Although the poor and low-income account for an astounding 40 percent of the U.S. population, their problems are not recognized by our nation’s policies, laws or legislation. As a result, 250,000 people die every year.

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?”

A silent, black-clad mourning procession of hundreds of people accompanied by drums made its somber way through Boston’s crowded Back Bay shopping district Saturday. Cambridge was well represented in the procession.

The city’s new emergency response team that will serve as an alternative to police will start taking calls through 911 next month but without expected night and weekend coverage; meanwhile, chances have dimmed for a long-sought city contract with a homegrown police alternative.

We need to answer urgent housing needs, create jobs and opportunities for workers to afford to remain in our state, reduce carbon emissions and increase alternative energy resources to protect people from the effects of climate change and address the needs of new immigrants.

City councillors will explore whether they should eliminate “foreign policy resolutions” from their scope of responsibilities or find a better process for handling them.

The committee works to engage voters with the democratic process and sets rules for how the party operates and supports local town and ward committees as they engage voters all over the commonwealth.

Public meetings this week look at making a better Central Square, how to make City Hall contracting more equitable, the economic toll of vacant spaces and the use of “micromobility” devices on city streets.

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events, there’s hip-hop dance, Valentine’s, Galentine’s, Mardi Gras, Lunar New Year and Black History celebrations, operatic ballet not seen since the 1700s, “How to Steal a Presidential Election” and the arts of writing love poetry and sex scenes.

Riverside neighborhood residents already outraged by traffic pushed onto their streets were in no mood to hear about plans for a Memorial Drive “road diet” or how the state was still considering closing it Saturdays to car traffic as part of Riverbend Park.