After years of site preparation and regulatory litigation, the Wynn Boston Harbor resort is finally beginning to take form in Everett.

By Jim Clark

Wynn Resorts announced last Wednesday that it has officially received its Chapter 91 license from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and will immediately start construction on the $2.1 billion Wynn Boston Harbor resort.

— Photos by Lita Vongsavanh

By Sanjeev Selvarajah

This season’s spikes of heat and cool haven’t stopped a whopping thousand people from combing the Mystic River for the invasive water chestnut that hinders activities and harms animal habitats. Businesses and community volunteers went out on canoes to hand pull the invasive plant and clear the Mystic River of the infestation. The zeal and methodology with which Mystic River’s neighboring towns operate to clean up the invasive water chestnut from the waterway should be applauded and used in the cases of water contamination nationwide.

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Dear Mayor Curtatone,

We are a group of dozens of public health students and professionals at Boston University School of Public Health – several from Somerville, some from surrounding cities and towns – who have been witnessing the recent debate over the ‘Black Lives Matter’ banner outside of your City Hall with intense interest. We view the deaths of unarmed black citizens by police as well as the tragic deaths of law enforcement officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge with grief and horror. The manner and frequency at which unarmed black citizens have been killed reinforces the truth that black people in the United States are at increased risk of police violence unlike any other group of people.

Dilboy Stadium on the Alewife is once again hosting the 5th Annual Fight Night at Dilboy, Friday evening, August 19. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. First bout at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for youth. Children under 12 are free with a paid adult admission. Tickets can be purchased at the Somerville Boxing Club, 11 Otis Street, or at the door the night of the event. Rain date August 20.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro

On Thursday, August 2, Somerville Cares About Prevention (SCAP) partnered with the City of Somerville, Somerville Police Department, the National Association of Town Watch, and Target, Inc. hosted National Night Out, “America’s Night Out Against Crime.”

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I must admit, I’m truly ashamed that I haven’t made my way here sooner. I just think about all the times I craved authentic southern fried chicken and walked away disappointed. I can proudly say, that is no longer the case.

It looks now as though the Wynn Boston Harbor resort complex is going to become a reality for the city of Everett – and, of course, for its neighbors, like us.

In spite of the best efforts by representatives from Boston, Somerville, and elsewhere to grind the project to a permanent halt, the casino giant has prevailed in the end. For better or worse.

Somerville Alibrandis face off with the East Boston Knights in the first round of the 2016 Yawkee Baseball League championship playoffs.

Courtesy of Yawkey Baseball League

In 2015 they were the top 2 seeds in the YBL tourney and battled in the Championship Round. This year they will meet again, but this rematch takes place in the first round.

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Poet and State Rep. Denise Provost reviews a new poetry book by Somerville Bagel Bard Lawrence Kessenich: 

Lawrence Kessenich’s newest book of poetry, Age of Wonders, is itself a wonder. Its poems, few exceeding a single page, are deceptively simple. The reader enters a description of an ordinary situation, only to hit a line that opens, as if on hinges, into unexpected revelation; the kind of magic door found in the mythic stories we read in youth.

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Somerville Bagel Bard Molly Mattfield Bennett has a new book of poetry out – so we decided to excerpt a poem from it.

Point No Point is about people who live on the edges, who travel from place to place; at home nowhere, who wander through life’s journey. It is about all of us who are outsiders, Pilgrims, immigrants, homeless on the streets, Masai on the Serengeti, those who seek enlightenment. We are all outsiders. These poems dwell in paradox: with beauty amid horror that can change in an instant from one to the other; with the light that shines through pain; that daily the bush that shelters is on fire.