The Lexington Observer

(Boston)—Lexington resident Chao Zhang, PhD, assistant professor of medicine/computational biomedicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has received a five-year, $2.2M R35 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences for his project, “A Deep Learning Framework for Discovering Temporal Changes in Host-Microbiome Interactions.” With this new grant, Zhang will develop novel artificial intelligence (AI) frameworks to...

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Guitars on display inside The Music Emporium / Credit: Ava Criniti Persian rugs and leather sofas. Textured, wooden walls that reflect warm, soft lighting. The kind of place you would want to lounge and drink a cup of coffee in the morning. When Joe Caruso, owner of The Music Emporium, took over as a partial owner in 2002 and later as full owner in 2018, this was the exact vibe he was going for.

Steve McKenna in his workshop. / Source: Jeri Zeder Beautification of public spaces is in Lexington’s DNA. It’s there in the flower-topped whiskey barrels in the east Lexington business district along Massachusetts Ave., the gardens that frame Emery Park, and the soft, symbol-rich mural behind the Depot. It’s also there in wood. Specifically, in fine wooden furniture designed, crafted, built and donated by members of the Lexington Woodworkers Guild.

LexObserver is working on a news article that will cover more information on this topic. On Friday, August 7, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) gave notice that it has accepted the appeal of a ten-citizen group, represented by me, requesting that it issue a Superseding Order of Conditions (SOC) to supplement the Conservation Commission’s Order Of Conditions (OOC) issued on June 29. No work has been done on the project other than putting up fencing.

Years ago, summertime meant children would leave their house in the morning, play outside with friends all day, and return home for dinner. Riding bikes, climbing trees, and playing with chalk in the driveway held kids’ attention from dawn to dusk. But now? Screens have taken the place of those summertime staples. When school’s out, teens spend, on average, 70% of their newfound free time on screens, a 2024 study from ScienceDirect found.

A recent Boston Herald article highlighting some of Massachusetts’ largest public pensions produced eye-catching numbers. A retiree receiving $200,000, $250,000 or $300,000 a year attracts attention. But those numbers alone create a misleading impression about what public pensions actually cost taxpayers. I am a retired pension actuary with four decades in the pension field and more than 30 years on a municipal retirement board.

As the Camp Menotomy Trust continues to add high-powered real estate lawyers in their effort to sell the former Girl Scout camp along Lake Winnipesaukee for luxury housing ($18 million), I find myself remembering how the camp long served as a joyous meeting ground for girls from across Eastern Mass. I think this was intended, as the two women and three men who donated the camp cooperated across town, city, and even state lines.

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