City of Boston has received $12.5 million in federal grants to decrease smoking and reduce obesity in Boston said Mayor Thomas Menino on March 19. In addition to improving public health, this initiative will fund 50 jobs in Boston and provide summer employment for city youths over a two-year period, said Menino in a press release.

The Brattle Theatre offers more than the average mainstream theatre, with showings ranging from classic to independent and foreign films. Located on 40 Brattle St. in Cambridge, the theatre is easily accessed by the Red Line T at the Harvard Square station, and is just a short walk from the numerous shops and restaurants of Harvard Square.

The City of Boston could soon become the recipient of a new high speed broadband service provided by Google called Google Fiber, pending an application submitted on behald of the City of Boston.

The screams of refried beans hitting sizzling hot pans is rock solid proof that the kitchen is up and running at El Pelon’s new Brighton location, 2197 Commonwealth Ave.

The Boston Red Sox, Northeastern students and Fenway residents will be teaming up to clean the Fenway neighborhood as part of Boston Shines 365, Mayor Thomas Menino’s year-round, Boston neighborhood cleanup campaign. The cleanup will take place this Saturday, March 27, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The duties vary from picking up loose pieces of trash in parks and on sidewalks, to scrubbing walls and facades that have been defaced in some way, said Marty Ray, manager of public affairs at the Boston Red Sox.

Some Bostonians are protesting the news that the Boston Public Library (BPL) may be consolidating, or closing, up to 10 of its 26 branches, following two years of funding cuts by Massachusetts and the City of Boston. The nearby Jamaica Plain branch is one that may be at risk of closing, according to a Feb. 19 article in the Jamaica Plain Gazette.

The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) will receive $54.1 million in federal grants to be used for operating assistance and repair improvements at various Orange and Red Line T stations including Braintree, North Quincy and Back Bay Station, according to officials at the MBTA. The funding comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or the stimulus bill, and is part of a $72.5 million grant meant for transit improvements in Massachusetts. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the grant March 5, followed by an announcement by Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration March 8.

While the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is only a 10 minute walk from Northeastern, the minute you step inside it feels like you’ve traveled centuries past back into Renaissance Italy. The museum offers a late night option to view the Gardner’s art collection. The museum calls Gardner After Hours “a new kind of night out.”

Students at the Wentworth Institute of Technology presented 3-D models representing their visions for the redesign for areas of the West Fenway, specifically Peterborough and Queensberry streets, last week as a requirement for a class. In Jan. 2009, a strip of restaurants on Peterborough Street burned down, including Sorentos, Umi Fenway, Rod Dee, Greek Isle, El Pelon Taqueria and Thornton's Fenway Grille, creating a blank canvas for students to put their creativity to use.

Mayor Thomas Menino announced an initiative Feb. 23 that will provide assessments and resources for security upgrades to convenience store owners in wake of the Feb. 21 killing of a convenience store worker on Dudley Street in Dorchester. “The shooting of Geraldo Serrano on Sunday morning is outrageous and we cannot allow this type of brazen behavior to be accepted in our city,” Menino said in a press release Feb. 23.