Our hearts are heavy as we share that Somerville’s national, city and Gay Pride flags are at half-mast in honor of, with the deepest sympathy for, and in solidarity with the Orlando shooting victims, their loved ones and families, and the LGBTQ community.

If anyone is in need of support during this difficult time, please contact our Trauma Response Network at 857-221-0942 or pcontente@police.somerville.ma.us. ‪#‎OrlandoStrong‬‪#‎LoveNotHate‬ ‪#‎PrideNotFear‬

Lincoln Park groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, June 17, 2016. (click to enlarge)

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston invite the public to attend the Lincoln Park groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, June 17, at 2:30 p.m. at Lincoln Park (near the Argenziano School playground). The ceremony will mark the official start of the long-awaited renovation of Lincoln Park. New features include a multi-use grass field, a new Argenziano schoolyard, an updated softball diamond, community gardens, an outdoor play area, Parkour and skateboard areas, 150 new trees, outdoor exercise equipment, new lighting, and an off-leash dog area. The project will also include rain gardens that recycle stormwater as well as a 1.26-million gallon underground stormwater management system aimed at curbing flooding in the area.

The brainchild of Mayor Joe Curtatone, who played trumpet in the Somerville High School Jazz Band, the annual Jazz & Blues Fest will take over Powderhouse Park in Somerville June 18 from 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. for the best all-day free concert around.

Interviewed Ken Field ( internationally acclaimed Jazz Composer) at the famed Bloc 11 Cafe in Somerville —
We talked about his work with Peter Wolf, Patti Smith, and others. Also we touched on his work with the Honk Festival, Sesame Street, New Orleans Jazz and so much more.

By Amy Swain

Fans of theatrics, mark your calendars. June 17 brings The Tongue in Cheek Singers to Arts at the Armory for a “boundary-breaking evening of song.”

The show is part of the three-times-yearly tradition the group has been observing since 2011. Seven of the group’s ten members will put on their cabaret-style show beginning at 7:30 pm.

Tufts University is marking the 10th anniversary of the Doris W. York Endowed Scholarship Fund, which since 2006 has awarded more than $1 million in four-year, full-tuition scholarships to students in the top fifth of their Somerville High School classes.

‘Villens United by Chris Haskell

For the last ten years, the Goode brothers have been teaching and healing locals with a rare form of martial arts. Twin brothers Jonathon and Alex Goode were raised in Somerville and sought out martial arts in their teens as a form of exercise and healthy discipline. Today they instruct their students in Oom Yung Doe; a form of martial arts rarely taught in the states that combines several different styles to achieve overall physical and mental health improvement. I had recently been looking for interesting new ways to keep in shape and a friend had set up an appointment for me with Jonathon and Alex for a lesson in Oom Yung Doe.

By Louise Carpenter

Plenty of spaces are still open for the first session and second sessions of the Somerville CIT/LIT Job Readiness program.

The program serves approximately twenty four 13-15 year olds in each of the two four-weeklong sessions, a total of 48 youth in eight weeks.

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Somerville Community Access Television’s new Executive Director Brian Zipp chats about the current state of the media center and its future with host Joe Lynch.

New interactive, online portal makes raw data and data visualizations available

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone is excited to announce a new home for the city’s data sets, which gives Somerville residents easy access to the same data he uses to make decisions. Now you can take a trip to the Data Farm to follow data trends in the city and use the data for your own analysis.