains,’’ at Cohasset High School auditorium on Nov. 1. Kidder won the 1982 Pulitzer in nonfiction for “Soul of the New Machine.’’ His latest book tells the story of a young medical student who flees genocide in Burundi, arriving in New York City with little money and less English. He becomes a doctor and American citizen, returning to build a clinic in his native land. Kidder will sign books at 6:30 p.m. and speak at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available at Buttonwood Book Store and the Paul Pratt Memorial Library. Proceeds from the event benefit the library. - Johanna Seltz

H1N1 CLINIC PLANNED - The Duxbury School Department is planning to hold a H1N1 vaccination clinic at one of the schools this fall. Parents responding to an online survey are supporting a school vaccination clinic, said School Superintendent Sue Skeiber. They are also being asked if they have a preference for Saturday or a school day afternoon. The department said it will try to determine the number of students who would participate to make sure enough vaccine is available. Officials said they would contact parents again with information on specific dates and locations once the vaccine becomes available. - Robert Knox

GREEN GROUP SEEKS MEMBERS - A group of Hanover residents hoping to paint the town green are looking to increase membership. Sustainable Hanover, a band of residents self-described as “environmentally aware,’’ has scheduled a meeting for tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the John Curtis Library, 550 Hanover St. Sustainable Hanover member Rick Bureau said the meeting is open to the public and will focus on “ways to improve the comfort and energy-efficiency in our homes.’’ More information can be found at www.SustainableHanover.org. - Robert Carroll

GOVERNMENT UNDER STUDY - Holbrook Board of Selectmen chairman Robert Powilatis said a study committee still has work to do before the town can consider changing the government structure. The committee was reactivated about a year and a half ago to look at the current setup and make recommendations for changes. It recently came before the Board of Selectmen and spoke in general terms about change, but Powilatis said public hearings and more research is needed. - Kate Augusto

HEAD OF THE WEIR - The Hull Lifesaving Museum will hold its 20th annual Head of the Weir River Race on Saturday. As many as 60 boats are expected, taking off from the start at one-minute intervals. The 5.5-mile course runs from West Corner on the Hingham-Hull-Cohasset line, past Bumpkin Island, and across Hull Bay to the museum’s Windmill Point Boathouse at Hull Gut. Competitors come from all over New England and New York and race in gigs, single and double livery, and workboats, currachs, ocean shells, and kayaks. Best spectator views are from the bridge on George Washington Boulevard - about 10 to 20 minutes after the 11 a.m. start - at the tip of Sunset Point, or at the boathouse. Registration is required; more information is available at www.hulllifesavingmuseum.org, or by calling the museum at 781-925-5433. - Johanna Seltz

WORKSHOP ON COASTAL RISKS - Kingston’s town hall is hosting a workshop session next month geared to local officials, but open to the public, on coastal mapping, sea level rise, and the latest updates on federal flood insurance rate maps. The workshop will be led by staff members of the state’s Office of Coastal Zone Management and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Recent coastal surveying by engineers under the Federal Emergency Management Agency has resulted in changes in coastal hazard mapping, moving some property owners in coastal areas into higher risk zones with consequences for insurance rates and environmental regulatory decisions. The workshop will help participants apply the new maps to ground-level decisions and discuss mapping options and issues such as hurricane evacuation planning. The workshop will take place Nov. 3 at the Kingston town hall’s room 200, 26 Evergreen St., from 9 to 11:30 a.m. - Robert Knox

FORESTER TO LEAD WALK - Forester Phil Benjamin will lead a walk through the Nelson Memorial Forest next Sunday, from 2 to 3 p.m., focusing on woodland stewardship and management. The 130-acre forest was donated to the New England Forestry Foundation in 1958 and fronts on the North River. After the walk, there will be a reception and talk on the forest’s history at the Old School House at Tilden Farm on Highland Street. The event is co-sponsored by the foundation and the North and South Rivers Watershed Association. Participants can register online at www.nsrwa.org or by calling 781-659-8168. - Johanna Seltz

MEALS TAX INCREASED - People eating out in Milton will be paying a little bit more next spring. Town Meeting approved a .75 percent addition to the statewide meals tax of 6.25 percent. The increase takes effect on April 1. Town Meeting members debated the effect on restaurants that have opened this year, as well as other eateries. Selectmen chairman John M. Shields, who noted the increase would add 75 cents to a $100 meal, said the tax would raise an estimated $70,000 for the town. Town Meeting also trimmed the town budget by $331,000 and offered its gratitude to Charles Winchester, a former town moderator who served on numerous other boards and who resigned from the school building committee because of illness. - Matt Carroll

