Roughly 500 protesters — led by 19 different organizations — gathered in downtown Boston on Sunday, August 4, to take a stand against the American Correctional Association. The ACA, an accreditation agency for prisons and detention centers in the United States, held its annual Congress of Correction at Hynes Convention Center from Thursday, August 1,…
Massachusetts District Attorneys Sue ICE Over Court Interferences
Marian Ryan and Rachael Rollins — the district attorneys of Middlesex and Suffolk counties, respectively — filed a lawsuit against ICE on Monday, April 29, hoping to put an end to the agency’s tactic of arresting individuals in the vicinity of Massachusetts courthouses. The lawsuit is the first of its kind in the country, setting…
Mayor Walsh Seeks to Expand IDP Program, Housing Activists Seek More
As the fight to quell Boston’s housing displacement continues, city officials plan to expand their Inclusionary Development Policy, which currently mandates the majority of housing developers to aid in the construction of affordable, income-restricted units. The Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) states that private housing developers must either make 13 percent of units in their new…
Boston Immigrant Community Speaks Out On Government Shutdown, Trump’s Border Wall Proposal
On January 25, the United States federal government reopened after a 35-day-long shutdown without any concrete deal regarding a budget for the fiscal year of 2019. The reopening is temporary, however; if Congress does not reach a deal by February 15 — presumably, one that includes $5.7 billion in allocated funds for a new border…
Police Surveillance Put Under Civilian Oversight in Cambridge
The Cambridge City Council passed the Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) ordinance Monday, Dec. 10, making Cambridge the first city in the Boston area to implement civilian oversight over the use of police surveillance technologies. The new law says that no city department can fund, use, acquire, or use any surveillance technologies without first…
Boston Pushes for Long Island Bridge’s Reconstruction, and Quincy Pushes Back
Boston city officials are pushing forward with plans to build a new bridge to Long Island and re-establish an addiction recovery facility there. The Boston City Council expressed widespread support for the project, calling it a needed expansion in treatment for the thousands of people affected by the opioid crisis in the area. At…
Boston Area Prisoners Join National Hunger Strike
Prisoners throughout New England joined a national rolling hunger strike last week, protesting the United States government’s failure to reunite separated migrant families despite a court ordered July 26 deadline to do so. The hunger strike — formulated by members of Hungry4Justice — started on July 30 in Oakland, California, and has since spread to…
Boston Activists Rally to Show Solidarity With Nationwide Prison Strike
About 150 people rallied outside of Suffolk County Jail Thursday, Aug. 23 to stand in solidarity with a nationwide prison strike which kicked off earlier in the week. As police stood on the jailhouse steps, batons at the ready, protesters chanted, sang, and donned signs. The prison reformists and abolitionists called for the Massachusetts Department…
Boston City Council Opens Discussion On PILOT Payments From Tax-Exempt Institutions
Boston City Council led a packed hearing on Thursday, August 3, discussing the successes and shortcomings of the city’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program. The program — in which Boston asks nonprofits with tax-exempt property to make voluntary contributions equal to about 25 percent of their property values — has been criticized by…
House Bill Would Waive Fees, Eliminate Address Requirement For State IDs
Update: In a Facebook comment, the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless informed Spare Change News the bill didn’t pass, and said “we will be working to move it forward during the informal legislative sessions between now and the end of December.” The original Spare Change news article on the bill follows below. The Massachusetts…