The Town of Arlington has selected Housing Corporation of Arlington (HCA), a nonprofit organization working to prevent homelessness and provide more affordable housing, as the lead agency for Arlington’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid ReHousing Program (HPRP).

This new federal initiative is aimed at assisting very low-income households for up to 18 months. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, $1.5 billion will be distributed to 400 communities across the country for homelessness prevention services. Of this, $533,800 was allocated to the town. HCA will bill the town for the services provided under HPRP, including third-party costs.

Veteran Arlington Selectman Kevin Greeley has a challenge in the making, as Nathan Bosdet, 30, has taken out nomination papers in a potential run for the board seat. Greeley, board chairman, took out papers Jan. 28, and Bosdet followed Feb. 2. One selectman's seat will be on the April town election ballot.

Bosdet wrote in an e-mail that he works for a consulting firm, as an economic analyst, that provides economic data to companies, nongovernmental organizations and governments in support of their expatriate programs.

Five Arlington High School students were suspended, and several face criminal charges after an apparent drug deal escalated into an armed robbery in school restroom on Monday, Jan. 25, according to Capt. Robert Bongiorno.

Police allege that a trio of students arranged to purchase a bag of marijuana from an AHS student, setting the stage for an elaborate plan for an armed robbery. After the victim was lured into a restroom, he was ambushed by another suspect who was hiding in a stall, placed into a headlock, and held at knifepoint while the suspects stole his drugs and money.

The following are the results of all polls conducted on this Web site -- 34 -- beginning with the one most recently concluded. All are unscientific and are limited by the options available. Despite this, they provide a snapshot of community opinion. If you have ideas for future polls, please let the publisher of this site know.

From 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, to 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010, YourArlington published an unscientific poll asking residents their views should a charter school plan to be established in Arlington. Here are the results among 157 voters:

Arlington firefighters are in second place, behind Hudson, as seven towns compete to improve health and fitness in a 12-week challenge sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. 

The competition began in January and continued the week of Feb. 1, with Arlington firefighters began participating in onsite physical fitness training Sessions designed to teach them how to best use gym equipment and vary activities and workouts for best results during the challenge. 

Involved in training are, from left above, Lt. Brian Gera, personal trainer Kathy Hewes, firefighter Tom Vincent and Chief Robert Jefferson.

In an attempt to explain Arlington's budget plight, a number of public meetings have been scheduled. The next one is set for the St. Paul's Church, 929 Concord Turnpike, Thursday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m.

The Arlington Friends of the Drama will present “Proof” on Feb. 12-13, 19-20 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 14 and 21 at 4 p.m. On Sunday, Feb. 14, there will be a talk-back with the director and cast following the performance. Tickets are $18. 

“Proof” is a Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-Award winning play, written by David Auburn. In summary, it is the eve of the 25th birthday of Catherine. A troubled young woman, she has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician.

Now, following his death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions, the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire, and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father's who hopes to find valuable work in the notebooks that her father left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: how much of her father's madness—or genius—will she inherit?

As many as 200 Arlington High School students crowded into Town Hall on Monday, Feb. 1, flooding every inch of the selectmen's chambers as six youthful speakers called for the board to pursue an override. The pleas came after the top Arlington budget leaders heard a financial update forecasting deficits on the town and school side.

"We will do everything we can to pass it," said Molly Lobel, co-president of the Young Arlington Democrats Club at AHS.

"We agree with everything you said," Selectmen Chairman Kevin Greeley, told the young speakers, but he cautioned that much remains unclear, including the amount that might be sought in an override.

Opinion: How the event came to be

Deficit more than numbers, senior says