Arrests:

Dajaira Revollo, of 149 Webster St., Malden, December 22, 9:18 a.m., arrested at Alewife Brook Pkwy. on a warrant charge of larceny over $250.

Pedro Monteiro, of 10 Memorial Rd., December 23, 1:10 p.m., arrested at Mystic Ave. on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and trespassing.

Sign up now for winter 2016-17
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This winter, help us help you. The City of Somerville is looking for Somerville teens to pair with residents in need of shoveling assistance during upcoming snow storms. Additionally, we are asking Somerville senior citizens and residents with disabilities to contact us to be added to the list. Teens and residents in need of assistance will be paired by the City, which has also arranged a payment structure depending on the residents’ needs. However, payment is handled independently between the resident and the teen with whom they are paired.

The City will be observing the New Year’s holiday on Monday, January 2. Offices will be closed, trash and recycling pick up will be on a one-day delay, and meters and resident parking permits will not be enforced on January 2.

Somerville artist Sean Shinnock is participating in a new mental health awareness and anti-stigma campaign expected to reach several million  people.

He, along with musicians and librarians, fashion designers and fitness instructors, actors, athletes and artists, moms, dads, sisters and brothers—all of whom volunteered for the campaign and all of whom have all been affected by mental illness and its stigma—are brought together in a beautiful and compelling new photographic exhibit that debuted Friday, December 9 at Logan International Airport in Boston. The 235-foot gallery is located between Terminals B and C, and plans are already underway to install similar exhibits at other airports. For those who won’t be traveling through Boston in the near future, the participants’ photos and stories can be seen on the campaign’s website, deconstructingstigma.org.

On the current episode of Somerville Neighborhood News…

• The Green Line Extension is back on track with some slight adjustments to the original plan.
• The City of Somerville forms a partnership with the Concussion Legacy Foundation to help prevent youth concussions.
• Marijuana is legalized in Massachusetts.
• A local nonprofit has received a 10 million dollar grant to build a super school in Somerville.
• SCATV invites its neighbors into the studio to record holiday greetings.

12 special needs students took part in and graduated from Triangle’s 2016 IMPACT:Ability program this week, where they learned vital self-protection skills aimed at empowering and enabling them for better educational opportunities.

By Ariana Colozzo

On Tuesday morning, 12 students in two classes at Somerville High School graduated from Triangle’s 2016 IMPACT:Ability program. As people with disabilities are much more likely to face bullying, abuse and other significant barriers than those without disabilities, IMPACT:Ability works to empower these individuals by giving them the tools they need to lead safe and productive lives.

Part 3:  How the Democratic Party betrayed the working class

By William C. Shelton

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

The Democratic Party is the oldest political party on the planet, and protecting poor and working people became its historical mission. It sided with slave owners and their ideological heirs well into the 20^th Century. But its New Deal, Fair Deal, and Great Society programs uplifted working people, outlawed de jure racism, and created what we think of as the middle class.

Staffers from Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services donated more than 50 gifts for local children, as part of an annual toy drive in collaboration with Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). The staffers purchased wish-list items provided CHA social worker Julie Ain. ~ Photo by Nathan Lamb

By Nathan Lamb

Staffers from Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services (SCES) are stepping-up to help local children in-need this holiday season.

Coordinated in partnership with Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) the SCES gift drive is providing more than 50 presents for children from eight local families. SCES Director of Clinical Services Annie Fowler said it’s a relatively new tradition that the agency has wholeheartedly embraced.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro

The East Somerville Community School and the Somerville Public Schools Music Department presented The East Somerville Community School Winter Concert 2016 on Friday, December 16 in the ESCS auditorium. Students in K through 8 grades participated in the concert.

By Jim Clark

Police officers were dispatched to City Hall, at 93 Highland Ave., in the early morning hours of December 17 on reports of a motion alarm having been set off in the building.

Upon their arrival, the officers checked the perimeter of the building, including all accessible windows and doors but reportedly found nothing out of the ordinary. An audible alarm was reportedly sounding, but reset before the officers left the scene.