Spare Change News

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • MBTA BAILOUT PUSHED TO PATRICK’S DESK AMID FLURRY OF CRITICISM

    By Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 27, 2012……With a new fiscal year set to dawn Sunday and the MBTA’s proposed budget far out of whack, the Legislature on Wednesday approved a bill delivering an emergency bailout, largely by redirecting millions of dollars in auto inspection fees to the agency. The…

  • IMMIGRANT ACTIVISTS DITCH HUNGER STRIKE, PLAN TO THANK PATRICK INSTEAD

    By Michael Norton STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 26, 2012. Encouraged by Gov. Deval Patrick’s statements Monday after they questioned his commitment to defeating “anti-immigrant” budget proposals, activists have called off a planned hunger strike and State House sit-in and instead will send thank-you delegations to Patrick’s office and hold a press…

  • SCANNER OPTION FOR FOOD PRICING QUIETLY CLEARS SENATE

    By Michael Norton and Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 25, 2012……With just two senators present, the Senate on Monday morning approved a bill that food stores in Massachusetts have been pressing unsuccessfully for a decade. Under the bill, which has already cleared the House, grocery stores in Massachusetts would no…

  • Homeless Veterans To Benefit From More Than $15 Million In Job Training Grants

    by Mike Volpe US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WASHINGTON — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced the award of 64 grants totaling more than $15 million that are aimed at providing approximately 8,600 homeless veterans nationwide with job training to help them succeed in civilian careers. The grants are being awarded under the U.S.…

  • After Sweeps, San Jose Stores Property of Homeless

    More evidence that just chasing away the homeless is bad public policy, from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/us/after-cleanups-san-jose-stores-property-of-homeless.html?_r=1&hp

  • Poems by Aminata Keita

    My Accent Everybody has an accent So why is mine a problem? I’m fed up with the ignorance The “You don’t belong here The “I’m sorry honey, can you repeat yourself?” No! I’m not going to repeat myself anymore And I do belong here I’m America too I learned your language I didn’t have an…

  • Poems by Jordan Tyler Young

    Claiming Black I stand in front of you all black and all shooting hoops, swirling through the rim while the crowd cheers me on that’s what you see me as my words grab silence and shoot into the air you hear the same darn thing but you don’t see me as a poet no, you…

  • Workin' For a Living: A Tale of Four Spare Change News Vendors

    By Noelle Swan SPARE CHANGE NEWS Like so many others, Atiqa Mallah came to America looking for opportunity. Life in Morocco was hard, she says. Both her parents died when she was young, leaving Mallah and her siblings to care for each other. When she had a child of her own, she wanted to create…

  • Looking Back

    By James Shearer SPARE CHANGE NEWS It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years, two decades, since Spare Change News was created. Yes, much has happened since then. We’ve had our ups and downs, the paper has more than once been declared dead, but as one of the founders once said, “Spare Change is…

  • Census Data: Cambridge Reports an Increase in Homeless Population

    Robert Sondak SPARE CHANGE NEWS The last week in January 2012 hundreds of communities nationwide conducted their annual homeless census, required by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This national census includes two separate counts involving a tally of unsheltered individuals and a tally of families and individuals staying in shelters…

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