News
A payroll tax for transportation purposes?
By
A coalition of unions and social justice activists is pushing for a transit-orientated payroll tax as one of a number of solutions that could put a dent in the state’s transportation financing problems. Beacon Hill lawmakers and the Patrick administration are expected to tackle the financing issues next year.
The coalition, which includes the Greater Boston Labor Council, the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, and several transit unions, released a 30-page report on Tuesday that outlines the tax proposal and other ways the state can relieve the MBTA’s heavy debt burden. Read more
Reporter’s Notebook: Menino makes a move; physician upbeat on 2013
By
And on the thirty-first day, he was still resting.
Mayor Thomas Menino did experience a change of scenery, however, as he was transferred this week to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital after spending more than a month at Brigham and Women’s. Read more
Healthy eating for holidays focus of Mattapan event
Nov. 29, 2012
On Nov. 17 Harbor Health Services (HHSI), Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP), the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) joined forces to host Living Well with Diabetes: A Healthy Thanksgiving Event. The agenda was packed with Zumba classes, a cooking demonstration, health screenings and informational sessions such as “Living with an Adult with Diabetes” and “Culturally-Based Myths and Misperceptions about BMIs.” The event took place at HHSI’s administrative offices on Morton St. in Mattapan. Read more
Pop Warner Eagles return to Super Bowl: Team of 12-13 year olds bound for Florida
Nov. 29, 2012
Pop Warner regional champs heading to Super Bowl: Photo courtesy Toni Johnson
One of Dorchester’s Pop Warner football teams has won the New England regional title and the right to compete for a national championship once again.
The Eagles’ junior midget B squad defeated a team from New Britain, CT on Nov. 24 by a score of 14-0. The regional championship victory earned the Eagles a chance to return to the Pop Warner “Super Bowl” tournament in Orlando, Florida next weekend. Read more
Dr. Seuss and friends will cavort at Wang Theatre through Dec. 9
By
All good things come to Whos who wait! Finally Dr. Seuss’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical” about the Whoville Xmas that almost didn’t happen returns to the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre for 28 performances through Sun., Dec. 9. Read more
Targeting obesity with discounts for Weight Watchers
Nov. 29, 2012
Boston comedian Lenny Clarke, a spokesman for Weight Watchers, discussed his own weight loss during a press conference at Dorchester House Mutli-Service Center on Tuesday. Photo courtesy Don Harney/Mayor’s Office
Boston Moves for Health has joined with Weight Watchers to offer discounted weight loss and weight management services for up to 1,000 qualifying participants through the Dorchester House, beginning in January.
Dorchester was chosen to participate in the program because it has one of the highest rates of obesity in Boston at 27 percent. The city of Boston as a whole has a 22 percent obesity rate.
Mattapan Community Health Center and East Boston Neighborhood Health Center will also be participating in the program. The obesity rates for Mattapan and East Boston are 37 percent and 28 percent respectively. Read more
Student assignment task force meets at City Hall on Nov. 29
Nov. 28, 2012
The team tasked with overhauling the city’s student assignment system meets at City Hall on Nov. 29. The 27-member group, known as the External Advisory Committee and appointed by Mayor Thomas Menino, will meet at 6 p.m. on the ninth floor. Read more
UMass says student victim of attempted sexual assault near JFK/UMass T stop
By
Police at the University of Massachusetts report a woman was attacked around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday on Sidney Street.
"The unknown suspect has been described as a white male, approximately 28-30 years old, heavy build with a scruffy brown beard, and wearing light blue jeans, sneakers, and a navy blue hoodie," police say.
Police urged student to never talk to strangers and to walk in well lighted areas.
