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Popular
Ward 1 School Committee member and Chairwoman – Maureen Bastardi will
be having a fundraiser this coming Tuesday night from 6 pm to 8:30 pm
at Bread & Company, located at 394 Broadway in Winter Hill. Maureen
does a great job for the residents and students throughout the ward
down in East Somerville as well as the rest of the city.

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Speaking
of the Bread & Company in Winter Hill, if you haven't been there at
all you should go, the food is fantastic and everyone there is super
friendly. Our favorite is the breads they make, and this week while
some of us where there for lunch, bought their Carrot Bread (Brazilian
style) one word describes it as "fantastic" – if nothing else, check
out the breads and in particular Carrot Bread (Brazilian style) – and
mention The Somerville News.

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Guess some
BU students don't think their graduation speaker, our own Congressman
Mike Capuano, has enough "sizzle" – they want someone else. Judging by
way he grilled the largest bank presidents on their bonuses, these
students might be in for a surprise. Then again if Mike wanted to teach
them what sizzle was all about, he could use his influence and borrow
President Obama's chief speech writer, North Reading's own Jon Favreau.
Give 'em hell Mike – make them sizzle!

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Have
you noticed that the Farm Team paper has lost its size and page
content? We aren't the only ones that have noticed; their boxes don't
even have their papers until sometimes on Friday and lots of papers
left over at the end of the following week. Now an article by Dan
Kennedy who is the Assistant Professor at NU School of Journalism, did
a story on the outlook of Gatehouse and that they will be announcing
major cutbacks and downsizing very soon, Gatehouse owns the Farm Team.
To bad the tradition of the Dole Family ownership fades as the days go
by.

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Meanwhile The Somerville News is
growing every month – since January of this year we have gone from 150
locations in Somerville to now 163 locations. We are even considering
printing more papers and by the end of the year we will easily be up to
175 locations. The Somerville News and all "real" locally own and
operated papers throughout the Boston area are in better shape then the
big out of towners.

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Looks like the cone
of silence is down around the DPW yard – or is that the code of
silence? Either way we heard from a reliable source that apparently
there was an accident one day last week, involving one DPW worker that
ran another DPW worker over in the city yard with a city truck that was
pulling a city trailer. But nobody is saying anything, or are they?
Stay tuned!

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We want to welcome Isabella
Hoske Vieira to the 'Ville. Isabella is a foreign exchange student from
Belo Horizonte, Brazil that has been studying in Kansas since September
but wants to now come visit Somerville before her long journey back
home to Brazil in June. Welcome to Somerville!

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At
one of the Board of Aldermen subcommittee meetings last week they were
discussing the possibility of raising the fine for public smoking of
weed, from $100.00 to $300.00. When one of the Aldermen asked how was
it going to be enforced if the police saw a minor smoking the weed. The
city treasurer Ms. Elizabeth Craveiro was heard to say that she would
have a lien placed on the parent's home to enforce. Well that might be
one way of doing it – she was then asked what if they were tenants, and
Ms. Craveiro was heard to say, same thing, place a lien on the
landlords house! Now we're not lawyers here at Newstalk, but we can't
believe that it's legal to do that, is it?

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For
the idiot over on the Farm Team, get your facts straight, Vinny Piro
went through 3 trials – first two no verdict and last one he was
acquitted, and by the way that was 25 years ago. He did more for the
City of Somerville in state aide and assistance then the current
legislators combined – get your facts straight. You probably didn't
even live here in 1985 – just another PDS, off the wall wacko who heard
from one person who heard it for another from his cousin who used to
live here! To some of us here at Newstalk, Vinny was a nice man who did
a lot for the everyday person here in the city. And we can say that
because some of us actually know him, personally!

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Somerville
Climate Action will be hosting the first-ever Living Green Festival
this Saturday, May 16th at Somerville High School from 10 am to 2 pm.
Admission will be free. The festival will showcase a wide variety of
sustainable living options, through hands-on workshops and
demonstrations. Highlights will include a sustainable cooking
demonstration by Nadine Nelson of Discerning Taste, a mock-wall
insulation demonstration by Tony Shirley of Energy All Stars, and free
basic bike adjustments by Joshua Kampa of Open Bicycle. For more
information, call Dave Madan at 617-461-9393 or email him at
livinggreenfestival@gmail.com.

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Joe
Squillante, a graduate of the SHS Class of 1986, died suddenly this
past week. Our condolences go out to the family, especially his wife
and their young child. He will be waked at Dello Russo's in Medford on
Wednesday night. He will be missed.

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The
Somerville Sunsetters for 2009 are looking for eager and excited local
students to participate, along with a number of returning members – to
get that final group of 20 performers fleshed out. They're looking for
student between the ages of 12 and 18, who will be auditioning for and
then selected by our own Jimmy Del Ponte – check out Jimmy's column
this week for details.

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The 2009 All City
Elementary Spring Concert will be Thursday, May 14th at 7 pm in the
Somerville High Auditorium (81 Highland Ave). This is always a terrific
show and we encourage everyone to try and make it – tickets will be
available at the door.

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The Executive
Office of Transportation, the City of Cambridge and City Councilor and
State Representative Tim Toomey are sponsoring a community meeting to
discuss the relocation of Lechmere Station and the Green Line Extension
Project. The meeting will feature presentations on the overall Green
Line Extension as well as specifics about the new Lechmere Station and
associated roadway changes including multiple new pedestrian crossings
of McGrath/O'Brien Highway. The meeting will be held on, Wednesday May
20th from 6 – 8 PM at the Kennedy-Longfellow School Auditorium, 158
Spring Street Cambridge.

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