Hello, Lexington!
Good morning and welcome to LexObserver’s first weekly news roundup of this fall!
As mentioned in last week’s final summer newsletter, our weekly roundups now go out on Friday mornings. In most roundups, we’ll aim to cover one to three stories per week, as well as the latest community announcements and letters to the editor (when we have submissions). This edition has four stories, since it’s our first week back and there’s a lot to cover…but one to three will be the norm in future weeks! And, we still plan to share a feature exploring an important topic in Lexington every four to six weeks along the lines of our summer reporting.
Happy Friday, and here’s this week’s news.
In this issue:
Following July departure of Lexington’s inaugural Chief Equity Officer, Town continues its search for a replacement
After serving as Lexington’s first-ever Chief Equity Officer for about a year, Martha Duffield announced that she would leave the position at a July 11 Select Board meeting. Her last day was July 20, and the Town is still in the process of recruiting for her replacement.
Keep reading
In first summer of Lexington’s gas-powered leaf blower seasonal restrictions, compliance remains uneven
On a sweltering afternoon in late August, many a Lexington street is quiet and still – the picture of idyllic suburban summer. But wandering among the carefully tended lawns north of the Battle Green, an unmistakable drone punctuates that quiet.
Keep reading
During Lexington’s first participatory budgeting cycle, residents will decide how to spend $500,000 for community benefit
For the first time, Lexington residents have the opportunity to submit their own ideas for municipal spending – and vote directly on which ideas to fund – in a process called participatory budgeting.
Keep reading
In Tuesday’s state primary, contested down-ballot races took center stage for some Lexingtonians
Though a dreary Tuesday brought much-needed rain to Massachusetts, fewer than one in three Lexingtonians turned out to vote in a state primary full of down-ballot surprises and close calls.
Keep readingCommunity Submissions
We accept announcements and press releases from community members and organizations for publication on our Community Submissions page. These should be brief (under 200 words) and up to two photos may be submitted. Examples might include upcoming fundraisers for non-profits, cultural celebrations, lectures, or event announcements. Ads or direct appeals for donations will not be accepted. We reserve the right to determine which submissions are appropriate for publication on this page.
COMMUNITY SUBMISSIONS ARE SEPARATE FROM AND DO NOT REFLECT OUR NEWS REPORTING.
To submit a community announcement, please contact community@lexobserver.org. Thank you!
(And if you’d like to submit a letter to the editor, learn how to do that here!)
That’s a wrap for today. Was this roundup useful to you? What do you want to see in this email next week? Let us know, and please ask your friends to sign up and DONATE too! Reach out to sophie@lexobserver.org with tips and questions anytime. As always, you can also check out and share our website, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages. Thanks so much for reading and have a great weekend!
With gratitude,
Nicco Mele, Sophie Culpepper, Erin Sandler-Rathe and the LexObserver Team
Edited by Erin Sandler-Rathe
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