Studio 27 Salon at 158 Everett Avenue in Chelsea’s Mystic Mall follows one rule: never sacrifice health for style.

Owner Blessing Chitanda, who opened the salon in Boston’s South End in 2013, offers one-on-one appointments for natural hair care, silk presses, healthy relaxers and extensions, with online booking Wednesday through Sunday.

KMK Cakes Bakery & Café at 173 Washington Avenue grew from cakes and cookies baked in Flor and Eder Rosas’ home kitchen. Family-owned since 2015, the Chelsea bakery serves breakfast sandwiches, empanadas, tamales and coffee.

It also makes custom cakes, including 48-hour Express Cakes, and offers more than 200 catering options.

Chelsea is seeking artists for a life-size bronze statue of John Ruiz, the hometown fighter who became the first Latino heavyweight boxing champion. The statue will stand in John Ruiz Park.

The city has set aside up to $160,000 in Community Preservation funds. Residents will get to weigh in on the finalists' designs, with installation planned for summer 2027.

The Chelsea City Council voted 7–0 to permanently protect the historic exterior of Temple Emmanuel at 60 Tudor Street, a building that dates to about 1859.

The agreement could help the temple qualify for restoration grants. It still needs state approval, and the congregation keeps full control of the inside.

Chelsea Public Schools projects a $22.3 million budget shortfall for the 2027–28 school year, driven by falling enrollment and rising costs.

It's an early estimate, not a list of cuts. Superintendent Almi Abeyta warned a gap this size could erase the gains of almost 240 positions added over six years. A community budget process is set to begin in November.

Chelsea wants to replace building-by-building affordable housing lotteries with one citywide lottery and one central waitlist, run by the Chelsea Housing Authority.

City Manager Fidel Maltez says today's setup is costly and complicated, especially for smaller projects. The system would cover affordable units required in new private developments. No start date has been announced.

Pioneer Charter School of Science's Everett campus, which serves Chelsea students, reported a chronic absenteeism rate of just 5.3% last school year, compared with 17.1% statewide. It also reported strong MCAS scores.

Not everyone is cheering its growth. Chelsea school leaders oppose Pioneer's proposed expansion, which includes pre-K seats.

Northeast Metro Tech, the vocational high school that serves Chelsea and 11 other communities, celebrated its new $317 million campus in Wakefield with a student-led ribbon-cutting.

The building is designed for about 1,600 students, and the school has added four programs: biotechnology, construction craft laborers, marketing and medical assisting. A Chelsea delegation was there for the celebration.

Just across Chelsea Creek, The Golden Thread is taking shape: a cultural trail of glowing steel arches that mark key places in East Boston's story.

Each stop pairs a landmark with multilingual stories you can open with a QR code, from immigration at the Golden Stairs to the changing shoreline in Central Square.