Police: Sex assault reported near JFK-UMass T stop
Nov. 28, 2012
A UMass Boston student was sexually assaulted near the Sydney Street entrance to the JFK-UMass MBTA station on Tuesday afternoon, according to a notice issued by the UMass Boston Police Department. The alleged attack took place around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Read more
As wait for casinos continues, Lottery plans to launch Keno-like poker game
Nov. 28, 2012
The Massachusetts Lottery will roll out a new monitor-based poker game early next year, replacing an existing racing game that proved to be a flop. Read more
Manufacturers facing dearth of younger skilled workers in next decade
Nov. 28, 2012
Manufacturing in Massachusetts faces a threat to its survival as older manufacturing workers retire without younger workers in line to replace them, according to a recent study. Read more
Paul Johnston: More Than Just the Facts
Nov. 27, 2012
This article originally appeared in the Dec. 18, 2003 edition of the Reporter.
It was a 209A that hung up Paul Johnston. He left a room full of people in the back of the police station on Gibson Street. He had started as a cop at $22 a week under Boston Police Commissioner Edmund McNamara, and now here he wasn't, a room full of people eyeing cake and looking up at pictures of him in younger days, smartly buttoned in his blues.
Johnston, whose column mocks criminals and poltroons weekly in the pages of this newspaper, is working on his third retirement. He tried being an auto mechanic. Read more
Drug Lab special counsel moves on to file-by-file review
Nov. 27, 2012
Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday authorized a file-by-file review of cases processed by the Hinton state drug laboratory over the past nine years to make sure no individuals have been overlooked by the state’s probe of those impacted by an indicted chemist’s alleged mishandling of evidence.
“That may take some time,” said David Meier, the attorney appointed by Patrick to lead a new office tasked with linking the 60,000 samples touched by former chemist Annie Dookhan over her career with specific cases. Read more
Retired Boston Police officer, Reporter writer Paul Johnston dead at 69
By
One of the most popular and admired Reporter columnists— Boston Police Officer (Retired) Paul Johnston— died Saturday at age 69 after suffering a heart attack.
Paul Johnston wrote The Beat Goes On, a weekly column that highlighted the ups and downs of police work on Dorchester's Area C-11 police district. As a community service officer, Johnston was a regular presence at neighborhood civic meetings for more than a decade before his retirement in 2004.
Read this 2003 profile of Officer Johnston, written by the Reporter's then-news editor Jim O'Sullivan. Read more
Mayor's doc: 'He will rebound from this'
Nov. 26, 2012
Mayor Thomas M. Menino: Transferred to rehab hospitalNewly diagnosed with diabetes, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has been transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital following a month-long stay at Brigham and Women's Hospital where he was treated for a variety of ailments, his doctor announced Monday.
Dr. Charles Morris, who held a press conference at Brigham and Women’s, also said Menino has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Following a trip to Italy, Menino was initially hospitalized Oct. 26 with a viral infection. Doctors then discovered a blood clot in his lung. Read more
Police say Revere man picked the wrong apartment to try to rob
By
The Boston Police Department reports a 3 Harvest Terrace resident got the better of a home-invasion suspect, who fled without his jacket after failing to fight his way inside early Friday. Read more
Bowdoin-Geneva Main Streets leader fired by board
Nov. 23, 2012
The Bowdoin-Geneva Main Streets organization is "in transition" following the abrupt departure of its executive director, Sandra Kennedy, who was terminated "for cause" by the group's board of directors last month. Weeks after Kennedy's dismissal, a representative of the Main Streets' board filed a police report alleging that a former employee had misappropriated funds from the group.
Kennedy, who had led the organization for six years, was fired on Oct. 17, according to the Department of Neighborhood Development, which works with the Main Streets groups. Read more
Half-price tickets now available for holiday shows across the city
By
A scene from Black Nativity at Northeastern, one of dozens of holiday-themed shows that are included in Mayor’s Holiday Special, a discounted ticket program.
This December the Strand Theatre will be hosting two different companies performing the Nutcracker ballet as well as Hallelujah! Gospel Holiday Explosion. Bargain admission to these Nutcracker shows through mayorsholidayspecial.com represent a fraction of the more than 13,000 half-price tickets smart shoppers can snag to more than 70 of the region’s most beloved holiday performances. Read more
Next MBTA general manager gets closer look at system
By
The incoming general manager of the MBTA said she plans to hit every part of the state, including Dorchester and Mattapan.
