People and pets should avoid contact with the Alewife Brook and parts of the Mystic River through 5 a.m. Saturday due to the release of stormwater mixed with sewage into the brook, the Cambridge Public Health Department said.

City councillors have spent hours questioning the police commissioner, city manager and other officials about the police department policies since an officer shooting of Arif Sayed Faisal, only to be told Wednesday they have no authority to change anything.

A woman last seen Nov. 26 in Somerville has become the subject of a search by police and and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Approximately 50 protesters continued to shout demands outside the second-floor council chamber in City Hall, at one point chasing Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui down the stairs and confronting police commissioner Christine Elow.

A move toward using cameras to enforce parking laws, with tickets mailed later, is underway by Somerville’s City Council, starting in Davis Square trouble spots.

Sacred spaces were established Monday on each Cambridge Public Schools campus, making the district a leader in New England, education officials said.

Cambridge girls’ softball league can’t file a Title IX complaint, but players have advocated for years for better fields. For the first time, city officials and recreation department staff are beginning to listen.

Public meetings this week look at more questions for police after the death of a Cambridgeport resident; a no-tow version of street cleaning and a potential arts pace purchase; environmentally focused zoning; school budgeting and more.

Attend meetings on proposed Porter Square labs, a new public safety building, a traffic study at Route 16 and Broadway, improving services for the unhoused and more.

The death of Arif Sayed Faisal at the hands of Cambridge police has revived calls to establish an unarmed alternative to police, but it’s not likely such an organization would respond on its own to situations involving violence.