Stories

‘It’s Completely Empty’: Coronavirus Fears Take Toll On Chinatown Businesses

February 7, 2020

If you happened to swing by the New Golden Gate Seafood restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown this week, you might’ve been confronted with the worst sound you can possibly hear in the restaurant business: silence. On a recent weeknight, not a single customer was in sight. The only movement in the dining room came from the lobsters crawling…

Read More

‘School Choice’ In Hartford May Model Integration, But Also Enhance Disparity

February 7, 2020

A new report out of Harvard University finds that when parents are choosing schools for their kids, more choice is leading to more segregation. And it points to schools in Hartford as a model for integration. The report, “Do Parents Really Want School Integration?” suggests white, middle and upper-class parents should actively introduce their child…

Read More

With Three Women On The Democratic Ballot, Many New Hampshire Voters Have Gender On Their Minds

February 5, 2020

For the past few months, one house on Hanover’s busiest road has stood out. It didn’t just have one candidate sign. For several months, it had three. “Amy, Warren and Kamala Harris,” remembers Willa Coylewright, a fifth grader. They’ve watched the debates and have even gone out canvassing with their dad. And they’ve noticed something…

Read More

How One Campaign Is Organizing An Often-Overlooked New Hampshire Voting Bloc: Immigrants and Refugees

February 3, 2020

At first, the scene at the Manchester field office for the Bernie Sanders campaign looked pretty typical: Volunteers milled around after a presentation from campaign higher-ups, fielding invitations to sign up for canvassing shifts from campaign staffers armed with clipboards. But in one corner of the room, a smaller group huddled together, listening intently to…

Read More

Old Growth, New Problems: The Battle Over Tree-Cutting In Cambridge

January 24, 2020

Lifelong Cambridge resident Peter Cohen loves trees. He grew up climbing and admiring them, and as an adult and homeowner, he puts a lot of thought and care into the ones in his yard. And Cohen has a big yard by Cambridge standards. Walking around his property near Porter Square, Cohen describes how things have…

Read More

Where New Hampshire Democrats And The 2020 Candidates Stand On Drug Crisis Policies

January 24, 2020

New Hampshire is among the states hardest hit by the drug overdose crisis. So perhaps it’s no surprise that a majority of voters who plan to vote in the Democratic presidential primary support even the most controversial measures to keep people who use drugs alive and guide them to treatment rather than jail. Take decriminalization.…

Read More

‘Our Moms Have To Talk’: Pocket Dial Connects Grieving Moms

January 22, 2020

Two women, living a couple dozen miles away from each other in Vermont, both lost a child in the last decade. Both children, oddly enough, were named Sam F. And both have mothers now connected through an inadvertent phone call. Sam Francoeur was 20 when he died from an accidental overdose in 2013. His parents,…

Read More

After Years Of Slow Action On Climate Change, What Sets Offshore Wind Apart For New Hampshire?

January 21, 2020

Most New England states have been investing in alternative energy sources for years. But New Hampshire has been slower to act in response to climate change. Now, the Granite State is looking to be a leader in a major new source of renewable energy: offshore wind. Turnout exceeded all expectations at the first meeting, last…

Read More

How An Enslaved Woman Sued For Her Freedom In 18th-Century Massachusetts

January 17, 2020

Nearly 250 years ago this month, 11 men gathered in a house on the Housatonic River to draft a document on equality and independence aimed at the British crown. A woman who was enslaved in the house overheard the discussion, and determined the words applied to her, too. Elizabeth Freeman later used those ideas to win…

Read More

How A Climate Change Nonprofit Got Eversource Thinking About A Geothermal Future

January 13, 2020

Natural gas utilities in Massachusetts are facing an existential crisis: they could be out of business by mid-century. That’s because the state’s 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act requires emissions from burning fossil fuels — like natural gas — be cut by 80% economy-wide by 2050. But now a solution that could help save the companies…

Read More