BALA-BILA brings together two African master musicians – Balla Kouyate on balafon, calabash, bass guitar and voice, and Matchume Zango on timbila, mbira, percussion and voice – through a live concert framed as an intercultural musical conversation between the two artists. Kouyate, from the West African country of Mali, and Zango, from the East African country of Mozambique, are leading exponents of their respective principal instruments – BALAfon and timBILA – two world heritage instruments that are played together for the first time.

Robin Lipson, Acting Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs for Massachusetts; Ed Augustus, Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities for Massachusetts; and Dr. Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH, and CEO of HealthBegins, are among the featured speakers at Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services’ daylong forum on aligning social and health care to advance health, equity, and independence. The event will take place on October 9 from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Boston University’s Metcalf Trustee Center at 1 Silber Way, Boston.

Somerville’s Pollinator Action Plan aims to protect and propogate species that are vital to environmental stability.

Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and the Somerville Division of Public Space and Urban Forestry (PSUF) are proud to announce the release of the city’s comprehensive Pollinator Action Plan, a community-driven initiative aimed at supporting pollinator species within the city’s urban environment. This first-of-its-kind plan for a densely populated city not only sets a new precedent for urban pollinator conservation, but also reflects Somerville’s commitment to addressing the environmental challenges of our time.

Registration is open for middle graders interested in playing winter sports. There are basketball teams for grades 6-8 and opportunities to try out for select high school teams.

Students in grades 6-8 are invited to play on our boys or girls basketball teams for middle graders. The teams will compete against teams from other towns.

The MBTA today announced that Green Line service resumed between North Station and Union Square and between North Station and Medford/Tufts at 10:30 a.m. following a derailment that occurred on Tuesday, October 1, around 5:00 p.m. near Lechmere. 

Review by Rivkah Lapidus, Ph.D., LMHC, CGP

Stanton Peele’s Diseasing of America is handy, well designed, and clear. Kudos to writing to people at this level, giving them clarity and understanding of a multifaceted problem.

My only quibble is the use of the disease model, which is a controversy in the field of experts.

Many respected scholars and researchers in the field of substance use disorder refer to a bio-psycho-social phenomenon that mimics a disease when it’s full blown but is made of many factors.

Community members are invited to a neighborhood meeting on October 9, to discuss public safety and homelessness in the broader Seven Hills/Davis Square area. Join Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, Police Chief Shumeane Benford, Health and Human Services staff and more for an update and discussion on these issues. All members of the community including individuals and businesses are invited.

The HONK! Festival 19th Annual Festival of Activist Street Bands kicks off on Thursday, October 3, with the Pre-HONK! Brass Band Blowout in Union Square.

The HONK! Festival 19th Annual Festival of Activist Street Bands takes place October 4–6, throughout Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston neighborhoods. Outdoors rain or shine.

HONK! Festival 2024 has revealed their participating bands roster for this year’s 19th annual gathering of activist street musicians.

Somerville City Councilors are asking the Police Department to write more tickets to traffic violators instead of merely issuing warnings. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Harry Kane

City Councilors want drivers to obey traffic laws and regulations, so they have asked the Somerville Police Department to issue more tickets and fewer warnings.

An order was put forward by President and Ward 3 City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen that the Chief of Police resume the practice of issuing tickets rather than warnings for serious moving violations that endanger public safety, including speeding and running red lights.