By Tom Bannister

Officers from the Somerville Police Department are attending a new mental health training course as now required by the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. The curriculum for this training was developed by the Massachusetts National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Mass), the Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC). All municipal police officers in the state will receive updated mental health training by the end of 2015.

The public is invited to ward-by-ward meetings scheduled by the ward aldermen and city planning staff on the proposed zoning code overhaul submitted to the Board of Aldermen. Each meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. The schedule for the meetings is as follows:

The 2015 Summer Camp & Activities Fair has something fun to offer everyone in the family.

By Tom Bannister

With all this snow and frigid air it may be hard to believe but summer is just around the corner! And many programs fill up fast.

Somerville Public Schools invites you to save the date for their upcoming Summer Camp & Activities Fair, scheduled for Wednesday, March 4, 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Arthur D. Healey School, 5 Meacham Street, Somerville, MA.

Community engagement process one of the criteria used to evaluate proposals due by March 23

The City of Somerville is seeking new proposals for the Powder House Community School site that meet previous objectives developed over two years by the neighborhood, with an extensive in-person and online community engagement process as one of the requirements for those seeking to design and ultimately redevelop the former K-8 school on Broadway between Teele Square and Davis Square.

By Jimmy Del Ponte

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

I know that a lot of you read my column because I talk about the old days. So let’s talk about the old days … of last summer when we were wearing shorts and sandals and cut off t- shirts. Let’s reminisce about the days that we sat out in our yards on our lounge chairs while burgers cooked on the grill.

Beginning Feb. 24, eastbound traffic on Medford St. will be detoured onto Pearl St. See www.somervillema.gov for detour info. and updates.

Beginning on Tues., Feb. 24, 2015 and continuing through Sept. 2015, contractors will conduct necessary work on the Medford St. Bridge between School St. and Walnut St. in preparation for the Green Line Extension project (GLX). During this period, Medford St. eastbound in this immediate area will be closed to vehicular, bike, and pedestrian traffic as crews erect a temporary utility bridge. All vehicle and bike traffic will be detoured eastbound onto Pearl St., right onto McGrath Highway, and onto Medford St. Pedestrians will be able to access the sidewalk on the westbound side of Medford St.

Somerville Neighborhood News has a lot of good headlines for you in this latest newscast. Here is one headline entitled: Fossil fuel divestment appears stalled

Today, in coordination with MassDOT officials, Governor Charlie Baker’s administration, and the National Guard, MBTA officials announced that Red Line service has resumed from Alewife to North Quincy on the Red Line. Green Line Service along the E Branch also resumed today.

George Luther Stearns recruited thousands of freed slaves to fight in the Union Army, helped establish schools for their children and found work for their families while they served. Photos: Kelvin Ma

Tufts Now series on historical markers on campus begins with one commemorating abolitionist George Luther Stearns
Reprinted with permission from Tufts Now, © Tufts University, 2015

By Marjorie Howard

Scattered around Tufts’ three campuses are historical markers that often go unnoticed, hidden among the pathways that many of us travel regularly or in the buildings where we study and work. In this new series, “Mark the Spot,” Tufts Now explores the stories behind these snippets of university history.