Legislators Secure $290,000 for Stoneham in State Budget

STONEHAM — State Rep. Day and state Sen. Jason Lewis secured $290,000 for local priorities in the Legislature's newly passed $63.4 billion fiscal 2027 state budget, as Town Hall separately moves ahead on a Community Compact grant to modernize Building Department recordkeeping and opens its annual scholarship fund to applicants.

TOWN HALL Rep. Day and Sen. Lewis announced this week that they secured $290,000 in earmarked funding for Stoneham priorities as part of the state's fiscal 2027 budget, which lawmakers passed and described as fiscally responsible. Specific line-item uses of the funding were not detailed in the announcement.

Separately, the town has been awarded a Community Compact IT grant intended to modernize recordkeeping in the Building Department, according to the town's News Flash announcements. The Scholarship Committee is also accepting applications from residents pursuing an educational goal for a $1,000 scholarship; letters of application are due by August 3.

COMMUNITY & ARTS Stoneham Public Library's Mid-Summer Faire runs Saturday, July 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. The library also hosts "Farm Girl on the Front Lines: Deborah Sampson's Secret" on Tuesday, July 21, from 7 to 8 p.m., a talk on the Stoneham-linked Revolutionary War figure who served disguised as a man.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NEWS "Senator Lewis and Mass. Senate Crack Down on Big Social Media Companies that Target Youth" — Stoneham Patch reports the state Senate passed a bill limiting features such as autoplay, "infinite scroll" and other algorithm-driven tools on accounts used by young people. (read it at https://patch.com/massachusetts/stoneham)

COMING UP The Stoneham Conservation Commission and the Stoneham School Building Committee both meet by remote participation on Monday, July 20. At the library, Drop-in Tech Support runs Friday, July 17, and Monday, July 20, from 10 a.m. to noon, and the Friday Movie Matinee screens July 17 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.