The Council on Aging and Advisory Council held their monthly meeting last night. Chair Joan Belle Isle reported that a contract was recently signed with UMASS Boston’s Gerontology Institute to conduct a needs assessment that will be launched in September. The last needs assessment was conducted with the John W.…
Fig City News
During the school vacation week of April 15-21, a parent-led petition to restore proposed Newton Public School cuts received over 900 signatures from Newton residents. NPS leadership has been forced to propose an FY24 budget that includes elementary classrooms of up to 29 students and middle school teams of up…
The Fig City News Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Bruce Henderson as the Editor of Fig City News, a free, online community news hub for Newton, Massachusetts. Founded and managed by resident volunteers, Fig City News aims to serve as a knowledgeable, fair, and trusted…
Jack Fleming, the President and CEO of the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), put out the following statement this afternoon: “We know what the Boston Marathon means to our communities; it is very personal to so many of you. We know that everyone who participates loves to celebrate the excitement of…
There were new developments today in response to Monday’s controversy on Mile 21 of the Marathon. In addition to the BAA Response, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller released a statement on the episode, and members of the City Council docketed an item requesting the Police Chief to appear before the Public…
Nineteen Newton City Councilors submitted this letter urging Representative Aaron Michlewitz, Chair of the House Committee Ways and Means Committee, to support a $75,000 funding request (Budget Amendment #1005) submitted by State Representative Kay Khan, for a needs assessment for the DCR building located at 107 Charles Street in Auburndale.…
Twenty-one Newton City Councilors submitted comments on the MBTA’s proposed FY2024-2028 Capital Improvement Plan. According to the comment letter, recognizing critical housing, transportation, climate action, and economic development needs throughout the region, they call on the Healey/Driscoll Administration to provide adequate funding to provide “dependable, but also safe, accessible, frequent,…
The March 2023 IPCC Report says that we will cross 1.5°C within 10 years—resulting in climate-caused deaths of millions of people, extinction of many plant and animal species, and migration of millions of refugees. New England is heating up faster than the rest of the planet, so we can expect…
[April 20, 2023 4:00 PM: The BAA has issued a statement apologizing for the events of Monday. See our report. Also note additional reporting below on Mike Remy stating in a podcast that there was a police presence of equal size deployed behind the group on the carriage road as…
We have been following the city’s rezoning redesign efforts for the past few years with keen interest. On April 6, we presented at the Newton Highlands Area Council about 2 topics that we hear questions about regularly: Parking and The Fiscal Impact of New Developments on the City. We were…
Eric Turner, newly elected President of Lasell University, has been Lasell University’s Provost since 2020 and has been involved in its management for thirty years, under its two previous Presidents, Tom DeWitt and Michael Alexander. Mr. Turner is the tenth President in the school’s 172-year history and has been engaged…
The first news article released about Friday’s drag show at Newton North High School came out about a week ago. And in those seven days of suspense, quite a few different narratives about the event emerged – near total support from students and local activists, to anticipation from parents of…