The Boston Globe reported on August 31, 2002, that the MBTA plans to build four new stations and add trains to the Fairmount commuter rail line. This would dramatically increase service to Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park. The article points out that these are among Boston’s least-served communities.

The Dorchester Reporter features an article about Dorchester author Frank Cheney’s new book “Boston’s Red Line-Bridging the Charles from Alewife to Braintree” (Images of America, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 0-7385-1047-5, 128 pp, $19.99).

“Today, at least 225,000 people board Red Line trains each weekday. JFK-UMass, Savin Hill, Ashmont, Fields Corner, and the other Red Line stops represent a vital artery for Dorchester-then and now. Frank Cheney has crafted an engaging and entertaining look at how the Red Line was developed.” -Peter F. Stevens, www.dotnews.com

Also in the Dorchester Reporter is an article detailing “a long awaited study” by the Army Corps of Engineers. The report provides “a preliminary examination of the possible removal of a Neponset River dam in Lower Mills. Both environmental activists in favor of the dam removal and nearby residents who are dead set against it are anxious to see what the report says.”

The report is still at the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and it is unknown when the report will be made public.

Profiles in Courage for Our Time (Hyperion), the new best seller edited and introduced by Caroline Kennedy, pays tribute to 13 heroes, each a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s prestigious award for political courage.

Penned by a collection of stellar authors, they honor the following modern-day political heroes:

Albert R. Hunt-on John McCain and Russell Feingold

Bill Kovach-on Charles Longstreet Weltner

E.J. Dionne-on Lowell Weicker, Jr.

Pete Hamill-on Henry B. Gonzalez

Steven V. Roberts-on Michael L. Synar

Maryanne Vollers-on Charles Price

Ron Suskind-on Nickolas C. Murnion

Michael Daly-on The Irish Peacemakers

Anthony Walton-on Hilda Solis

Teresa Carpenter-on John Lewis

Michael Beschloss-on Carl Elliott, Sr.

Anna Quindlen-on James Florio

Bob Woodward-on Gerald R. Ford

Caroline Kennedy-on America’s Public Servants, Mayor Dean Koldenhoven, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the 2002 recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

Caroline Kennedy serves as president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. She is the editor of The New York Times bestseller The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and co-author of The Right to Privacy and In Our Defense.