Healey-Driscoll Administration Promotes Efforts to Ensure Fair Housing

The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) last week hosted “Beyond Fair Housing Month: The Future of Fair Housing in Massachusetts” to close out the month with a proclamation from Governor Maura Healey declaring April as “Fair Housing Month” and announced a series of regional listening sessions launching later this spring that will be led by the state’s first-ever Office of Fair Housing.

DOGE Is Using AI To Centralize Government Power. It’s Time to Flip the Script.

The term civic tech encapsulates the work of a broad swath of activists and public leaders with an ambitious goal: using digital technology to dramatically improve people’s lives. In practice, this means using computation to slice through so-called red tape, boost government efficiency, expand access to critical services and information, and enable participation in our democracy.

Proposed SNAP Cuts: The Health and Economic Impact on Families With Young Children

Using data from 2007–2015, we studied how reductions or terminations in SNAP benefits — triggered by modest income increases — affected families with children under the age of 4. We focused on economic hardships (such as food and energy insecurity, unstable housing, and forgone health or dental care), as well as caregiver and child health.

Red line shutdown causes disruption to student commutes, MBTA looks for new solutions

Despite last year’s Red Line shutdown, MBTA announced that it will be temporarily closing the line again to perform “critical track renewal work” and necessary repairs throughout April, according to its website.
An entrance to the Harvard Red Line station. The Red Line will be closed for track maintenance and replaced with shuttle bus and train services during April. MBTA ran its usual shuttle bus from April 1 to April 9, and later switched to a shuttle train which will run until April 30. Deirdre Habershaw, Chief of Staff to the Chief Operating Officer at MBTA, said these closures reduce the cost for the MBTA since shuttle buses are “extremely expensive to run,” especially during the week.

Trump has vowed to bring down housing costs. What is his administration doing?

Though the Trump administration has stressed homeownership as “a ticket to the American dream” as it attempts to herald in “the golden age of America,” housing has appeared to take somewhat of a backseat to the issues of foreign policy and the border in the opening months of the president’s second term. And some of his moves on those fronts — like levying tariffs and upping deportations — risk contributing to higher costs and hurdles to homeownership for everyday Americans.

Community benefit or conflict? A neighborhood fund and a Boston city councilor’s role in it.

The proposal called for converting the historic but derelict Alexandra Hotel in the South End into a 70-unit condominium tower. To build good will in the neighborhood, the developers committed to making a six-figure “community benefits” donation. The recipient? An obscure nonprofit, District 7 Community Fund Inc., the only known type of community benefits fund in Boston set up to benefit a single city council district.

Harris County’s routinely long Commissioners Court agendas are often short on details

A Houston Landing review of the cities and counties in the Houston region, found Harris County is among the worst when it comes to posting details of the hundreds of agenda items, including million-dollar contracts, audits and infrastructure projects that make up the county’s $2.6 billion budget. Of the 49 jurisdictions reviewed, 36 post supplemental or background information for agenda items. Ten governments post only their agendas. Three — including Harris County — post incomplete information.

Global Warming Can Lead to Inflammation in Human Airways, New Research Shows

In a recent, cross-institutional study partially funded by the National Institutes of Health, researchers report that healthy human airways are at higher risk for dehydration and inflammation when exposed to dry air, an occurrence expected to increase due to global warming. Inflammation in human airways is associated with such conditions as asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic cough.