The Zoning and Planning (ZAP) Committee held its first meeting of 2024 on Monday, January 8 with its new chair, veteran City Councilor Lisle Baker, presiding. In a memo to the Committee, Councilor Baker proposed that the members engage “in a preliminary discussion about where the Committee might spend its…
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Soon after being sworn in by Mayor Fuller on January 4, the Newton Highlands Area Council elected officers for the new term: Jeremy Freudberg, President; Barbara Darnell, Vice-President; Groot Gregory, Treasurer; and Srdjan Nedeljkovic, Secretary. City Councilors Bixby, Farrell, Getz, Lobovits, Lucas, and Wright attended the meeting. The Area Council…
In response to rising COVID-19, RSV, and flu infection rates, local hospitals have recently brought back masking requirements. Dana Farber began requiring full masking by patients and providers on December 18. Since January 2, MassGeneral Brigham, which includes Newton-Wellesley Hospital, has been requiring providers to be masked when providing care…
Following up on our analysis of preliminary election spending, Fig City News has analyzed campaign finance data for all 14,564 donations to Newton City Council and Mayoral campaigns since 2015 to explore where the money came from and who received it. Candidates for City Council and Mayor in Massachusetts must…
Monday, January 1, 2024, was a day of beginnings in Newton. At noon on the first — bright, sunny — day of the new year, the recently elected City Council and School Committee joined the Mayor in the City Council chamber to launch the opening meeting of the 2024-2025 session…
A local nonprofit marking its fifth anniversary this year has been living up to its name since its inception. Welcome Home, located in West Newton, “strives to provide families experiencing hardship with basic household items they need to live with dignity,” according to its website. Each week, the dedicated volunteers…
[UPDATE: On December 26, the State Fire Marshal’s Office reported that the person rescued from a burning home on December 13 has succumbed to injuries received in the fire. Newton Fire Chief Gregory J. Gentile said, “On behalf of the Newton Fire Department, I want to express our heartfelt condolences…
Before 2023 is over, the City is aiming to choose the firm that will lead the effort to redesign the ubiquitous and problematic City seal, according to officials. The City Seal Working Group stated in its 2021 report that the 1865 image, which “depicts a scene of Reverend John Eliot…
Dressed as sheep, shepherds, the three magi, innkeepers, angels and the Holy Family, multigenerational actors performed the traditional Nativity play at the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton (FUUSN) in West Newton — the first of three Christmas Eve services on December 24. In between scenes of the story…
On the same day the MBTA announced its successful completion of critical track work that had closed the Green Line Riverside (D) Branch in Newton and Brookline for ten days in December, the MBTA informed Green Line D riders that there will be additional closures of the line in Boston…
In the last three months of 2023, Fran Yerardi has organized the path to “YES” for Nonantum and for Newton. On September 14, an angry meeting between City leaders and Nonantum and other Newton residents sparked the beginning of a well organized initiative to limit the scope of Newton’s planned…
On December 19, President-Elect Marc Laredo and Vice President-Elect David Kalis announced their assignments of City Councilors to the Council’s seven standing committees for the 2024-25 term. The incoming Council leaders emphasized that in making these assignments, they “paid careful attention to making sure that leadership roles are distributed fairly…