Today is the last day to register to vote or change your party affiliation so you can vote in the Primary on September 18. As always it’s very important to vote but especially now in the economy we are in, this is your opportunity to send a message.  We encourage everyone old, young, new to Somerville or long time resident to vote. It’s so very important to get out and register.  City Hall is open until 8 p.m. today Wednesday, go through the doors on School Street on that floor is the election department, two lovely ladies are there waiting to register you and answer your questions.
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ProjectMUM floor. ~Photo by v vansant

ProjectMUM wingsthings. ~Photo by vvansant

Somerville’s annual intergalactic dance party returned Saturday night as Project MUM took over the space under McGrath Highway to pay tribute to George Clinton & the P-Funk Mothership. Hundreds of dancers in their best Funkadelic space attire boogied to funk spun by DJs Flack, Wayne & Wax, Axel Foley, Pace and Brother Cleve. The usually vacant urban space underneath a highway overpass was transformed by out of this world lighting (and disco ball) by Todd Lewis Sargent, a video space mashup by VJ Dziga, and the return of last year’s Space Girls and Alienettes, led by Carey Foster and Peneny Pinnette.

- Photo by William Tauro

By George P. Hassett

Fire officials are estimating $650,000 in damage after a three alarm fire blazed through four apartments in a wood frame Houghton Street building on Monday.

Eighteen people were displaced after the fire and many required temporary housing assistance from American Red Cross volunteers at the scene, said Somerville Fire Chief of Operations Peter St. Claire.

The building was a four section wood frame row house with a mansard roof which included numbers 34, 36, 38 and 40 Houghton Street.

– Photos by Camilla Finlay

By Cathleen Twardzik

The Somerville Municipal Employees Association recently urged the Somerville Retirement Board to pass a three percent cost of living increase, in a letter to municipal leaders and members of the board.

“Our retirees are the backbone of our community, and their hard work has helped to make Somerville what it is today,” said Ed Halloran, president of the employees association.

Unfortunately at times Somerville loses its many talented artists and writers to the allure of New York City. Poet MRB Chelko is one of them. I interviewed her shortly after she left Union Square to the “City that never sleeps.” She has a recent collection of poetry out “What to Tell Sleeping Babies” published by the sunnyoutside press; a press that also left Somerville for Buffalo, NY.

MRB Chelko is a recent graduate of The University of New Hampshire’s MFA program and Editorial Assistant of the unbound poetry journal, Tuesday; An Art Project. Her poems have appeared in AGNI Online, Contrary, Fourteen Hills, Portland Review, and other fine journals. She lives with her husband, Nick and dog, Chuck in Central Harlem. Her chapbook is What to Tell the Sleeping Babies (sunnyoutside, 2010).

Roz Puleo, a Somerville resident, competed in the Timberman Ironman Triathlon this past weekend at Guilford, New Hampshire, just three months after she donated a kidney to her father Andrew.

By Mike Rubin

For years, Roz Puleo challenged herself on the track, on bike paths and on the ocean. Now for the first time in her life, she faced a tougher obstacle – the operating table.

As Puleo prepared for Sunday’s Timberman Half Iron Man Triathlon at Guilford, New Hampshire, she is still only three months removed from donating her kidney to her father Andrew Puleo.

Andrew, who was suffering from renal failure back in January, was on the verge of dialysis before Roz offered to donate her kidney. After several months of the match process, Puleo donated her kidney to her father on May 11.

By Mike Rubin

While the Malden Bulldogs may have captured the regular season division title, it’s the Somerville Alibrandis who are enjoying an early playoff lead.

With a pair of victories over the Bulldogs, the Alibrandis are in the driver’s seat and are on the verge of advancing to the semifinal round. After coasting to a 13-3 win over the Bulldogs in last Thursday’s series opener, Alibrandis delivered a 2-0 victory in Friday night’s match-up.

By George P. Hassett

Two juveniles tried to rob a man at knife point in Lincoln Park Aug. 19 before a Traffic and Parking employee chased them away, police said.

One of the juveniles was able to flee while the other was caught, police said. Officers searched the area with a police dog but couldn’t come up with the second suspect, police said.