Stories
New England states have seen a rise in migration during the pandemic. A study shows that 36 counties gained households since the first U.S. outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. Nicholas Chiumenti, a senior policy analyst and author of the study at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said the pandemic changed the way people moved into New…
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“Congratulations on your bundle of joy.” That’s what researchers at the New England Aquarium are saying to a North Atlantic right whale just spotted off the South Carolina coast with her sixth calf. The 39-year-old mom named Slalom has at least four grand-offspring — making her a pillar of the surviving right whale population, which…
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As a civil war rages in Ethiopia, many Ethiopian immigrants in Maine have been cut off from loved ones back home. While one Portland resident was able to get her mother out of the country this fall, many others are struggling just to get in contact with family members in the war zone. On a…
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At the end of Boston’s Long Wharf is a glass and metal slab that tells a story of the city’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The monument stands to remind those walking along the waterfront that Boston was a hub for ships carrying African people who were sold into slavery. The marker could be seen as a…
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Nitrogen from septic systems has been disrupting local waterways for years, causing fish kills and blooms of toxic algae. Now, field testing on Cape Cod is playing a national role in the development of technology to monitor nitrogen — even in individual backyards — as a step toward keeping the excess out of our waters.…
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In a first-grade classroom in Burlington, Vermont, Janelle Gendimenico guides her students through a lesson focusing on the importance of getting every word in a sentence, especially when you’re talking about animal teeth. “Show me with your fingers. What does the naked mole-rat’s teeth do?” Gendimenico asked the class. “They go back left and right,…
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Tucked away in the New Bedford Whaling Museum is a room full of records. It holds manuscripts, manifests, banking records and crew accounts from New England’s storied whaling industry. It also contains the largest collection of whaling logbooks in the world. Logbooks were a legal record of each voyage, in which first mates documented…
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Glenda Cardenas is worried about her kids. Seated in their living room in Waterbury, she said her son and daughter, 10 and 14 years old, are afraid she’ll leave them. Again. Speaking in Spanish, Cardenas said the children ask if they’ll be separated next April. Right now, that’s as late as Cardenas can legally stay…
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Brandon Rodriguez, a high school senior in Connecticut, is getting ready for his fourth-period Black and Latino history class. Rodriguez says he signed up for the course to learn more about his ancestry. “My parents were born in Ecuador, but I was born here,” Rodriguez said. “But it’s nice to learn a little bit more…
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Maine is home to several dozen immigrants from Zambia, a country of about 18 million people in southern Africa. While it’s one of the state’s smaller immigrant communities, many Zambians have deep roots here, and they’ve launched a community organization aimed at building cohesion, offering support and attracting more Zambians to Maine. The Zambian Community…
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