Battle begins over home rule petition to waive special election for Tania Fernandes Anderson’s Dist. 7 seat
“Our priority must be what’s in the best interests of District 7 residents,” said Councilor Ed Flynn, who represents District 2, which includes South Boston, Chinatown and parts of the South End, in a statement. “We can’t disenfranchise communities of color by delaying an election to determine their next city councilor.

Museum of African American History loses $500,000 in funding after executive order
Museums, libraries and other cultural institutions across the country, including here in Boston, are feeling the ripple effects of these cuts.

Mayor Wu and city’s Office of Black Male Advancement announce Community Empowerment Grant recipients
“We have a moral responsibility, not just as an organization, but as a community, to make sure that the next millionaires, billionaires, the next change makers, the next leaders, come from this community,” said Harry Harding, vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships at Children’s Services of Roxbury, one of the awardees.

Remembering Pope Francis
Pope Francis meets Fr. Celestin Ikomba, Apostleship of the Sea regional coordinator for West Africa. The Pope, who led the Catholic church since 2015, passed away on Easter Monday at the age of 88. He achieved many firsts by becoming pope.

Legal showdown on race in America imminent
Last week, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense Fund sued the United States Department of Education. The plaintiffs’ litigation legacy needs no introduction.

Programs aim to connect high schoolers to clean energy careers
“We believe deeply in the potential of young people to lead the charge in solving our climate crisis,” said Emily Reichert, CEO of the MassCEC, at a launch event in Newton that featured a speaking panel with employers in the industry and hands-on activities for a cohort of high school students who attended.

The Building Blocks of Success: Griffin Electric Hosts 2025 Apprentice Competition
At a time when attracting and training new talent to the skilled trades may be more important than ever for the construction industry to meet future demands, Wayne J. Griffin Electric, Inc. (Griffin Electric) has continued to heavily invest in apprenticeship.

Skip the special election for City Council seat
The decision of City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson to plead guilty to federal corruption charges and resign at some point has set off a debate over whether the city should hold a special election to fill the District 7 seat representing Roxbury and parts Dorchester, the Fenway and the South End.

A call to support Boston Black history museum
Boston is fortunate to have both a Black history museum, the Museum of African American History on Beacon Hill, and a Black art museum, the Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists in Boston. Few, if any other cities have both kinds of cultural assets.

“No matter what we do they just keep trying to erase our history”
“No matter what we do they just keep trying to erase our history”.

IN THE NEWS
Edward J. Lewis III has been appointed as senior vice president of institutional advancement at Berklee College of Music. He will begin on May 15 and will lead the college’s fundraising efforts as well as alumni relations, philanthropic initiative, and bolster Berklee’s mission to empower creative leaders through music and the performing arts.

Let’s talk about the manufactured crisis of ‘reverse discrimination’
These days, it is becoming harder and harder to keep up with the rampant disinformation that the radical right is pushing. On day one, the new administration took a sledgehammer to long-established diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

AI stole my words — then accused me of plagiarism
When I began researching the downside of AI, I decided to run a few chapters from my book “Miss Pearly’s Girls” through one of those popular AI detectors—you know, the kind that schools, editors and employers are using to “verify” whether work is human or machine-made.

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, remembered
Francis had been hospitalized since Feb. 14 at Gemelli Hospital in Rome with a respiratory illness that progressed into double pneumonia. It marked the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.

Benjamin Healthcare Center receivership responds to allegations of mismanagement
In a hearing that lasted for a little more than an hour, attorneys representing the receivership at the Mission Hill nursing home and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office had the chance to call witnesses in an attempt to clarify the facts around allegations raised in a series of three documents handed to the court in the last month.

Illustrator Robert B. Stull has died at 58
Stull had over 20 years in the animation and illustration business. He worked for all of the major publishers in the industry, including Marvel Entertainment Group, DC Comics and Warner Brothers.

Mass protests in Black and white — Are we showing up?
From the podium at Philadelphia’s Independence Mall, Kadida Kenner, executive director of the New Pennsylvania Project, scanned the vast human landscape at the April 5 “Hands Off!” protest. Among the estimated 30,000 assembled, she made a stark observation: Black protesters were missing.

