By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

Subway service between the Orange Line’s four most northern stations will be replaced by buses after 9 p.m. on several nights this month, according to the MBTA.

Shuttles will run between Oak Grove Station and Sullivan Square Station from 9 p.m. until the end of service on Monday, July 1, Tuesday, July 2 and from Sunday, July 7 through Thursday, July 11, officials said.

The buses, which are accessible for people with disabilities, will stop at those two stations as well as at the two stations in between: Malden Center Station and Wellington Station, according to the T’s website.

Assembly Square Station Project, officials said.

Meanwhile, T officials said that "the Orange Line may experience some minor delays in service due to the Oak Grove Platform Rehabilitation Project." That project, scheduled to continue into September, includes complete reconstruction of the Oak Grove Station platforms. The station will remain accessible for people with disabilities throughout the project.

For more information, contact the MBTA Customer Communications Department at 617-222-3200, TTY: 617-222-5146.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

Somerville police are trying to locate an elderly Somerville man who went missing Sunday night.

Ralph Hergert, 66, was last seen at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday when he left his home at 9 St. James Ave. to take a walk, police said. He is described as about 5' 9" and 200 lbs with gray hair and blue eyes. He was last wearing a red and blue plaid shirt, grey shorts and sandals. Hergert suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

He often walks on main streets in Somerville, Medford and Cambridge. Police received a report Monday morning that Hergert may have been spotted in Kendall Square Sunday night, Deputy police Chief Paul Upton said.

Police are asking that anyone that may have seen Hergert call Somerville Police at (617) 625-1212.

Jarret Bencks can be reached at bencks.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @JarretBencks.

By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

A piece of Medford Street in Somerville will be closed off and on over coming days, according to the MBTA.

Blasting and painting the bridge that carries Medford Street over rail tracks near the intersection with McGrath Highway will close the street from July 1 to July 3, July 5, and July 6 to July 10. Widening the bridge is part of the first phase of the Green Line Extension project.

Southbound traffic will be diverted onto McGrath Highway to Cambridge Street in East Cambridge. Northbound, motorists will take a detour onto South Street, Windsor Street, Windsor Place, Webster Avenue, Prospect Street, then Somerville Avenue, which connects to McGrath Highway.

Jarret Bencks can be reached at bencks.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @JarretBencks.

By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

A Medford woman and a Woburn man who operated massage parlors in communities north of Boston were indicted Wednesday on human trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering charges, according to the Attorney General's office.

Xiu J. Chen, 32, of Medford, and Ronald Keplin, 57, of Woburn allegedly used spas and body massage businesses in Bedford, Billerica, Medford, Reading, Wilmington, and Woburn as fronts for prostitution and money laundering.

Chen and Keplin employed women they recruited from New York and other places along the eastern seaboard, but they kept most of the profits for themselves and reinvested them in the enterprise, according to a statement from Attorney General Martha Coakley. They advertised on websites known for prostitution ads, the statement said.

The women lived in overcrowded housing, sometimes sleeping in the massage parlors where they worked, the statement said.

Chen and Keplin were initially arrested May 13 on multiple counts of trafficking persons for sexual servitude, conspiracy, and deriving support from prostitution. They also face charges of keeping a house of ill fame and money laundering. A Middlesex County Grand Jury handed down the indictments Wednesday.

The businesses they operated included: Bedford Asian Bodywork, Shrine Spa/Billerica Bodywork/Boston Chinese Club, Mystic Health Center in Medford, Body Wellness Center in Reading, Body Language in Wilmington, and Asian Bodywork in Woburn, according to prosecutors.

The date of arraignment was not immediately available Thursday.

Jarret Bencks can be reached at bencks.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @JarretBencks.

By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff

The state transportation department on Thursday will hold a public hearing on a design proposal to replace the historic Cradock Bridge in Medford Square.

The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. It was originally schedule to be held in the council chamber at City Hall, but has been moved to the Andrews Middle School, located at 263 Riverside Ave.

The stone-arch bridge, dating to 1637, is a key entry point to downtown. The bridge, which carries Main Street over the Mystic River, will be reconstructed in phases, likely starting in spring 2014.

The project, estimated to cost $10 million to $12.7 million, will be paid for with state funding.

