Memorial Drive shooting rocked Cambridge, leaving two injured and thankfully out of the hospital now. Only a week after the shooting, and despite pleas from both the Cambridge city manager and interim police comissioner, Cambridge city councilors voted to remove ShotSpotter, the gunfire detection technology

After 17 years, beloved veggie chain Clover Food Lab closed all 11 of its locations, with inflation to blame. Ingredients alone are costing them 3-50% more than they did last year this time

Cambridge Friends School is set to close after enrollment falls to fewer than 50 students

That loud boom over the weekend? No, that wasn’t my pig-sized dog jumping out of the car, it was a meteor that exploded off the coast, rattling windows from Boston to Rhode Island. I found some dashcam footage here

After 107 years, Inman Square deli institution S&S is serving its final sandwiches this month

Massachusetts is betting $25 million on a new MIT "quantum toolbox" to turn the area into a quantum hub

Cambridge is throwing seven free World Cup watch parties across the squares, see the event lineup for all the games

Firefighters battled an Assembly Row highrise fire this past weekend as SFD calls out its understaffing for emergency situations like this one

Surveillance video shows a man trapped at the bottom of a Davis Station escalator for more than 20 minutes while commuters walked past; he later died. A recent report also mentions the MBTA may have violated law by not reporting the death to reporting agencies, only finding out when NBC published the investigation

Somerville Police are warning about a trending credit card scam fooling residents

Facing a $5.4 million budget hole, Mayor Wilson announced Somerville is cutting 29 city jobs, due to a 5.4M budget deficit

Rain couldn't stop it: thousands packed Somerville PorchFest for 530-plus bands across hundreds of porches

Somerville Art Fair: June Art Salon @ Upstairs at Bow, Somerville — browse original work from a handful of local artists and actually talk to the people who made it, salon-style, with everything on the walls up for sale | June 5th

SomerStreets: Carnaval @ Broadway, Somerville — sixteen car-free blocks turn into an open-air party, kicking off with a Brazilian samba procession and rolling into live music, global food vendors and a dunk tank | June 7th

Survivor Aeronaut @ Aeronaut Brewing Company, Somerville — channel your inner castaway (WILSON!) for the 5th annual outdoor edition, with Survivor-style challenges, hidden immunity idols and fire tokens to cash in for prizes | June 12th

Somerville Stomp @ Samba Bar, Somerville — swap the couch for the dance floor at this monthly swing night, starting with a 7pm community hour to warm up before three hours of DJ'd dancing | June 17th

Summer Party @ Kendall/MIT Open Space, Cambridge — start summer with the MIT and Kendall crowd over a dance performance, guided herb-planting activities, drop-in art-making and summer snacks | June 24th

Dancing on the Charles @ Marsh Post, Cambridge — the riverside dance series brings an all-women DJ lineup to Marsh Post for an afternoon-to-midnight set. Bead necklaces available to signal whether you're there to mingle | June 27th

31 Loring St, Spring Hill, Somerville | 4 bed, 2 bath, 1,968 sq ft | $1,250,000

13 Nashua St, Somerville | 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,797 sq ft | $875,000

61 E Albion St, Somerville | 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,441 sq ft | $899,00 | 51k price cut

223 Lakeview Ave #223, Cambridge | 3 bed, 2 bath, 2,108 sq ft | $1,650,000

36 Burnside Ave #1, Somerville | 3 bed, 3.5 bath, 1,680 sq ft | $1,180,000 | newly renovated

29 Cushing St #3, Strawberry Hill, Cambridge | 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,320 sq ft | $1,149,000 | newly renovated

Cambridge (Monday, May 18)

In a close 5-2-2 vote, City Council ordered the city to stop using ShotSpotter within 90 days, pulling the plug on the gunshot-detection system after more than a decade, just days after the shooting earlier this month (ShotSpotter is a network of always-on microphones that listen for loud bangs and alert police when they might be gunfire). Councillors who voted to drop it argued it misses real gunshots, sends officers into communities of color over what often turn out to be firecrackers, and, because parent company SoundThinking runs a database that ICE has accessed, poses a privacy risk in a sanctuary city. Councillor Ayah Al-Zubi led the order, joined by McGovern, Nolan, Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Mayor Siddiqui. The city manager and acting police commissioner had recommended keeping it, and the patrol officers' union criticized the decision. The vote had been delayed a week earlier, when Vice Mayor Azeem moved it off the agenda because that meeting began just hours after the Memorial Drive shooting.

Somerville (Thursday, May 28)

The headline vote was a unanimous expansion of Somerville's sanctuary-city ordinance. Led by Councillor Ben Ewen-Campen and co-sponsored by Councillor Will Mbah, and written with the ACLU of Massachusetts, the update to the city's 2019 Welcoming Communities Ordinance bars police from cooperating with ICE unless legally required, and bars the city from signing any federal agreement that "facilitates information-sharing or surveillance" tied to people's First Amendment activity.

The council also voted to recognize a new union, Somerville Workers United, just weeks after 13 city staffers were laid off amid a budget shortfall. The most pointed moment came from some of those laid-off workers, who spoke during public comment as their colleagues voted to organize.

Blitz | Male | 7yrs - A smart, food-driven boxer-hound mix who walks a clean heel, sleeps through the night in his crate, and will learn just about any trick you're willing to bribe him into. He's a cuddle bug with his people, good with dogs who greet politely, and happiest on a long hike or riding shotgun on a car ride. The catch: he's shy with strangers and needs someone who reads that as a quirk to build on, not a dealbreaker, which is the only reason this already-trained gem is still waiting

Blitz is with Broken Tail Rescue in a foster home, so fill out an application first and his foster will set up a meet, often at the Cambridge PetSmart on Alewife Brook Parkway

Lulu Green, Southie's two-time "Best Vegan Restaurant" winner, just opened an all-day café in Kendall Square in the old PlantPub space. Double smash burgers, pulled-mushroom quesadillas, and a patio over a reflection pond

Urban Hearth, chef Erin Miller's Michelin-recommended farm-to-table spot, is trading its tiny North Cambridge room for a much bigger Inman Square space this spring

Gato Exotico, the new cantina from Wusong Road's (one of my favorite spots in Cambridge) Jason Doo, turned a corner of the CambridgeSide mall into a maximalist taqueria. Lengua tacos, birria fries, "Dorinachos" built on actual Doritos, and margaritas poured into cat-shaped tiki mugs

Kokoro Don Café, a tiny Japanese comfort-food counter, opened at the edge of Union Square. Donburi bowls, ramen, and a divine chicken katsu sando, solid spot for takeout if you’re nearby

Bonanza Bites & Cocktails took over R.F. O'Sullivan's longtime burger space near Porter and went the complete opposite direction: Latin American small plates and cocktails. Confit pork belly in guava glaze, arepa sliders, salmon tiradito

New Leaf Espresso set up shop inside Razors Barbershop on Highland Ave, so now you can grab a coffee and a cut under one roof. Café tables and barrel seats out in the alley