News
City officials begin to prepare for arrival of medical-marijuana dispensaries
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City officials have started work trying to figure out where to allow the medical-marijuana dispensaries approved by voters in a referendum last month. Read more
Police charge man snuck into Frederick School with a gun
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The Boston Police Department reports a gun-toting man refused entry into the Lilla G. Frederick Middle School on Columbia Road by officers Monday afternoon snuck back in to continue an argument with somebody at basketball tryouts there.
On seeing officers again, this time outside the school gym around 3:45 p.m., the man and three accomplices tried running away, police say. Officers caught one of them, but the man and two others escaped - at least until officers on patrol on Devon Street noticed two guys matching a broadcast description from the school: Read more
Moore found guilty of all four Woolson Street murders
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A Suffolk Superior Court jury today found Dwayne Moore guilty of killing three adults and a toddler on Sept. 28, 2010. Read more
Woman held on high bail after fatal crash on Woodrow Avenue
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Champree Dinkins, 24, was ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail Thursday on charges related to an early morning crash Saturday that sent two pedestrians to the hospital - one of them dying just hours before her arraignment in Dorchester District Court. Read more
Police investigate string of weekend housebreaks
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The Boston Police Department reports it is investigating a string of housebreaks from Ashmont to the Southeast Expressway between Friday and Sunday.
In all cases, the thieves got nothing, either because they were confronted by homeowners or because they broke into empty units, police say. Read more
Dot resident Heffernan tapped for position at Boston Medical Center
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Dorchester resident Kathleen Heffernan, RN, JD, has been appointed Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) at Boston Medical Center (BMC). In this role, she will oversee all areas of the hospital to ensure compliance with all federal rules and regulations that apply to health care. She began the new job on Nov. 12.
Heffernan was most recently CCO, chief risk officer and vice president of regulatory affairs at South Shore Hospital. She has extensive experience in compliance and regulatory programs, risk management and quality assurance. Read more
Codman Academy students showcase their talents
Dec. 14, 2012
Codman Academy Charter Public School is unique because it’s open six-days-a-week. Students were initially against the idea of Saturday classes, but they soon realized that it does more good than harm. Read more
Quietly, newest T station now open for commuters
Dec. 14, 2012
The Talbot Ave. commuter rail station opened Monday, November 12 to little fanfare, as many residents appeared to be unaware that the station was completed and ready for business.
Construction on the $15.9 million station began in November 2010. It is the first of four new stations on the Fairmount Line, which will also include stations at Four Corners/Geneva, Newmarket, and Blue Hill Avenue, as part of the T’s Fairmount Improvement project. Read more
On-street work prepped Hooley for top EMS post
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Jim Hooley: Loves job, misses street calls.
Chief Jim Hooley, the man who runs the city’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) department, stumbled into his profession. Literally.
Hooley, an Uphams Corner native, was a UMass Boston senior in the spring of 1976 when he shattered his leg trying to run down a foul ball at Walsh Park in Lower Mills. Suddenly sidelined from his part-time construction job, Hooley noticed an ad in the student newspaper about an upcoming summer class to train new EMTs.
These days, Chief Hooley is at the helm of the 358-person city department that he joined when it was known as the Health and Hospitals division in June 1978.
The 58-year-old father of three has learned to love the administrative work, even though he often misses the drumbeat of response calls out on the streets of Boston. Read more
Sources: Sheriff Cabral to join Gov. Patrick's cabinet
Dec. 12, 2012
Four of Gov. Deval Patrick’s top Cabinet officials plan to resign rather than commit to serving out the remaining two years of his term in a dramatic shakeup of the governor’s leadership team at turbulent time for his administration, according to people familiar with the changes. Read more
Lance Greene hits millennial mark for Endicott
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Lance Greene: Endicott sharpshooter.
Dorchester’s Lance Greene, a senior guard and captain of the Endicott College men’s basketball team, etched his name in the school’s history books on Saturday when he scored his 1,000th career collegiate point late in the first half in a non-conference game at Clark (Mass.). Greene scored a season-high 22 points against the Cougars in a losing outing, 80-74.
Greene finished an efficient 8-of-9 from the floor and 6-of-8 at the free throw line to go along with four rebounds, three steals, and two assists. The senior’s jumper with 3:16 remaining in the first half put him over 1,000 points for his career.
