Activists call on U.S. govt. to cancel Puerto Rico debt
More than 100 people on Sunday marched from the South End’s Villa Victoria down Dartmouth Street and to Copley Square to support the end of what the radical Boston-based group Raíces Borikén Collective calls the “colonization” of Puerto Rico..

Media, mayor put focus on race in Hub
The opening of the Dec. 15 event underscored the difficulties and contradictions in Boston’s attempts to grapple with the divisive issue.

Groups say no equity in start times
But civil rights activists are not having it. In a letter sent to the news media last week, NAACP Boston Branch President Tanisha Sullivan and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Education Project Director Matt Cregor argue that the BPS plan, which would roll back start times for many elementary schools to 7:15 a.

Cruz Company tree lighting
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CRUZ COMPANIES Members of the Roxbury community joined together to celebrate Cruz Companies’ 32nd Annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Cox Building this week (l-r) Dan Cruz, Jr. Sr. VP, Cruz Companies; Candice Sealy, district rep.

Kitchen workers accuse supervisors of misconduct
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that there was reasonable cause to believe that McCormick & Schmick’s discriminated against the women on the basis of their sex and the complaint was filed in Suffolk Superior Court by Boston law firm Fair Work P.

We can win together
Citizens in a democracy are expected to vote for politicians who support proposals that are beneficial to most of the electorate. Recent elections in Virginia and Alabama raise serious doubts about public acceptance of Republican policies.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The clock is ticking on an upcoming date of huge significance for the future of our country…February 1, 2018, the deadline on submission of signatures for a proposed Florida state constitutional amendment to appear on the November, 2018 ballot. The amendment would restore.

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IN THE NEWS
“I am especially grateful that a majority of those who make up the Ebony Power 100 List are proud products of our public school system,” Jackson said.

ROVING CAMERA
There are definitely challenges here. When you look at other cities throughout the country, there are more opportunities for blacks elsewhere. It’s definitely a lot of old networks here that are entrenched in history..

BPS start time process showed little respect for parents, students
As parents, students and teachers confront the very real possibility that their elementary schools may change start times next fall by as much as two hours, forcing many more children as young as 4 years old to start school as early as 7:15 a.m., BPS has tried to justify the changes using equity and costs savings as excuses.

State-funded program helps families in housing crises
In 2017, 1,474 Greater Boston families were diverted from entering homeless shelters by receiving cash assistance from the homelessness prevention program Residential Assistance for Families in Transition through Metro Housing|Boston, saving the state $31 million in emergency assistance.

The Partnership at 30
The Partnership’s 30th Annual Meeting that took place last week. Presenting Eastern Bank Chairman and CEO Bob Rivers (center) with an award are Partnership founder Bennie Wiley and Northeastern University Senior Vice Counsel Ralph Martin..

Dudley restaurant revival
The biggest light in the square, the large restaurant space at the intersection of Washington and Warren streets, may soon be the brightest light in the square.

BIZ BITS
Home is your sanctuary, your castle, the place where you feel the most secure and protected. It is natural to feel this way. So, it is not surprising that you store your prized possessions and valuables at home as well. But is that the best choice for all your valuables?.

Create a personal brand
with various animal rescue organizations in your area, a cause that the employer may also feel strongly about. Or, maybe it wasn’t relevant to mention that coding bootcamp you participated in on your resume, but you still showcase it on your personal website.

‘THE URBAN NUTCRACKER’
The lights rise on dancer and poet Ramiro Vaughan, wearing red sneakers and matching hat. With a mix of spoken word and street style dance, he leads the audience through the streets of Boston’s Downtown Crossing, where he meets a doo-wop group and woos a girl.

Gospel choir thrills with Christmas concert
Demonstrating the individual and collective power of gospel musicians to elevate the spirit and thrill the senses, the choir delivered a goosebump-inducing program of 12 songs. Their program showed also the variety within this ever-new tradition and its symbiosis with other African-American veins of music, including jazz, R&B and soul.

The Castle of our Skins
In 2003, musicians Ashleigh Gordon and Anthony Green launched Castle of our Skins, a concert and education series dedicated to celebrating black artistry through classical music. Now, the organization collaborates with the Boston Public Library, the Gardner Museum and the Outside the Box Festival to present its performances and educational offerings.

Holocaust survivors return to Hungarian hometown in ‘1945’
It is August 12, 1945. Japan is reeling and on the verge of surrender in the wake of atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With Germany having surrendered to the Allies back in the spring, Europe is already in postwar mode, though not exactly at peace, as we are about to learn.

Bones about it
To properly appreciate bone soup is to potentially upend how you view meat itself. While most meat eaters focus on the muscle flesh, a brotharian values the bones even more. Muscle meat has protein, but so does a bowl of rice and beans. Bones contain different things, a diverse cocktail of nutrients that become available in stages, as the bones cook.

FOOD
Take one whole chicken, insides removed and patted dry with paper towels, and rub with your favorite seasoning. Place four foil balls at the bottom of the crock pot to serve as a chicken stand. (You may also use root vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots and turnips, cut into two-inch chunks.

Making soup from scratch
n In order to get rid of some fat (and perhaps save it for other uses), the first step is to roast the bone or bird in the oven. This not only melts a lot of fat into the pan, but adds browned favor to the bones or bird.

Boston Book Festival’s ‘Shelf Help’ Initiative
PHOTO: GAELEN MORSE Students (grades 3 and 5), teachers and administrators from Jamaica Plain’s Curley K-8 School receive books and funds from The Boston Book Festival’s “Shelf Help” efforts.