Newton

Blogger Chuck Tanowitz issues a call to action: He's calling on folks to do a little man-in-the-street interviewing to see how Newton residents really feel about the progress at Newton North High School, following City Hall's tut-tutting over Tab and blog coverage of the work.

Chuck Tanowitz talks to the Newton mayor's flack (yes, of course, the mayor of Newton has a PR person - you can't imagine the crush of press calls the mayor of the Garden City gets) about the flap over letting the local weekly take pictures of the under-construction Newton North High School:

... Solomon said that he would only change his stance when he felt public sentiment shift. While the writers on various blogs have been rather outspoken on the topic, Solomon laughed on the idea that these opinions mounted to much. "I read blog traffic, and I take it for what it is," he said. "I'm not certain advocating to alter public policy based on some blog traffic makes sense." ...

Wicked Local Newton photographs the oddest sidewalk you'll ever see (odder even than the marble sidewalk on Anawan Street in West Roxbury).

Sure sounds like David Cohen wants to get into the news business and decide what goes on the front page. Cohen, who isn't running for re-election in large part because of the costs associated with a new Taj Mahal high school, defended a decision to bar a Tab photographer from a "public" viewing of the still unfinished building because Tab photos wouldn't have been "essential" to reporting on construction progress, Wicked Local Newton reports.

Karen Wise explains why her entire family is now getting rabies shots, not that she knows for a fact that the bat that was flying around in her house was rabid, since her husband let it fly out, when, as they now know, you're supposed to trap it somehow and let Animal Control test it for rabies.

Steve Garfield was at the Chestnut Hill Mall at 7:05 this morning to get his new phone. In the report below it only appears like he's in a bunker to keep frenzied hordes of iPhone wannabes from overrunning him and taking his phone - we know Apple fans are not that crude:

No big deal, unless you happen to live next door to Jason Varitek.

Nothing like a little smash action during the morning rush (in this case, on the southbound side by Rte. 9) to slow things down.

Tom Nealon sings the praises of Baza, a Newton market dedicated to all things eastern European:

... Stand outs are the selection of herrings, smoked, dried, salted, and the salamis. I've certainly seen impressive arrays of salamis before - hanging from the rafters in salami enthusiasts basements or overhead in fancy meat markets, but here they are neatly arranged in the deli cabinet with their English names and prices easily visible (which can be a problem at other markets for those of us who learned all their Russian from watching A Fish Called Wanda). ...

We went to Echo Bridge in Newton today, and it really is amazing - you can basically whisper and hear your voice echo back from the other side of the Charles (so you can imagine what it was like when an exuberant kidlet decided to yell). Up river, near the old mill, we spotted the above large bird (so for those of you who know the distance, yes, it pays to have a zoom lens). Anybody know what it is?

John Halamka sings the praises of his daily after-work six-mile kayak trip through the Lakes District section of the Charles:

... The early evening on the Charles is a perfect time to view widelife - Great Blue Herons, Trumpeter Swans, American River Otters, Snapping Turtles, and enormous Carp. The river is different every time I kayak with variable weather, changing wildlife, and new people. Today I did a rescue of a mother and daughter from Montreal who tipped their kayak in the deepest part of Charles. ...

Now, Halamka is both a doctor and an IT executive, so he has a very precise formula for deciding when to go out on the water: When the sum of water temperature plus air temperature is greater than 120. Much less risk of hypothermia that way should he fall in. Read more

Krissy reports she rode commuter rail between Newton and Boston yesterday and wasn't asked for a ticket in either direction.

Wicked Local Newton posts some video showing some Newton alderman expressing his complete outrage at the mere thought that Newton is being compared to Somerville about something (specifically, Somerville's use of a computer program to track resident complaints) instead of Cambridge, Brookline or Northampton.

... This is the first time I have heard that we need to do what Somerville's doing. SOMERVILLE?!? Why not Everett? Or Chelsea? ...

Paul Levy reports on the tsouris he is having thanks to a Bank of America ATM in Newton Centre that ate both his ATM card and the checks he was attempting to deposit.

He follows up with a post on his travails with a Bank of America rep who contacted him via Twitter.

Boston Restaurant Talk reports Bloomingdale's at the Chestnut Hill Mall has just opened a restaurant called 40 Carrots.

Analysts, tabloid reporters shocked, confounded that Oak Hill Middle School not scene of panic, pandemonium after student diagnosed with flu.

The Heights reports students handing out condoms on a Newton sidewalk just outside the college were shooed away by a BC cop.

Fresh City on Needham Street early Monday, Wicked Local Newton reports.

After getting disappointed that Marathon fans, even along Comm. Ave. by BC, weren't tipping over cars and setting fires, a Tab reporter asks where Newton's seedy underbelly is at.

And wind up on the Brighton/Newton line, charging at cars and pecking any that dare stop.

Margalit chronicles them.

Wicked Local Newton reports the state is refusing to give Newton a one-day extension on an upcoming MCAS exam even though it's the day after the first night of Passover. Newton could give the test in the afternoon so that Jewish students can recover from the exhaustion of finding the afikomen the night before, but the city says students don't do as well on tests after lunch.

Mourning Cloak spotted over Washington Street in Newton.

Because a lot of them don't like shoveling their sidewalks, either.

Chuck Tanowitz marvels at the people ice fishing today at Auburndale Park.

Earlier:
Walking on water in Natick.