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Chilly temperatures across New England to start the weekend

February 3, 2024 by

Weekend finally brings a break from the gloomy gray skies, for most of us. The north/northeast wind isn’t friendly to the sunshine across southeast Mass. It will sponsor clouds and a possible snow shower in this colder airmass. Our best prospects for sun exist west and northwest of Boston this afternoon.

We’ll shake the unfavorable wind tomorrow and embrace the Sun for the day. This will be the day we’ve all been longing for. It’s also the day you may realize how much the daylength has increased since the winter solstice. We’re seeing sunrises before 7am and sunsets squarely at 5pm these days (today is the first 5pm sunset).

We’ll see quiet, bright weather straight through the middle of the week. Temps will fester in the 30s through Tuesday, then slowly climb through the 40s and into the 50s by the end of the week. We may tangle with the a few showers toward next weekend.

Enjoy the Sun!

This Mass. groundhog has a better spring forecast record than Punxsutawney Phil

Weather

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2 workers seriously injured by falling wall at Cape Cod construction site

February 2, 2024 by

Two workers were seriously injured Friday afternoon when a wall fell on them at a construction site on Cape Cod, authorities said.

Fire officials in Falmouth, Massachusetts, say crews responded to a report of a construction accident on Brick Kiln R…

Young indigenous Ecuadorian woman makes history at Harvard

February 2, 2024 by

A young Ecuadorian woman made history by being the first member of an indigenous community in her country to graduate from Harvard University.

She is part of a new generation of migrant students of indigenous origin making their way at that institution.

Amy Chalán, 22, set a precedent by being the first indigenous Kichwa Saraguro from Ecuador to graduate from Harvard in June of last year.

“Being the first to access this prestigious educational space was like fulfilling the American goal, no, the American dream, which is to come to this country because of my grandfather’s sacrifice,” Chalán told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra in Spanish.

Her story began decades ago when her grandfather was one of the first members of that community to immigrate to the United States. She arrived in the country with her parents when she was very young.

She noted that she had the privilege of going to private school.

She earned a spot at Harvard University. In 2020 she obtained legal status and for the first time in decades she was able to return to her community in Ecuador. She admits that she faced challenges living with indigenous, Ecuadorian and American identity.

“My family was always morally and emotionally supportive but sometimes it was okay to just look for resources and answers,” she said in Spanish.

Proud of her achievement, she hopes to help others like hers.

“I am the first but I assure you that I will not be the last because we are going to continue working for more access for Andean students also like Kichwas and the Saraguro people,” Chalán said.

Américo Mendoza-Mori, a Harvard professor and founder of the Quechua Initiative on Global Indigeneity at the university, was Amy’s thesis advisor. She said she hopes Chalán’s story helps more students recognize the value of their cultural heritage.

“As in the case of Amy’s story, we hope that more students recognize the value of their cultural heritage,” Mendoza-Mori.

Another member of the Kichwa Saraguro community who is attending Harvard would be following in Chalán’s footsteps. According to Mendoza-Mori, it is estimated that around 200 students at the university identify as of native or indigenous origin.

“It is a joy that she is the first Kichwa Saraguro woman, on the other hand in 2024 we hope that we will have many more and what brings us together at this moment and it is worth making news that in the future she will be part of our university communities and Latin communities and ”Hispanic,’” Mendora-Mori said.

Chalán earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences from Harvard. During her studies she served as a student coordinator in the Minority Recruitment Program. She has been part of cultural and social groups, and created a program to help undocumented students in the college application process. Among her plans is to study for a postgraduate degree to continue her activism.

Boston City Council

Feb 2

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New Boston city councilor proposes guaranteed legal representation in eviction cases

February 2, 2024 by

Living in Boston is expensive, and with the housing market tight, evictions continue to be an issue.

“The vast majority of people here are renters, and it doesn’t matter what neighborhood you live in, you can face eviction,” said Boston City Councilor Benjamin Weber.

Weber, in his first formal city council speech after being elected in November, introduced a proposal Wednesday that could shake up the eviction process.

Weber, a lawyer, argued that those facing evictions should be afforded the same right to an attorney in housing court as those charged with crimes have in criminal court.

“It is a very confusing set of laws,” Weber told NBC10 Boston Wednesday. “You are in a very confusing situation, you may not even be fluent in English, and there is somebody on the other side who knows how the process works, has been doing this for years.”

Weber speaking to the Boston City Council

“A lot of law is confusing. Definitely, housing law is confusing,” he added.

There is some precedent here. The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute says the COVID Eviction Legal Help Project launched in October 2020, operating under the same premise.

The Institute says the project provided legal services to nearly 5,000 evictions statewide, with 92% of those case ending in “positive outcomes.”

“Our two cents is there is no amount of lawyering that can help people pay their rent when housing is really unaffordable for a lot of us,” said Doug Quattrochi, executive director of MassLandlords, Inc.

Quattrochi says instead of paying lawyers, the money should be spent on rental assistance to help those struggling to pay their rent.

“The number of cases that an attorney can actually make a difference, where an attorney is a make-or-break difference for a renter, is very few compared to the huge non-payment issue we have,” he said.

The Boston City Council voted Wednesday to advance Weber’s proposal to the hearing stage, which Weber said could be held in the coming weeks.