Births per 1,000 residents in 2010

By Matt Carroll, Boston Globe | May 2, 2013

Click here to see a larger, interactive version of this chart.
Additional town-by-town snapshots.

By Laura Gomez, Globe Correspondent

Young Massachusetts artists and writers were honored with national medals— 57 for art and 35 for writing— in the 90th Annual National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, according to a press release.

All the Massachusetts students qualified for this national competition by winning Gold Keys from the Boston Globe Scholastic Art & Writing Awards contest.

With 92 local students honored, Massachusetts was the country’s fourth largest medal winner. These winning students, grades 7-12, represented 58 schools, and 44 cities and towns in the state.

With 10 awards, Buckingham Browne & Nichols in Cambridge ranked first among Massachusetts schools.

Of the Gold Medal winners:

• Victoria White, a junior at Milton Academy, won “Best in Grade” for her poetry


• Lim Chungha from the Walnut Hill School in Natick won an American Vision Award for painting


• Imogene Robinson, from the Governor’s Academy in Byfield, won an American Voices Award for a short story


• Anna Xie, from the O’Bryant School Math/Science in Boston, won a $10,000 scholarship for her writing portfolio. Only five such writing scholarships were awarded nationally.

Winning students from around the country will be honored at a ceremony in Carnegie Hall in New York on May 31, 2013.

Winning artwork will remains on exhibit in the State Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, through April 19. It will be open to the public for free weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Saturdays; and open Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Here is a complete list of the Massachusetts winners:

Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Acton

Amanda Davies, 12th grade, "Lost" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Oakmont Regional High School, Ashburnham

Meghan Garven, 12th grade, (Category- Art Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Tanner Gauvin ,11th grade, "Think" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Avon Middle High School, Avon

Ivanna Depina, 10th grade, "Pink" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Quabbin Regional High School, Barre

Rachel Perry, 10th grade, "The Piggy Bank" (Category- Art, Ceramics & Glass) Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Allyson St. Pierre, 10th grade, "Take Out" (Category- Art, Ceramics & Glass)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Belmont High School, Belmont

Kimberly Paquette,10th grade, "Reaching" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Talin Tahajian, 11th grade, "Chrysanthemums," "Of Blood and Butter," "The time is ticking," "A Beautiful Commotion," "Carrion" (Category- Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Amy Wang, 10th grade, "Wang In A Blanket" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Samantha Xu, 10th grade, "Royal Flush" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Winthrop L Chenery Middle School, Belmont

Hayoung Jo, 8th grade, "Untitled" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Paul Roche, 8th grade, "Six Eye Portrait" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Julia Siegel, 8th grade, "Indigo with Flower Pot" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Boston College High School, Boston

Alexander Bailey, 12th grade, "The Happiness Salesman" (Category- Writing, Short Story)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Boston Latin, Boston

Dara Lin, 8th grade, "Confictura Bella" (Category- Writing, Science Fiction/Fantasy) Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Cole Wennerholm, 7th grade, "Poverty" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Commonwealth School, Boston

Melanie Abrams, 12th grade, "What She Learned" (Category- Writing, Flash Fiction) Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Francesco Drake, 10th grade, "Green Bottle" (Category- Art, Ceramics & Glass)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

International School of Boston, Boston

Louis Block, 12th grade, (Category- Writing Portfolio, Writing Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

O'Bryant School Math/Science, Boston

Anna Xie, 12th grade, (Category- Writing Portfolio, Writing Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Brockton High School, Brockton

Kevin Francois, 12th grade, "Shock And Awe" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Kate Cutlip, 12th grade, "untitled" (Category- Art, Printmaking)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Southfield School, Brookline

Ji Hyun Yeo, 8th grade, "Reflections Of Twisted Time Phase" (Category- Art, Drawing) Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Home School, Burlington

Jinsung Kim, 8th grade, "My House" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Burlington High School, Burlington

Christopher Coe, 12th grade, (Category- Art Portfolio, Art Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal with Distinction

Marshall Simonds Middle School, Burlington

Alyssa Healey, 8th grade, "2 Of A Kind" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

The Governor's Academy, Byfield

Myles Badger, 12th grade, "The Cotton Gin Curse" (Category- Writing, Personal Essay/Memoir)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Imogene Robinson, 12th grade, "The Cookbook" (Category- Writing, Short Story)
Awards: Gold Key American Voices Medal, Gold Medal

Helen Shi, 10th grade, "Clinging On Death" (Category- Art, Ceramics & Glass)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, Cambridge

