This September, purple flags will once again be placed on the front lawn of Somerville City Hall to honor residents whose lives were lost to opioid-related overdose in 2024 and in years past. The annual display is part of the city’s recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month.

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Tucked into the heart of Teele Square, The Buzzin’ Bean is a cozy vegetarian café that delivers far more than just a good cup of coffee. With a warm, welcoming atmosphere and standout customer service, this local gem has quickly become a favorite of mine.

This September, purple flags will once again be placed on the front lawn of Somerville City Hall to honor residents whose lives were lost to opioid-related overdose in 2024 and in years past. The annual display is part of the city’s recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month.

On Thursday, August 28, Mayor Ballantyne will host an Overdose Remembrance Event to remember the eight Somerville residents who passed away from a substance use-related overdose in 2024.

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By Off the Shelf correspondent Ed Meek

Eoin Higgins writes about journalism and media. Higgins is a successful journalist who has written for the NYT, the Washington Post, Counterpunch, and The Huffington Post. In Owned, he delves into the rightward turn taken by the tech industry and billionaires like Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, and Peter Thiel. He focuses on two formerly liberal star journalists: Matt Taibbi and Glen Greenwald. Higgins details Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now X) and the negative effects Musk has had on the platform. He explains how the libertarian world of Silicon Valley is apolitical as long as the tech bros are getting money and being left alone by the government. Higgins posits that they decided Trump would keep the money coming without requirements like DEI.

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Denise Provost is the former co-president of the New England Poetry Club. Her work has been included in numerous publications.

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) have announced $3.6 million in funding for 20 clean energy and climatetech companies and researchers. This investment will accelerate innovation and business growth in 11 cities and towns across Massachusetts.

Join Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, the Department of Public Space and Urban Forestry and Ward 2 Councilor J.T. Scott for the Ken Kelly Park Ribbon Cutting at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, August 19 at 217 Somerville Ave.

The March from Prospect Hill to Quebec: America Invades Canada, 1775

The Somerville Museum’s next Tavern Talk at Aeronaut Brewery concerns Benedict Arnold’s ill-fated invasion of British-held Canada, which embarked in September of 1775.  That episode actually began here in Somerville, when detachments from General Greene’s command at Prospect Hill left those lines to gather in Cambridge, where they would meet other detachments from New England and Virginia.  From there they made their way to Newbury and then to the Kennebec River–where absolutely everything began to go very, very wrong.  In this presentation, we will tell the story of an expedition–the first in US military history, in fact–that despite numerous privations, very nearly captured the great citadel of Quebec in the teeth of a driving snowstorm on New Years Eve, 1775.