On March 15, Lazer Robotics, an eight‑member high school robotics team from Newton, captured the 2026 Massachusetts FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship. The team went undefeated throughout the playoffs, setting records at both the Massachusetts State and New England levels, in partnership with its alliance partner, Ghost Robotics from Westford, MA. With this victory, Lazer Robotics…
Posts published in “News”
In the 1970s, strife over the Newton Public School budget intensified as the 1970 recession deepened, enrollment continued to decline, teachers gained collective bargaining rights, and the State changed educational mandates and funding. The battle moved from City-versus-School Committee to school-versus-school. “Education as a right to be claimed, not a…
On February 12, the Newton Public Schools (NPS) Offices of Family Engagement, Teaching and Learning, and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support teamed up to present information on the current ecosystem of assessments being used in the schools and how parents can interpret the assessment reports they receive about their students. After…
The day after an important budget meeting, Newton Public Schools (NPS) offered a detailed presentation about what is at stake for the curriculum if the schools budget cannot be augmented or significantly reworked. The meeting was initiated by members of the School Committee who had requested a Brown Bag Lunch…
Martina Jackson is one of two plaintiffs (with Ann Roosevelt of Cambridge) filing a lawsuit with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to have a proposed ballot question declared invalid. As reported by the Commonwealth Beacon, the ballot question seeks to replace partisan primary elections in Massachusetts with non-partisan primaries (similar…
While children happily created crafts, munched on cookies and listened to musicians at the Newton Free Library on March 8, during an event marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year, many families with relatives in Iran also expressed worry and hope, due to the outbreak of war. The conflict began after…
This year, the City’s Arts & Culture Department will again launch Newton’s well-regarded Artful Pianos program with five or seven decorated pianos. Why five or seven? So far this year, all but two of the pianos have teams of volunteer Piano Pals ready to care for their pianos, rain or…
Helen Garity, a Newtonville resident with years of experience in the corporate world, has taken on the role of Executive Director at the nonprofit Hyde Community Center in Newton Highlands. Garity says she hopes to build on the Hyde’s strong foundation rather than to reinvent it. She succeeds John Rice,…
On March 4, during his swearing-in ceremony at City Hall, Newton’s new Police Chief Timothy V. Cohoon observed with a wry tone that “after 30 years in this profession, I’m the new guy again.” Before the event began, his daughter Isabella (Bella) said, “I’m very proud of my dad and…
On March 2, the Newton City Council approved rezoning 148 California Street from Manufacturing to Business Use 2, a change that supporters said would ease leasing for businesses, while opponents warned it could undermine planning for the California Street corridor. The parcel contains about half of a shopping center that straddles…