By Donald Norton

Giorgio Albanese, of southern Italy, who himself is a Rotarian, was welcomed this week at the club’s weekly meeting.

Somerville Rotarian President Brian Rooney is pictured here welcoming Albanese, who exchanged club flags as a gesture of good will.

The 2017-2018 Massachusetts Charter School Athletic Organization State Tournament Champions, the Prospect Hill Academy Lady Wizards. — Photos by Correen Demers and Fatima Benmimoun

By Katie Harris

This year’s Massachusetts Charter School Athletic Organization (MCSAO) girls’ basketball season started with 21 schools divided into three divisions – North, Central and South. Any team with as many wins as losses or better during the regular season, regardless of division, would earn a berth in the MCSAO’s end of season championship state tournament. Nine teams qualified for this tournament. The Prospect Hill Academy Lady Wizards (14-1), the North Division regular season champion, qualified as the second seeded team – bested only by Community Charter School of Cambridge (14-0), the Central Division champion and the #1 seed. Additionally, PHA’s only loss this year was a 40-24 setback to Cambridge late in January.

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An anthology by homeless people and those touched by homelessness
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I am really honored that our Ibbetson Street Press, based in Somerville, is publishing Spare Change News Poems: An Anthology by Homeless People and those Touched by Homelessness.

Years ago, I assisted the then poetry editor Don DiVecchio with his poetry column in Spare Change News and wrote a few features for the all-poetry issues. I learned a lot working with the former editor of the paper Linda Larson, and the assistant editor Cindy Baron. Now noted poets, Lee Varon and the current poetry editor Marc Goldfinger are putting out this anthology of verse through us.

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David Gullette was one of the first editors of Ploughshares and is Literary Director of The Poets’ Theatre, which presented his adaptation of Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf in December 2015 and his The Boston Abolitionists in March 2017 at the Boston Athenaeum. He has also acted with the ART, Christmas Revels, Actors Shakespeare Project, and NPR’s The Spider’s Web. His book of poems, Questionable Shapes, was published by Cervena Barva Press (Somerville, MA.) in 2017.

The Green Line Extension (GLX) project public meeting recently scheduled for March 21, 2018, has been RESCHEDULED due to weather.

The new meeting date is: Wednesday, March 28, 2018, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Somerville High School Auditorium, 81 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143.

Arrests:
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Michael Dellea, of 5G Street, Boston, March 12, 6:59 a.m., arrested at Essex St. on charges of felony daytime breaking and entering of a vehicle or boat and receiving stolen property over $250.

German Mendez-Castillo, of 63 Nyack St., Watertown, March 12, 3:00 p.m., arrested at Somerville Ave. on charges of operation of a motor vehicle with a suspended license and marked lanes violation.

Daniel F. O’Meara- 72 of Somerville March 13, 2018.

Beloved husband of Joan B. (Slattery) O’Meara. Loving father of Kerri A. Zima and her husband Jeff of Marshfield, Sean P. O’Meara and his wife Denise of New Boston, NH. Brother of Fred O’Meara and his wife Joan of Reading, Cathy Camuso of Medford and her late husband Alfred. Cherished Grandfather of Regan, Jocelyn, Kylie and Tristan. Retired Electrical Technician for Swiss Log, Corp.

The John O’Neill scholarship fund was recently established by Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services (SCES) to support the next generation of elder services leaders and advocates. O’Neill was executive director at SCES for 38 years, before retiring in October.

John O’Neill was Executive Director of Somerville Cambridge Elder Services (SCES) for 38 years before retiring in October of 2017. A tireless advocate for helping older adults maintain health and well-being in the setting of their choice, O’Neill was also mindful of future challenges facing elder services, including the growing need for well-trained, caring people to manage programs and provide information, health and support services:

In celebration of the World Day of Puppetry, the Boston Area Guild of Puppetry and Somerville Media Center present an evening of short puppetry films for families on Friday, April 6. Beginning at 7:00 p.m., singing sheep, piano-mouth puppets and an updated Old Mother Hubbard fill the screen in Handmade Puppet Dreams for Families, Volume 1, an episode of a traveling film series created by puppet artist Heather Henson. The evening continues at 8:00 p.m. with Puppet Showplace Resident Artist Sarah Nolen’s Treeples, in which girls join forces with lively forest creatures to rid the woods of monsters, followed by Brooklyn puppeteer Spencer Lott’s chocolate drama Cupcake and other independent short films.