Alberto Ancona, 11th grade, "True Happiness" (Category- Writing, Science Fiction/Fantasy)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Wenli Bao, 12th grade, "Soundproof" (Category- Writing, Personal Essay/Memoir)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Wenli Bao, 12th grade (Category- Writing Portfolio, Writing Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal with Distinction

Harry Bator, 10th grade, "Dimmer;" "How It Was Done;" "Scorn;" "Monument" (Category- Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Ami Clifford, 12th grade, "Joy Division" (Category- Writing, Short Story)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Sarah Dahl, 10th grade, "Bus" (Category- Writing, Short Story)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Jake Kuhn, 12th grade, "Holy Cow! A Profile of Dairy Farmer and Cow Caretaker Edgar Pless" (Catergory- Writing, Journalism)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Caitlin McCarey, 12th grade, "The Doctor Of Delight: A Profile Of Jay Stewart" (Catergory- Writing, Journalism)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Margery Tong, 12th grade, (Category- Writing Portfolio, Writing Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal with Distinction

Margery Tong, 12th grade, "Mori, The Lefty" (Category- Writing, Journalism)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Carlisle School, Carlisle

Daria Pietropaolo, 8th grade, "Hole In The Blanket," "Leaf," "Fence," "Monster Mud," "Yola's Little Italian Dictionary" (Category- Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Concord-Carlisle High School, Concord

Emilie Carr, 12th grade, (Category- Art Portfolio, Art Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Hannah Ryde, 12th grade, (Category- Art Portfolio, Art Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal with Distinction

Alexandra Mackenzie, 12th grade, "Hydrant" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Home School, Concord

Miranda Cashman, 12th grade, (Category- Writing Portfolio, Writing Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

St. John's Preparatory School, Danvers

Liam Viles ,11th grade, "Untitled" (Category- Art, Printmaking)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Noble and Greenough School, Dedham

Akshan Dealwis, 11th grade, "When The Gods Leave" (Category- Writing, Personal Essay/Memoir)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Irena Maria Maier11th grade, "Karamazov Shock: My Non-epiphanic Epiphany" (Category- Writing, Personal Essay/Memoir)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Everett High School, Everett

Kevin Angulo, 12th grade, "Boylston Puddle Reflection" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Paul Vu, 11th grade, "Racing At The Speed Of Light" (Category- Art, Photography) Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

John F Kennedy Middle School, Florence

Mairead Blatner, 8th grade, "Pro Bono" (Category- Writing, Science Fiction/Fantasy)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Luke Haas, 8th grade, "Stock Of The Season" (Category- Writing, Humor)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Hunakai Studio of Fine Art, Foxborough

Elizabeth Civetti, 9th grade, "Apples" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Georgetown Middle/High School, Georgetown

Hannah Olbash, 12th grade, "Dark Walk" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School, Hamilton

Justin Finkenaur, 12th grade, "Elephant" (Category- Art, Sculpture)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Notre Dame Academy School, Hingham

Anya Petit, 12th grade, (Category- Art Portfolio, Art Portfolio)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Alaina Taylor, 10th grade, "Untitled" (Category, Writing, Flash Fiction)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Performing and Fine Arts High School, Lawrence

Elissa Salas, 11th grade, "Self Portrait" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Jonas Clarke Middle School, Lexington

Eva Kjelsberg, 8th grade, "Alone" (Category: Art, Digital Art)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Lexington Montessori School, Lexington

Alexander Lehr, 8th grade, "The Empty Men" (Category- Writing, Science Fiction/Fantasy)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

William Diamond Middle School, Lexington

Catherine Wang, 8th grade, "Chiesa Farm" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Longmeadow High School, Longmeadow

Kathryn Higham, 12th grade, "Sharpie Dress" (Category- Art, Fashion?
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Brookwood School, Manchester

Elizabeth Irvin, 8th grade, "Permanent" (Category- Writing, Flash Fiction)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Sebastian Carpenter, 8th grade, "Insect I" (Category- Art, Sculpture)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Manchester Essex Regional High School, Manchester

Julia Paccone, 11th grade, "Organic Glamour" (Category- Art, Fashion)
Awards: Gold Key, American Visions Nominee | Silver Medal

Marshfield High School, Marshfield

Lily Celino, 10th grade, "Shoes" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Melrose Middle School, Melrose

Gerard Frasca, 8th grade, "Landscape, Portugal" (Category: Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Milton Academy, Milton

