The city’s fire and police officials briefed the Somerville City Council on safety measures being implemented in preparation for the GLX project construction bridge closures set to begin later this week.

By Jim Clark

Ward 7 Councilor and Council President Katjana Ballantyne put forward an order that the Chief Fire Engineer and the Chief of Police discuss with the Council, at its February 14 regular meeting, the detailed safety plans for the city as it relates to the upcoming bridge closures due to the Green Line Extension construction.

By Jackson Ellison

Every winter the organization Groundwork Somerville taps maple trees, and with the sap the group hosts a boil down where everyone in the community can come watch maple syrup being made.

Mayor Marc C. McGovern and Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced on Tuesday the establishment of the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants, a partnership between the Mayors’ Offices and the Cambridge Community Foundation.

This year we hear so far that the Ward 2, 3, and 6 School Committee members will be retiring, therefore some people are now considering running. We hear that one lady who is very involved with the PTA and is popular, Mary Marshall, is going to pull papers in Ward 3. We heard that couple of candidates are going after the City Councilor At-Large seats. Some other people are looking at various wards to run in. Taxes are way up.

By Donald Norton

A St. Patrick’s Day celebration was held at Sally O’Briens Irish Pub on Sunday. Owner Liam Mannion welcomed many friends and patrons. Bob McWatters also had many friends and family there. Early to arrive and soon had to leave was Secretary of State Bill Galvin. He was heading out to visit a few watering holes. The evening was nice, the corned beef and cabbage was great and the Guinness flowed as it should on this holiday where everyone is Irish. A nice crowd enjoying each other’s company and listening to the Irish band on stage. By the way, if you haven’t been to Sally’s, you are in for a treat. The place has been done over and is now larger.

The long feared bridge closures throughout Somerville to support the Green Line Extension are scheduled to begin this Friday (why Friday?), and area residents as well as those who must travel through are bracing for the worst.

The city has done as much as it says it can to mitigate the misery that will be visited upon us. Rerouting of vehicular and pedestrian traffic, putting up signage to help direct everyone through the alternative pathways, and organizing public transportation to help get everyone through as painlessly as possible has put put in place.

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I like to have these on hand at all times. They are great in a salad, on a sandwich especially with rich proteins like fried chicken or pulled pork, and are especially good on this dish.

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Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Dennis Daly

Just the polish from A.E. Stallings new translation of Hesiod’s Works and Days can blind. Only momentarily, of course. But certainly the well-wrought formality of each couplet causes the reader a certain hesitancy and a loss of verbal sense as he or she marvels at the architectural details and pinpoint verbiage embedded by Stallings in this brilliant rendition of a fountainhead epic.

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Matt W. Miller is author of The Wounded for the Water (Salmon Poetry), Club Icarus (University of North Texas Press), selected by Major Jackson as the winner of the 2012 Vassar Miller Poetry Prize, and Cameo Diner: Poems (Loom). He has published work in Birmingham Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Narrative, Crazyhorse, 32 Poems, Adroit Journal, The Rumpus, and other journals. He is winner of River Styx’s Microfiction Prize, Iron Horse Review’s Trifecta Poetry Prize, and The Poetry by the Sea Conference’s Sonnet Crown Contest. The recipient of poetry fellowships from Stanford University and The Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Miller teaches English at Phillips Exeter Academy and lives with his family in coastal New Hampshire where he surfs all winter long.

Arrests:
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Ashley Vance-Woods, of 348 Ash St., Brockton, March 11, 5:46 p.m., arrested at River Rd. on warrant charges of failure to dim headlights and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Aniel Wilson, of 44 Deering Rd., Boston, March 12, 5:07 a.m., arrested at Revolution Dr. on charges of furnishing false ID and malicious wanton defacement of property.