from The Patriot Ledger
After eight years of quilting, Liz McGuire of Milton wanted to expand her craft. And what better way to do so than to spend five days in a workshop with Nancy Crow, a leader of the art quilt movement whose exhibit of quilts opens at the Fuller Craft Museum today.
“I wanted a challenge and this is challenging,” said McGuire, who was learning to compose a quilt without patterns or templates. (Read the full story here.)
from The Patriot Ledger
The calendar says January, but the Wildcats are acting as if the fall never ended.
Undefeated during the cross country season, Milton High’s girls runners have kept the momentum going. Thursday’s 72-14 drubbing of Dedham at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston gave Milton (5-0) the Bay State Conference’s Herget Division title in indoor track. (Read the full story here.)
from The Patriot Ledger
Two skaters chase a loose puck during a hockey game, one gets the upper hand, the other checks him into the boards. Innocent plays like that happen every game.
While most players bounce back to their feet and return to play, some stay down, causing anxiety for players, coaches and parents alike. (Read the full story here.)
from The Boston Globe
John D. “Jack’’ Wallace of Milton, a Navy veteran and former sales representative for RCA, “was such a clean living guy he would stop at a yellow light,’’ said his former neighbor, Joan Ochs.
“He was just a good citizen and did everything that was asked of him,’’ said Ochs, who knew Mr. Wallace and his wife for four decades. (Read the full story here.)
The ATM scheme involved a Citizen’s Bank ATM on Granite Avenue in Milton. Vladislav Vladev, of Quincy was arrested while waiting to take off for Germany. He’s pleaded not guilty and being held on $1million bail.
from The Boston Globe
Two more suspects, including one who was in possession of nearly $100,000 when he was arrested, are facing charges in an alleged scheme to steal ATM card data from unwitting customers in Eastern Massachusetts, authorities said yesterday. (Read the full story here.)
from The Boston Globe
A Canadian man allegedly obtained debit and credit card information by attaching scanner devices and small cameras to ATM machines across eastern Massachusetts and used the information to steal at least $100,000 since November, Norfolk County prosecutors said.
Ivaylo Hristov, 28, of Ontario pleaded not guilty today in Quincy District Court to larceny and identity fraud charges stemming from an incident in Quincy. He was ordered held on $1 million cash bail and faces arraignment Friday on the same charges in another case in Milton. (Read the full story here.)
from The Patriot Ledger
The Milton firefighter who was shot in the abdomen last month after an apparent traffic confrontation in Quincy is out on sick leave while he recuperates.
Meanwhile, Milton’s fire chief and town administrator are looking into possible disciplining of Joseph Fasano, 30, for incidents from his past that came to light after the shooting. (Read the full story here.)
Update: from The Boston Herald – Second injured Norwood hockey player, Chris O’Brien in fair condition
A player was seriously injured at the Ulin Hockey rink yesterday in a game between the Norwood Mustangs and Milton Wildcats. A Norwood player, Chris O’Brien, crashed head first into the wall back wall and according to reports was in and out of consciousness. He was rushed to Children’s Hospital and play was suspended.
This is the second serious injury the Norwood team has sustained in the last week. Several days ago a Norwood player, Matt Brown, broke vertebrae in his neck in a game against Weymouth. He is listed in critical condition.
Wicked Local Norwood reports: “There were many signs of support for Brown at Wednesday’s game including the 50-50 raffle held by the Milton High hockey boosters club was to benefit the sophomore, three signs taped to the glass in one corner of the rink signed by members of the Milton boys and girls hockey teams.”
Related coverage:
Updated – 01.28.10: 08.44 – The administration has released the following documents:
While hopeful of receiving a service level budget, the school administration is operating on the assumption that they would likely receive level funding for FY11. Level funding will require cuts. In anticipation of that, Superintendent Gormley along with Matt Gilles, School Business Administrator, reviewed for the School Committee the staff cuts that would be required to meet that budget number, $32, 976,000.
To preserve service levels, the administration has requested an FY11 Budget proposal of $35,533,107. As Gormley notes in her letter:
The FY11 Budget reflects moving all of our current staff forward into the next school year and adding four classroom teachers based on the following priorities:
- NESDEC and in-house enrollment projections that reflect increased student enrollment
- 2009 Adequate Yearly Progress Status of Schools and Sub Groups:
o Milton High School – African American/Black Subgroup in English and Math
o Pierce Middle School – Special Education Subgroup in English and Math
o Tucker – Aggregate in Math and Low Income and African American/Black Subgroups in Math
o Glover – Aggregate in English and Special Education Subgroup in English and Math
o Collicot – Aggregate in English and Special Education Subgroup in English and Math
o Cunningham – Aggregate and Subgroups all Achieved AYP in English and Math
However, it is unlikely that this request will be granted. Assuming the more conservative figure, Ms. Gormley prefaced her review by stating that the goal was to keep teachers in the classroom. The cuts reflect this. The vast majority of positions eliminated are system wide positions and / or administrative. The high school will lose a director of guidance and 1 teacher in the family and consumer studies department. Pierce will lose 1 classroom teacher and 1 assistant principal. The elementary schools will lose 1 language based teacher, 2 French immersion teachers, and 1 kindergarten teacher. Gormley noted that some of these cuts made due to projected enrollments decreasing.
System wide cuts include 1 custodian and 5 classroom aides, which they believe can be done without violating any IEPs. 4.5 lunch aides will be rolled over to revolving account. They will not be cut but financed differently.
Note, this is not a complete list of all reductions. The list will be posted on the school web site at some point later today (1/27) according to Superintendent Gormley. Gormley also emphasized that despite goal of keeping teachers in front of students, cutting a total of 24.4 FTE heads from the system would “have a profound negative impact.”
from Wicked Local Walpole
“It was the single most stressful meet of my coaching career,” was the description Head Coach Conor Cashman gave of last Thursday’s track meet between the Rebels and the Wildcats of Milton.
Many events coming down to inches and seconds, the battle was hard-fought on both sides. The Wildcats managed to get wins over both the boys and girls teams in the end, however, with the final scores at 50-36 and 56-30 respectively. The capturing of key upset firsts for Milton allowed them to conquer a rolling Rebel team. (Read the full story here.)
The Massachusetts legislature is wrestling with two public safety issues relevant to municipalities across the Commonwealth: driving legislation that would address testing of elderly drivers and cell phone use and legislation to prevent bullying.
Several months ago the issue of testing elderly drivers was front and center in the news as a result of a spate of accidents involving senior drivers some fatal.
In a poll here the majority of respondents voted in favor of testing. (You can find the poll at the end of this post.)
The Massachusetts legislature seems gridlocked according to story that appeared last week in The Boston Globe:
from The Boston Globe
Despite promises of swift action from lawmakers in the new year, two high-profile driver safety bills are languishing on Beacon Hill, their fate very much in doubt.
The Legislature showed heavy interest last year in passing major legislation on testing elderly drivers and banning text messaging behind the wheel, only to back off amid deep divisions over the two measures. (Read the full story here.)