Boston Housing Crisis: New law prioritizes converting city property into affordable homes
It’s been more than a year since The Pryde opened its doors in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood. And in that time, the former school building has become more than just an affordable housing option for older LGBTQ+ adults.
Meeting the AI Moment: New America’s Civic AI Summit
Last week in Boston, New America’s RethinkAI initiative brought together leaders from local and state governments, universities, civil society, and corporations for the Civic AI Summit: a day dedicated to reimagining how artificial intelligence can serve the public good. At a moment when governments at all levels grapple with how to harness AI responsibly, the summit catalyzed shared learning and honest dialogues about the opportunities and challenges ahead.
District 7 needs a new city councilor. Who can take on its challenges?
With just days to go until the 2025 General Municipal Election, Boston’s District 7 is once again ready to pick a new City Councilor. Eleven candidates competed in September’s preliminary election to replace former Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson. Now, finalists Said Ahmed and Rev. Miniard Culpepper are looking to represent the historically Black and politically active district.
Why the path to the mayor’s office runs through southwest Minneapolis
In Minneapolis’ odd-year city elections, a small set of deeply engaged voters can play kingmaker. Turnout data from the last three mayoral races indicate that as residents of Ward 13 vote, so goes the city’s highest office.
It’s a new era for lifestyle pioneer W Hotels
It’s a maximalist and multilayered aesthetic, and a far cry from what the hotel looked like when it opened in 2000. The 256-room hotel’s transformation is the result of a $100 million, four-year renovation following Marriott International’s purchase of the property in 2019. It’s also reflective of the lifestyle brand’s efforts to re-establish its relevance as part of an ongoing, multiyear brand refresh.
City living isn’t good for a tree’s microbiome, study shows. Here’s what that means
Trees are home to all sorts of critters: birds, squirrels, frogs and more than a trillion teeny tiny microbes living in roots, bark and leaves. These fungi, bacteria and microorganisms play an important role in tree health; Beneficial microbes can help a tree take up nutrients or defend itself against disease.
But a new study in Nature Cities published Friday found that oak trees in Boston have a greater number of “bad” microbes, like pathogens and plant decomposers, than beneficial ones because of city stressors like heat and pollution. This disruption of the tree microbiome could spell trouble for the health of both trees and humans, according to the study’s authors.
Failure to Pass a UN Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases is Not an Excuse for Inaction
Near the end of the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly last week, Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and mental health took center stage in a Fourth High-Level Meeting focused on common ground and solutions. I was optimistic that there would be real momentum to act, as NCDs remain a leading cause of death and disability across the world and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to reduce premature mortality from NCDs is off track by a third.
Prison oversight office sets course as advocates hope for ‘tangible’ results
It’s been about a year since Andrea Sapone was hired as the state’s first corrections ombudsman, monitoring the Virginia Department of Corrections. The office recently issued its first strategic plan — a two-page document sketching out both short- and long-term goals for the office.
“I don’t have an impression. I haven’t seen enough,” Kenneth Hunter said about the office’s work while sitting at a conference table in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood during late September.
At Brookline event, Attorney General Campbell, organizers urge community action against immigration enforcement
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and leaders of Greater Boston organizations fighting federal immigration crackdowns are calling on Brookline for collective action and solidarity.
The cities where buying a house is most and least affordable as mortgage rates change
When mortgage rates dropped to historic lows in 2021, below 3 percent, Britt Vaughan met with a real estate agent and tried to buy a home in Altadena, California, where he and his wife have lived for more than a decade. Vaughan, who works for a Los Angeles city agency, and his wife, a marriage and family therapist, had a budget and knew what they could afford. Month after month, he scrolled through real estate sites and fell into the gloomy habit of looking up the price of every house he passed with a “for sale” sign. But with student loans, and such unexpected events as a car crash and wildfire damage eating into their savings, they never felt ready to buy. All the while, home prices and mortgage rates kept climbing.