TOWN SEEKING ALTERNATE SITE FOR TURTLES - Norwell officials are looking for a second piece of land to set aside for the endangered Eastern box turtle after a state decision rejected a plan that would have allowed the town to replicate the turtle’s lost habitat on 30 acres adjacent to a proposed new cemetery. Cemetery Committee chairwoman Gertrude Nadeau said town officials have formed an ad-hoc committee to identify another parcel of land after a state decision rejected the town’s first option to replicate the turtle’s habitat. State officials nixed the 30 acre site because it is already a protected habitat under state law. - L.E. Crowley

ROCHE TO FILL IN AS RECREATION DIRECTOR - Susan Roche was recently appointed interim director of the Recreation Department. Pam Rowell, who had been Pembroke’s recreation director for the past 11 years, died on Sept. 26. A Pembroke resident, Roche has been employed in the Recreation Department for the last 10 years, first as clerk and for the past three years as assistant to the director. The commission has decided to initiate a search for a permanent replacement to Rowell in January. Meanwhile, Roche said the department is working on plans for a “Battle of the Bands’’ event in December to raise money for the proposed project to build a skateboard park in town. Rowell had been active in the effort to establish the park. - John Laidler

PRESERVE PROTECTED - State and local officials recently celebrated the town’s acquisition of the Crawley Woodlands Preserve. The 70-acre parcel off Billington Street was purchased from the Crawley family for $2.4 million. The town put $650,000 in Community Preservation Act funds toward the purchase, along with $500,000 in federal money and $1,250,000 from the state. The property is located near Lout Pond, and described by Plymouth’s Conservation Planner Liz Sullivan as “a great example of the type of land we should be permanently protecting.’’ - Emily Sweeney

MARSH TO GET UPGRADE - The Broad Meadows marsh in Quincy is in line for a major facelift. The site is getting a $3.76 million federal upgrade, according to Congressman William Delahunt’s office. The work involves restoring about 80 acres of salt marsh habitat, coastal grassland, and saltwater channels, and ponds. Once completed, the area will see a return of life that normally lives in an estuary. Some of the dredged material will be used to create an upland site with walkways and benches for passive recreation. Work will be overseen by the US Army Corps of Engineers. - Matt Carroll

SHARED VETERANS AGENT EXPLORED - Randolph and Milton have petitioned the state for permission to create a shared veterans’ service district. It is estimated that Randolph could save $25,000 to $30,000 annually through a regional service. State law requires communities with populations in excess of 15,000 to maintain a full-time veterans’ agent. “We are confident that there will not be a negative impact on our ability to ensure our veterans are treated properly,’’ said Executive Secretary Dave Murphy. “The number of cases managed in both communities is reasonable, and we expect the same level of services to continue.’’ The Boards of Selectmen in both towns have approved the proposal. Approval is now necessary from the state’s Division of Veterans Services. - Wendy Chow

PLANS FOR BUS SERVICE ADVANCE - Work on bringing Brockton Area Transit buses to Rockland is in full swing. BAT planners are devising bus routes and estimating fuel costs. The town, in turn, has received a $250,000 grant from the Executive Office of Transportation to help cover planning costs. Other money is coming from local aid that the state withholds to cover Rockland’s assessment within the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority district. Early next year, BAT will have two buses available for Rockland and should provide service for shopping and medical appointments, picking up passengers who subscribe to the service. Town Administrator Allan R. Chiocca has been working with BAT officials to arrange the service. - Steve Hatch

MARITIME CENTER OPENS - After five years of begging, borrowing and bartering, the doors to the Scituate Maritime Center were opened Oct. 15. More than 200 organizers, donors, and volunteers gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony that celebrated the volunteer effort that made the center a reality. “So many people had a hand in making this happen that it’s almost impossible to name everyone. We thank everyone who gave money, donated materials or supplies, or gave of their time,’’ said Howard Kreutzberg, one of the driving forces behind the center’s completion. The center is the focal point of a maritime park that includes a reinvigorated boat yard for commercial and recreational boaters as well as walking trails around the inner harbor. - L.E. Crowley

INGESTED HEROIN RECOVERED - A Weymouth man swallowed five bags of heroin as officers surrounded his car in his driveway earlier this month after a stake-out, police said. Sergeant Rick Fuller said police obtained a warrant for the contents of 58-year-old Bradley Turner’s stomach and recovered the coin-sized bags at South Shore Hospital. Fuller said police also found scales, packing materials, and more drugs inside the house at 35 Fore River Ave. He said police charged Turner and the driver of the car, 52-year-old Deborah Argiro, with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, as well as resisting arrest and assault with a dangerous weapon - for backing the car into a police cruiser behind them. They pleaded not guilty in Quincy District Court. - Johanna Seltz

MYSTERY WRITERS TALK IN DEDHAM - The Friends of the Dedham Public Library and the New England Sisters in Crime will share an evening with mystery writers Jan Brogan, Kate Flora, Sheila Connolly, and Ruth McCarty Thursday, 7-8:30 p.m., at the library, 43 Church St. Free. Visit library.dedham-ma.gov. - Michele Morgan Bolton