Massachusetts was named one of four states for being on track with containing COVID-19 alongside New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. According to COVIDActNow, the Commonwealth has been effective in widespread testing and contact tracing. The state has also experienced a decrease in active cases with an infection rate of about 0.75 and a low Read More…
City Councilors Liz Breadon (District 9), Michelle Wu (At-Large), and Andrea Campbell (District 4) are urging the City to consider ways to support the childcare industry during and after COVID-19 to ensure affordable access to care remains available when workers begin to reenter the workforce as the state reopens. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to Read More…
City Councilors Lydia Edwards (District 1), Michelle Wu (At-Large), and Julia Mejia (At-Large) proposed a system that would direct non-violent emergency 911 calls away from law enforcement and toward a public safety response team. This proposal comes in the midst of racial injustice protests that continue across the Commonwealth following the death of George Floyd Read More…
Following an emergency hearing with the Boston Licensing Board, North End restaurants will now be subjected to random inspections after the board received dozens of complaints about the recent “Cafe Zones” throughout the neighborhood. The hearing was mandatory for all North End restaurants to address concerns regarding adherence to the board’s regulations and public safety Read More…
Governor Charlie Baker announced that restaurants can begin opening their indoor dining rooms on Monday, June 22nd as Massachusetts enters Step 2 in Phase II of the state’s reopening plan. Offices can also increase their capacity to 50% and retail dressing rooms can be visited by appointment. Close-contact personal services such as nail salons and Read More…
UPDATE: Since the writing of this article and following the City Council meeting, the Four Seasons has reversed their decision and agreed to pay the 192 laid-off workers their full severance packages. In response to the controversial layoffs of nearly half of its staff by the Four Seasons on Boylston Street, City Councilors Ed Flynn Read More…
During the weekly City Council meeting on June 17, City Councilor Andrea Campbell (District 4) offered a resolution to support the Bipartisan House Bill H.2146 that would require a special commission on establishing a Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) system. Under this system, municipal police officers would require certification. This would ensure that municipalities Read More…
For the second week in a row, the downtown neighborhood residents reported only a handful of coronavirus weekly cases. There were four new cases this week (versus five last week) reported in the Downtown, North End, Beacon Hill, and Back Bay neighborhoods, according to the Boston Public Health Commission’s weekly report through June 11th. The Read More…
As protests continue in an effort to address racial injustice and police brutality across the country, the Boston City Council has turned their attention toward police reform. The City Council is in the process of finalizing their FY21 budget and recently held a public hearing around their police budget. Advocates have urged the Boston City Read More…
Boston City Council hosted a hearing this week to discuss a proposed ordinance that would ban the use of facial recognition technology. Councilors Michelle Wu (At-Large) and Ricardo Arroyo (District 5) introduced their proposal for banning facial recognition technology over concerns about its inherent racial biases and the dangers of allowing unregulated use of such Read More…
There were five new coronavirus cases reported this week in the Downtown, North End, Beacon Hill, and Back Bay neighborhoods reported by the Boston Public Health Commission’s weekly report through June 4th. That represents about a 75% decrease in new cases from the prior week where there were twenty new cases. The total number of Read More…
There were 375 new COVID-19 cases citywide reported on the COVID-19 case tracking dashboard through May 29th, a 52% decrease in new cases from last week when Boston had 779 new cases. Boston’s Emergency Departments (ED) reported that 3.5% of all ED visits were for COVID-19-like illness (CLI). This is down from 4.5% the prior Read More…