Stop & Shop closed July 6, and the Arlington store is expected to reopen about a month later after a complete renovation, according to manager Ed Kalenoski. “People will be pleasantly surprised,” he said of the Arlington store on Mass. Ave. “It will be a huge positive.”

Michael Whalen, the suspect in the Amber Alert case in April, changed his plea to guilty June 30. Appearing before Steven E. Thomas in Cambridge Distrct Court, the Arlington man pleaded guilty to charges of parental kidnapping and making threats, Arlington police said. Whalen received a one-year sentence for the kidnapping charge, and received a six-month sentence on the charge of making threats, to run concurrent with count one at the House of Correction, police said.

Smackdown travel challenge winners.

Wins energy travel challenge

An Arlington team participating in a yearlong contest with those from Medford and Cambridge, to see which community can reduce its energy use (and carbon emissions) by the greatest percentage, was the winner June 22. Ten town families are participating, but an unlimited number of companion families may also take part. In the first communitywide challenge event -- the Smart Transit Challenge -- its goal was to to reach several checkpoints while using/releasing the least amount of carbon dioxide.

  PERMANENTLY surplus or not? Town, schools weigh options

Should the former Crosby and Parmenter schools become fully surplus or not? Town and school officials wrestled with this question, according to the following draft minutes of the School Committee's community-relations subcommittee held June 18. The account includes notes taken by Rose Udics.

HeavyInk weighs in

Travis Corcoran of Arlington has launched HeavyInk.com, a site that sells comics online.

Corcoran also manages SmartFlix.com, a library of arts-and-crafts and how-to DVDs.

The new comics site offers a social-networking framework with a wide choice of comics titles, graphic novels and trade paperback collections.

For more, see this press release >>