Olivia Atwood, 12th grade, "The Conservative Synagogue At 11 East 11th Street," "Burglary at 88 Allerton," "Senior Year in Five Haikus," "La Guerra Sucia." (Category- Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Jessica Blau, 12th grade, "Tectonics," "The Things I'll Never Tell My Mother," "Mermaids" (Category- Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key, AVN | Gold Medal

Jonathan Esty, 12th grade, "On the Removal of the Bald Eagle" (Category- Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key/Silver Medal

Sarah Hombach, 12th grade, "An Agriculture Major" (Category- Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key/Gold Medal

Victoria White, 11th grade, "Oncology," "Blackberry Winter," "Hardening," "Past Tense" (Category- Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key | Best in Grade, Gold Medal

Walnut Hill School, Natick

Emily Kessler, 11th grade, "Monopoly" (Category- Writing, Personal Essay/Memoir)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Chungha Lim, 11th grade, "Portrait Of Conveyance" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key, AVN | American Visions Medal, Silver Medal

Needham High School, Needham

Noah Baker, 12th grade, "Uncle John #11" (Category: Art, Mixed Media)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Newburyport High School, Newburyport

Jillian Conway, 11th grade, "Untitled" (Category: Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Newton North High School, Newton

Audrey Derobert, 12th grade, "1 In 8 Teenagers Have Self Harmed" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Xiang Ding, 12th grade, "Beach" (Category: Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Newton South High School, Newton

Olivia Hamilton, 11th grade, "Tractor" (Category: Art, Sculpture)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough

Jessica Sheldon, 12th grade, "Moonlit Adventure" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Landmark School, Pride's Crossing, Beverly

Phoebe Britton, 12th grade, "Self-portrait In White" (Category- Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Corey Kramer 11th grade, "Red Riding Hood" (Category- Art, Printmaking)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Berkshire School, Sheffield

Kevin Xu, 9th grade, "Self-Portrait" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: GoldKey/Gold Medal

Fay School, Southborough

Soo Hyun Hong, 8th grade, "Three Apples" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Coyle & Cassidy High School, Taunton

Mercedes Lamb, 11th grade, "Cuppa Dolphin" (Category- Art, Digital Art)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Masconomet Regional High School, Topsfield

Allin Skiba, 11th grade, "Baseball" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Innovation Academy Charter School, Tyngsborough

Spencer Royston, 8th grade, "The Storm" (Category- Writing, Personal Essay/Memoir)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Wayland High School, Wayland

Jameson Hunt, 10th grade, "Ashen" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Wellesley High School, Wellesley

Anya Pineau, 10th grade, "Dressing Up" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Gold Medal

Wellesley Middle School, Wellesley

Sam Baltrus, 8th grade, "Scream" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Westborough High School, Westborough

Benjamin Li, 10th grade, "Uncertainty" (Category- Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Minnechaug Regional High School, Wilbrham

Emily Zheng, 11th grade, "White Days" (Category- Writing, Personal Essay/Memoir)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Wilmington High School, Wilmington

Ryan Clark, 11th grade, "Cranes" (Category- Art, Photography)
Awards: Gold Key | Silver Medal

Sixteen high schools throughout the state have been named Sweet 16 regional finalists in the 28th Annual Statewide High School Mock Trial Program presented by the Massachusetts Bar Association, according to a press release. They will continue in the program by competing in trials throughout this week.

The Mock Trial Program places high school teams in a simulated courtroom situation, where they take on the roles of plaintiff attorneys, defense attorneys and witnesses. Local attorneys serve as both team coaches and judges for the trials.

This year’s criminal case, the prosecution alleges the defendant poisoned and killed his great-aunt by tampering with her medication. The defense claims the great-aunt either died of a natural heart attack or was murdered by either her live-in caretaker or another relative upset about her reduction of their inheritance.

The Sweet 16 winners vied for their titles by competing in trials throughout January and February. More than 130 high schools across the state initially signed up to participate in the program.

After this week's trials, the 16 regional winners will be whittled down to eight teams. Those eight will compete next week for a chance to reach the semi-final elimination round, where four teams will face off during trials held simultaneously on March 18 in Boston and Worcester.

The two remaining teams will compete for the state championship on March 20 in the Great Hall of Boston's Faneuil Hall. In 2012, The Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School of South Hadley won the state championship, its second in a row, and competed in the national tournament.

