After much debate over whether or not the blue-and-yellow DIY furniture behemoth that is IKEA would be good for Somerville, IKEA has received permits to start building at Assembly Square. George Hassett at the Somerville News reports that construction will begin next summer, 10 years after IKEA first started making noise about moving in. That doesn't mean everyone's issues with the IKEA have been resolved. Somerville residents still want dibs on the jobs the IKEA......

--Is that a blanket? Is that a pillow? No, it's some random dude sleeping on your sofa! A woman in Hyannis found a stranger sleeping on her couch. He says he thought he was in his sister's house. He was charged with breaking and entering. --More details have emerged about the weekend crash that killed theMark frontman Paul Farris. Javier Morales, the driver who attempted to evade police, was driving with a suspended license at......

(OK, not really.) If you live and work in Boston proper, or in Cambridge, or really anywhere other than Somerville, the ongoing saga of the development of Assembly Square feels like a distant local squabble. But for Somervillionaires, it's a big, exciting question: Will mayor (and assistant football coach at Somerville High) Joseph Curtatone be able to deliver on one of his major campaign promises and turn Assembly Square from a down-at-the-heels, semi-industrial wasteland to......

Our Senator may have lost the presidential race, but Massachusetts is nevertheless solidifying its control over the rest of the country: Our old pal Bill Weld is getting more press coverage than he has in years as New York Republicans consider whether to nominate him if their current governor, George Pataki, doesn't run again. The New York Times tells us that Weld, who now lives in Manhattan, has been looking to get back into politics......