A woman has died from her injuries after she was shot Wednesday at a home in Fall River, Massachusetts, where police also found a man with serious injuries from a stabbing.
The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday…
Massachusetts
Boston City Council hearing Thursday on Mayor Wu’s embattled property tax plan
Mayor Michelle Wu’s proposal to raise commercial tax rates is continuing to stir controversy in Boston, with many residents up-in-arms over the plan, which is expected to make drastic reductions to city services but provide homeowners with relief.
The mayor’s proposal was already approved by the city council and the state house but it still needs to be approved by the senate and the governor by late November, and it has yet to win over some people living in the city.
Thursday morning the city council’s Committee on Ways and Means is holding a hearing to look at some proposed alternatives, including a plan offered by councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy.
Wu’s plan is in direct response to the reducing commercial property values and commercial tax revenues most likely caused by the high office vacancy rates.
A majority of the city’s budget comes from property taxes, so since residential real estate values have risen, homeowners would have to pay more in their property taxes to make up the difference.
According to Wu, the average single-family home in Boston is facing the possibility of a 14% property tax spike. Under her plan, she estimates that year over year increase would only be around 5%.
Business and real estate groups, however, say it could harm small businesses and worsen commercial property de-evaluation.
NBC10 Boston caught up with the mayor at a town hall in West Roxbury on Wednesday, where she said there’s been widespread support among residents.
“People know why this matters,” Wu said. “I trust our legislators to advocate and respond with their constituents who share that something is important.”
The mayor is holding town halls to further explain her proposal to homeowners, and she’ll hold another one at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Charlestown High School.
Boston teachers staging more ‘walk-ins’ at schools across the district
Boston teachers are scheduled to hold “walk-ins” outside five schools across the district Thursday morning as they continue rallying amid ongoing contract negotiations.
The Boston Teachers Union is fighting for better pay for teach…
30 Harvard professors hold ‘study-in’ protest at library
Dozens of professors at Harvard University staged a “study-in” protest at the school’s library Wednesday, in solidarity with students disciplined for taking part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Thirty professors sat down inside Widener Library to take a stand against the university’s decision to suspend 12 students from using the facility.
“I can’t imagine that a university would want to punish its teachers for reading in a library, but then again, I couldn’t have imagined that it would have suspended our students for doing the same thing,” law professor Andrew Crespo said. “If the university is going to be true to what it is all about, it can’t start punishing students for reading quietly in the library just because those students have ideas that they want to share with other students and other members in the community.”
Mahmoud Al-Thabata was one of the 12 students who entered the Widener Library in September, wearing keffiyehs with signs posted on their laptops in response to Israel attacking Lebanon.
“It was silent, it was, frankly, zero disruptions at all, it was students just studying,” he said.
Library security asked the group for identification. All 12 students received an email shortly after informing them that they were suspended from the library for a little over three weeks, and that “demonstrations and protests are not permitted in libraries.”
The professors staged a similar scene Wednesday inside the same learning space.
“My colleagues and I went to the same reading room, and we wore black neck scarves, and we read books about academic freedom and dissent,” Crespo said.
Before teaching at the university for nearly 10 years, Crespo graduated from the school.
“In all of my time here as student, and now as a faculty member, I cannot remember a time where the university has adopted so many rules and new enforcement practices that seem designed to try to curtail expression and the sharing of ideas on campus,” he said.
Harvard said it is still gathering information about Wednesday’s demonstration before deciding on next steps.
Massachusetts deer crashes hit record high: Vehicle collisions jump between October and December
Deer crashes in Massachusetts jumped to a record high last year, according to AAA Northeast — which reported nearly 4,000 deer collisions. Almost 50% of the crashes happened from October to December.
Springfield police investigate abandonment of baby
A newborn baby was found abandoned Tuesday evening in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Police say the boy, believed to be a few weeks old, was left outside an apartment building on Worthington Street. Officers responded around 7:45 p.m. after a res…
