Legislators probe health disparities
Legislation passed at the State House last week will create a commission to investigate racial disparities related to maternal health. The bill, created by Rep. Liz Miranda, Rep. Kay Khan and Sen. Rebecca Rausch, is meant to address the crisis of Black women dying in pregnancy and childbirth at higher rates than white women.

Walsh heads to Washington, politicians mull mayoral bids
Boston has also seen tremendous political change, with the City Council shifting from a white-male-dominated body to a majority-women, majority-people-of-color body in 2019. In the past year, Walsh reversed two longstanding positions held by Boston mayors, agreeing to create.

American violence on display in Capitol
Magical thinking and its handmaiden of violence were the forces driving those who refused to accept President Trump’s election loss, instead ascribing his defeat to Deep State conspiracies and global forces of evil aligned against white Christian culture.

BPS, teachers agree on pact to reopen schools
As of Jan. 11, there were 7,365 active COVID-19 cases in the city of Boston, up by nearly 1,000 after a short dip to 6,539 cases on Jan. 5. As numbers increase and stay high, the Boston School Committee has unveiled a new plan for extending safety protocols in the school buildings that are open and reconfiguring the larger reopening plan.

America betrayed!
Those who were mere children in World War II grew up in Boston with an irrepressible spirit of patriotism. We worried about the safety of our relatives and neighbors who risked their lives for us in the war zones. Many women left their homes every day to manufacture military equipment at the Watertown arsenal.

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Bezos, a rich miser when it comes to the poor
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made headline news again with the announcement that he donated $10 billion, the biggest private donation in 2020, to a slew of organizations fighting climate change.

IN THE NEWS
The Board of Directors of The Dimock Center has selected Charles Anderson, MD, MPH, MBA of Newton, MA as the new president and CEO of the 159-year-old organization.

America is choking
It is time for our white friends to stop standing on the sidelines with sad faces as their loved ones and neighbors cheer Trump’s hateful and racist rhetoric. It is time for them to confront these bigoted people and demand that they be better citizens.

Will there be a special election this year?
Now that Mayor Martin Walsh has been tapped to join the Biden administration, political insiders are gathering a growing list of candidates who have declared their interest in running for Boston mayor and an even larger list of those quietly considering a run or being pressured by supporters to run.

Black woman breaks barrier as first MLB coach
“Unfortunately, it is a little bit harder for women, because even though it’s changing in the game, there is still this idea that you need some kind of playing experience,” Smith said during an introductory call with press.

Legislature passes Boston housing bills
Part of activists’ push for fairer housing, the HOMES Act, along with updates to Boston’s zoning code and new tenant protections, were all sent to the governor’s desk last week. The bills move affordable housing forward and signal the state’s urgency around protecting tenants during the pandemic.

Lender faces opposition in bid to go national
The months-long probe showed the loan company had sued thousands of lower-income Latinos in Texas during the coronavirus pandemic while depicting itself as a benefactor of that community.

Natick official draws fire after attending DC riot
Jackson, 45, a writer and political podcast producer, was not surprised at the prospect of Trump supporters lashing out over election results. The president had after all, he thought, failed to condemn white supremacist violence throughout his term and recently stoked anger with unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

At Roxbury Community College, Your Future Is Our Focus
Spring 2021 classes at RCC begin on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, and late-start, Spring Access classes start the week of February 1, 2021. While most classes are being offered through online or virtual instruction, we are offering a few hybrid and in-person classes.

Bostonians reflect on King’s unfinished agenda
In early 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led his first Northern protest on the streets of Boston. As he marched with other peaceful demonstrators from Roxbury to Boston Common, King saw a city rife with segregation and politically dominated by whites.

Leader’s life reflects story of a movement
His father, Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., was a sharecropper’s son who worked his way through Morehouse College. King Sr. became pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia in 1931, where his father-inlaw, Rev. A.D. Williams had served as the pastor before him.

GET ON YOUR FEET!
VLA Dance, a Black-owned contemporary dance company affiliated with Hibernian Hall and Boston Center for the Arts, has launched a new series of online dance classes every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday through March 2021.

A life in translation
Teatro Chelsea, Boston’s newest bilingual theater company, debuts the North American premiere of “Sonia se fue,” Jan. 14-17. In this Spanish translation of “Sonia Flew” by local playwright Melinda Lopez, Sonia is reminded painfully of her childhood in Cuba when her son decides to enlist in the army in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

‘One Night in Miami…’ is a love letter to Black men
Written by Kemp Powers (who also co-wrote and co-directed Pixar’s animated feature “Soul”) and based on his award-winning play of the same name, “One Night In Miami…” is a fictional imagining of a conversation between four friends: 22-year-old...