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As the founder of a clean energy investment group, building one of the most environmentally-friendly homes in the state was a natural choice for Waban resident David Miller.

Miller and his wife Karen showcased their brand new 3,800-square-foot energy efficient home Thursday morning to Gov Deval Patrick, state energy officials and energy advocates, as an example of what state incentives aimed at helping residents go green has helped them do. As a consumer concerned about the environment, Miller promoted the importance of energy reduction to business professionals and green energy advocates.

It’s the center of the city – home to shops, salons, restaurants, a garden and now even a skating rink.

And while some businesses have come and gone, officials want to make sure Newton Centre remains a vibrant nucleus.

With some new services, a proposed long-term meter offering and fine-tuned marketing strategies, officials are trying to make the centre more convenient for consumers and business owners alike.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the recent public hearing held by the MBTA at Newton City Hall was the narrowness of the approach offered by T officials to address the Transportation Authority’s operating deficit. MBTA officials would have us believe that the options at their disposal are strictly limited to raising fares and/or reducing services.

GateHouse Media announced this week that it will locate one of its two news production centers in Framingham at the MetroWest Daily News. The move will bring more than 70 jobs to Framingham, attracting talent from across the country as the company produces its smaller newspapers (under 5,000 circulation and non-dailies) in one location starting this fall.

It started with recycled children’s shoes.

From evaluating housing after the 1985 Mexico City earthquake to building a school for Rwandan girls, Miriam Tuchman has always been involved in international projects.

While always passionate about helping the otherwise helpless, the West Newton woman never thought collecting shoes for Haitian children would lead to her current quest: building a sustainable hospital for a large Haitian population.

 

Which country borders more landlocked countries?  Is it Gabon, Zimbabwe, Algeria, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Which country spans more degrees of latitude?  Is the answer Nepal, South Korea, Vietnam or Malaysia?

Luckily, questions like these were being directed at 30 eager Bigelow middle school students, and not parents such as myself sitting in the audience during Bigelow’s 13th annual Geography Bee last month. 

Here's the latest from Newton's houses of worship.

On Saturday, Feb. 11, the Newton Democratic Party will hold caucuses to elect delegates and alternates to the 2012 Massachusetts Democratic State Convention. Every Newton resident who was registered as a Democrat by Dec. 31, 2011, is eligible to participate in the caucus for his/her ward.

The lone skier on the US women’s cross-country junior national team from the East Coast, Lincoln teen Corey Stock will leave Monday for the World Junior Championships in Erzurum, Turkey. The 17-year-old Stock earned her spot with an eye-popping fourth-place finish in the senior freestyle sprint at the US nationals last month in Rumford, Maine. Eli Hoenig, her classmate at Lincoln-Sudbury, and 14-year-old Julia Kern, are headed to Estonia, for the U17 championships.

Three years after plans for a new senior center were shelved due to the poor economy, Acton officials say it’s time to revisit the idea and move forward with a design. There will be an article on the April 2 Town Meeting warrant asking for $140,000 in design funds for the new building.

Waltham Mayor Jeannette McCarthy and local nonprofit REACH Beyond Domestic Violence have declared this week “Say Hi to Your Neighbors Week’’ as part of the organization’s Small Actions campaign to end domestic violence.

On Valentines Day Anne DeFeo of Arlington and her guide dog Viv will participate with other guide dogs and their owners in a ceremony at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown honoring the U.S. Postal Service for its new 65-cent “Dogs at Work’’ stamp series depicting a guide dog, therapy dog, military tracking dog, and search-and-rescue dog to celebrate the “enduring partnership between dogs and people.’’ Says Anne of Viv: “My pal is right by my side. She’s the best.’’

The Concord Area Humanists group celebrates the 203rd birthday of one of their movement’s heroes, Charles Darwin, with lunch, cake, a film, a panel discussion and even a visit with a Darwin impersonator. Concerts in the area offer up young prodigies of cello and composition, the Indian Hill Big Band collaborating with a high school chamber chorus group, plus jazz and Big Band musical events. In theater, there are cabarets and children’s theater this week, plus a reenactment of a salon hosted by Julia Ward Howe.

Scott Young is realizing pretty quickly that his name, and his pedigree, as a former professional hockey player only goes so far. Young played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League. He won a pair of Stanley Cups, and piled up more than 700 career points. Back at his alma mater, as the boys’ coach at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, in his first “real-world’’ job, has been a challenge. The art of recruiting prospective players? That’s a whole different craft to master.

Globe West welcomes letters to the editor. Readers’ opinions are published based on space available in each edition.

FAMILY

Tommy Odom says he doesn’t know where he’d be today without the Newton Boys and Girls Club.

The club gave Odom’s mom, Lorraine Landsburg, a place to take her son to play with kids after school while she worked. Programs like after school care and summer camps that Odom attended over the years are run through assistance from Community Development Block Grant or CDBG federal funding.

A Newton administrator was named headmaster of Brookline High School today.

Got an interesting love story? Readers are invited to share their stories and photos. Tell us your fantastic love story and it will appear in the Newton TAB and online at wickedlocalnewton.com.