With rakes in hand a team of Lowe’s volunteers, from stores in Dedham, Saugus, Weymouth and Woburn, was at Anna Marshall's Claybourne Street home Friday, Oct. 30 to remedy that situation. Using a $10,000 grant from Lowe’s, the nonprofit Rebuilding Together Boston arranged for various improvements to be made inside the home, including in the bathroom, where mold will be removed, the ceiling replastered and a new fan installed.

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Shopping with her mom at Spirit Halloween at the Dedham Mall, 8-year-old Emma Weiss had a certain costume in mind: a “candy corn witch” outfit that includes a layered dress, long black coat, black boots and “an up-do wig.”

Dedham was given a 2009 Leading by Example Award today at the State House, a recognition of its environmental efforts on many fronts, from energy efficiency to green schools to the coming rollout of single-stream recycling.

After taking a few “breath holds,” a middle-age mom of three gets help putting steel shackles around her ankles and wrists and wrapping multiple chains around her body. Counting a 15-pound lead belt and nine padlocks, she straps on 55 pounds of weight in all.

With the state pitching in $11 million to help build a new Avery School, the town’s School Building Rehabilitation Committee is turning its attention to a community outreach campaign to better explain the project before Town Meeting.

• Take our poll: Should Dedham build a new Avery School?

Two Dedham restaurants -- Finz and Deli After Dark -- were among the restaurants giving out tasty tidbits at the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival held by Fenway Park over the weekend. Dedham Transcript reporter Edward B. Colby captured all the food fun.

The Oktoberfest held Sunday afternoon at Dedham's Endicott Estate featured highly detailed face-painting, pony rides, potato sack races, and the 12-piece Oberlaendler Hofbrau Band. The event benefited the Katherine Endicott Foundation, which preserves and maintains the estate. Click through for video coverage of the event.

With kickoff just two short weeks away, eager Patriots fans are already getting ready to fire up their grills and bust out their bottle openers for another season of tailgating.

Video: Tailgate Cooking Class

Video: All-In-One Burger

PDF: Chef Scott's recipes

Here's a photo gallery looking back at Sen. Edward Kennedy throughout the years, including his many stops throughout MetroWest. He died early this morning at his home in Hyannis Port after battling brain cancer. He was 77.