Deval Patrick and Charlie Baker are feuding over the Green Line extension.

By George P. Hassett

The long-delayed Green Line extension through Somerville became a potential political wedge issue this week after Republican challenger Charlie Baker criticized Gov. Deval Patrick for the project’s cost overruns.

The cost of the Green Line extension has risen from $560 million in 2007 to $954 million.

“This is how Governor Patrick has conducted business in Massachusetts during the past four years,” Baker said in a prepared statement. “Costs have gone up on his watch on everything from a cup of coffee to renewing your license to property taxes because Deval Patrick cannot manage state government. In Deval Patrick’s mind, it’s always easier to raise costs than make the tough decisions.”

Aldermen clashed over a reappointment to a city commission Thursday night, forcing a recess and talking over one another.

By Ashley Troutman

Radio Jarocho will play at the Fandango. ~Photo by Sergio Reyes

Celebrate Mexican son jarocho music, learn to dance, and participate in arts and crafts activities at the Fandango in Union Square on August 28. The festival will feature live performances by local band, La Tuza, and Radio Jarocho.

La Tuza, an acoustic trio, plays a lively blend of son jarocho, son huasteco, and son calentano. While strumming, plucking, and rattling to the beat, they put on an exciting performance and always engage the crowd. La Tuza has the reputation of being the best Mexican grassroots band in the greater Boston area.

By George P. Hassett

A Dorchester crack dealer with an “obvious dental issue” was arrested in the Burger King parking lot on Somerville Avenue Saturday with 35 bags of crack cocaine, police said.

Michael Johnson, 52, was identified to police as a crack cocaine dealer suffering from an acute dental issue, police said. During the investigation, he was contacted and an order was placed for crack cocaine, police said.

Somerville Police Officer Dante DiFronzo was cleared in the fatal July shooting of a woman who had stabbed him and two other officers after an investigation by the Middlesex DA's office.

New details emerge in death, triple stabbing

By George P. Hassett

A Somerville police officer who shot and killed a 33-year-old woman has been cleared in an investigation launched immediately after the shooting by Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone.

Dante DiFronzo shot and killed 33-year-old Carol Kingsley after Kingsley stabbed three officers and set a fire inside her home. Kingsley died from one gunshot to the head, according to the investigation.

By George P. Hassett

A 15-year-old Somerville boy was arrested for kicking down a basement door and stealing a $600 bicycle on Aug. 16.

The boy allegedly kicked down a door on Heath Street and stole a blue mountain bicycle, police said. As he fled from the owner, who heard his basement door being forced in, the boy took a big fall off the bike on to the pavement, police said.

By George P. Hassett

Two Somerville teens were arrested Aug. 20 for allegedly attacking an 18-year-old man with chains and a windshield wiper on McGrath Highway.

The boys, ages 14 and 15, allegedly ran towards the victim as he waited for a bus on Washington Street under the McGrath Highway underpass. The driver of the car, a gray sedan with the back window punched out, yelled to people on the porch of a nearby residence to get in their house.

~Photo by William Tauro

~Photo by William Tauro

By William Tauro

A little over a month after the Somerville Public Safety building/Police Station flooded and destroyed three quarters of its police cruisers, Wednesday submerged police cruisers are towed out of the re-flooded police lot again.

~Photo by Ashley Taylor

Proposed tenant faces resistance from residents, city
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By George P. Hassett

“We can do better,” said Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero at a planning board meeting Tuesday. “The Green Line is coming.”

These days we’re all angry – whether it’s rallying against overspending or local folks tired of corruption and double dealing on Beacon Hill – we can all feel the outrage, regardless of party affiliation or personal politics.

Strike up a conversation about politics or policy and you’ll hear some variation of, “Throw the bums out” – and in some ways there is nothing wrong with that sentiment.

The only thing wrong is when it ends with just rhetoric. In America, complaining about the elected officials who get close to free health insurance for life is a good start, but we can do more.