Category: News

  • 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…

  • Boston Housing Authority announces 1,000 new vouchers for the homeless

    Boston’s public housing agency is making 1,000 rental housing vouchers available to homeless folks looking for long-term housing. The Section 8 vouchers are the result of federal Housing Choice Program funding and will provide housing search assistance, stabilization services and funds for those moving into a home for the next six months, according to a…

  • Emerson photo exhibit showcases stories of recovery

    Emerson photo exhibit showcases stories of recovery

    David DeCourcey is a 37-year-old Boston local who currently works at the Devine Recovery Center as a peer to peer specialist. His experience with recovery allows him to connect deeper with those who come to Devine. He has two sons, Joseph, 14, and David Jr.,15, who help drive his recovery process. photo by Jakob Menendez…

  • Needle Take Back Day launches in Boston

    Needle Take Back Day launches in Boston

    Councilor Annissa Essaibi George (middle) at the inaugural Needle Take Back Day event. On Thursday, April 25, nearly 30 community health care organizations and centers across Boston banded together for the city’s inaugural Needle Take Back Day.  The event, promoted by City Councilor At-Large, Annissa Essaibi-George, is part of her continuing objective to increase the…

  • Homeless Bill of Rights Takes Aim at Housing Discrimination

    A good house is hard to find—which is why a homeless mother of three seeking to leave a homeless shelter was thrilled to find an apartment within her price range close to an elementary school in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Her hopes were dashed, however, when the landlord denied her application because she would be renting with…

  • People Demonstrate for Worker, Immigrant rights on May Day

    On May 1, International Workers Day, hundreds of people trekked for miles to advocate for the rights of immigrants and workers. The  Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) led hundreds of protestors from Everett, Chelsea and East Boston on a march to Liberty Plaza, where they held a rally. The collection of workers,…

  • ‘It changed my life’: Ordinary people power Game of Thrones

    ‘THEY KNOW ME AS THE ANIMAL MAN OF NORTHERN IRELAND’ Kenny Gracey – medieval livestock owner It’s not just on-screen talent that has felt the Game of Thrones effect – its success has pumped millions into Northern Ireland’s economy. Besides tourists flocking to see the iconic locations, the show had more than 6,000 employees, putting local talent…

  • Boston to make case for new Long Island bridge to Quincy

    The City of Boston is hoping to convey that rebuilding a bridge to Long Island is the best option for accessing and reopening a recovery campus for addicts during a meeting on Tuesday, May 7,  in Quincy. The public meeting, being held at the Kennedy Center facility for the Quincy Council on Aging at 7…

  • Panel discusses Boston’s efforts to house the chronically homeless

    Before he had a home, Eric Lepovetsky would spend his nights in his “nylon condo” — that is, a tent in a wooded area of a park — staying out of sight from strangers and drinking himself to sleep. “Although I have fears that are real — attacks by humans, animals bugs — my greatest…

  • The United States has a hostile architecture problem. Is public space becoming private?

    Anti-homeless policy has been a staple in cities all over the world for decades, whether those policies be forthright, like loitering laws and sit-lie ordinances, or peppered into a city’s infrastructure and public spaces. Hostile architecture, sometimes called “defensive architecture”, a trend in urban design which discourages the use of spaces in any way other…