Somerville Public Schools have announced the following CTE students who have won medals representing their shops in the SkillsUSA District Competitions held last Wednesday. Each student competed virtually against 10 schools in a completion that tested their Shop Knowledge as well as their Employability Skills and OSHA Knowledge.

Arts at the Armory’s Spotlight Series is thrilled to bring Blind Boys of Alabama to their historic Performance Hall stage on March 14. Hailed as “gospel titans” by Rolling Stone, the Blind Boys of Alabama defied the considerable odds stacked against them in the segregated south, from singing for pocket change in the Jim Crow South, to performing for three different American presidents, soundtracking the Civil Rights movement and helping define modern gospel music as we know it.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

There used to be a facility called Good Time the Assembly Square area. It got wild in there at times. It was a good place for kids’ birthday parties along with the pool tables and other machines. I asked our friends to share their memories of Good Time with us.

Registration for the Somerville Public Schools’ Community Schools Afterschool Program will open from March 19 through March 28, 2024. Families of students in grades PK-5 who are interested in enrolling their students in the SPS Afterschool Program should complete the online registration form during this period in order to be part of the enrollment lottery for School Year 2024-2025.

Mayor Katjana Ballantyne is announcing that the Somerville Board of Health recently tightened two key regulations for tobacco/nicotine retail sales in Somerville.

As of March 1, 2024, the cap on the number of tobacco/nicotine retail licenses within Somerville will progressively decline. Each time a permit is surrendered, revoked, or not renewed, the cap will be adjusted downward. Additionally, all retailers will now be required to verify the age of every purchaser of tobacco/nicotine products via government photo I.D. to confirm the purchaser is 21 or older. 

Below are the unoffical results showing  how Somerville voted in the 2024  Presidential Primary:

PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE

Democratic Race

Dean Philips  445
Joseph R. Biden 7,940
Marianne Williamson  431
No Preference 2,596

Republican Race

Donald J. Trump  989
Nikki Haley     1,296
No Preference 21

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

By State Senator Pat Jehlen

This is my second piece about rent stabilization. Here’s the first one.

Channel 25 ran a story about the conflict between renters and homebuyers vs. investors. They “found when investors use limited liability companies or LLCs to purchase properties – they can be hard to track.” Rep. Uyterhoeven’s bill, H3566, would allow identification of the owners of LLCs.

Don’t forget to set your clocks forward this weekend. March 10, Daylight Saving Time starts. When local standard time is about to reach Sunday, March 10, 2:00 a.m., clocks are turned forward one hour to Sunday, March 10, 3:00 a.m. local daylight time instead. Sunrise and sunset will be about one hour later on Mar 10 than the day before. There will be more light in the evening.

The Lunar New Year Rolling Parade rolled into Somerville last Sunday in celebration of the 4722nd Lunar New Year. ~Photos by Bobbie Toner

On Sunday, March 3, Mayor Katjana Ballantyne joined leaders and members of the Boston, Belmont, Cambridge, and Malden communities to celebrate the fourth Lunar New Year Rolling Parade which kicked off at the Lions Gate in Chinatown Boston at noon.