Here are the 16 regional winners:

Region 1: Cape Cod Academy, Osterville

Region 2: Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro

Region 3: Marshfield High School

Region 4: Wayland High School

Region 5: Sharon High School

Region 6: Franklin High School

Region 7: The Winsor School, Boston

Region 8: Maimonides School, Brookline

Region 9: Winthrop Sr. High School

Region 10: Marblehead High School

Region 11: Lexington High School

Region 12: Chelmsford High School, North Chelmsford

Region 13: Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School, Devens

Region 14: Holy Name Central Catholic High School, Worcester

Region 15: Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School, South Hadley

Region 16: Southwick-Tolland Regional High School

Sgt. Christopher Graham knocks on a home in Marshfield, performing a health and wellness check. During state emergencies, members of the Massachusetts National Guard do these checks to assess the needs of citizens in severely affected areas by speaking with them directly and providing additional assistance as needed. Photo by Massachusetts National Guard

DARREN MCCOLLESTER/GETTY IMAGES

A seawall breached in Scituate Saturday morning amid a lacerating nor’easter that kept pounding, dusk to dawn. Water poured onto Ocean Avenue and surrounding streets, spurring frantic calls from residents pleading for evacuation.

Town officials planned a 5 pm news conference to update the media on the damage from the snow storm. Here is a Globe video of high tides in Scituate, Plymouth and Hull.

Around the south shore, images and reports continued to come in regarding damage from the storm surge.

This video posted Saturday morning by Michael Page shows high tide coastal flooding in Hingham. Page reports by Twitter that Hingham received about 19-inches.

Scituate police sent this photo of a tree down to Your Town Correspondent Jessica Bartlett. You can follow Jessica's coverage on Twitter @jessmayb3.

According to Twitter reports collected by Bartlett Saturday morning, Duxbury is about 90% without power, many roads are impassable and it will be several days until full restoration. A couple hundred people in Hingham are without power. Power was out in Weymouth in the morning, but was later restored.

"Post island road in #Quincy doesn't have water in roads but marsh is full. In the meantime, folks having snow parties,'' Bartlett tweeted around 11 am Saturday.

The Globe's Metro Desk blog reported that more than 2,000 members of the National Guard have been mobilized and many are stationed in communities from Hull to Sandwich, evacuating residents or getting in position in case they need to do so.

“The surge and the flooding there is definitely an issue for us,” said Major General L. Scott Rice, commander of the Massachusetts National Guard. “We’re getting our high-water vehicles out there and in place to start moving people out of there.”

National Guardsmen were already helping to evacuate Hull, where officials had encouraged residents to leave; they are now moving to Marshfield, Scituate, and Weymouth, and Salisbury.

Here is our story posted last night. Globe reporter Akilah Johnson can be followed on Twitter @akjohnson1922.

Go to the boston.com homepage for more updates.

"This has been a top 10 storm for many people and the biggest snowstorm ever in terms of snow totals for others. Portland, ME set a new all-time snow total record,'' Boston.com Weather Wisdom blogger David Epstein wrote in a post that lists snow fall totals for the region.

Meanwhile, the AP reports that the U.S. Postal Service has suspended mail delivery and will keep post offices closed in all six New England states because of the blizzard that has dumped more than 2 feet of snow throughout the region.

Here's a Hingham photo Tweeted by Michael Page of Hinghamweather.com:

The With a huge snowstorm heading toward the region, the Valentine’s Dessert Tasting at the James Library and Center for the Arts, originally scheduled for Friday, Feb. 8, has been postponed until Friday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m.

“All of our vendors were able to reschedule and will be here,” director Caroline Chapin said. “We’re rescheduling for the safety of our vendors and guests.”

All tickets will be honored for the snow date. To read about this event, click here.

For more information, visit www.jameslibrary.org.

By Liam O'Kennedy, Globe Correspondent

A team of Massachusetts eighth-graders has flattened its East Coast opponents in the preliminary rounds of the Football University National Championship, and is one of four squads still standing in the elite, 64-team national tournament.

By Zach Mertz, Guest Columnist

Rock Salt is the most commonly used method for melting that pesky winter ice that builds up on our roads, driveways, and front stoops. It's cheap and easy to apply and, frankly, it does a darn good job. But before you go out and douse your driveway to keep Santa from taking a nasty spill this year, there’s a few things you should know. Rock salt is a very corrosive and concentrated substance, which can cause problems for your local plants, animals, and waterways. Not to mention it can do pretty serious number on your paintjob.

