Public meetings and gatherings this week include Earth Day events, including a visit to Somerville’s growing Miyawaki Forest and a pollinator plan; a Narcan distribution; and Mystic River pathway and improvements at Draw 7 Park.

Public meetings this week look at Core Empowerment, a cannabis seller seeking to open in Magoun Square where K-2 Beer & Wine once had the same plan, and the design of development proposals on Prospect and Spring hills.

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events, Jason Mantzoukas does improv comedy, Angélique Kidjo performs, there’s an archaeology fair, advice on how to run the Boston Marathon, the answer to “Can we grow buildings?” and an all-clarinet band.

As with police departments nationwide, Cambridge struggles to hire officers while staying active in an array of enforcement, outreach and other work from combating a drug crisis to tamping down fights in schools, leaders said.

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events, there’s poet Nikki Giovanni, sex revolutionary Candida Royalle, joke fests and mystery comedy, new plays and folk metal, “Dope Science,” a tribute to Lana Del Rey and “Essays in Praise of Excess.” 

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events, there’s the tiny-piano-using Chromic Duo and Cambridge Symphony Orchestra; robots, AI and eclipse prep; Joie de Vivre, horrors of the sea, edible insects and more; and Brexit and tech writer Kara Swisher.

Sure, our calendars are filled with increasingly commodified holidays, but they’re also filling up with new days of nationwide significance.

Public meetings this week look at how aging affects driving skills, an affordable-Internet program’s end and a recreational pot shop proposed for Davis Square.

Tobacco retailers are getting new regulations from the Somerville Board of Health this spring. The sweeping changes range from limiting e-cigarette flavors to requiring ID checks and limiting how any sales permits to issue.

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events, there’s a weeklong Foundry Festival with a variety of things to do, astounding art, ice skating, a Ladysmith Black Mambazo performance and a dramatic session exploring “What if AI use goes too far?”