Join the Somerville Chamber of Commerce for their monthly “After Hours” this Thursday, January 5 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at the Foundry on Elm in Davis Square. Hosted by Chamber Business After Hours Chair Dana Iacopucci of Cubby Oil & Energy. Bring your business card, this is a great networking meeting for businesses here in the city. RSVP with name(s) and affiliation(s) for you and your guest(s) to smackey@somervillechamber.org.

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Last week we were on vacation and we hope all had a great holiday and a safe and happy New Year. We wish all our readers both in print and online a special thank you for making us the number one paper here in Somerville. By the way, one week in December we had 15K hits on our website and then the following week we had 18 thousand. We’re now averaging over 50K a month, with 14K print readers. We will be putting out some more boxes and increasing the number of places where you can find our paper. If you have a new location suggestion let us know. Because of demand, we have also started to add a few Medford locations for our paper. They love us over there, as they do here in Somerville. Thank you to all that make it possible.

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Political rumors are starting early this year. We hear that the recent pay raise for the Board of Alderman to just over $40K has attracted the eye of a few here in the city. This week will start off with the Alderman at Large race. We hear that Sean Fitzgerald is in (he narrowly lost two years ago), and we also hear that former Ward 2 Alderman Kevin Tarpley, who has moved back to the city, has decided he will enter the Alderman at Large race. Stephanie Hirsch, a local lady who is affiliated with the administration and who we hear will have the help of Mayor Joe, is also interested. Hirsch is a former City of Somerville department head. One other name we asked directly was Courtney O’Keefe, who is thinking about it but has decided to sit out this year. However, she is seriously considering it in two years. We expect some more names to come up, in the At Large race. It’s just the beginning of the year. We will let you know what we hear from our various sources throughout the city as time rolls on. But if you’re considering running or know of someone who is considering running for any one of the local city races this year, let us know and we will mention your name.

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The midterm “State of the City” will be next Monday, January 9, televised on local cable access. The mayor is planning on making a speech on the upcoming year for the city. Board of Alderman President Bill White will also give a speech on behalf of the board.

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Congratulations to Rachael Hart-Adams who gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, whom she named Finnegan. Weighing in at 8 lbs.-4 oz. We’re so happy for the Hart family. This makes an even 20 grandkids. Nice to see her big brother Ricky and his wife Jamie Hart along with their three great kids, who are growing too fast.

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Happy birthday to a lot of our friends and fellow Villens here this week: Happy birthday last week to Jamie Sue O’Leary of Winter Hill. We hope she had a great day. Happy birthday to two former East Somerville men, Paul Peddle and Jack Bassett, both of different generations, but from East Somerville. Happy birthday to little Tess O’Toole, the daughter of the famous Feargal. She is a lucky little girl to have a father and mother that are so nice and locally involved here in the city with the Democratic Party. Happy birthday to our favorite 5th grade teacher, Sophia Carafotes, who is celebrating this week. What a nice lady and popular teacher. Happy birthday to Lisa Ludwick, who is also celebrating this week. Happy birthday as well to Tom Oliverio, who grew up here and is very popular. Our good friend Pam Gee of RLS-2000, who is often around and here in the city, celebrates this week and we wish her all the best. Happy birthday to local guy Chris Kenney, who is affiliated with our paper and is a nice guy. We hope he has a great day for himself, hopefully celebrating it with the love of his life Cindy. Happy birthday to all those in January. Want to send a happy birthday greeting? Let us know so we can mention the persons name.

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On Thursday, January 19, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., you are invited to attend SCATV’s annual meeting and ASCATDEMY Awards event, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with the member meeting and followed by the Member Awards Ceremony at 6:30pm. The awards ceremony will be hosted by the ever-fabulous duo, Ken and Joe Lynch. The main order of business will be the election of four SCATV members to their board. These are three-year terms, with the opportunity for a subsequent term re-election. Submitted information from nominees will be shared on SCATV’s website beginning January 4 in preparation for membership voting on the 19th. The remainder of the evening of January 19, is for recognizing and celebrating the achievements and accomplishments of the radio and television productions, SCATV and BFR producers and talent, and Community Media Supporters who all help make the Commonwealth’s oldest cable access center the vibrant, beloved community asset that it continues to be today. This is a chance for media makers to reconnect with each other, acknowledge and support the work of one’s peers, and to eat and have some fun. They are wishing all a safe and happy new year. They look forward to seeing you there.

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Somerville Rotary is looking for some new members. Rotary is a service club for businesses and local non-profits. Somerville Rotary meets at 12:15 p.m. every Tuesday at the Holiday Inn. If you’d like to find out more about Rotary and what it does here both in the city and internationally, go to the their website at www.somervillerotary.org.

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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. Someone asked online why we keep these two websites in Newstalk. We guess it’s because we like them.

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We send our get-well wishes to Charlie Chisholm, who was rushed a few weeks ago to MGH and is currently undergoing several surgeries. We hope he is back home and on the mend soon. Charlie had his first surgery last week and is about to have another. We wish him well and a speedy recovery.

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Also undergoing major surgery is former Ward 4 School Committee member Charlene Harris. We know she’s been in the hospital now for a couple of weeks. We hope she’s on the road to recovery and will be back in good health real soon. She was surrounded by her family over the holidays, giving her support while going through some tough times. We hope 2017 is going to be a good year for her.

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For those that might be interested in obtaining certification for firearms should look up the Lawrence Rod & Gun Club. They provide 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. We’ve been told that the course has seen a major increase in people applying for it, especially women. We can tell you first hand here that it’s a great course and quite thorough. The same goes for this in Newstalk. The club has informed us that many residents of Somerville have called or gone to the club to find out about certification.

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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 7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 9, when they will elect Directors to three-year terms and have a report presented on Foundation finances. The meeting is for current officers, directors, and members. New members are welcome. For information, contact Noreen Santucci, correspondence secretary, at: NFSLEARN@aol.com or at 617-448-0145.

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On Wednesday, January 11, at 6:00 p.m. the first community meeting will be held at the Mount Vernon Restaurant, 14 Broadway, to discuss the zoning of a medical marijuana facility at 67 Broadway. Subsequent meetings will be held on Thursday, January 19 and Wednesday, January 25, same time, same location.