https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefsThe daily local brief for Porter Square, Cambridge, MA.en-ushttps://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-09-02https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-09-02Wed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Preliminary Cambridge results released around 2:08 a.m. showed Marjorie Decker re-elected in the 25th Middlesex District with 4,104 unofficial votes to Evan MacKay's 3,599, a rematch of her 41-vote win in 2024. State Reps. David Rogers, Will Mbah and Ben Ewen-Campen also won their races, and Ed Markey was projected to take his Senate primary. The state Senate contest between incumbent Will Brownsberger and Daniel Lander remains too close to call, with Brownsberger ahead by 61 votes and auxiliary and overseas ballots still uncounted.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-09-01https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-09-01Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan confirmed Monday that a judicial inquest into the Aug. 21 fatal police shooting of William Woodworth, 64, of Watertown, will begin Sept. 9 under Judge Holly Broadbent. Woodworth was shot behind businesses at Massachusetts Avenue and Temple Street after police responded to a nonemergency report of "suspicious" people on bikes loitering; officials say he allegedly exited his vehicle and pointed a firearm at officers, and a loaded gun was recovered. Ryan said state law obligates her office to investigate officer-involved shootings, and it has requested inquests in fatal cases since 2018.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-31https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-31Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The city's satellite ballot drop boxes for the Sept. 1 State Primary close tonight at 8 p.m., including the North Cambridge location at O'Neill Library, 70 Rindge Ave. After that, the Election Commission box at 689 Massachusetts Ave. is the only drop box open, and it stays available until 8 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots must be sealed in the signed yellow jurat envelope before being placed in a box.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-30https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-30Sun, 30 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000MIT's Camille Edouard Dreyfus Chemistry Building at 21 Ames Street, also known as Building 18, remains closed at least through Sunday while crews work to confirm it has been decontaminated after a Wednesday night spill involving dimethyl mercury, an extremely potent neurotoxin. MIT's Emergency Management department said Saturday that a single individual in a chemistry laboratory went to a local emergency room and said they had synthesized the substance; the student remains under medical supervision, though an initial blood test showed no signs of mercury exposure. An email to the chemistry department obtained by Cambridge Day said the student worked in the Wendlandt lab and that the dimethyl mercury was not part of any MIT research program.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-29https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-29Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Incumbent Marian Ryan and David Solet, a former prosecutor in her office, debated Aug. 28 ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary for Middlesex District Attorney. Solet argues Ryan has failed to adequately advocate for victims of violent crime; Ryan, who has led the office since 2013, counters that he would move it in a more conservative, police-aligned direction and points to the county's low homicide rate and her court challenge to ICE arrests at Massachusetts courthouses. With no Republican on the ballot, Tuesday's winner is the presumptive winner in November.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-28https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-28Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Cambridge Education Association says roughly 1,500 district employees — teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and other staff — will begin the school year with expired contracts after more than 17 bargaining sessions failed to produce a finalized agreement for any of the union's five bargaining units. Most of those contracts expire Aug. 31, and classes start Sept. 1. Union vice president of community relations Sarah Rosenberg said the biggest implication is that "nobody is getting a raise at this time"; the district reached agreement with its other unions, and members also began the 2023-24 year under expired contracts.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-27https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-27Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Black Response and Cambridge Democratic Socialists of America issued a joint statement calling for a system that preserves life, days after Cambridge police fatally shot William Woodworth, 64, of Watertown in a parking lot off Temple Street in Central Square on Aug. 21. The Middlesex District Attorney's office and the Cambridge Police Department said Woodworth was shot multiple times after allegedly getting out of his vehicle and pointing a loaded firearm at officers, who tried to physically disarm him. Body-camera footage is under review; several officers were taken to area hospitals, treated and released.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-26https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-26Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Keezer's and its sister tailoring shop Le Couturier House of Alterations have shifted a few doors down to 1730 Massachusetts Ave. ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline, with Keezer's inventory move expected to finish Wednesday. Old North Development plans to demolish the block at 1738 Mass. Ave. starting in September and replace it with a six-story, 71-unit residential and retail building, a project expected to take 21 to 22 months. Simon's Coffee Shop, next door at 1736, has not confirmed a new location; owner Simon Yu said he expects to move nearby but could not discuss specifics.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-25https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-25Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Officials on Monday identified William Woodworth, 64, of Watertown, as the man fatally shot by Cambridge police on Friday night. The Middlesex District Attorney's office and police said officers responding to a report of people gathered in a parking lot off Temple Street were engaged verbally with multiple individuals when they allege Woodworth got out of a vehicle and pointed a firearm at officers; police said they tried to disarm him before shooting. Officers were wearing body cameras and the footage is part of the ongoing investigation, but officials have not said when it will be released publicly.