Your city, your voice, your vote. Next week on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, the City of Somerville will hold its Municipal Election, open to all registered voters in Somerville.

November SNAP benefits could be delayed if the federal government doesn’t resolve the shutdown or provide emergency funding. SNAP provides about $212 million each month to Massachusetts residents. Benefits are issued between the 1st and 14th. Both SNAP recipients as well as grocery stores and farmers (who will see decreased food purchases) will be affected. 

Funding for the 2025-2026 Warming Center operation was approved at the Finance Committee’s latest meeting.

By Jordan Pagkalinawan

On Tuesday, October 21, the Somerville Finance Committee met to review requests to fund three community-oriented projects, approve prior-year invoices, and extend two design services contracts.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

If there’s ever a real argument comparing these days to the good old days, two words can help win the discussion, full-size. Not just candy bars either. Back then, there was no such thing as a fun size. And instead of a regular-sized goody bag, my friends and I carried full-size pillowcases. Everything back then (’60s–‘80s) was bigger. Cars were bigger, toys seemed bigger, and, of course, Halloween candy bars were … full-size.

This service change is taking place to continue work to install Green Line Train Protection System infrastructure

The MBTA is reminding riders that Green Line service will be suspended between Park Street and Union Square as well as Medford/Tufts beginning at approximately 8 PM through the end of service on Tuesday, November 4, and continuing for the following nine days, November 5 – 13.

Assembly Square’s Innovation District, possible future home of TransMedics Group, Inc.
 — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Harry Kane

The city is offering an incentive package to TransMedics Group, Inc. that would yield a whopping $74.56 million in tax revenue over the next decade if the medical device manufacturer moves its global headquarters to Somerville.

Recently, the Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed a pair of bills that advance its commitment to health equity by promoting safe and easy access to menstrual products.

One of the bills, S.2640, expands access to necessary products like tampons and pads in public schools, homeless shelters, and jails and prisons. The legislation requires that these disposable products be made available at no cost to people who need them. An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products, also known as the I AM bill, addresses the struggle to afford menstrual products, a key necessity for personal hygiene, for many menstruating adults, students and children with lower incomes or housing instability. The 2025 State of the Period survey, conducted by The Harris Poll, found that 24 per cent of teens in the United States struggle to afford menstrual products. The poll also found a high number of teens missing out on class time as a result while 39 per cent of teens reported an impact on their schoolwork as a result of limited access to menstrual products.

Municipal Election Day is Tuesday, November 4. Make your voice heard. Early Voting will take place at Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Ave., on the following dates and times: Wednesday, October 29, 8:30 a.m. –4:30 p.m. and Thursday, October 30, 8:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. For more information about voting in Somerville, go to www.somervillema.gov/elections.