By Jim Clark

Somerville Police officers were dispatched to the Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store at Assembly Row on reports of a shoplifter in the store.

Upon arrival, the female suspect had just fled with perfume and a journal totaling $147, according to the store’s manager. The officers checked the area but could not locate the suspect.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

As we get ready for a slew of construction and detours, it’s a well-known fact that a lot of us “old timers” lament over “the way it used to be” here in our beloved city. In the name of progress, we say goodbye to the old and whether we like it or not, try to get used to the new changes.

On Saturday, March 2, a sold-out room of more than 70 attendees and nine breweries raised a pint and funds for the Mass Brewers Guild during Meet the Brewers Freshman Class of 2019.

The Mass Brewers Guild is the state’s nonprofit organization that works to protect and promote the interest of craft brewers. The intimate, roundtable style tasting event featured the state’s newly launched breweries and offered ticket holders unique access to brewers.

The number of applicants for affordable rental units in Massachusetts far exceeds the supply and is rapidly growing, one of the many issues addressed by the Section 8 Housing Choice Mobile Voucher Program.

By Jim Clark

A resolution to urge the city’s Congressional Delegation to sponsor the Universal Housing budget amendment was put forward at the latest meeting of the Somerville City Council.

Ward 3 Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen said that the resolution was submitted in collaboration with a number of affordable housing activists in the community, in support of fully funding the Section 8 Housing Choice Mobile Voucher Program.

Linda Schlossberg writes fiction and teaches literature and creative writing at Harvard.

By JT Thompson

Linda Schlossberg grew up in San Francisco, initially in the Haight Ashbury district, then in the suburbs, and came to Boston as an undergraduate at Brandeis. She then earned a PhD at Harvard in English and American literature, and is now Assistant Director of Studies for Harvard’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. She was thrilled to be awarded a 2019 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Somerville Arts Council/Mass Cultural Council, as well as the 2016 Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Writer’s Center in Maryland.

On Sunday, March 17, 3:00 p.m. at Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave., owner Liam Mannion and Rob McWatters invite everyone to hoist a pint of Guinness. Enjoy some Irish music and nosh on some corned beef and cabbage at Sally’s, the best Irish pub in the city.

The Massachusetts Senior Action Council (MSAC), with active members from Somerville, Cambridge, and other adjoining communities, joined with allies from six other elder advocacy organizations to lobby lawmakers on life-saving reforms seniors say they need to protect their health, wellbeing and dignity as they age. MSAC is the only elder organization in Massachusetts that is run by its senior members.

Somerville Media Center (SMC) hosted its 2019 SMC Honors Gala at Arts At The Armory on Friday, March 8. This night recognized the best facets of community-made media shared in greater Somerville.

Seniors with State Tournament Trophy & North Division Plaque: (L to R) Ashley Cadet, Ashley Fortune, Kaleesha Joseph and N’yshma Leroy.

By Katie Harris

Last Friday night at the Clark Athletic Center on the campus of the University of Massachusetts in Boston, the curtain came down on the 2018-2019 varsity girls’ basketball season in the Massachusetts Charter School Athletic Association. The last act in the season was the state tournament championship game pitting the 2017-2018 state tournament champion and this season’s top seeded Prospect Hill Academy Lady Wizards (19-0) against the third seeded Pioneer Charter School of Science II Lady Pirates (16-2) from Saugus.

Eagle Feathers #174 – Teele Square

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

In 1836 Jonathan W. Teele, who was a participant in the battle of Lexington and a five-year veteran of the Revolutionary War, built the Teele House. It was a travelers’ roadhouse at the corner of Broadway and Curtis Street. His family eventually acquired and built upon much of the Clarendon Hill land between Professors Row and the Cambridge line.