This Friday, April 20, the Dave Martini and Nick Peters Scholarship Fund is having A Night with Jim Plunkett. The event is being held at the Dante Club, 5 Dante Terrace off Craigie Street here in Somerville. It’s a great time and lots of fun. Tickets are $40, and include well-known local singer Jim Plunkett, plus a 50/50 auction, lots of raffles, and a buffet dinner. For tickets, please contact: Janet7345@yahoo.com or you can purchase tickets at the Eventbrite page, www.eventbrite.com/e/dave-nicvk-scholarship-fundraiser-with-jim-plunkett-tickes-44716590526

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The 16th Annual Sports Scholarship Benefit in loving memory of Edmund J. Medeiros will be held Saturday, April 21, 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., at the Dante Club, 3 Dante Terrace (off Craigie St.) in Somerville. Call Judy at 617-599-8088 or email Judy.Medeiros1957@yahoo.com. Cost is $25, over 21 only. Checks to be made out to The Medeiros Family Fund c/o Nancy Medeiros, 87 Wheatland St. Somerville 02145.

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Another Giggles Comedy Night is coming up, this time for the Masonic Lodge on Highland Avenue. Specifically, the Building Association is having its 6th Annual Giggles Comedy Night at Giggles on Rte. 1 in Saugus on Wednesday April 25 at 6:30 p.m. Lots of laughs with 3-4 professional comedians, over 23 gift baskets specially made for the event, and a great time for all. Only $25 per ticket for all the pizza you can eat and all the laughs you can stand. It’s not a tax deductible night but a funable night. Tickets at the door or email Donald Norton at donaldfnorton@gmail.com.

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On Thursday, April 26, A Taste of Immigrant City, hosted by YUM, will be held at the Arts at the Armory, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. For more information and cost, go to www.brownpapertickets.com. Explore foods from around the world. The evening will include tastes from local immigrant-run restaurants, entertainment, raffles, a cash bar, and an awards presentation honoring the work of local community leaders, Josh Zakim and Natalicia Tracy. They are also extremely excited and honored to have Roberto G. Gonzales as their keynote speaker for the evening. YUM promotes immigrant-run local restaurants, highlighting contributions of the city’s immigrant communities. All proceeds of this event will benefit The Welcome Project, a non-profit in Somerville, MA. The Welcome Project builds the collective power of Somerville immigrants to participate in and shape community decisions. This event is sure to sell out so get your tickets early. Interested in sponsoring this event? Email ben@welcomeproject.org. They are happy to offer special pricing for Boston area students. Email kenia@welcomeproject.org for the student password/promo code.

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The Somerville High School Scholarship Foundation presents its 2018 drawing to help our students that are graduating. The drawing is for the chance to win $10K plus by selling $100 tickets. If you have done this in the past you know how it’s done. Make out a check payable to the S.H.S. Scholarship Foundation and mail it to SHS Raffle c/o Joesph Favaloro PO Box 440275, Somerville 02145. Or you can call Joe at 617-666-8473 or Gene Brune at 617-628-5835. As soon as they receive your check they will mail out the ticket(s) to you. Only a certain number of tickets are being sold, so hurry up. Help a student and get the chance to win $10K. The drawing is set for May 18, 7:00 p.m., at the Highlander Café, Somerville High School. Refreshments will be served.

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Happy birthday this week to several locals: A big happy birthday to Ward 7 Alderman Katjana Ballantyne, who also this year is President of the Board of Alderman. A nice lady, very well informed, not to mention extremely busy. We hope she has a great birthday for herself with her family. Happy birthday to former alderman and great guy, Jack Connolly of Wedgwood-Crane & Connolly Insurance in Davis Sq. We hope he has a great birthday, and a much quieter one since he has retired from the Board of Aldermen. Happy birthday to local Sory DeOliveira who is a realtor and a family from Somerville. Happy birthday to a good friend and another realtor with ERA Key Realty Services in Millis, Janet Potts. A great lady and fantastic RE agent. Happy birthday to an old friend, Hernan Mosquera Sr., celebrating this week as well. To all the others we may have missed and, yes, we must admit there are a few more out there, we sincerely wish them the very best of birthdays.

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Congratulations to Clifton and Soimise Verdieu on the birth of their second child. Jaythan David was born on April 12. Clifton is an agent at The Norton Group. He and his wife make great parents and Samuel will be a great big brother to Jaythan. We wish the best for them with their growing family.

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There is still no answer as to why there has been no audit for 10 years now on the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust Fund. After all, the Board of Aldermen should be asking questions as to why there has been no audit before turning over any money to them. How much money was raised and given by the taxpayers of Somerville? Who got the money? How much and were they residents of the city before they got the money? Many question and no answers. Why?

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We hear that there is talk by some here in the city of starting their own newspaper. We think that’s great. We hear it’s going to be similar to the old Somerville Community News, or are they going to change the name to ???  The Somerville Community News, which was a monthly paper, if we recall correctly (so were we back in the 80’s), declared itself then as left leaning (some would say communist, but we wouldn’t use that name – or would we?). We hear some of the same people aligned with old Community News are starting it up. We also hear that some elected officials are going to be part of the paper. We welcome competition, we love it. We just hope those elected officials declare themselves as being involved. We’re also just wondering since they hate “gossip” columns, does that mean the old Somerville Snoop will rear its ugly head? Makes our Newstalk pale by comparison, just saying. Since we just pulled some from our old filing cabinet – a bunch of them and just for old times’ sake – and read some of those gossip columns. Wow, we are tame in comparison here at The Times. Maybe if they have that column again we will have to step up to the plate, or maybe not. In short, we welcome competition. We say bring it on, we love it and thank you.

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There will be a Public Hearing before the Board of Aldermen’s Committee on Housing and Community Development on Monday, April 30, at 6:30 p.m., in the Aldermanic Chambers, 2nd Floor, City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue, on the Order of Alderman Ben Ewen-Campen, Chair of the Committee, for public input on the condition of affordable housing units in the city, and whether there is an affordable housing crisis that constitutes a public emergency (Docket #205334). The public is invited to attend and be heard.