Top 5 Stories: Reading Resident's Candles Make Oscars Gift Bags and RECs Round Two?

The Reading Municipal Light Department’s decision to retire its Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) may be headed for another round of debate after the RMLD Citizens’ Advisory Board voted 5-0 to revisit the issue at a meeting last week.

The vote comes after the CAB voted 4-1 at an earlier meeting to back the decision of the RMLD Board of Commissioners to sell the utility’s RECs.

According to preliminary budget numbers released by the Massachusetts Water Authority (MWRA) last week, Reading’s combined water and sewer assessment is set to jump 5 percent in fiscal year 2013.

MWRA officials released the details of their preliminary FY13 spending plan and rate adjustments with an eye towards creating nearly $23 million in new revenue.

Sweet Shoppe Candles, owned and operated by Reading resident Leslie Gennari, will supply candles for the "Official Oscars Celebrity Swag Bags."

While approximately 3,000 miles of roads—and an unknown quantity of tinsel and glitter—separate Reading from Hollywood, none of the nominees and presenters that walk the red carpet at the 84th Academy Awards this Sunday will be leaving without taking a sweet-smelling slice of this sylvan corner of town home with them, thanks to Leslie Gennari, owner and sole proprietor of Sweet Shoppe Candle Bakery.

On Feb. 15, Democrats in Reading held a caucus to elect delegates to the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s 2012 endorsing convention in Springfield this June.

The caucus, organized by the Reading Democratic Town Committee elected the following seven women delegates:

Patricia Fleszar, Karen Richard, Dianne Kennedy, Tina Ohlson, Alice Collins, Carolyn Whiting and Marcia Dresser.

The lack of snow this winter could help provide a short-term solution to the MBTA’s budget woes and limit the severe cuts in service proposed by the cash-strapped authority.

According to the State House News Service, Governor Deval Patrick’s administration is considering the use of excess snow and ice removal funds to help limit the , as the T attempts to deal with a projected budget gap of $161 million.