Marathon through the lens of Teens in Print
Teens in Print (TiP) is a writing program created to amplify the marginalized voices of eighth to twelfth grade Boston students.

Celtics take first step in march for NBA title No. 19
The Celtics began their march to NBA title No. 19 with a convincing 103-86 win over the Orlando Magic in game one of their bestof-seven first-round playoff series. The Magic are the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, following their 120-95 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in portion of the NBA playoffs.

The Black Unicorns honor marathon history
The huge narratives will talk about the ultimate victors of the 26.2-mile adventure through the streets of Massachusetts. Wheelchair champions Marcel Hug of Switzerland finished first in a time of one hour, 21 minutes and 34 seconds for his eighth marathon, and American female Savannah Scaroni won her second in one hour, 35 minutes and 20 seconds.

City reaches out to entrepreneurs of color to apply for liquor licenses
An on-premise liquor license is where you buy a drink, and you drink it in the same place where you bought it, which could be in a restaurant, a club, or a hotel, said Green. An off-premise liquor license is anywhere where you buy a beverage to drink somewhere else, which could be at a liquor store, a package store or a convenience store.

Theophilus: Style, a Roxbury dream, years in the making
Theophilus Apparel & Home Furnishings, an African American-owned Roxbury-based retail shop dedicated to affordable, upcycled goods and timeless style, will host its Grand Reveal Weekend from Friday, April 25 to Sunday, April 27, marking the culmination of a lifelong dream more than eight years in the making.

Hardball student loan collections will hit Black borrowers most
That’s when the Department of Education will start collection proceedings on the more than five million people who’ve defaulted on their federal student loans.

EBT will be down for 12 hours this weekend
During this time, Massachusetts EBT cardholders will not be able to use their EBT cards for food and cash purchases or cash withdrawals.

Patriots’ Day
Boston’s annual Patriots’ Day Parade and Exercises were held at Boston City Hall.

Good Friday Seven Last Words Service
The Black Ministers Alliance held its annual Good Friday Seven Last Words Service at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Roxbury during Holy Week..

Fontbonne Social Justice Fair
Fontbonne seniors Kendell Josephs (left) and Lovensly Victorin share the stage for the school’s Social Justice Fair as they presented their projects. Josephs focused on the issue of poverty in Central America and around the world, while Victorin chose the topic of gentrification and how it impacts Black and brown neighborhoods.

MLK Community Appreciation Awards Banquet
The Caribbean Foundation of Boston honored the Bay State Banner with a Beacon of Media Excellence Award at its awards banquet. Banner co-owner Andre Stark (left) was on hand to accept the award..

Boston 250 Launch
Old North Illuminated and the City of Boston hosted a special costumed reading of the hit play “Revolution’s Edge,” the launch of Boston 250, a lantern lighting reenactment and a Boston 250 Drone Show over the harbor following Paul Revere’s symbolic journey.

26.True Marathon
Runners took to the streets of Boston on Saturday morning to run the 26.True Marathon hosted by the Pioneers Run Crew. The 13.1 mile loop course ran through parts of Mattapan, Roxbury, Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain.

Allston/Brighton Annual Easter Egg Hunt
The Allston/Brighton Community held its annual Easter Egg Hunt on the Brighton Commons last weekend. Little ones scrambled to fill their baskets with hundreds of plastic eggs..

Color Theory
The exhibition features more than 100 works spanning five decades, beginning with his early, more representational sketches and paintings and moving up to recent works. A selection of his sketchbooks is also on view, offering insight into his process and politics.

Local music legend Ron Murphy still has songs to share
Having taught himself piano, Murphy eventually started his own record label (Life Records) and publishing company, Murphy & Murphy Publishing, which was formed so he could release an album to raise money for AIDS research..

Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ is a masterful and soulful dance with the devil
By 1932 in the Mississippi Delta, a distinct type of blues music was taking off, called the Delta blues. This music was soulful and raw, with intimate lyrics sung in a flood of emotions reminiscent of the real and occasional floods brought on by the natural landscape.