By Nidhi Mathson

The Central Broadway/Winter Hill Roadway & Streetscape Improvements Project runs along Broadway from and including the Route 28/McGrath Highway intersection to east of the Broadway/Medford Street intersection.

By David R. Smith

Plastic could soon come at a price, although some might say that – when it comes to the environment – it already does.

During the Board of Aldermen’s last meeting, Ward 6 Alderman Rebecca Gewirtz said an article she read in the Boston Globe suggested that charging 5 cents per plastic bag does more to dissuade people from using them –and using cloth bags in their place- than efforts to outright ban their use in stores.

As satisfying – necessary, even – as it is to have heads roll when a tragedy strikes that clearly, or even just possibly, could have been avoided, it is just as frustrating when all the right steps were taken, when protocol was followed and yet …

It would appear, at least this early into the investigation, that Joshua Wairi, the 27-year-old who taught in several Somerville elementary schools over the last several years before being arrested this month on child pornography possession and distribution charges, was checked out before being hired both in Somerville and Cambridge, where he was working as a teacher at the time of his arrest.

— Photo by David Booth

Members of the East Somerville community teamed with local businesses to draw hundreds of young basketball players and spectators to the first annual basketball tournament Feb 28. Students from grades 6-8 represented their neighborhoods.

Event organizers and East Somerville residents Judi Walker and Maisy Sullivan said the event brought together the best the neighborhood has to offer.

— Photos by Claudia Ferro

Families enjoyed a great day at Chuckie Harris Park on Saturday, taking part in the Connexion Easter Egg Hunt. Kids sought out the eggs, while parents and friends enjoyed the nice weather and camaraderie.

This week our guest columnist is Jacqueline Malone of the Mass. Poetry Festival.  She has just interviewed Executive Director of the Festival January O’Neil. The festival will be held May 2 to 3 in Salem, Mass. http://masspoetry.org.

In the last month or so there have been few people busier than our own January O’Neil, Executive Director of Massachusetts Poetry Festival, as she has been involved making and solidifying plans for the event. But she took time to answer some questions that give us her unique point-of-view on the May 2 through 4 event in Salem.  As you’ll see from her answers, she is one of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival’s most ardent fans!

Experimental, intelligent, and environmental, turtle grass, a series of shadows, Muddy River Books, Brookline Massachusetts, 2014, Irene Koronas’ third full length book of poems. Her language resonates, melts into the past and jointly falls forward. The poems are written in traditional form, as well as, informational writings on nature, and romantic musing; she remains true to her own style, eclectic. Koronas is a well known local poet and painter, a Mass College of Art, graduate. She is poetry editor for Wilderness House Literary Review and a member of the Bagel Bards.

Arrests:
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Stephen Tolliver, 62, of 240 Pearl St., April 15, 7:01 a.m., arrested at home on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and carrying a firearm without a license.

Craig Vivian, 25, of 167 Main St., Malden, April 15, 1:17 p.m., arrested at 65 Evergreen Ave. on a warrant charge of larceny over $250.

Harry Fenton, 54, of 3 White St., Arlington, April 16, 11:55 a.m., arrested at 137 Washington St. on a warrant charge of leaving the scene of property damage.