Business + Money

Just A Start tops off a project in Alewife area, where zoning guidelines pend and art arrives

The Economic Mobility Hub at Rindge Commons reaches a milestone; planning boards hear of patches of nature in East Cambridge and a hotel in Somerville’s Inner Belt, where a building has sold for a tidy $9 million; and Alewife zoning is headed for committee.

Joie de Vivre is back in book form, a counterstrike against the machines from behind a shop counter

“The Book of Joie, or a Thousand Singing Hamsters,” written by shopkeeper Linda Given, is a 324-page history of the Porter Square, shop from its origins in 1984 to its shutdown in November 2020, early in the Covid pandemic.

News

Cambridge school district asks for a mediator, citing ‘impasse’ on contract that union denies

There have been 21 meetings since educator contract negotiations began in October on a new three-year contract for roughly 1,100 teachers, assistant principals, deans and curriculum coordinators that will begin Sept. 1.

Somerville closes its Winter Hill school building, leaving temporary location and parents in doubt

The Winter Hill Community Innovation School building in Somerville will close for the rest of the school year, displacing more than 400 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, after a piece of concrete fell on a stairwell.

Falling concrete in a Somerville school stairwell is another shoe dropping for concerned parents

School was canceled Friday for the 422 students at Somerville’s Winter Hill Community Innovation School after concrete fell onto an inside stairwell, leaving families protesting that they had long warned of such dangers.

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Features

Cambridge archive repositories open their doors again this June, from Harvard astronomy to DPW

A free annual event gives Cantabrigians an opportunity to speak with archivists citywide and explore historic records housed in their own neighborhoods. 

Opinion

There’s no justice for Faisal as the City Council rejects a move for police accountability

If we want transparency or accountability from police, we must have a review board that is independent and accountable to our community. City councillors committed a gross miscarriage of democracy in shutting down an order seeking one.

Why don’t students know MCAS testing is a graduation requirement?

For as long as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System stands, we expect the administration to take steps to ensure that students understand the high-stakes nature of the test.

Your questions and concerns can shape agenda for a May 31 presentation on kids health study

We invite you to join us to learn more about what students report about their physical and mental health, hear how the survey was administered and what actions the Cambridge Public Schools and the Cambridge Department of Public Health are taking on the findings.

Wild Things

Those hated houseflies can be a bacterial bomb, and pollinators, recyclers and maggoty marvels

Houseflies are pests, but are here because they have followed humans and their waste around the planet – and can be amazingly hard to hit with a swatter.

Arts + Culture

A week of events in Cambridge and Somerville, from Rachel Bloom to an honor for Phil Reavis

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events – now running from one Friday to the next – there’s comedy with Rachel Bloom, a museum exhibit for Someerville’s Phil Reavis; “As You Like It” joins “The Gaaga,” a Winslow Homer painting arrives, there’s a dumpling festival, poetry, film and Eventual Dance.

Film Ahead

After experiencing the delights of ‘The Automat,’ ‘Air Force One’ awaits and ‘Vita Difficile’ of 1961

These looks at what’s on screens in the coming week include the delightful documentary “The Automat” with filmmaker Lisa Hurwitz on hand, the little seen 1961 “Una Vita Difficile” as well as reviews of new works including Nicole Holofcener’s “You Hurt My Feelings.”

Celebrations

Cambridge Dance Party set to return on June 23 after years of cancellations over Covid concerns

The Dance Party tradition canceled by Covid and in doubt of survival returns to in front of Cambridge City Hall late this month bigger and with new features.

What We're Having

Turkish eggs and coffee at Istanbul’lu

Decorated with Persian rugs, throw pillows and art, Istanbul’lu feel like you’ve been transported to another world, and its menu is vast and tantalizing.

Books + Writing

Colorful ‘Streets of Newtowne’ provides history for the young with voices other texts leave out

With Suzanne Blier’s critical outlook on history, lovely illustrations and key questions sprinkled in, “The Streets of Newtowne” is worth reading to young children who are ready to learn more about Cambridge history – all of it.