Stories
It’s no secret that affordable housing can be hard to come by in Maine. Home prices are up nearly 30% compared to this time last year, according to the Maine Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, skyrocketing demand for rental units has overwhelmed an already limited housing stock. The severe lack of affordable housing poses a particular…
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As the mid-week lunch rush picks up at Don Quijote, salsa music plays in the kitchen as oil crackles and the chop-chop of onions, peppers and cilantro echoes. Huge pots of carne guisada simmer on the stove. Green plantains are ready to go in case a client orders one of the Manchester, N.H. restaurant’s defining…
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Cuando uno entra a la cocina de Don Quijote en Manchester, se escucha salsa, el aceite que hierve y la picada de cebolla, pimientos y cilantro en una tabla de madera. La cocina se invade de un olor a carne guisada que cuece en ollas gigantes a fuego lento. Los plátanos verdes ya están cortados…
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In the past year, student activists have been hard at work to make change in their communities. Among them: 16-year-old Minelle Sarfo-Adu. On a Tuesday in late May, Minelle and I sat at a picnic table by the South Burlington condo she lives in with her mom. When Minelle was in 8th grade, she moved…
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Singing in South African languages connects Naledi Masilo to who she is and where she comes from. Since she was a kid in Johannesburg, the vocalist dreamed of studying in the U.S. but her family didn’t have the money. When she eventually won a scholarship three years ago to attend the New England Conservatory (NEC),…
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Federal officials won’t say yet whether they’ll give Vermonters more time to weigh in on a controversial plan to install surveillance towers on the Vermont-Canada border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to erect 199-foot “Remote Video Surveillance Systems” in five northern Vermont communities. Mike Niezgoda, a public affairs officer with the federal agency, says…
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On Tuesday, the Manchester, New Hampshire School District announced tentative plans to expand in-person classes from two days a week to four, starting in May. And at Manchester West High School in Manchester, that experiment is well underway. For over a month, staff there have been encouraging students who are learning English as a second…
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In March, just weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, the incident command center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital was scrambling to understand this deadly new disease. It appeared to be killing more Black and brown patients than whites. For Latino patients, there was an additional warning sign. The warning came from clinicians who couldn’t communicate clearly…
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There’s a new bodega in downtown Fitchburg, Mass., stocked with a colorful array of hot chocolate and chips and beans that come special from Central America. Owner Carmen Mejía de Guzmán and her husband moved to Fitchburg from Chelsea in the summer of 2019. They could afford to buy a house here — but there…
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