Mayor Joseph Curtatone speaks to an audience at the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 9, during the launch of the Let's Move campaign, a nutrition program aimed at lowering childhood obesity.

By Tom Nash

At a White House press conference held by First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday, Mayor Joseph Curtatone used the city's Shape Up Somerville program as an example of how a new national children's health program can help children fight obesity.

Obama invited Curtatone, Hernando, Mississippi Mayor Chip Johnson and other health experts to help launch a new program, dubbed Let's Move, which aims to revitalize efforts at keeping children healthy.

Huge crowd Monday night at the Capuano School for the citywide Democratic caucus, along with a lot of confusion. Many candidates for local and statewide offices were also on hand and the Chairperson of the city committee gave them the opportunity to speak. It would have been nice to have the business of the caucus done with and voting done and out of the way first. There used to be a rule that doors are closed at the local caucus at the time stated and time – which on Monday night was 6:30 pm. Once doors are closed no one is allowed into the caucus. For many years there was a long-standing rule to that effect. On Monday night, the doors were not closed and locked after 6:30 pm – and many people came and went throughout the process. Guess the powers that be have just stricken that rule, so now anyone can come anytime to vote at caucuses, which is great. So in the future, when the local caucuses meet and they try and say the doors are shut and locked after the stated time, we can remind them of Monday February 8th. A rule is a rule, but again if they changed that rule, you'd think people would have been notified in advance?

Somerville attorney Frank Privitera was led into a Somerville police van in Union Square on Monday after allegedly violating the terms of his probation.

News Staff

Somerville attorney Frank Privitera was arrested Monday night in Union Square for allegedly violating the terms of the plea deal that helped him avoid trial for the 2005 death of a 22-year-old Tufts University student.

On Nov. 22, 2005, during his drive home to Arlington from his Union Square law office, Privitera allegedly struck Tufts senior Boryana Damyanova while she was in a crosswalk, knocking her from his windshield into the path of an oncoming truck. She was pronounced dead an hour later at Somerville Hospital.

There is a feeling of change in the air. That our elected officials should be taken to task for their performance in the name of the electorate – and there's nothing wrong with that. It's 2010 and we as a people are more informed as a society today than we were 10, 20 and definitely 30+ years ago – that's not conjecture, it is simple fact. The internet alone ensures we know more than we ever did about everything – and there's nothing wrong with that.

So there is a "movement" they say to run for elected office and get away from incumbents getting a free ride. That seems strange to those of us who have lived here for more than 20 years, because prior to 1990, there were always multiple candidates for every office locally – in some cases, more than a dozen.

The MSBA has agreed to participate only in the renovation of the portion of the school that meets their size recommendations, the City will fund the remainder of the renovation.

By Ashley Taylor

The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) voted unanimously to give the City of Somerville the go-ahead to renovate the East Somerville Community School, which was severely damaged by an electrical fire in December of 2007.

The non-contentious vote puts the Board's seal of approval on the agreement reached by the MSBA and the City of Somerville at a meeting January 13 to move into the Schematic Design phase of planning and rebuilding the school.