Category: Local
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Baker signs ‘bargain bill’ to raise minimum wage
On the morning of June 28, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill that will raise the state’s minimum wage from $11.00 to $15.00 over the next five years, and raised wages for employees who receive tips from $3.75 to $6.75 over the same time period. The bill also contained several other mandates regarding worker benefits…
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Thousands gather at Boston City Hall against separating immigrant families
All photos by author. An estimated 5,000 marchers gathered at City Hall Plaza just before noon last Saturday, June 30, to protest current immigration policies. The march was one of many hosted in several cities across the nation, in part sparked by photos coming from a processing detention center in McAllen, Texas, as well as…
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Hundreds Rally to Mass. State House to Protest Immigration Policy, State Government’s Inaction
Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Massachusetts State House on Wednesday, June 20, to speak out against the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that detains those trying to cross the border and separates parents from their children. The protesters — joined by groups such as the ACLU and the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy…
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Boston City Council Approves Regulations on Short-Term Rentals
Boston City Council on Wednesday, June 15, voted overwhelmingly to adopt new regulations on short-term rental units, with the hopes that tightening market restrictions will help ease the burdens of housing displacement and rising rent costs felt by residents throughout the city. The regulations come at the end of a long and heated debate between…
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Cambridge seeks to preserve hundreds of affordable housing units
The City of Cambridge is preserving 504 units of affordable housing at Alewife Brook Towers. Cambridge has started to meet with Schochent Companies, the realtor-manager- owner of the property, to renew the HUD contract for subsidized housing. Alewife Brook Towers are two 22-story buildings, a 48-year old housing complex that rises at the end of…
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Study Shows “Red-Flag” Laws Reduce Gun Suicides
BOSTON – With the state Senate poised to take up a bill to allow removal of firearms from people considered a danger to themselves and others, new research shows such laws reduce suicides. The so-called “Red Flag” bill would allow a relative or someone with close ties to a legal gun owner to petition the…
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‘Fighting for Space’ author talks injection sites, harm reduction in Boston
A Canadian journalist’s book on harm reduction in Vancouver is coming to the United States, and the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program hosted the author for a discussion and book launch. In “Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction,” Travis Lupick provides a detailed look…
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Panel discusses how racial equity can help solve homelessness
The speakers who discussed racial equity as a solution to homelessness, from left to right: Dr. Monica Bharel, Julia Tripp, and Jeff Olivet. On Thursday, June 14, the Center for Social Innovation held a discussion at The Nonprofit Center in downtown Boston about systemic racism and its impact on the homeless population—and how improving racial…
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Boston City Council Approves Regulations on Short-Term Rentals
Boston City Council on Wednesday, June 15, voted overwhelmingly to adopt new regulations on short-term rental units, with the hopes that tightening market restrictions will help ease the burdens of housing displacement and rising rent costs felt by residents throughout the city. The regulations come at the end of a long and heated debate between…