( L to R) Bob McWatters, Congressman Joe Kennedy III and Sally O’Brien’s owner, Liam Mannion

Congressman Joseph Kennedy III made an impromptu visit to Union Square on Sunday, January 26. While in Union Square he visited Bow Market and stopped in at Sally O’Brien’s. Kennedy is challenging fellow Democrat Ed Markey for the Senate seat in Massachusetts.

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“Miriam Levine is a poet, memoirist, and fiction writer. Her five collections of poetry include The Dark Opens, winner of the Autumn House Poetry Prize, and Saving Daylight (2019). She is the author of Devotion, a memoir, and In Paterson, a novel. Levine has won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and Virginia Quarterly Review. She is professor emerita at Framingham State University in Massachusetts and lives in New Hampshire and Florida.

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This poem from Isabelle Kenyon was published in the Somerville-based literary magazine Ibbetson Street (46).

Arrests:
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Robert Messina, of 820 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, January 20, 2:49 p.m., arrested at McGrath Hwy. on a warrant charge of larceny from a person.

Tameka Kelly, of 10 Webster, January 20, 2:49 p.m., arrested at McGrath Hwy. on warrant charges of larceny from a person number plate violation, uninsured motor vehicle or trailer, juror failure to appear, and larceny over $1200.

— Photo courtesy of Somerville Fire Department

Two new firefighters were sworn in at latest City Council meeting last Thursday evening. Randy Oliver and Daniel Roche will begin training with the Fire Department on February 3. Pictured L to R: Assistant Chief Christopher Major, Daniel Roche, Randy Oliver and Chief Charles Breen Jr.

Somerville Seeks Resources for Public Safety, Local Businesses
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On Monday, January 27, the GLX Project released an updated schedule for bridge closures in Somerville associated with Green Line Extension construction.

Most notably, the revised timeline estimates that the re-openings of all three bridges that are currently closed will be delayed. The Broadway bridge in Ball Square is now expected to open in July 2020, about four months later than anticipated. The Washington Street bridge is now expected to reopen in May 2020, and the Medford Street bridge in October 2020. The School Street bridge has not yet been closed, and the new schedule now shows it and the Medford Street bridge around the corner being closed concurrently for approximately four months in the summer and fall of 2020.

The Benjamin G. Brown School hosted a special assembly on Friday, January 17. Thanks to the generosity of the Medford-Malden Elks organization, every third grade student at the Brown School received a dictionary on behalf of the more than 350 third grade students in the district. Brown School Principal Shawn Maguire hosted the gathering in the school library where several Medford-Malden Elks Lodge members distributed the reference books to students.

The Somerville Planning Board is now accepting comments on the SomerVision 2040 plan, which updates and extends Somerville’s community-driven SomerVision 2030 plan. The plan is the result of months of work by the SomerVision 2040 Committee, community members, and city staff.

The hearing takes place, January 27, 6:00 p.m., at Somerville High School Cafeteria, 81 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA. The following Fourteen (14) public shade trees have been proposed for removal:

1. 10 Inner Belt Road – Removal of two (2) Callery Pear trees (8”, 14” diameter),
and one (1) London Plane (8” diameter) for Residential Development.

Somerville Media Center Education
When: February 3 and 10, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (Session 1)
March 2 and 9, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (Session 2)
Location: Somerville Media Center 

Cost: $75 for current SMC members / $125 for non-members

Audio-based programming known as podcasting has exploded in recent years as a way of communicating stories. Learn how you can create podcasts in this introductory course taught by Boston Free Radio Station Manager and podcaster Heather McCormack.