He now has 1,012 points for his career and is 15 points behind Graham Whitelaw ‘10 for eighth on the all-time Endicott leader board. For his career, Greene has averaged 14.4 points per game. This season, he is scoring at career-high rate of 16.2 points per game. Read more
Analysis: Taking the measure of how school choice panel is doing
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When Mayor Thomas Menino announced the formation of the “External Advisory Committee on School Choice” last February, he made its mission clear in the press release naming its members: To “help advise” the school department in engaging the community on a major overhaul of the city’s school assignment system. Read more
Savin Hill’s Tayler takes the lead in Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’
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Savin Hill’s Phil Taylor stars in Moonbox Productions “Of Mice and Men.”
Whether singing while manipulating a lascivious Muppet or while lying on his back center stage for most of two and a half hours, the versatile Savin Hill actor Phil Tayler, currently playing the lead in Moonbox Productions’ “Of Mice and Men,” is ending this year as he started it –starring in a well-received production of a play with a strong social message.
Equally at home in musicals and straight dramas, Tayler garnered kudos in April as the doomed title character in Moonbox’s revival of Adam Guettel’s 1996 musical “Floyd Collins,” based on a true 1925 tragedy about a cave-explorer trapped underground while a media circus exploded above him. BroadwayWorld.com said, “Tayler spends long stretches immobilized on a small ledge of the rock-like tiered set, but has no problem conveying the pain and frustration that Floyd feels. He is a strong singer and expresses a range of feelings from exuberance to despair in his songs.” Read more
Reporter’s Notebook: Warren campaign aide Wu casts eyes on an at-large seat
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Michelle WuMore than a month after her former boss won a US Senate seat, a 27-year-old ex-aide to consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren is launching a campaign of her own. Michelle Wu, a South End attorney who organized outreach to communities of color for the Warren campaign, said Tuesday she is launching a run for one of the City Council’s four at-large seats.
Wu, who also had Warren as a professor in her first semester at law school, has registered a campaign committee with the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance. “I believe in the city and I’m serious about wanting to serve the city,” said Wu, who moved to Boston from Chicago to attend Harvard. She will be up against four well-funded incumbents should all of them choose to run for reelection. Read more
A neighborhood ‘Nutcracker’: Uphams Corner youngsters get into the act
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The José Mateo Ballet Theatre production of The Nutcracker opens at the Strand Theatre for a five-show run on Dec. 22. Photo by Karen Wong
Just before Christmas, hundreds of Dot residents will get to see the return of the José Mateo Ballet Theatre (JMBT) to Uphams Corner as the last stop on its 25th Anniversary Nutcracker Tour, which includes Duxbury, Cambridge, and The Strand. JMBT first performed the Tchaikovsky ballet at the Strand way back in 1988.
Company founder/ artistic director/choreographer José Mateo (who also plays the magical Dr. Drosselmeyer) conjures up a Victorian Christmas Eve party at which little Clara’s dream is realized through enchanting scenery, sumptuous costumes, and spectacular dancing. Over 200 youngsters appear as Party Children, Mice, Soldiers, Polichinelles, Cherubs, Angels. About 10 percent of them live near the Strand.
According to Julie Hayen Miller, JMBT Director of Communications, interest in the production from the Dorchester community has snowballed.
“This year we had over 70 kids at auditions at the Kroc Center in September (compared to 15 last year!),” Hayen Miller said. Read more
Teacher's aide pleads guilty to molesting special-needs students
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LaShawn Hill, a former aide at the Harbor Pilot Middle School pleaded guilty today to charges he had inappropriate sexual contact with a student there and with another boy at a school in Roxbury. Read more
Residents weigh in on residential plans for vacant Morrissey Blvd. lot
Dec. 11, 2012
Dorchester residents and elected officials sounded notes of support on Monday night for a residential project next to the JFK/UMass MBTA station. But the chair of a task force that set up guidelines for development on Columbia Point expressed dissatisfaction with the density of the five-story project. Read more
Chambers presents Columbia Point dealership plans, draws concern over master plan impact
Dec. 7, 2012
Herb Chambers: Auto magnate looks to enter hometown market. Savin Hill residents heard from one of the region’s leading auto dealers Thursday about his plan to bring a pre-owned BMW dealership to Columbia Point, an area expected to see high growth in residences and businesses. Herb Chambers Companies of Somerville plan to convert the former WLVI-TV station near the northern end of Morrissey Boulevard into a sales and service center for the high-end German automaker.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city’s planning agency, hosted the meeting at the Cristo Rey Boston High School on Savin Hill Avenue.
