The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test has done some positive things for our schools. It has put the spotlight on districts that are struggling and in need of additional help and resources from the state. And students who otherwise would simply be passed along from grade to grade are challenged to succeed in school.

Yet those advances are likely to mean little to the tens of thousands of kids who have dropped out of school in the years since the test became a make or break graduation requirement. Do the creators of MCAS have anything to say to these children? Probably not. They have already demonstrated they care little about the students left behind by MCAS.

By Bruce Desmond, Alderman at Large

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

State and local communities are becoming increasingly alarmed by the alcohol industry’s aggressive marketing campaigns. The alcohol industry spends more than $5.7 billion each year marketing its products. Of particular concern is the exposure of underage youth to advertising and promotional messages that glamorize alcohol and downplay or ignore risks associated with underage drinking, and tout alcohol as an integral part of becoming an adult. At least with normal advertising media such as television, magazines, sporting events and music events, parents have an opportunity to avoid the advertisement. By placing billboard ads near parks, playgrounds and schools, all places that are unavoidable by children, the alcohol industry is creating an involuntary and unavoidable form of solicitation to a select audience. Kids are automatically exposed to it and can’t avoid it. The ordinance that I have proposed, if enacted, would prohibit the outdoor advertising of any alcoholic beverage within 500 feet of playgrounds, elementary or secondary schools, places of worship or child care facilities. Somerville already prohibits advertising alcoholic beverages on public property or property controlled by the city, such as the new bus stop shelters.

By Kimberly Geronimo

Week by week, east Broadway gets closer to receiving its long awaited makeover. Residents met with public officials and consultants at a community meeting on Feb. 13 to voice their suggestions and opinions on possible streetscape revisions to the long-underutilized district.

The idea to redesign Broadway was originally conceived under former mayor Michael Capuano’s administration in the 1990s but had floundered because of a lack of funding, according to Ward 1 Alderman William Roche. It had been in the planning process for about five years, he said. Finally, ‚ÄúMayor [Joseph A.] Curtatone made the commitment and has most of the funding‚Äù for a full-scale renovation, he said.

By Keith Howard

The plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced Africans hit Somerville when one politician took action to defend the lives of the victims of a brutal conflict.

Over one hundred congressmen, including U.S. Rep. Michael E. Capuano, D-Somerville, signed a letter urging China to work harder at putting an end to the conflict within the Darfur region of western Sudan. Capuano has been outspoken about the United States’ responsibility to end the suffering of Darfur.

According to the letter, millions of Sudanese civilians, who suffer from violence between rebel forces and Sudan’s militia, are in desperate need of food and medicine. ‚ÄúThe absolute need for the civilian protection and a basic level of humanitarian operational security has never been clearer,‚Äù the letter reads.

By George P. Hassett

The tree beat the condos. In a battle pitting a 14-unit condo development against a single tree, the tree has prevailed.

The developers of 343-347 Summer Street, had seen their project delayed by lawsuits from the neighborhood for six years but were coming off a legal victory and had only one obstacle in their way before cashing in with new West Somerville condo’s: a single tree that had to come down for construction of a fire lane.

Apparently things are better now between Alderman Bob Trane and Mayor Joe – both were seen recently at The Independent having a bite to eat and it appeared to be a nice conversation. While we’re on Alderman Trane – he has also been seen over in Medford as well – with several of the elected Medford Council members having coffee. We think Bob is leaning towards giving the ‚ÄúPrince of the Progressives‚Äù Carl a run for his money.

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Speaking of the Progressives and especially our own far out left guard, last week The Somerville News published the Beacon Hill Roll Call and will be doing it every week, so you can see what our legislative delegation has voted on in detail. The Somerville News has committed to doing this weekly – unedited the way it came to us – so you can draw your own conclusions, left or right. The Somerville News has some more surprises coming very soon – so keep an eye out.

By George P. Hassett

Somerville teens led an MCAS reform rally last week at the State House urging lawmakers to take a second look at the test, six years after it became a graduation requirement.

Greg Rego, an 18-year old- Somerville resident told a group of 200 Boston-area high school students of his personal struggles with the high-stakes Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test. He said he was never given notice of the test until the day it came and after failing twice by a combined 3 points, dropped out of school.

By Joseph A. Curtatone

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

In many Republican circles, it’s an article of faith that government polices, programs and investments only get in the way of prosperity (what conservatives call ‚Äúwealth creation‚Äù), and that public sector managers don’t do anything important.  Here’s a case in point: shortly before the wheels came off his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney started emphasizing that he (unlike, say, Hillary Clinton or John McCain) had spent his career in the ‚Äúreal economy,‚Äù and that his business expertise was just what the nation needed as it teetered on the brink of recession.

Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

No matter where you go Somerville is not far behind. I found on my recent literary related trip to New York City all kinds of Somerville connections. I had planned to visit my mother in New York the first weekend in February, and it just so happened that poet Charles Ries from Wisconsin was reading at the KGB bar in the Bowery and he invited me and other folks to attend. Charles was attending the Association of Writer’s and Writing Programs conference in NYC. It was held on 52nd St. at the Sheraton so I figured I would make a pit stop there. Unfortunately you have to register to get in, and they were booked, so I was unable to attend the book fair segment. You figure they would let the general public in for the book tables. As a publisher and poet I would want as many folks as possible to be exposed to my books, not just our arcane world of small press people. But being the small press guerilla that I am to the bone, I left ‚ÄúIbbetson Street‚Äù magazines strategically appointed around the lobby. Hopefully they got a receptive audience‚Ķ a literary minded bellboy, or perhaps a luminary like Sue Miller picked it up in an afterthought.