More than 25,000 runners will be running through the area during the 2013 Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, plus some roads in Newton will be closed on Sunday, April 14, too! While the marathon won't be going through Watertown, all those athletes making their way through the streets of Newton and Boston will close some main roads and impact town residents.  Newton Police will close down Washington Street (Rte. 16) from the Wellesley line to Commonwealth Avenue starting at 8:45 a.m. and Commonwealth Avenue (Rte. 30) will be closed from Washington Street to the Boston line starting at 9 a.…

  Six weeks ago, Felicia Lorelli got a phone call that all business manages dread – your business is on fire! Now they are ready to rise from the ashes and reopen on Saturday, April. 6. Inner Strength Studios occupies one of the spaces in the building on Main Street hit by a three-alarm fire on Feb. 26. The yoga studio fared better than the other three businesses in the building Lorelli. Inner Strength suffered smoke damage, but the flames did not touch it. “It was definitely a relief that the fire didn’t burn our area,” Lorelli said. Inner Strength still suffered its share of damage from the…

Drivers who are considering a switch to electric vehicles or current vehicle owners looking for a place nearby to charge their rides have a couple of places to find their outlet. Watertown, has one charging station in a parking garage on Watertown Street, and there are stations in Newton at Clay Nissan. Nearby in Cambridge, the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square has a charging station. Carstations allows users to upload new car charging locations to a Google map and (when applicable) provides details on the station. According to the site's "About" section, "this website is designed to encourage …

Drivers heading down Mt. Auburn Street can't miss the big hole in the street that appeared after the Blizzard of 2013, but how did it get there? The hole, which was patched over but now has cones around it, sits outside Jasmine Taste of Persia restaurant in Coolidge Square. Gerald Mee, superintendent of Public Works, said the hole was created during efforts to clear snow from the sidewalk after the blizzard. A front loader scraping snow from the sidewalk hit a fire hydrant, and water started pouring out of the pipe, Mee said.  Besides making the crater, which is about 20 feet wide, it also …

Students found something missing from the Watertown school lunch menu when they returned to school in the fall - chocolate milk. Recently, however, the flavored milk has made a return - but why? John Loughran, director of business services for the Watertown Public Schools told the School Committee that the district's food services director found some chocolate milk that meets the requirements of the new, stricter, state and federal food guidelines, which stress low fat, low sugar meals with fewer calories. Students welcomed the return of chocolate milk enthusiastically. "Chocolate milk …

  When Harvard purchased the Arsenal on the Charles complex in 2002, the university agreed to a number of payments to the town of Watertown as part of the 50 year agreement, including a $100,000 payment annually for local charities and organizations. The agreement, known as a payment in lieu of taxes (or PILOT), was put in place because as an educational institution Harvard does not have to pay regular property taxes.  Now the Arsenal on the Charles is under agreement to be sold from Harvard to Athenahealth - one of the current tennants of the complex. Watertown Patch readers wondered, what …

  Rodents have become a problem in parts of Watertown, and the Center for Disease Control warns that the cold weather during the winter may drive the critters into your home. The rats and mice look for warmth and shelter, and can get into homes through some small openings. According the CDC website: Mice and rats are pesky critters that can enter your home through small holes or gaps. Mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a nickel, and rats can squeeze through a hole the size of half of a quarter!   You can take action to try to keep them from getting in. The CDC has some tips for …