What’s that you say? It's just salt which exist in nature anyways, so what’s the big deal? Well...you're right. Rock salt is essentially just large chunks of sodium chloride minerals, the same stuff you used to salt those holiday cookies, but the danger comes in the amount, not from the chemical makeup.

In nature it's all over the place. It’s in the soil, the air, the ocean, heck humans are made of about 1% salt, but it always subscribes to a natural balance. When you dump a large input of salt into a system that is not equipped to deal with it, it can upset the balance and cause real problems for plants and animals.

So here’s where it becomes your problem. Salt is water soluble, meaning that it dissolves into water and becomes a component of the fluid. It then can flow with the water wherever it is headed and ends up wherever the topography flattens out. When you use it to melt ice in your driveway it does just that, and flows off of your impermeable driveway until it gets absorbed or pools somewhere flat.

Now this is troublesome because most often driveways are designed on a down slope to allow excess water to runoff of them. This means that the salty water will either runoff onto your lawn, or into the street where it will continue flowing into a storm drain, culvert, or water feature.

If it ends up in your lawn, its pretty much game over for your grass. The salty water is absorbed into the soil which lowers the PH, making the soil more acidic, which inhibits nutrient and water transfer to the plants that grow there. It’s just like if you eat too much salty popcorn and have to drink more fluids to balance yourself out. When excess salt is present plants need more water to compensate which they may not be able to get.

Additionally, the animals that depend on eating your lawn to survive also get the short end of the stick. They are left either with no food, or the food they do get is very high in salt which can cause health problems, namely salt poisoning. Salt is also an irritant, especially in high concentrations, which means pets and wildlife with pads on the bottoms may get superficial burns.

Let's say that your property is safe from salt damage and you’re one of those households whose excess water drains directly into the street, you’re off the hook right? Sorry, no such luck. When saline water flows onto an impermeable surface like the street it just keeps on trucking until it either gets absorbed and ruins some other poor sap's lawn, or it makes its way into some sort of storm water drainage infrastructure, be it a drain, culvert, drainage ditch, river, stream or something of the like.

As we know, many of these outlets feed directly into freshwater systems like the local river or stream in an effort to prevent flooding and dilute pollution inputs. The funny thing about salt and freshwater is that a very small concentration of sodium chloride can have an disproportionately large effect on water quality. It only takes a pinch to degrade water past the point where it is no longer safe for consumption. So when you get a whole community salting their driveways and the runoff is coagulating in the same drainage systems, it can really cause some serious damage. Come springtime when everything starts flowing again, plants and wildlife that use streams as drinking and food sources are heavily impacted.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Great now I feel bad, but I still don’t have a solution to my ice problem." Have no fear: there are a number of environmentally friendly ice melters that will do the trick. As this issue has gained more notoriety in recent years, people have developed all sorts of new commercial solutions to take care of the problem without angering the local raccoon population. Here at the New England Wildlife Center, we came up with our own home-brew to melt ice using things we found in our freezer, and it works pretty well. Check out this video link for our recipe, and have a good winter.

Note: For another resource for alternative ideas to road salt, click here.

Zach Mertz is a resource development associate at the New England Wildlife Center. This blog post is not written or edited by Boston.com or the Boston Globe. The author is solely responsible for the content.

View pictures here of some of the wild animals that the center has rescued.

Photo by Bruce Rogovin

Elisa Rastelli of Norwell (left), Isabel Mallon of Plymouth (center), and Katy Connolly of Hingham will dance the lead role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the South Shore Ballet Theatre's production of "The Nutcracker" this season.

Tchaikovsky's seasonal favorite will be performed at Derby Academy in Hingham at 2 and 6 p.m. on both Dec. 8 and 9. A total of 90 children will be split into three casts for the four shows.

The South Shore Ballet Theatre, located in Hanover, offers classes for dancers age 3 to adult. This will be its fifth annual production of "The Nutcracker."

Unlike many Nutcrackers, the SSBT doesn't use adult dancers for the lead roles, said Artistic Director Mathavan McKeon. Every part will be played by dancers age 17 and younger, except for the parents in the opening party scene.

"It's all about the students," said McKeon. "We don't water down the choreography; we make them work hard."

According to McKeon, this Nutcracker uses choreography that has been passed down from generation to generation, and mirrors the dancing seen in major dance ensembles.

"We don't want to be a professional company. We want to be a pre-professional school,'' said McKeon. "If they want to move on to professional careers, they have to learn these skills to be successful."

Tickets for the shows are $15, and all seats are reserved. For more information, visit the SSBT's website.