Electeds struggle with police funding
Yet in the same legislation, Baker slipped in a measure that would pay officers $5,000 for trainings. This measure comes at a time when activists in Massachusetts and across the country are calling for police departments to be defunded and resources diverted to social services.

COVID, police reforms top Pressley’s agenda
In Washington, Ayanna Pressley has filed legislation at a rapid clip during the COVID pandemic and the anti-police-violence protests — bills covering everything from data collection to the qualified immunity standard that has compelled courts to let officers charged with murder beat their cases.

Walsh resists calls to defund police
The activists held a town hall meeting Friday during which Boston city councilors stated their position on the demands. Walsh was invited, but he sent Chief of Economic Development Chief John Barros in his stead. Eight out of 13 councilors attended and answered “yes” or “no” to FTP’s demands.

Domestic workers now facing homelessness
While dealing with “three converging storms,” the pandemic, economic depression and systemic racism, 59% of domestic workers in Massachusetts lost their jobs, according to the report, which was released last week. In addition, 49% of respondents dealt with relatives who had COVID-19 symptoms or had the symptoms themselves.

.

Juneteenth
Mayor Martin Walsh participates in the Juneteenth flag raising at Boston City Hall..

America’s ugly history
America has experienced a profoundly ignominious moment. On May 31, 1921, whites in Tulsa, Oklahoma utterly destroyed the black section of the city that was known as Greenwood. This was one of the most well-developed and law abiding communities in Tulsa.

.

IN THE NEWS
Boston Public Schools and Boston Plan for Excellence have announced the appointment of Elijah Heckstall as Principal of Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School, effective July 1, 2020. Heckstall will replace outgoing principal Dawn Lewis, who served the community with dedication for five years.

A healthy recovery calls for social housing
As the graph of new COVID-19 cases in the state begins to trend downward, our public conversation now shifts to the questions of reopening and how we balance health and economic aspects of recovery. But, if it is too soon to toss away our masks and social distancing practices, it is equally unwise to return the economy to business as usual.

Racism isn’t just a public health crisis. It’s a chronic illness.
As the Executive Director of Alternatives for Community and Environment, a black-led environmental justice organization in Roxbury, I welcome Mayor Walsh’s recent declaration that racism is a public health crisis. The city of Boston can do a lot to address its history of racist policies in housing, education, environment, and more.

Police have an uncertain place among unions
“We can’t both stand with a police system that’s set up to hurt our black community and stand up for our people of color who are oppressed by police,” a representative of a member SEIU Healthcare union explained. Elsewhere, other unions have been pressuring the AFL-CIO to oust the International Union of Police Associations.

Walsh warns against second COVID surge
“Nearly 1,300 people got tested, which I was very happy to see, and the positive rate was just 1% where those tests happened,” Walsh said, who noted that most of the protestors wore face coverings. He added that the state administration is opening testing sites around the commonwealth for anyone that has gone to protests in other parts of the state.

Boston police data show disparities in stops
Attorneys with the ACLU of Massachusetts have been calling for the Boston Police Department to release data on pedestrian stops since the department last did so in 2016. Today, the data for 2019 show that little changed over three years: Black people, and specifically young black men, are most likely to be stopped.

House leaders demand details on PPP program
As the remaining days dwindle for small businesses to apply for loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), both banks and federal officials are being challenged by several House leaders to explain how the $670 billion program intended to aid the nation’s small businesses has actually been operating.

Business survival during pandemic
Egerton first opened the bookstore jointly with Robert Romanow, owner of Frugal Furniture in the Washington Park Mall. The bookstore operated within the furniture shop. In 2006, Egerton transitioned the shop to a standalone business, with his wife.

Boston’s arts community celebrates Juneteenth
On Friday, June 19, cultural organizations around Boston came together to celebrate Juneteenth with song, dance, spoken word, panel discussions and visual art. This year’s celebration reached corners of the art world all across the city, creating one of the largest collective Juneteenth celebrations ever in the Boston art community.

In conversation with Kamasi Washington
Kamasi Washington, jazz saxophone player out of Los Angeles, is, at only 39 years old, the leading musician of his generation, because his work is fearless, without boundaries and of the highest levels both artistically and politically. “The Epic” in 2015 heralded his arrival, followed by “Heaven and Earth” in 2018.