Senator Patricia Jehlen, Representative Denise Provost, Representative Christine Barber, and Representative Tim Toomey announced that two crucial appropriations for the Mystic River were included in the legislature’s final FY 2016 Budget. Both the $250,000 requested for the Mystic River Master Plan and the $100,000 requested for the Mystic River Aquatic Invasive Species Control were fully funded for the upcoming fiscal year.

The City’s Historic Preservation Commission and Historic Somerville are looking for additional volunteers to open the city’s oldest burial ground, the 1804 Milk Row Cemetery, to the public one Sunday afternoon per month from 1-4 p.m., and ideally one weekday evening for two hours from June through November.

Family Swim is in the small heated pool that ranges from 2 feet 6 inches to 4 feet. This pool is a great size and temperature for even the youngest swimmers. Children 6 years old and younger must have a parent in the water with them at all times. Employees have the right to request proof of age in the form of a birth certificate. Children ages 7 to 13 must have a parent or guardian with them in the facility watching them. Parents cannot drop off their children and cannot swim laps while their children are doing family swim.

Ever pass by the old cemetery on Somerville Avenue next to the Market Basket parking lot and wonder,  who is buried there? What’s the story behind this place? Milk Row Cemetery dates back to 1804 and due to its fragile condition itoften closed to the public, but it will be open July 19.

Here is one featured segment from the latest Somerville Neighborhood Newscast. Somerville By Design held an Open House last week to present the latest design considerations for the redevelopment of Union Square. The meeting drew close to a hundred residents and activists to hear about the plans for Lots D-1 through D-7 in the heart of Union Square. George Proakis, Director of Strategic Planning and Community Development for the city introduced the presenters.

By Rebecca Danvers

Environment science non-profit “e” inc. has received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environment Education Grant Program to expand its After School Planet Protector Teams (Planet Protectors) program. The grant will enable “e” inc. to bring the ASPPT to six added after school sites that have rarely been able to participate in the program, while also expanding the breadth of offerings at six current sites. In all, the ASPPT program will serve up to 540 students from kindergarten to 5th grade in six community centers throughout Somerville, as well as the Roxbury, Dorchester, and South End neighborhoods of Boston.

The Somerville PEP “Healthy Living in Somerville” map, available for a close-up view at www.somerville.k12.ma.us/pep.

By Tom Bannister

The Somerville Physical Education Program (PEP) has been promoting a healthy culture throughout the year, working across the city with youth and community partners.

By William C. Shelton

(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)

The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team prosecuted a continuously improving campaign during this year’s World Cup, clinching the championship in a breathtaking game on Sunday.

News coverage made little mention of a lawsuit that forty players, led by Team USA’s highest all-time scorer Abbie Wambach, brought against FIFA last year. Their aim was to avoid the injuries that come from playing on artificial turn, a surface that Men’s World Cup teams do not play on.

By Oliver Bok

“If it’s wrong to destroy the planet, it’s wrong to profit from the destruction of the planet,” Eric Fields said.

Fields is a Tufts graduate student and an organizer of Fossil Free Somerville, a campaign to divest the city’s pension fund from oil companies. To him, divestment is the only moral choice.

By Joseph A. Curtatone

(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)

Love wins. Make no mistake: Years from now, when we look back upon the Supreme Court’s ruling that made same-sex marriage legal across our nation, we will wonder how we ever treated our gay and lesbian neighbors as anything less than equal. For a long time, even those that would be our closest allies declared their support for LGBT equality, but did not support civil marriage for gays and lesbians, or offered civil unions as an inadequate substitute. But equality is not possible without civil marriage. It is one of the foundations of our society, reflected in the numerous ways that our federal government recognizes marriage through the more than 1,000 benefits, rights and protections that are provided to citizens based on whether they are married. A society that provides full participation and inclusion for our family members, friends, neighbors and citizens cannot exist until civil marriage is a right for all. That day has come.