FRAMINGHAM, MA – After two years under the worthy, yet temporary guidance of Dr. Gene Thayer, the Framingham schools will again have a superintendent. Watertown Superintendent Dr. Steven Hiersche will take over from Thayer on July 1st, 2009.

Framingham has a new fire chief, Gary Daugherty, who took over from Ollie Gadson, who retired last year. Daugherty is the former Hopkinton Fire Chief.

Monsignor Francis Strahan, of St. Bridget’s Church, celebrated his 50th year of service to the Catholic Church, 25 of which were at St. Bridget's.

Dr. Arthur Caplan, whose father ran the Pinefield Pharmacy in Saxonville, was dubbed one of “The 10 Most Influential People in Science,” by Discover Magazine. Dr. Caplan has been doing some ground-breaking work in bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Framingham Public Library’s “Framingham Reads Together” program with guest speaker Greg Mortenson attracted a record crowd of an estimated 1900 people to Nevins Hall. This key event for the first-ever townwide reading initiative was an outstanding success.

And another success was accorded to John Harvard's Brew House, Shoppers World, who took home two medals in the Beverage Tasting Institute's World Beer Championship, a gold for its "Mabay Stout" and a bronze for its "Atomic Espresso Stout." Head brewer Maria Poulinas developed the recipes for the two medal winners.

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