Category: Local
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Vaccinating Against Addiction
There is no magic pill, but one day there could be an inoculation against addiction to certain substances, including heroin and other opiates. Dr. Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute, one of the country’s largest biomedical institutes, in San Diego, California, has been at work for over 20 years formulating vaccines against drugs like…
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Court Case Result Counters Trend on Criminalization of Homelessness
As this past June came to a close, so too did a crucial case which affirmed to the state of Massachusetts that homelessness would not not be considered a crime within its borders. Commonwealth v. Magadini–which was taken on by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts–was a saga beginning in early 2014, when complications…
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A Diamond in the Rough
Have you ever met someone, that the two of you have lived pretty much the same life but in a different skin? Donald Brown, banker at Boston Private Bank and Trust, is that person when compared to my life; our lives mirror each other. I met Donald during his commute into Boston. Our conversations ran…
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State expands addiction program for women at Taunton State Hospital
Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, and state and local officials announced the addition of 30 new beds at Taunton State Hospital for woman struggling with substance use disorders July 21, the Governor’s office said in a press release. The new beds are part of the hospital’s Women’s Recovery from Addictions Program (WRAP) which…
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Brockton Tent City Cleared Due to Public Safety Concerns
Mayor Bill Carpenter of Brockton received a call late at night on June 17 from the city’s fire chief. First responders had just extinguished a fire in the tent-filled homeless encampment not far from downtown. Fires in Tent City have become frequent in recent months, but this blaze was adjacent to about 20 tanks of…
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Governor Baker signs transgender anti-discrimination bill into law
Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill into law protecting transgender individuals against discrimination in places of public accommodation earlier this month, the Governor’s office said in a press release. The bill, An Act relative to transgender anti-discrimination, was a compromise between the House and Senate, Baker’s office said. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination will put…
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Boston City Councilor Looks to Help Homeless Families out of the Shadows
We are in the midst of the lazy, hazy days of summer. But when the days start getting shorter, the nights cooler and Labor Day draws near, our thoughts turn to the annual back-to-school traditions. Even as adults, September evokes memories of the excitement and perhaps, the anxiety, of a new year, new friends and new…
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Fire Leaves Family Homeless
Single mother and laundromat worker Marilyn Dalson wakes up every morning and sees the home she used to live in. Dalson lost her apartment unit in a fire weeks ago and has been staying with her neighbor across the street ever since. To make matters worse, her son Ryan Hinds, a recent graduate of McKinley…
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State Senate passes bill combating predatory debt collection
In the years since the Great Recession, the Attorney General’s office has received approximately 1,300 complaints a year about the growing debt collecting industry, according to a press release by State Senator James’ Eldridge’s office. Debt collectors often seek to collect money consumers do not owe, or make errors about the actual amount of money…
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Homeless teen graduates in two years, heads to college
While most teens are spending their summers pursuing a driver’s license, hitting the beach and preparing for another year of high school, one Washington, D.C. native is headed down a different road — the one toward college. Destyni Tyree, 16, graduated high school in just two years, was class president, successfully lobbied for the school’s…