https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefsThe daily local brief for East Somerville, MA.en-ushttps://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-09-02https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-09-02Wed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Unofficial results from Tuesday's Democratic primary show Somerville voters backing state Rep. Mike Connolly over first-time challenger Neil Miller, 1,216 votes to 275, or 82 percent to 18 percent. Across the 26th Middlesex district, Connolly took 3,853 of the 5,206 ballots cast in Cambridge, and Miller conceded before that city's Election Commission released numbers. With no known Republican or third-party candidates for November, the primary likely decides the seat, which Connolly has held since 2017.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-09-01https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-09-01Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Developer Copper Mill withdrew its application Monday for a 500-unit mixed-use residential tower in the heart of Davis Square, ending years of planning and controversy. In a letter to the Davis Square Neighborhood Council, CEO Andrew Flynn blamed a "glaring lack of cooperation" from city leadership, saying the company held roughly 75 stakeholder events and produced several redesigns but was never directed toward an actionable next step. Mayor Jake Wilson called that claim "laughable."https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-31https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-31Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Students in grades 1 through 12 return to Somerville Public Schools today, Monday, Aug. 31, opening the 2026-2027 school year. The district has set an early-dismissal schedule for the first day.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-30https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-30Sun, 30 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Union Square Main Streets, East Somerville Main Streets, the Somerville Chamber of Commerce and the Davis Square Merchant Association published responses on August 29 to their first questionnaire for state office candidates, ahead of Tuesday's September 1 primary. Questions cover economic and policy matters shaping the city's business districts, including the overlapping federal, state, city and MBTA authority over transportation infrastructure and cross-municipality collaboration. The groups say the goal is to help voters who own, work at or rely on local businesses see where each candidate stands.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-29https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-29Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Middlesex Sheriff's Office and Medford Police Department issued a joint warning Aug. 28 about law enforcement impersonation scams, which they say remain widespread across Middlesex County. One Medford resident reported losing $7,500 after a call and text from someone posing as a member of the Sheriff's Office, who claimed there was a warrant out for the resident's arrest for failing to appear for jury duty and demanded payment through a Bitcoin ATM.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-28https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-28Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Somerville Public Schools has finalized its 2026-2027 calendar, setting the first day of classes for grades 1 through 12 on Monday, Aug. 31. Preschool and kindergarten students start two days later, on Wednesday, Sept. 2. The full calendar is posted in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-27https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-27Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000A Planning Board recommendation coming before the City Council tonight would require homeless shelters in residential districts to obtain a special permit, rather than being allowed by right. The change would add a discretionary review step for any new shelter proposed in those districts. The recommendation is one of the items on tonight's Council agenda.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-26https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-26Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced $1.1 million on Aug. 25 for 13 businesses and organizations working to expand recycling and reuse infrastructure. Somerville's Hera Materials received $100,000 and Second Structure received $50,000. The money comes through MassDEP's Waste Reduction Innovation Grant, launched in spring 2025, which funds pilot-scale projects and larger infrastructure investments aimed at diverting waste and strengthening recycling markets.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-25https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-25Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000State health officials confirmed the season's second human West Nile virus case in Massachusetts on August 24, in a man in his 60s exposed in Middlesex County. Citing the cases, the locations of exposure and cumulative WNV findings in mosquito samples, the Department of Public Health raised the risk level to high in Somerville, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Everett, Newton and Watertown. Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein urged residents to use repellent, cover up, consider staying indoors from dusk to dawn, and empty containers collecting water outside their homes.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-24https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-24Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000As part of the Tufts St. reconstruction project, the MBTA has rerouted the Route 90 bus onto Washington St. in East Somerville. The change improves access to the East Somerville Green Line station and adds new floating bus stops along the route.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-23https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-23Sun, 23 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000All She Wrote Books, 75 Washington St., hosts author Danny Ramadan today at 5 p.m. for the release of his debut memoir, "Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir." The launch includes a reading, a conversation with local author Sara Farizan, an audience Q&A and a signing. Tickets are available with or without a copy of the book, and the store asks anyone needing accommodations to email info@allshewrotebooks.com.