EDITORIAL: SOMERVILLE WIRE ON HIATUS UNTIL SPRING

BINJ Needs $15,000 to Pay a Quarter-Time Staff Reporter for a Year It has been almost four years since the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism held a well-attended community forum in the big room at (the sadly shuttered) ONCE club on Highland Ave. that led to the launch of our Somerville News Garden project. The […]
ON THE WAY HOME

A New Beginning For Formerly Incarcerated Women “Stepping into this house made me feel better … She has a way of transforming pain into passion.” When Stacey Borden exited MCI-Framingham for the final time in 2010, she was done with more than three decades of jail stints and drug use due to untreated trauma. She […]
STILL WAITING

Tainted Drug Evidence Victims Still Waiting For Settlement Payments “We’ve got a system in place where it’s just, grab this money from mostly poor people, but don’t have mechanisms in place to really account for what’s taken.” It may be a new year, but tens of thousands of individuals wrongfully convicted on drug charges in […]
OPINION: GLX IS HERE! CELEBRATING AND LOOKING AHEAD

After decades of advocacy, I was thrilled to celebrate the opening of the Green Line Extension through my district in Somerville and Medford last week. This public works project is the result of years of hard work from countless community members, laborers, activists, and colleagues at all levels of government. I’m proud that we made […]
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CHERYL AMIRAULT LEFAVE

“Everything that I came across for 40 years has been a battle.” It seemed that last week a decades-old controversial case was headed for a pardon vote. Outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker had recommended a pardon for Cheryl Amirault LeFave and her brother, Gerald, in the well-known and highly disputed Fells Acre Day Care case. […]
SOMERVILLE WIRE: DECEMBER 21, 2022 WEEKLY ROUNDUP

Snow Rules, City Funds for Small Businesses and Nonprofits, and More! ARTICLES HOW TO CONTROL SEWAGE OVERFLOWS Somerville, Cambridge, MWRA jointly update communities on long-term environmental planning to protect waterways from wastewater (ICYMI) EDITORIAL: DONATE TO THE SOMERVILLE MEDIA FUND! A holiday appeal to help support professional journalism from local nonprofits Somerville Media Center and […]
HOW TO CONTROL SEWAGE OVERFLOWS

Somerville, Cambridge, MWRA jointly update communities on long-term environmental planning to protect waterways from wastewater (Somerville Wire) – Most sewer systems in the United States have two dedicated, separated networks of pipes—one for sewage and one for stormwater. But many parts of Cambridge and Somerville have combined sewer systems, with one network of pipes for […]
SOMERVILLE WIRE: DECEMBER 14, 2022 WEEKLY ROUNDUP

Highland Ave. Detour, Donate to Families in Need, and More! ARTICLES REDESIGNING UNION SQUARE’S SUBSTATION Eversource hears from neighbors on future of electrical infrastructure within a changing urban landscape (ICYMI) EDITORIAL: DONATE TO THE SOMERVILLE MEDIA FUND! A holiday appeal to help support professional journalism from local nonprofits Somerville Media Center and Somerville Wire (Boston […]
REDESIGNING UNION SQUARE’S SUBSTATION

Eversource hears from neighbors on future of electrical infrastructure within a changing urban landscape (Somerville Wire) – With its dazzling array of commercial and residential buildings currently under construction or in the pipeline, and its cutting-edge plans to rapidly decarbonize to address climate change, Somerville is going to need a lot more electricity. Eversource is […]
EARS FOR FEAR: THE SHOTSPOTTER WORKAROUND

Boston, Regional Police Dodge Transparency Ordinance In Bolstering Surveillance Network At a public hearing at the end of November, Boston police and officials heard from activists and lawmakers concerned about transparency regarding surveillance technology in the city. The gunshot detection system ShotSpotter received particular criticism over accuracy and deployment, but officials defended the tech and […]