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-24https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-24Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Candidates for Cambridge's state legislative seats made their pitches on housing, legislative transparency and other issues at a Cambridge Democratic City Committee mega-forum held Thursday at the Cambridge Public Library. Each candidate got 10 minutes for a personal statement and questions from CDCC leaders George Varghese, Deb Nicholson and Dan Paradis, drawn at random from questions prepared by members. Three of the four remaining 2nd Middlesex candidates attended: state Reps. Christine Barber and Erika Uyterhoeven and Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem; the primary is Sept. 1, and Tuesday, Aug. 25 is the last day to request a mail-in ballot.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-23https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-23Sun, 23 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Cambridge Water Department hosts Monarch Release 2026 from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Walter J. Sullivan Water Treatment Facility, 250 Fresh Pond Pkwy., with butterfly crafts, face painting, a Jr. Ranger activity booklet, and storyteller Yumi Izuyama along the perimeter road. At 1:45 p.m., the group walks to the Kingsley Bowl Meadow for the release itself. The rain date is Monday, Aug. 24, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.; organizers say the event will likely be rescheduled if there is at least a 10% chance of rain.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-22https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-22Sat, 22 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Cambridge police were investigating an officer-involved shooting on Temple Street on Friday night, after officers reportedly shot a man in his 60s who pointed a loaded firearm at them. A large police presence gathered at the scene, Temple Street was closed and the public was urged to avoid the area. No additional information was immediately available; this remains a developing story.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-21https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-21Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Harvard and plaintiffs asked a court Monday to approve a proposed $53 million settlement establishing two class-action funds, resolving lawsuits over the theft and sale of human remains from the medical school morgue. Federal prosecutors say Cedric Lodge, the former manager of Harvard Medical School's Anatomical Gift Program, stole organs and other body parts from donated cadavers between 2018 and 2022. Katrina Maclean, 47, of Haverhill was sentenced Tuesday to 24 months in federal prison for interstate transportation of stolen property; seven other defendants have pleaded guilty and been sentenced in related cases.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-20https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-20Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The MBTA announced on Aug. 17 that its fall service changes take effect Sunday, Sept. 6, with Red Line trains running more frequently on weekdays and weekends thanks to higher speeds and continued track work. Separately, beginning Sept. 1, riders can make unlimited transfers between bus, subway and ferry within a two-hour window and pay only the highest fare of any single leg. The agency urges riders to check schedules in advance using its Trip Planner and the MBTA Go app.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-19https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-19Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Harvard and MIT are among 30 universities ordered to review their foreign academic partnerships and end any the Pentagon deems a national security risk by Aug. 31, or risk losing federal research funding. The directive is aimed largely at ties to Chinese institutions and follows the release last month of an updated Pentagon list of 130 foreign universities and research institutions it says raise the risk of unauthorized technology transfer. The department said the reviews are meant to protect taxpayer-funded research from intellectual-property theft and exploitation by foreign adversaries; its public release did not name the universities.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-18https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-18Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Cambridge police said Monday evening that the ShotSpotter acoustic gunshot detection system has been reactivated, turned on for the Emergency Communications Center on Friday afternoon and for the police department Monday morning. The department says it covers all areas of the city it covered before the council voted in May to end its use; Acting Police Commissioner Pauline Wells has said police do not know the sensors' exact locations. The 90-day reinstatement, approved at an Aug. 10 special council meeting, is supposed to be paired with a civic assembly of community members to monitor it, but that body was not in place as of Friday and its status is unclear.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-17https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-17Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Cambridge Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, an 83-bed home on Dana Street, is among 33 nursing homes that settled a lawsuit challenging a pandemic-era state rule capping rooms at two residents. Under the settlement, reported Aug. 15, homes can be exempted if they meet any five of eight requirements of their choosing; the suit was dismissed June 2. The state Department of Public Health said it adopted the two-bed limit to curb the spread of infectious disease, and research has indicated that respiratory outbreaks, including Covid-19, rise as more residents share a room.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-16https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-16Sun, 16 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000St. James Episcopal Church near Porter Square hosts an Activists Afternoons gathering today from 3 to 5 p.m. as part of the 'Good Trouble Weekend of Action.' With the midterms approaching, the session includes postcard writing, phone banking, and training for canvassing in neighboring states.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-15https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-15Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000State health officials announced Aug. 13 that West Nile virus was detected in mosquitoes collected in Cambridge, and the city's risk level is now rated "Moderate" — meaning infection is likely or has already occurred. No human cases have been reported in Massachusetts this summer. The Cambridge Public Health Department urges residents to use insect repellent, cover up at dusk and dawn, drain standing water and check window screens; people over 60 and those with certain chronic conditions face higher risk of severe illness.https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-14https://nanopress.net/porter-square-cambridge-ma/briefs/2026-08-14Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Arlington Select Board members pushed back on Aug. 12 as the MWRA presented its $340 million Alewife Brook cleanup plan, saying the project should go further and eliminate sewage discharges entirely. Members framed the stronger standard as a matter of protecting neighbors in North Cambridge as well as Arlington residents along the brook.