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-22https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-22Sat, 22 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The City of Somerville is bringing back Citizenship Day in collaboration with Project Citizenship, offering free legal help to green card holders ready to apply for U.S. citizenship. The event runs Saturday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 149 Broadway, and is free and accessible. Eligibility screenings can be scheduled online in advance; questions go to SOIA at soia@somervillema.gov or 617-625-6600.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-21https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-21Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville holds its Back-to-School Free Store on Saturday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at East Somerville Community School, 50 Cross St., with a rain date of Aug. 23. Clothes, shoes, accessories, diapers, menstrual products and school supplies are free, and organizers say everyone is welcome. Volunteers are needed; the group asks anyone interested to email mamasfreestore@gmail.com.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-20https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-20Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Lyndell's, Somerville's longest-running bakery, plans to relocate to 285 Boston Ave. in Medford in November, in time for the holiday season. Owner Bill Galatis, the shop's fourth owner since 2000, says the new space will keep essentially the same layout with all-new equipment and windows behind the counter where customers can watch the assembly work; the old ticket taker is coming along. The bakery was founded in 1882 by Swedish immigrant Birger C. Lindahl and has been in its current location since 1953.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-19https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-19Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Somerville School Committee voted 8-1 on Monday to merge the Winter Hill Community Innovation School and the Benjamin G. Brown School into a single 925-seat Pre-K-8 school at Winter Hill's 115 Sycamore Street site, a plan that will now be sent to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The Brown School's Willow Avenue building faces decommissioning. City Council President Lance Davis cast the lone no vote, calling the process "misguided" and citing the loss of the smaller learning environment at Brown, while Vice Chair Leiron Briton said he retained reservations but was committed to building the best school possible at the site.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-18https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-18Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The MBTA will suspend Orange Line service between Oak Grove and Back Bay for 11 consecutive days, August 20 through 30, with shuttle buses replacing trains. Crews will replace ties, rail, plates and fasteners, including track revitalization work between Haymarket and the Assembly truck pad, and relocate signal racks at Wellington, North Station and Community College. The MBTA says the work is a major step toward extending 55 MPH speeds to the stretch between Community College and Assembly.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-17https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-17Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Esh Circus Arts is opening a satellite location in former storage space at 38 Alston St., a few minutes' walk from the East Somerville T stop and a little over a mile from its main building at 44 Park St. The space is being painted and prepared for adult sessions starting Aug. 24 and children's sessions Sept. 14. "We are in the lovely position of having more demand than we have space," co-owner and chief executive Ellen Waylonis said, describing the main 6,000-square-foot studio as "full-to-bursting."https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-16https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-16Sun, 16 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The City has scheduled a remote neighborhood meeting for Monday at 6 p.m. on Belmont Hill Corp's proposal for 314-316 Somerville Ave., the empty site where a one-story commercial building was demolished after a fire. The plan calls for a three-story building with seven residential units and one commercial tenant, and will seek site plan approval and a special permit for residential use from the Planning Board. The Zoom meeting was coordinated with Ward 2 Councilor JT Scott and the city's planning office; questions can be emailed to Scott at jtscott@somervillema.gov.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-15https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-15Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Somerville Mobile Farmers Market stops at the Mystic Housing Development, 25B Memorial Road, today from 10 a.m. to noon. Produce is sourced from local farms and priced affordably, and the market accepts cash, debit and credit cards, SNAP, Fresh Connect, WIC Farmers Market Coupons and Senior Farmers Market Coupons. The market runs Thursdays through Saturdays at four city locations through Oct. 31.https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-14https://nanopress.net/east-somerville-ma/briefs/2026-08-14Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Retiring state Sen. Pat Jehlen, who has held the 2nd Middlesex seat for more than twenty years, has endorsed state Rep. Christine Barber in the Democratic primary to succeed her. Jehlen, who says she rarely endorses in legislative races, announced the backing in a video released by Barber's campaign, calling Barber best prepared to carry the fight for affordable housing and health care. The district covers Medford, Somerville, Winchester, and parts of Cambridge; Barber is a six-term representative for the 34th Middlesex District and chairs the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.