Stories
When Yuly Mosca got an email about the COVID-19 vaccine being available, she signed up for an appointment. She is a registered nurse at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) PACE, a program that provides home care for older patients — including those with COVID-19 — who would otherwise be in nursing homes. However, when Mosca got…
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Since Act 46 was passed by the Legislature in 2015, small school districts across the state have had to make difficult decisions about whether to merge rural schools. In some parts of the state, geography creates some challenging decisions about how to do so. The Northeast Kingdom town of Canaan is too isolated to benefit…
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At the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in northern New Hampshire, the pandemic broke a decades-long streak of field research. Now, scientists there are adapting with new technology – recording the sounds of the forest, which they hope will transform their long and influential record of a changing world. In late fall, Dartmouth biologist Matt Ayres…
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About a dozen refrigerators offering free food have popped up on sidewalks throughout Boston’s neighborhoods, the latest in Mattapan. The free-standing appliances are part of a national trend of volunteers acquiring a donated refrigerator, finding a host willing to share electricity and recruiting other volunteers to clean and stock the fridge. The food is available…
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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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The lobster industry could be getting a new sound. On a cold January morning, a lobster trap sitting on a table at a manufacturing facility in Wareham is rhythmically beeping. Two final beeps have a special meaning. “So that’s the release confirmation,” explained Rob Morris, who sells acoustic release systems for the underwater technology company…
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Rob Martin has been fishing from the Sandwich Marina for 29 years off his boat, Resolve. “It’s only 40 feet. It was big when I first got it and now it seems small,” he said, while warming up inside his boat’s cabin on a cold January morning. Over the last few decades, Martin, 56, has…
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With thousands flocking to the slopes from states with high rates of infection, Vermont’s 1,300 registered ski patrollers – like everyone else – are having to figure out how to do their job safely. As Vermonters get in line for the COVID-19 vaccine, the governor’s decision to prioritize ski patrollers ahead of teachers and grocery…
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