City Councilor Rick Lipof kicked off his campaign for the 12th Middlesex House state representative seat on Thursday evening with a crowd of supporters at fellow City Councilor Vicki Danberg’s house in Newton Centre. “To all of you wonderful people here today, I humbly pledge that I will be a state representative for everyone in this district, and I will always have my door open and will work to deliver the best results for the residents of Newton and Brookline,” Lipof said to the room. “Through coalition building and working with legislative leadership, I will ensure that my voice will be hea ..read more

With an up-and-down start to the season, the Newton South boys’ baseball team looks to keep swinging hard and moving forward. Behind the leadership of head coach Paul Williams, the young group is learning from its 3-3 beginning and with some adjustments, eyes a spot in the state tournament. Before spring break, the team won three straight games, including a gritty 12-9 win over Bedford in which the group clawed back after trailing 6-0. Sophomore shortstop Nathan Feldman said the team felt very good going into the break, but that a week-long hiatus — partly due to the weather— has delayed getti ..read more

“The purpose of art is washing the daily dust off our soul.” — Pablo Picasso If you’ve been looking to get out and need to dust off your soul, stay in town for the next couple of days, because the arts will be sprucing up Newton’s soul all weekend. With Newton Open Studios bringing music and visual art all over the city all weekend, there’s a bounty of opportunity to bask in color, harmony and creative energies. Have a weekend art sightseeing day trip in your own city, as more than 30 locations are included in Newton Open Studios. There will be a few concerts on Saturday as well. And for the k ..read more

If you’re doing some spring cleaning and wondering what to do with clothes you don’t want anymore, you may want to head over to Our Lady Help of Christians Church on Sunday. From 9 a.m. to noon and again from 4 to 6 p.m., the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a charity that helps those in need in Newton, is holding a clothing drive with a truck located in the parking lot of Our Lady Help of Christians, 573 Washington St., (the lot entrance is along Adams Street). Accepted items include: Clothing of all types and all seasons Coats and shoes Textile items, such as linens, towels and blankets Do ..read more

The School Committee held a public hearing on whether or not Newton should join the state’s Inter-district School Choice program, with the committee set to cast its vote on May 6. Community members who showed up and commented were not supportive of the idea to join, citing potential pitfalls and unknown impacts despite possible financial benefits the program could bring. The conversation about School Choice has been guided by Superintendent Anna Nolin this year, but state law requires community school boards to vote on School Choice every year. “While I was credited with the idea for School Ch ..read more

PHOTO: Jeff and Maria DeBonee own and operate Sandwich Works in Newton Centre. Photo by Genevieve Morrison / Heights Editor Mara and Jeff DeBonee’s love story started as student coworkers in Stuart Dining Hall on Boston College’s Newton Campus. It blossomed into a different kind of partnership after graduation. They now co-own Sandwich Works, a homey Newton Centre staple serving breakfast and lunch since 1991. After 33 years in business, their food is tried and true—the eggs are fluffy, baked goods are dense and sweet, and the coffee is chilled with coffee-flavored ice cubes to ensure that the ..read more

Newton held its third annual Earth Day Festival on Sunday at Newton North High School. There were games, climate change informational displays, a petting zoo, electric vehicles, a duo dressed as a chicken and a cow—the event certainly didn’t lack for variety—all brought together to draw attention to the planet and ways to heal it. Check out these photos and videos from the event, which drew some pretty big crowds despite the chill in the air and threatening clouds looming overhead. Peter Barrer, left, and Alexander Lee, right, ran a booth for 350.org at Newton’s Earth Day Festival on Sunday, A ..read more

This Wednesday, the Newton School Committee will hold a public hearing about the state’s Inter-district School Choice program and whether Newton should join it. “This is an important decision for the School Committee and for our community,” Mayor Ruthanne Fuller wrote in a Monday afternoon email to residents. Wednesday’s public hearing will start at 5:30 p.m. and will be hybrid (in-person at the Education Center or on Zoom at  https://zoom.us/j/390017072, School Choice allows families to enroll their kids in schools outside their community to fill empty seats and provide tuition (currentl ..read more

In a year with a teachers’ strike, a new contract and an inflation crisis complicating it all, Newton is relying on a new stabilization account and something called “carry-forward” to keep its school budget growing while other communities make staffing cuts. What is carry-forward money and what is its point in Newton’s school budget? Carry-forward is similar to a surplus in that it’s unspent money from one year that is added into the next year’s budget. While cities and towns have to have balanced budgets, using the state’s Circuit Breaker special education funding program provides a work-arou ..read more

On April 14, the 21st Connie Spear Birnbaum Memorial Lecture featured a program entitled, “Navigating Uncharted Waters: War, Antisemitism, and the American Campus.” The topic was timely due to the reported rise in antisemitic incidents at many colleges and across the country, including in Newton, following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and subsequent war. Around 400 people attended the evening event, both in person and online, held at the Newton Jewish Collaborative Campus in Auburndale, in partnership with Temple Reyim and Hebrew College. A musical program of Jewish music presented by the Zacho ..read more