Weekly Recap: Steele House Fire, Anonymous MHS Donation, and Local Aid

Here are some of the highlights from Melrose Patch's news coverage this past week. This is only a small sample—to see all the coverage, click on the News tab on the navigation bar. To see your neighbors' news, check out our Announcements section under News, and read Local Voices bloggers' latest posts.

Top Three Articles of the Week

A fire that broke out in an apartment after midnight this morning led to the elderly housing complex on Nason Drive. Mayor Rob Dolan said that 100 residents of the Steele House have been put up in three hotels on Route 1 in Peabody, where they will likely have to stay for a week or more.

A Melrose parent whose kids recently graduated from Melrose High School has offered to , as long as the city matches his donation. After speaking with MHS Principal Richards, Mayor Rob Dolan said he will bring to the School Committee a proposal to update two foreign language labs, creating wireless networking labs equipped with 30 iPads each.

from the state under the fiscal 2013 budget proposal filed by Gov. Deval Patrick on Wednesday. The local aid bump would be the first since fiscal 2009 and would be welcomed by City Hall officials, who've seen Melrose's local aid cut by almost $3 million over the past three years.

Real Estate

While Massachusetts saw its lowest number of single-family homes sold since 1990 this past year, compared to the previous year, according to the latest figures from The Warren Group.

Finding an apartment in Metro Boston—let alone one you can afford—has become more difficult than ever, according to a new report by The Boston Globe. In light of this news, Melrose Patch asked in a quick click poll: ?

Schools

The success of five Melrose High School club teams over the past five years has led administrators to recommend moving those teams to the varsity level, . Fees will increase by $25 per sport and the family cap will increase by $100, in the memo approved by School Committee on Tuesday night.

who were named Adams scholars by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in September. The John and Abigail Adams Scholarship provides a tuition waiver for recipients for up to eight semesters of undergraduate education at a Massachusetts state college or university.

February school vacation runs from Feb. 20 to the 24, but registration for programs often begins earlier, and parents can be scrambling to find something for their kids to do. So for this week's Patch Picks, we asked: .

Business

Whatever time works for you, . And they mean anytime. The new fitness center at 462 Main St. fills the rest of the vacancy left behind by Melrose Drug Center's closing in October 2009—D'Amici's first moved into the now-divided commercial space—and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Members access the gym using a key fob.

Police and Fire

A North Reading after he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend last week at her Melrose apartment.

Report of sex offenses, an overdose, car accidents due to snowy conditions and more in .

The State House News Service reported today that Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has , despite evidence of a "pay-to-play culture."

Super Bowl

Melrose third grader Eric McGovern is , which he'll be blogging about on Melrose Patch.

For a lot of people, Super Bowl Sunday is a de facto national holiday. Some people watch for the game, no matter who's playing. Some watch only if their team is in the game—go Patriots!—and some just use it as an excuse to get together with friends and watch this year's ads. Others couldn't care less about Super Bowl.

And, what you told us last year were the best spots for watching the Super Bowl.

The Neighborhood Files

Despite the cold weather, more than 100 members of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts—including Melrose Girl Scouts—

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone unseated seven-time "Battle of the Mayors" champion

Opinion

Last Thursday, Melrose Patch , given that the MBTA had recently released a report saying that trains had arrived on-schedule 92.8 percent of the time in December. Riders' experiences seemed to back up the official numbers, as .

Melrose Patch wants to empower event organizers to so those who couldn't attend can get a feel for what happened in their community and entice them to stop by next time.

Local Voices Bloggers

Melrose Youth Hockey U12 Girls squad is .

Melrosian Esther Parsons, a WWII Army Nurse, was .

You’ve no doubt heard that “time is money.” While this expression may be applicable in many areas of life, .