world

Alewife Brook sewage campaign: Support from EPA

Worst Offender: Somerville’s SOM01A combined sewer overflow. UPDATED May 24: Precinct 13 Town Meeting member Kristin Anderson, who is monitoring the combined sewer overflows into the Alewife Brook, provided this update. In response the new CSO control plan “draft scopes,” the Environmental Protection Agency has sent letters to Mass. Water Resources Authority, Somerville and Cambridge, addressing all concerns from Save the Alewife Brook, which are described in its “Alewife Brook Path to Zero...

Retirement parade surprises Minuteman super

Schools

Bouquillon It was an occasion filled with high spirits, expressions of sincere gratitude and fond farewells at Minuteman High School as students, teachers and administrators showed their appreciation to the district’s longtime superintendent, Dr. Edward A. Bouquillon, and Minuteman freelance writer Judy Bass captures the mood of the May 12 event. He plans to retire in June after 15 achievement-filled years. Under summery blue skies with a balmy feel in the air, hundreds of s...

No. 111: Red Letter Poems 3.0: Confronting the 'other'

Poetry

UPDATED May 20: Steven Ratiner, Arlington’s poet laureate, sought submissions in February 2020 from Arlington residents to contribute to "a rather unconventional, utterly delightful way to inject poetry into the everyday." It was to remain secret until its debut during April’s National Poetry Month. Then the coronavirus hit. In June 2021, he offers Red Letters 3.0. PUBLISHED: I was asked to write an essay for Askold Melnyczuk’s Arrowsmith Journal about what I learned from the first ye...

T plan sharply cuts town's transit-route options

Transportation

Adam Auster, in "Word on the Street," his long-running transportation blog, reports unsettling news for Arlington bus riders. Under the headline "Arlington largely cut off from Alewife T under MBTA proposal," he writes: "The 350 bus, running once per hour from Alewife to Burlington via Arlington Center, and the 62, would be the only connections to Alewife from Arlington if a new bus plan for the T goes into effect. "The plan, part of a system-wide revamp of bus networks, also includes some...

Letters: Emailing Advocate? Copy it here. Roe v. Wade?

Letters to the editor

YourArlington's policy about letters to the editor UPDATED May 8: YourArlington.com welcomes opinions of all kinds from local residents, including those about the U.S. Supreme Court's view of Roe v Wade. Letters are reviewed for fairness, factualness and taste. This site welcomes letters about any issue that stirs the public mind. Longer opinion pieces are also welcome. NOTE: When emailing a letter to The Advocate, consider copying YourArlington at the same time. Your opinions will be publi...

Friedman on Roe: 'We won't be silent'

Politics

Sen. Cindy Friedman has spoken out against a draft Supreme Court decision that lays out a legal case to overturn two key abortion decisions: Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. YourArlington partner Patch reported May 5 that the draft, which was published by Politico Monday night, shows that the court is on the path toward rescinding abortion access, which would lead to it being outlawed in many states. Photos of Arlington protest >> However, Massachusetts is one of...

Town, school staff learn about racism in April

Rights

Arlington town and school employees participated for a second year in sessions by YW Boston’s 2022 Stand Against Racism campaign aimed toward expanding knowledge about race and equity. Throughout April, the town’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division was the host for four separate virtual sessions. The purpose of the Stand Against Racism campaign is to spread awareness and inspire action to eliminate racism. Sessions held empowered employees to broaden their knowledge of racism and...

Reviews: Brattle revives Lynch’s ‘Inland Empire’; Somerville’s ‘Hard Boiled’

Film

This review by Tom Meek was originally published in Cambridge Day, a YourArlington partner. Film Ahead is a weekly column highlighting special events and repertory programming for the discerning Camberville filmgoer. It also includes capsule reviews of films that are not feature reviewed. Local focus The Independent Film Festival Boston wraps up its phenomenal 19th run at The Brattle Theatre this week. For tickets and information, see The Brattle website. It’s “May...

Support Ukraine, oppose bias: Town groups seek action; watch ACMi videos

world

UPDATED April 22: The Arlington Human Rights Commission, the Disability Commission, the LGBTQIA+ Rainbow Commission and the Diversity Task Group of Envision Arlington on Friday, March 18, issued the following statement on the war in Ukraine: We support Ukraine and everyone affected by the Russian invasion. As of this writing, more than 3.2 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring Poland, which has taken in 1.9 million refugees, as well as Romania, Slovakia, Hungary an...

Town of Arlington to LGBTQIA+ students: You belong

Rights

Submitting the following news summary including opinion about a community conversation were Susan Ryan-Vollmar, cochair of the LGBTQIA+ Rainbow Commission, and Christine Carney, cochair of the Human Rights Commission.Dr. Roderick MacNeal at community conversation. We’re only a quarter of the way through 2022, but the year has already been a tough one for LGBTQIA+ people, especially transgender children and adolescents and their parents. Lawmakers across the country have filed a record-break...