The New England winter, if you trust the calendar, is here. And it’s true, the days are shorter and, refreshingly, colder. But truth is, I’m not ready for it. I’m still trying to make sense of this past New England fall. This was the fall that fell apart. Late, erratic, given to extremes. Mother Nature gone moody, if not slightly mad. In the woods, fields and wetlands near my house, here in Wayland, the season arrived something like three weeks late, by my unscientific reckoning, only to be cut what seemed a month short when record snow fell on Oct. 29 – leaves covered freakishly Continue reading >>>

EHS girls hoop team triumph, 46-34 The Everett High girls basketball team posted its first win of the season, improving to 1-1, with an impressive 46-34 triumph at Haverhill last Tuesday. Amanda DeSouza enjoyed a banner evening, pumping in 21 points to lead the Lady Crimson Tide in the scoring department. Tori Cyrus reached double figures with 11 points and also dished out eight assists, almost recording a double-double. <!--/* * The backup image section of this tag has been generated for use on a * non-SSL page. If this tag is to be placed on an SSL page, change the * 'http://d1.openx.org/...' Continue reading >>>

<!--Saxotech Paragraph Count: 5-->Tina Yee, 46, has been with the Democrat and Chronicle for nine years. Previously she worked for The Des Moines Register in Iowa, The Post-Tribune in Gary, Ind., and and various weekly newspapers in the Greater Boston area. Tina is a native of the Boston area and lives in Brighton with her partner, Kathryn, and their daughter, Ada, 5.Her favorite: Going to any lengthsThis photo became my favorite photo for a couple of reasons. The first is the news angle. It’s rare to get an Amber Alert rescue. When the situation started to unfold, I happened to hear the Continue reading >>>

A local American Postal Workers Union president said the closing of processing and distribution facilities such as the one in Shrewsbury will eventually destroy the efficiency of the U.S. Postal Service. “If they reduce the service standard, I think in five years there will be no more post office,” said John Flattery, president of the American Postal Workers Union AFL-CIO Local 4553. Mr. Flattery was one of several postal worker delegates who met yesterday with representatives of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and eight other congressional members in the senator’s Boston office to Continue reading >>>

Print this Article Email this Article A year ago, the Cape Cod Times ran a story on the front page about local hunger and the struggle of food pantries to keep up with demand. Here at the Cape Cod Foundation, we wondered what changes had occurred, a year after the story was written. The news is not good."We're breaking records with clients," said Patti Watson, assistant director of The Family Pantry of Cape Cod in Harwich. In October, the pantry set a new record in the food bank's 22-year history for food distributed, a 24 percent Continue reading >>>

The U.S. Postal Service has announced a new date for a public meeting to discuss the possible closure of the Northwest-Boston Processing and Distribution Facility, which is on Smith Street in Waltham. The meeting, which was originally scheduled for Dec. 29, was moved to Jan. 10, 2012, from 6-8 p.m. at Waltham High School. “Postal Officials from the Greater Boston Postal District will be in attendance to make a presentation and field comments and questions,” a release states. The Postal Service recently did a feasibility study on the possible shuttering of the facility, which is one Continue reading >>>

Massachusetts food banks are asking for more funding from the state, as the demand for help has dramatically increased. According to a spokeswoman for the Greater Boston Food Bank, the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance program has requested $15 million from the Patrick administration on behalf of Massachusetts food banks, a $3.5 million bump from last year. In 2006, 30,000 people called the United Way for help, and such requests are on track to triple to 90,000 by the end of this year, said Brian Adams of the United Way. Try BostonGlobe.com today and get two Continue reading >>>

Converge Appearing On "H.E.L.L." Compilation Release Band Photo: Converge (?) Converge will be appearing on the "H.E.L.L." compilation, and a new trailer for the release has now been posted online. Check out the clip below. The following statement was also released about the project: "Happy Holidays! We’re very excited to finally be able to announce this project in its entirety. In 2007, Gordon Riker Kelly Wallace both tragically passed away in bike accidents in Boston, MA. Shortly after, friends of their’s Continue reading >>>

The Holliston woman who helped found the Greater Boston Tea Party and served as the group’s first president will step down next month following the recent election of Christine Morabito as the group’s new leader. Holliston resident Christen Varley helped Morabito and others start the organization in 2009, but has moved to Ohio to be near family and work on a book about the Tea Party, she said yesterday.  “Christine and I are both founders, actually, of the organization,” Varley said. In January Morabito, a nurse from Haverhill, will begin a two-year term as president and spokesperson Continue reading >>>