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Word of the Week: Yellow Journalism: Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism.  An example could be the using of the term “reliable sources” when they know full well there are no sources but it’s rather an attempt to blackmail or extort from individuals using the title of “journalist.” Sound familiar?

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Alderman At Large Mary Jo Rossetti has been the leading force taking on the cause to get some noise relief from the planes being re-routed over our city. There is currently a survey being conducted by MS Walker, Doctoral Candidate Dept. of Environmental Health, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The survey was primarily set up for the city of Boston, but Somerville has been added to it. It’s another avenue which could assist the cities argument with Massport and the impact of the air traffic. Alderman Rossetti  is asking all those who are reading this to go online an take the survey, and tell your friends and family members to do so as well: www.noiseandthecity.org/english.

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Happy Birthdays this week to some of our Villens and friends as well as friends of The Times: Happy Birthday to a very good friend here, Douglas Carriger, a good guy who we hope has a great day/week for himself with his family. Also this week is Registrar of Deeds Maria Curtatone, a Somerville native and a very popular lawyer and, of course, a fantastic mother to her children. Happy Birthday to another good friend, Ron Lakerveld, who is currently living the life in Central America with his new business. We hope he’s doing great. Happy birthday to Ann Cassessa-Ercolini, another local Somerville lady and great family. Happy birthday as well this week to Cheryl Callahan. We hope she has a great day. To all the others out there celebrating this week, we hope you have a great day for yourselves.

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Welcome aboard to Tim Snyder as the replacement for Omar Boukili, who is leaving City Hall. We wish him good luck in his job. We hear he’s from Cambridge and lives in Medford, so at least he has an idea where streets are and which ones are one way.   Mr. Snyder has worked in the past for Senator Jehlen in her office and also for Rep. Tim Toomey.

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There’s a new website in town. Check it out at www.somervillema.com. The Somerville Times is on the site. Also check out www.medfordma.com.

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Those who might be interested in obtaining certification for firearms should look up the Lawrence Rod & Gun Club. They offer an extensive program at the end of which you receive certification for Massachusetts/NRA Certified Firearm Safety Classes. They run a class once a month, which is limited to 10 people and we hear that this is the place to go to learn safety when handling guns. Email gunclub@earthlink.net for more information and or go to their website at www.lawrencerodandgunclub.org and read up about the course.

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We hear that the permit process has picked up dramatically these past few days. All the permits in process have been approved, we hear, and given to those who filed.   This is a great thing, we think, except that we hear that no fees were collected. Maybe Goran Smiljic had a spirit of Christmas moment and decided to release them.   What a nice thing the city did showing the Christmas spirit of giving. We hope the city didn’t lose too much money.

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Last week the Board of Aldermen and the mayor honored with a citation Mayor Michael McGlynn, who is retiring this January after 28 years of service to the Medford community. Mayor McGlynn couldn’t make it to the Board meeting for the citation; his father is not doing well. Mayor-elect Stephanie Muccini-Burke will become the new mayor. Mayor McGlynn was very popular throughout his 28 years of service, not to mention his service as a state representative and councilor. We wish him the very best and congratulate Mayor Joe Curtatone and the entire Board of Aldermen for recognizing Mayor McGlynn’s accomplishments.

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We want to wish the best for Alderman Ward 6 Rebekah Gewirtz, who is retiring from her seat on the Board of Alderman representing Ward 6. We wish her well and thank her for all that she has done in representing her constituents. She was one of those aldermen that knew what her job was and did it well. Accordingly, she was re-elected to five terms in office. That says a lot. She’s married now, with a baby, and she’s moving on. We’re sure we will still see her around the city.

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We hear things are on thin ice over at the Somerville Skating Rink on Somerville Avenue. It seems like some employee of the city took off several days and the ice melted. But don’t fear, we hear that the administration suspended him another week for doing that.

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Meanwhile, same rink but different situation. Apparently, the city or someone responsible for the rink has allowed an outside-the-city group to use the rink with the expectation of getting a rental fee from them. Well, this group has a very strange past, so we hear. They reportedly owe money/fees to two other rinks and we’re told the city knew that when someone agreed to let them us our rink. Well, guess what. It seems that they now are repeating what they have done in the past. They haven’t paid Somerville for the use of the rink, we heard, for some time. What’s even worse, they are still allowed to come here. Now we hear that this same group is contemplating filing for bankruptcy, thereby avoiding paying altogether. Now, if this was a private enterprise what do you think would have happened? We think they wouldn’t have been given a chance in the first place to come and use our rink without payment. But hey, this is public so different standards apply, compared to private. What do you think?

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Don’t forget folks, we will be on a sort of vacation. We’re still around and our website will be updated daily as need be with stories and items of interest for the residents of Somerville. The Somerville Times will be taking the week off between holidays. The last paper of the year will be Wednesday, Dec. 23 (Christmas week) and will return Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. It’s always a slow week for news and this gives our hard working staff a week off to enjoy with their family and friends. If anyone has any questions you can call the paper at 617 666-4010.

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The Annual Meeting of the Somerville High School Scholarship Foundation will be held in the Gallery 81 conference room at Somerville High School at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. For information contact Noreen Santucci, correspondence secretary, at: NFSLEARN@aol.com.

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Faulkner Fuel on the corner of Cedar St. and Alpine St. is conducting their annual collection of Toys For Tots with the United States Marine Corps. The toys pictured here are just a few of the toys that were donated by The Somerville Municipal Workers Union and the Somerville Department Of Public Works.  Special thanks and a “well done” goes out to them and Michael and Peter Dupuis, Annie DiBenedetto, Elaine Anderson and the gang at Faulkner Fuel.

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Public Skating times at Simoni Rink during school vacation week: Dec. 24, 2015 – Jan. 3, 2016: Dec. 24, 12:30-2:20 p.m.; Dec. 25, closed; Dec. 26, no public skating; Dec. 27, 1:00-2:50 p.m.; Dec. 28, 12:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m.; Dec. 29, 12:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m.; Dec. 30, 12:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m.; Dec. 31, 12:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m., Jan. 1, 12:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m.; Jan. 2, no public skating; Jan. 3, 1:00-2:50 p.m. Simoni Rink is located at 155 Gore Street, Cambridge, MA 02141. Admission is $5 and rental skates are available for $5 on a first-come, first-served basis.