Now that just about everything is shutting down, it’s time to start thinking about social distancing at a personal level. The goal of social distancing is to reduce interactions between people to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. The first step is eliminating large gatherings of people to reduce the potential for widespread contamination. Most […]
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Advocates: No evictions during pandemic
You feel sick. But you could get evicted from your home if you don’t show up in court. What do you do? Boston-area activists are mounting a campaign to end evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. City Life/Vida Urbana, representing tenants facing eviction, planned to hold a rally Thursday morning outside Boston Housing Court to call for […]
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Why it’s crucial to ‘flatten the curve’ of coronavirus
The number of cases of coronavirus in the state hit 92 yesterday. And in a state of almost 7 million residents that’s cause to declare a state of emergency? Some may wonder whether the alarms being sounded are going overboard. That evidently includes some South Boston business owners complaining about all the money they won’t […]
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Catch-22 on coronavirus tests
It’s a harrowing story. You have most of the symptoms of coronavirus. You’ve self-quarantined at home for two weeks. You’re not getting any better. But the local hospital can’t test you for the disease until you’re in intensive care. This is what Boston microbiologist Amy Proal described Monday night on Twitter as she posted about her […]
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‘A low point for Republicans in Mass.’
Two Republicans trying to straddle the deep ideological divide in the Massachusetts GOP say the bitter fight that culminated in last week’s state committee election was all about gaining control of the party’s resources. On the CommonWealth Codcast, Amy Carnevale, who was reelected to the state committee last week, and Anthony Amore, the GOP nominee […]
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Should state finance marijuana businesses?
As fantastical as the idea sounds, a bill that would establish a state-backed loan fund to help marijuana businesses was reported favorably out of a legislative policy committee this week. Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat and advocate for minority communities who chairs the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, said the fund could be “a […]
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Arroyo: Racism is public health crisis in Boston
Race has long created a divide between what should be and what is. In Boston, that has translated into a struggle to achieve racial parity in exam schools. It has leaked into the travel of black and brown MBTA riders, who experience commutes that are 64 hours longer a year than their white counterparts. Now, […]
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In Newton, a super Tuesday for pro-growth side
All politics is local, and for some residents in Newton that meant yesterday’s Super Tuesday vote in the presidential primary took a backseat to a question of what would happen in their backyard. The affluent Boston suburb of 88,000 residents has been riven for months by a proposal for a massive mixed-use development project in […]
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Is the New York Times getting too big?
In the world of journalism, everyone’s talking about the debut media column of Ben Smith at the New York Times. Smith recounts how six years ago, when he was the editor at BuzzFeed News, he tried to hire A.G. Sulzberger, who at the time was the heir apparent to lead the New York Times. The Times […]
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Straus lays out rationale for transpo revenues
With the House preparing to take up transportation funding legislation this week, Rep. William Straus explains the rationale behind many of the bill’s provisions. Straus, the House chair of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, is one of the architects of the bill, which hikes the gas tax by 5 cents, raises fees on ride-hailing apps, increases the […]