Newton TAB

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.

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.

With significant growth in our public schools, increased traffic on our streets, aging and neglected school and municipal buildings and infrastructure, we need to that ensure we face these challenges head on if we want to continue to meet our full potential. Mayor Warren is asking the community to engage in a series of community meetings to better understand our approach and the work that lies before us.

Here's the latest from the Newton Free Library.

David Ettlinger, the former Newton elementary school teacher who was recently arrested for a slew of child pornography-related crimes, was arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court for similar offenses in a case unrelated to his teaching position.

The more than 200 cameras at North and South high schools are still new, but officials say they’ve already proven useful.

Installed in corridors, common areas and outside of the buildings, Newton South High School principal Joel Stembridge said camera footage has helped resolve some situations.

Over the past decade, the Community Preservation Act has helped pay for affordable housing, the renovation of historic buildings, and the preservation of open space, but it's also come with the controversy and lawsuits. 

The act, which voters passed by a margin of 448 votes in November 2001, imposes a 1 percent surcharge on a resident’s property tax. The money collected goes into an escrow account and is matched by the state from  real estate deed transaction fees. Communities can spend the money raised on the acquisition of open space, creation of affordable housing and preservation of historical structures.

Controversy, anger, scorn and relief: Some projects have the ability to provoke a series of emotions.

Today, the city faces challenges with trying to encourage new economic development without encroaching upon neighborhoods, building Chestnut Hill Square, and deciding how to zone a proposed mixed-use transient-oriented development at the Riverside MBTA station.

Voter fraud has become a hot topic in national politics, with Republicans, mostly, pushing new laws requiring photo IDs at the voting booth.

Opponents have responded that such laws put limits on the right to vote that are unnecessary --  making voting intimidating and more difficult -- because proven instances of voter fraud are so rare as to be nearly nonexistent.

An effort to develop the parking lot on Austin Street can now move to the bidding process, as the Board of Aldermen voted on language at its Feb. 6 meeting that will push the project forward.

In a 16 to 6 vote, aldermen agreed to require a nominal but monetary bid for the land.

“The idea is to give the mayor flexibility to pick the best project that balances the money offered for the land to the public benefits to Newtonville,” Alderman Susan Albright told the Newton TAB.

Shawn Fitzgibbons announced in an email this week that he is running for chairman of the Newton Democratic City Committee with Hannah Banks as his vice chairman.

Fitzgibbons is currently the vice chairman of the NDCC. In his email, Fitzgibbons said that during a “tremendous election year,” it is time to have new city committee leadership.