On January 16, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) released the results of a study of the past 20 years of the impact of the METCO program on METCO students and their suburban peers. This longitudinal study, conducted by Tufts University Assistant Professor of Economics, Elizabeth Setren, found that…
Fig City News
On Sunday, January 14, over forty Newton parents, teachers, and elected officials met at the Scandinavian Cultural Center for an informal discussion about school funding. Horace Mann parents Alli Franke, Dan Evans, and Matt Mazer organized the meeting just days earlier and publicized it with the assistance of the Newton…
“Twilight and evening bell, / And after that the dark! / And may there be no sadness of farewell, / When I embark,” are just some of the moving lines from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem, “Crossing the Bar.” Later set to music, the song is one of many soothing and…
Newton’s four Neighborhood Area Councils — Newton Highlands, Waban, Upper Falls, and Newtonville — are beginning their 2024 season by electing officers and setting goals for their two-year cycle. Much of their focus in recent years has been the redesign of their village centers as well as a number of…
Among the Boston Globe’s Fall 2023 All-Scholastics for high-school athletes and coaches are the following honorees from Newton. Girls Volleyball Athlete of the Year — Division 1: Sasha T. Selivan, Newton North, Freshman All-Scholastics Coach of the Year — Division 1: Nile Fox, Newton North Honorable Mention — Chloe Lee,…
Since 1999, the students of Brown Middle School have organized a gift drive for the families of Brookview House in Dorchester. Each year, students collect gifts, load them onto a box truck, and send them to Brookview, where they are given to the caretakers to wrap and gift to Brookview families. King Movers…
Recent honors, appointments, and arrivals for people who live or work in Newton…
Fig City News board member Tamirirashe Gambiza will run the 128th Boston Marathon to raise funds for Fig City News. He aims to raise $5,000 to expand our payments to local reporters and student interns. You can donate here and then join Fig City fans along the route cheering Tami…
This week, the City of Newton achieved Safe Harbor status with regard to a state housing law, Chapter 40B — over 50 years after the law was enacted in 1969. In communities where Safe Harbor status has not been achieved, developers may bypass some local zoning requirements for projects that…
As shopper after shopper visited Auburndale gift store Just Next Door this week, they greeted owner Amy Shih with praise, gratitude, and wistful regret that she will soon be shuttering the beloved business. When customer Jenny Rosenthal — a Newton resident who has been buying presents there for 10 years…







