O'Loughlin Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our Smugmug site. Nathan O'Loughlin, of Bedford, a financial adviser with Lignum Wealth Management in Lynnfield, has been recognized for outstanding client service, through Boston magazine's 2014 Five Star Wealth Manager Award. O'Loughlin has earned this honor, for which fewer than 3 percent of all Greater Boston wealth managers qualify, for three consecutive years. Candidates were evaluated by Boston magazine and Five Star Professional on customer service, integrity, knowledge and expertise, communication and overall satisfaction. Continue reading >>>

By Samantha Laine, Boston.com Staff What better way to spend a Somervillian Sunday afternoon than admiring some wacky mustaches? This Sunday, the Somerville Art Council will be hosting BeardFest 2014 in honor of facial hair artistry. Competitors will gather at the Center for Arts at the Armory to compete in different categories to see which beard brings home the gold. Bert Mayer, the founder of the Boston Beard Bureau, said this is the fourth year Somerville has hosted the event. He’s noticed that people in the Greater Boston area have grown quite fond of letting beards roam wild Continue reading >>>

[Photo: Dumpling House/Courtesy of a reader] Dumpling House — not to be confused with the nearby Dumpling Room — appears to be nearing an opening in the former tea house portion of the shuttered Greater Boston Buddhist Cultural Space on Massachusetts Ave. in Central Square. The opening date for the 96-seat restaurant is unknown, but a tipster sent in the photo above and noted that the awning was going up yesterday. Signs in the windows indicate that it'll open "soon," and fingers crossed that'll feature soup dumplings like its "gourmet" cousin in Chinatown. That's right — there's a Continue reading >>>

BOSTON — The Greater Boston area is set to get six medical marijuana dispensaries, according to documents just released by the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Boston is slated to get two dispensaries owned by Green Heart Holistic Health Pharmaceuticals and Good Chemistry of Massachusetts. The exact addresses of the locations of the dispensaries were not immediately available and will be determined at a later date. Calls and emails to the two Boston companies for comment on their successful applications were not immediately returned. View full sizeA map of medical marijuana Continue reading >>>

Some Greater Boston communities may experience a growth in population in the coming years. According to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC,) these 10 cities and towns will see an increase in their populace, as determined by its “Stronger Region” scenario. The “Stronger Region” scenario explores how changing trends could result in higher population growth, greater housing demand, and a substantially larger workforce.

iStock By Sanjay Salomon / Boston.com staff If you’re looking for your dream home, there are plenty of chances to something that’s right for you this weekend. We’ve collected a few of the open house offerings happening around Greater Boston to make your house-hunting experience a little easier. This weekend’s open houses include a chic condo in Brookline, a renovated Colonial in Weymouth, and a spacious duplex in South Boston. Continue reading >>>

We need a national, destination event Through some amazing work by the startup community we’ve recently added events like Unpitch and TechJam and event spaces like District Hall and Hack/Reduce that are regularly filled. Now it’s time for a national event in Boston to showcase the diversity of our startup ecosystem. Why not create our own South by Southwest in Boston? With over 50 colleges in Greater Boston we have the underpinnings in arts, music and interactive. If you layer on the startup community covering biotech, robotics, software, mobile, ad-tech, healthcare and education you have Continue reading >>>

BOSTON (AP) — The new owner of the Boston Globe named himself publisher Thursday and appointed a well-known Boston advertising executive as CEO. John Henry, also the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, said he will concentrate on strategy, while Mike Sheehan will oversee day-to-day business operations. Henry bought the Globe and related New England properties from the New York Times Co. in October. He is the Globe's third owner and its ninth publisher. "My main role as publisher is to ensure that the Globe has the right management and that management has the resources to accomplish its Continue reading >>>