Category: Political
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Criminalization of Homelessness in US Condemned by the United Nations
By Carey L. Biron NEW YORK, N.Y.—A United Nations panel reviewing the U.S. record on racial discrimination has expressed unusually pointed concern over a new pattern of laws it warns is criminalizing homelessness. U.S. homelessness has increased substantially in the aftermath of the financial downturn, and with a disproportionate impact on minorities. Yet in many…
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Former Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn Looks Back on Busing, Forty Years Later
BOSTON, Mass.—Images of protests and violence in response to the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools are so lasting that movies like “The Departed” and the upcoming “Black Mass” still use them as symbols of racial disharmony 40 years later. Depending who you ask, the furor over busing was a fight over preserving decades of…
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Where the Candidates for Governor Stand on Homelessness
BOSTON, Mass.—There is an old parable set in a village by a river. One day, babies inexplicably start floating downstream. Each day brings more babies, and the town has a harder time saving all of them. But the townspeople cannot agree on how to solve the problem: One group wants to go upstream to find…
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Six-State Environmental Agreement Leaves State Bill in Shambles, Causes Resignations
BOSTON, Mass.—Almost a month after three members of Governor Patrick’s environmental advisory committee resigned, protesting policies in the Clean Energy Resources Bill, Governor Patrick has pledged to further assess the problems behind the embattled bill. In July, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) filed appeals in Massachusetts regarding the withholding of documents on the development of…
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Airport Workers Kick Off Campaign for Better Working Conditions
BOSTON, Mass.—It was five degrees below zero the night of March 17, and Giselle Torres was on her way to clean a plane. She worked for ReadyJet, a service company contracted by Delta Airlines, at Logan Airport. Cleaning planes is a thankless job, and ReadyJet doesn’t make things easier. She only gets one pair of…
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Overcoming Addiction: How One Woman Found Sobriety in Cooking
Sue wore a gray sweater and her hair was pulled back in a Red Sox cap. In her Boston accent she said it was the same outfit she wore a year and a half ago when she was released from prison. In her bag she saved some blue flowers that she brought home from her…
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Safe Access Law Follows Buffer Zone Repeal
BOSTON, Mass.—On 26 June 2014, the Supreme Court’s decition in McCullen v. Coakley struck down Massachusetts’ 2007 buffer zone law as unconstitutional, angering millions of abortion advocates. In response, Governor Deval Patrick signed a new bill, “An Act to Promote Public Safety and Protect Access to Reproductive Health Care Facilities,”to take the place of the…
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Candidate Speaks Out on Homelessness and Poverty
BOSTON, Mass.— Mike Lake grew up in Melrose, the son of a single mother who relied on government aid and community support. According to lake, that upbringing made him a believer in the power of public services. Now, as a candidate for lieutenant governor, he supports progressive policies like increasing the minimum wage, single-payer healthcare,…
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Conflicted
As I watch with horror at what is going on in the Middle East, a few things come to mind; all of which are sad and somewhat emotional. I’ve never really understood the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Let me repeat that I get the conflict — I do read. But this whole Palestinian state thing, I…
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Bill Languishes in State House while Homeless Youth Wait
BOSTON, Mass.—For many Massachusetts teenagers, the basics of a stable life – a bed, three meals a day, regular access to health services – are a given, and often easy to take for granted. However, for the more than 6,000 high school students who are homeless and on their own in one the nation’s most…