News Nearby: Wakefield Youth Saves Neighbor's Home From Fire

Each Saturday, Melrose Patch will run a round-up with links to stories from surrounding communities that are of interest to Melrosians.

WAKEFIELD—Joseph Rando, a 13-year-old 7th grader at St. Joseph's School, had been minding his own business. He had been playing basketball in his own yard on Daniel Road on a Sunday afternoon. Suddenly, he started smelling smoke and feeling extra heat in the air.

That's when he turned to see flames shooting up over his neighbor's wooden fence in his backyard. "I saw the smoke in the air and smelled it too," he said. "My neighbor likes to burn wood, but this time I saw that his fence was on fire and I ran to tell my mom."

Chief Michael Sullivan of the Fire Department credited Joseph with noticing the fire and acting quickly enough that the fire did not spread to his neighbor's home. "It was very close," Chief Sullivan said. "By the time we got there, the windows on the back of the residence were starting to crack because of the heat. We were lucky we managed to get a line in there quick and knock it down before it extended into the house."

MEDFORD—Mayor Michael McGlynn has asked the Executive Director of the Medford Housing Authority to resign. McGlynn's request follows the footsteps of Gov. Deval Patrick, who asked for Robert Covelle's resignation last week.

Covelle has been under scrutiny since a federal audit report released in April raised issues with the authority's financial practices. Shortly after the audit, reports surfaced that Covelle allegedly hired close friends and family for jobs and contracts.

Covelle agreed to a request from the housing authority's board of commissioners to take a two week, unpaid leave of absence starting Monday.

MALDEN—City councilors unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday aimed at getting tough on dog-owners who fail to annually register their pets with the city.

Owners caught with unregistered dogs will now receive a ticket carrying a $50 fine, though an “amnesty period” will be offered in the last week of May allowing delinquent owners who voluntarily come forward to avoid the fine.

While the city could always offer such citations, owners in violation typically received a written or verbal warning, animal officer Kevin Alkins said.

WINCHESTER—The Chocolate Truffle held a grand re-opening on May 3 to launch The Boston Cupcake Girl. Bacci Chocolate Design, which owns and operates The Chocolate Truffle has created Boston Cupcake Girl in their Winchester location on Thompson Street.

“My husband and I love all things sweet,” owner Erin Calvo-Bacci said. “We were following the trends, but our girls (age 11, 9 and 5) love cupcakes. So we mimicked our truffles and chocolate recipes for cupcakes.” Bacci Chocolate has already won awards for their chocolate and truffles and plans to expand their most popular creation in cupcake form.

With flavors like Margaritas, Phantom Pino Noir, Green Monsta, Salt Carmel, Red Velvet, Rasberry, North End Cannoli, Toffee, and Sam Adams, decided which one to go for is a difficult task.