Weekly Recap: Wild Week For Medford City Council

Here are some of the highlights from Medford Patch's coverage this past week. This is only a small sample—to see all the coverage, click on the News tab on the navigation bar.

To see your neighbors' news, check out our Announcements section under News.

Also, check out our Local Voices bloggers' latest posts, and start blogging yourself—no application necessary!

Medford's City Council Spars

It took more than one meeting this week for the Medford City Council to elect a president and vice president for 2013. At Tuesday's meeting, questions about possible conflicts of interest for councilors voting for themselves derailed the meeting, leading to its abrupt ending without an organization in place.

A special meeting was held Thursday where councilors finally re-elected Robert Maiocco president and Fred Dello Russo vice president. The "rule of necessity" was invoked on the presidential vote to allow councilors with a possible conflict of interest to vote.

New Medford Stop & Shops Opens

The former Johnnie's Foodmaster supermarket at 471 Salem St. didn't stay shuttered for very long. On Friday, a new Stop & Shop opened in its place just two months after it closed.

The Stop & Shop employs about 100 people, about 30 of which were former Johnnie's Foodmaster employees.

Medford Flu Cases Up Significantly

With the flu epidemic on seemingly everyone's minds, Medford has seen a marked increase in flu cases. There have been 63 documented cases of flu in the city this year compared to just 15 last year.

Additionally, the city has run out of flu vaccine except for high-dose vaccine for seniors and health officials are directing residents to pharmacies and other locations to get their vaccination.