Chambers himself attended the meeting and answered residents concerns about the project. “I think this is great for Dorchester because there’s a lot of positive energy going into the area,” Chambers said to the crowd of about 35 people gathered in the Cristo Rey library. Read more
Drum & Drill team returns to Mildred Ave. center
Dec. 6, 2012
The Mildred Ave. Community Center is currently accepting applications for its Drum & Drill program, which is open to dancers and drummers ages 8 to 18. The registration deadline is December 31, and the program will run from January until June or early July. Read more
Walczak wing adds capacity, promise at Codman Center
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Codman's latest addition: Sandra Cotterell, CEO of the Codman Square Health Center, left and Meg Campbell, executive director of the Codman Academy Charter Public School, outside the newly-opened William J. Walczak Education and Health Center on Epping Street.
It’s a brand new four-story building with a strikingly familiar name.
The William J. Walczak Education and Health Center — named for the founder of the Codman Square Health Center— is open for business – and classes. An official grand opening is on hold pending the return to action of the only other living Bostonian who gets his name on big new buildings these days – Mayor Thomas Menino – but the building itself has been in partial use since September and is due to be fully up and running by year’s end. Read more
US to borrowers: Look at mortgage-review program
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Dorchester residents whose primary home was in a foreclosure process between 2009 and 2010 may be eligible for a free independent review.
The Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of Currency, and federal bank regulators who are overseeing the independent review are seeking to promote the program as a Dec. 31 deadline looms for potential applicants. The program is part of an order issued by financial regulators to 14 banks that requires them to improve loan modification and foreclosure services. Read more
Holiday concerts put neighborhood voices in spotlight
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From classical to Christmas to Kwanzaa, Dorchester and its neighbors are finishing up the year with a wealth of concerts.
Ashmont Hill Chamber Music Read more
City gets input on re-use of former Mattapan Library
Dec. 6, 2012
The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services and the Department of Neighborhood Development held a joint meeting Tuesday to get community input for the possible re-usesof the former Mattapan Library building at 10 Hazleton Street. The library closed in 2009, after serving the community for over 75 years, when a new branch was built at 1350 Blue Hill Avenue. Read more
Reporter's Notebook | How the fiscal cliff looks from one man’s rehab bed
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Was the 2012 election just a grinding interlude?
Mayor Tom Menino at Spaulding Rehab Hospital: Image courtesy WCVB-TVGov. Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas Menino and local politicians and policymakers turned their collective gaze this week to the so-called “fiscal cliff” negotiations in Washington as next year’s budget lurked in the background.
In D.C., familiar players dominated the headlines as President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner offered and counter-offered. Massive spending cuts and tax increases in the area of $500 billion are set to go into effect at the start of 2013 if lawmakers don’t reach an agreement this month. Read more
US banking honcho credits MAHA
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US Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, left, with former Sovereign Bank vice president Thomas Kennedy, Bonita M. Irving, district community affairs officer for the Comptroller of the Currency, and Andrew Calamare, a former state banking commissioner
Twenty-three years ago, BayBank applied to the state to expand into Allston near the Boston University campus. But the company quickly ran into a problem with regulators, who noted that the bank was not expanding into low-to-moderate income communities like Dorchester and Mattapan. As a result, BayBank’s application was denied, under the Community Reinvestment Act.
The move set a precedent and forced BayBank to open five branches and 25 ATMs in the neighborhoods, including the first one in Mattapan. It later merged with Fleet Bank, and both were eventually swallowed up by Bank of America.
“A lot of the Bank of America branches you see are part of that expansion” from 23 years ago, says Tom Callahan, who is executive director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance and has been with the homeownership education group since 1987. “Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan had been underserved and it was the first reversal of that trend.” Read more