By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

Ed Markey won 67 percent of the vote in Medford in Tuesday's special election, as just 31 percent of voters went to the polls in the city.

Markey received 7,655 votes, while Republican Gabriel Gomez received 3,552, according to the city's registrar of voters office. The turnout was significantly lower than the last special election for a US Senate seat in Massachusetts.

In 2010, 57 percent of Medford voters cast ballots in the election between Martha Coakley and Scott Brown.

Markey has represented Medford in congress for 37 years, and his district office is located on High Street in Medford Square.

Complete election results can be found here.

Jarret Bencks can be reached at bencks.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @JarretBencks.

By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

A Charlestown man has been found guilty of murder in a home invasion in Medford in 2011.

Gerald Sullivan, 39, was found guilty by a Middlesex County Superior Court jury Tuesday on a first degree murder charge and seven other charges stemming from the home invasion on Feb. 18, 2011 at 55B Jerome St. that left 37-year-old Johnny Hatch dead and his father, John Vieira, seriously injured.

Wearing masks and holding handguns, Sullivan and another, unidentified suspect, forced open the door of the home at about 10:30 p.m. and demanded jewelry and cash, according to the prosecution. Hatch and his father were shot as they struggled with the invaders. They were both taken to the hospital, where Hatch was pronounced dead and Vieira made a recovery.

Sullivan was not arrested until June 2011, after DNA found at the crime scene was run through a national law enforcement database and Sullivan's came up as a match, according to prosecutors.

"[Sullivan] committed a brutal home invasion during which he murdered Johnny Hatch and severely injured Hatch's father," Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. "I commend the outstanding work of the Medford Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab who were able to identify this defendant through DNA found on evidence at the scene."

Sullivan is expected to be sentenced on Wednesday by Judge Jane Haggerty in Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn

Jarret Bencks can be reached at bencks.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @JarretBencks.

By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff

State environmental officials on Wednesday will meet with representatives for Wynn Resorts of Las Vegas in Everett to discuss the cleanup of heavily contaminated industrial land on the Mystic River, where Wynn proposes to build a $1.2 billion resort casino.

The meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m at City Hall, will be followed by a visit to the 32-acre parcel, the former site of a Monsanto chemical factory.  It will be the first public meeting on the project since Everett voters on June 22 overwhelmingly aproved a referendum to allow a casino to be built in the small industrial city.

"We want to make sure the site is cleaned up to a very high standard," said Chris Gordon, the project manager for Wynn.

The Wynn group already has filed an environmental notification form, a key requirement of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, which outlines the scope of the project.

"Once a study of the environmental impact is completed, those findings will determine what approvals are required from state agencies," said Reggie Zimmerman, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which oversees the MEPA review.

Fort Point Associates of Boston has been hired by Wynn as an environmental consultant, according to the notification form.

On June 13, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone submitted a petition to FBT Everett Realty, the company that owns the land, to designate the land a Public Involvement Plan Site so that residents of neighboring communities would have the right to voice their opinions on how the site is developed.

Wynn is proposing to build a 19-story, bronze-colored glass tower that would include a 551-room hotel, a 24-hour casino, and upscale shops and restaurants. A winter garden and public access to the waterfront also are part of the proposal.

Wynn is one of three developers that have applied to the state gambling commission for the single license to operate a casino in eastern Massachusetts.

The environmental filing gives a glimpse into the development's footprint. The 32.4-acre site includes 8.3 acres of water, according to the filing.

Buildings on the site would reach  a height of 300 feet, and include 2.8 million square feet of space. An estimated 392,700 gallons of water would be used each day on the site, the filing states.

Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKMcCabe.
    

Officials celebrate the opening of the new Stop & Shop on on Route 16 Saturday.

By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

A Stop & Shop grocery store is now open for business at a Somerville storefront on Route 16 formerly home to a Johnny's Foodmaster.

Officials from the company and the city of Somerville cut the ribbon on the new store at 105 Alewife Brook Parkway Saturday.

The 24,000 square foot lot is the second former Foodmaster site to re-open as a Stop & Shop. A former Foodmaster opened as a Stop & Shop in Medford in January.

The Somerville store's hours will be 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Jarret Bencks can be reached at bencks.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @JarretBencks.