“I intend to be on the ground,” said Beverly Scott, who has helmed the Atlanta transit system.
Scott met with reporters on Monday at South Station, after riding the commuter rail and the Orange Line. Scott is scheduled to begin her duties on Dec. 17.
Asked what needs the most improvement, Scott pointed to the transit agency’s finances. For fiscal year 2014, the MBTA is projected to have a $130 million deficit in its operations budget. Read more
Davey and MassDOT officials hear residents’ thoughts in Mattapan huddle
Nov. 21, 2012
Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, far left, was among the state officials on hand for a MassDOT “Your Vision, Our Future” meeting at the Mattapan BPL branch last Thursday evening. Photo by Tayla Holman
The state’s top transportation official visited the Mattapan public library branch on Blue Hill Avenue last Thursday for a “listening session” aimed at mapping out future infrastructure in the neighborhood— and to hear complaints about existing problems. Transportation Secretary Richard Davey was on hand along with several other MassDOT officials as part of the agency’s “Your Vision, Our Future” series.
Frank DePaola, administrator of MassDOT’s highway division, said the purpose of the meeting was to see “just what it is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts wants to see in the future investment in transportation and transportation infrastructure.”
DePaola stressed the fact that the meeting was a public hearing and not a Q&A and that the officials would only be making note of the suggestions. Read more
Reporter's Notebook | Murray rings the bell: Campaign 2014 is on
By
If the 2014 election cycle needed an official start time and date, it got one last week: At 8:32 a.m. on Thurs., Nov. 15, a week and a day after Bay Staters had gone to the polls to pick a president and a US senator, Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray stood in front of the podium at the Intercontinental Hotel and showed a little leg: “Like many of you in the room, and many people across the Commonwealth, I would like to be governor,” Murray told attendees of a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast. “I think it’s okay to say that out loud.” Read more
‘Oh, The Hunger That Many Suffered’
Nov. 21, 2012
On Thursday, November 22, 2012, the aroma of roast turkey and all the trimmings will drift from Dorchester’s kitchens, families gathering around dining room tables piled with all the fixings of the holiday. Three hundred and eighty-two years ago, however, Dorchester’s first English settlers sat at rude wooden tables not to feast, but to stay barely alive. Read more
150 years of sanctuary: Pilgrim Church serves the poor and hungry
Nov. 21, 2012
PILGRIM CHURCH: Rev. John Odams is shown on the steps of Columbia Road’s Pilgrim Church, which serves as both a homeless shelter and food pantry as well as a place of worship. Photo by Tayla Holman
On Nov. 2, 1862 —well into the second year of the Civil War— 16 people met at the Dorchester home of Rev. Edmund Squire to unite themselves into what they called an “unsectarian Church of Jesus Christ.”
A century-and-a-half later, what is now known as Pilgrim Trinitarian Congregational, is celebrating 150 years of serving the Dorchester community. On Saturday evening (Nov. 24) the church will mark the milestone with a celebratory dinner at Florian Hall. Funds raised at the 6 p.m. event will help fund the church’s continuing work in the neighborhood, including a homeless shelter and food kitchen. Read more
Weighing pros and cons of school choice: Parents offer views at Neponset meeting
By
More than 100 Boston school parents turned out at the Leahy-Holloran Community Center on Monday night to hear school officials and City Councillor At-Large John Connolly offer updates on the push to overhaul the city’s school assignment system. Read more
Winter soccer clinic for kids at Mildred Ave. center
Nov. 20, 2012
The BCYF Mildred Ave. Community Center and Valeo Futbol Academy are starting a winter soccer clinic for young players looking to improve their skills. The clinic will run from Nov. 26 to March 14 at the BCYF Mildred Ave. Community Center, 5 Mildred Ave., Mattapan. Classes will be held Mondays and Thursdays from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Read more
