The Tufts Daily

Local activists and some elected officials have criticized a recent study of Somerville Police Department’s staffing. The City of Somerville announced on March 8 that its Racial and Social Justice Department had contracted a consulting firm to conduct a study on the Somerville Police Department’s staffing procedures, prompting frustration over the speed of police reform […]

Tufts is hosting its third annual Global Tufts Month, a month-long series of activities and events across the university’s schools and centers this March. This year’s theme is “A Call to Action: Global Perspectives on Climate Change.” Senior International Officer and Associate Provost Diana Chigas explained that Global Tufts Month began as a way to […]

The City of Somerville is moving forward with plans to build a new public safety complex at 90 Washington St. in East Somerville after stalling for more than three years. A virtual meeting was held on Feb. 16 to gather input on the project from members of the Somerville community. The city seized the four-acre […]

More than 10 public school districts in the Greater Boston area, including Somerville Public Schools, either called snow days or had delayed openings during the week of Jan. 3 in order to catch up on COVID-19 testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) distribution. As COVID-19 cases surged due to the high transmissibility of the omicron […]

President Joe Biden signed a comprehensive, bipartisan infrastructure deal into law on Nov. 15. The law’s $550 billion in new spending will be allocated among the 50 states, with many Massachusetts and Somerville officials hopeful that some funding can be used to ground the McGrath Overpass. Hopes of tearing down the overpass were renewed after […]

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts released a study titled “Protests, Politics, and Power: Exploring the Connections Between Youth Voting and Youth Movements” on Oct. 4. The study detailed a nuanced relationship between youth activist movements and youth voting patterns. The eight participating researchers observed that youth […]

A referendum on whether to allow Boston voters to elect school committee members will appear on the city’s ballot this November after the Boston City Council unanimously approved the ballot question on Sept. 15.  Out of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, Boston is the only one where voters do not directly elect their […]

The U.S. Census Bureau released its local-level data from the 2020 census on Aug. 12. The data showed significant population growth in Medford and Somerville and statewide since 2010. According to data published by the Boston Globe, the city of Medford reported a 6.2% increase in its population, and Somerville grew by 7.0%. In total, […]

The MBTA, which installed the benches, asserts that the architecture is designed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide easier access to seating for people with mobility challenges. However, the Council’s resolution argues that the benches have had the effect of preventing people — namely the homeless community — from lying down.

Mbah was born and raised in Cameroon and moved to Somerville in 2011 after winning the green card lottery through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, a federal program that awards visas to randomly selected immigrants from countries with low immigration rates to the United States. In addition to being an at-large city councilor, he is currently a technologist at MIT’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety. Mbah is the only person of color on the Somerville City Council.