~Photos by Susan Collings

Honoring The Art Connection’s donating artists in their 20th year. A juried show of work by 40 amazing donating artists. Runs through January 16 at Brickbottom Gallery, 1 Fitchburg St, Somerville, MA.

By Jim Clark

Police responded to the Target store on Somerville Ave. on Saturday after receiving reports of a suspected shoplifter being pursued by store loss prevention personnel.

Upon arrival, the store loss prevention staffers approached the police cruiser and indicated that the suspect they were pursuing was walking away from the store, allegedly carrying store merchandise with him concealed inside his backpack.

By Haley ED Houseman

The future of the Green Line Extension is far from certain at this point in time, as planners and MBTA officials work the budget with an eye for finalizing a plan by April 7.

The much-bedeviled Green Line Extension Project by MBTA will find the footing for its future in the spring. It may or may not go forward, but new proposals for project design, schedule and a revamped budget estimate will be presented on April 7, as reported by the MBTA Green Line Extension Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MBTA-Green-Line-Extension-53151441680/?fref=photo).

The Somerville Home has been serving the needs of area seniors for over one hundred years.

By Jessica Kenney

The Somerville Home is a Residential Care Facility for senior citizens. It was established in 1898, and has been serving the greater Boston community for 110 years. They offer seniors who cannot live on their own with a home and residential care. The Somerville Home provides supervision along with minimum basic care for residents who do not regularly require nursing or medical services. Each resident receives a private bedroom, three home-cooked meals a day, housekeeping, linen, and laundry service.

By Charles Lane

The plan for the upgraded Lincoln Park will be officially presented to the public on January 25 during a special open house event to be held at the Argenziano School. (click to enlarge)

This week, the City of Somerville announced that after three years of community discussions and public design process, the resulting final plans for the renovation of Lincoln Park will be presented to the community at an open house on Monday, January 25.

This Saturday, 1:00– 4:00 p.m., Somerville Recreation will be hosting its 2016 “Kick off Fair” at the High School Field House. Ring in the New Year with Somerville Recreation. Learn about all the great things that the Recreation Department has to offer in the upcoming year, play some games and have a great fun filled day. There will be many activities for all ages including a magic show, arts and crafts, recreational games and much more.

It seems that most people we know have little or no opinion concerning an issue that burns quite intensely for some of us. That is the question of how best to accommodate the growing use of cycling for pleasure and commuting in our densely packed city.

Many of our narrow streets are unsuitable for dedicated biking lanes to be installed. This leaves cyclists and motorists in situations where each must make way – or at least get along with – the other.

By Louise Carpenter

Gabrielle Etienne with her 2nd place medal in the Shot Put along with Coach Carl Stauffer.

The Somerville High School Girls Track Team lost an exciting meet to Malden High School on Wednesday, January 6 at the SHS Fieldhouse, with a final close score of 44-42.

Winning events for SHS was Melissa Sanon, who won the 50-yard hurdles in a fast time of 7.7 seconds. Sanon also won the high jump with a leap of 4’10”.

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

To the Editor:

We thank you for publishing Josie Groves’ article on the complete renovation being undertaken at Prospect Hill Tower (“Restoring Prospect Hill Tower,” January 6, 2016).  The tower and the surrounding park space are vitally important historic monuments not only for Somerville, but also for Massachusetts.  Although the tower was originally built in 1903, the last substantive preservation of it was done decades ago.  Needless to say, it is long overdue.

In 1998, in a Brueger’s Bagel shop in Cambridge, Mass. the Ibbetson Street Press was founded by Doug Holder, Dianne Robitaille, and Richard Wilhelm. Since then the Press has put out 38 issues of the magazine Ibbetson Street, and has published close to 100 collections of poetry and some memoir. Ibbetson Street has been included in the Pushcart Anthology, featured in such noted websites as Poetry Daily and Verse Daily, and has published the work of hundreds of poets since its inception.