The Common

Don't let the chilly weather get you down! WBUR CitySpace Assistant Director Candice Springer is back on The Common with a piping hot list of events to get you out of your house and out on the town this November. Candice recommends...  - Freakonomics Radio Live - Nov. 9, WBUR CitySpace - Atsuko Okatsuka: Full Grown Tour, Nov. 10, The Wilbur - Field Trip: Arts and Crafts - Nov. 13, WBUR CitySpace -...

A train line connecting Boston, New Bedford, Taunton and Fall River has been in the works for three decades. Now, the project, South Coast Rail,  is closer to completion -- after several false starts and pushed deadlines. WBUR Transportation Reporter Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez joins The Common with more on the expected timeline for this MBTA project, and how it's being received in the city of New Be...

One pipe for the stuff you flush down the toilet, and another for stormwater runoff.  That's how modern sewer systems do it. In this two-pipe system, the wastewater from our homes and businesses run into a treatment plant, and the stormwater – into nearby waterways. But Massachusetts is old, and in some parts of the state, wastewater and stormwater flow through the same pipe. On most days, these s...

Last week, the Boston City Council passed an ordinance banning tent encampments in the city. The ordinance focuses on the area around Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard known as "Mass and Cass," which has become a center for homelessness and drug use in Boston. Under the ordinance, which was originally proposed by Mayor Michelle Wu and passed by the council with some changes, the city...

Boston Little Saigon is one of the city’s four official cultural districts as designated by the state. Located in Fields Corner in Dorchester, the district was officially designated in 2021, but to its residents, Little Saigon has been an anchor for Vietnamese culture in the region for decades. To learn more about the district's food and experiences, and its place in the New England Vietnamese com...

Today we bring you the last of our Boston City Council candidate interviews. Today's candidates are running in District 3, which includes parts of Dorchester, the South End and South Boston.  For more than a decade, the district has been represented by councilor Frank Baker. Councilor Baker announced early this year that he would not be seeking reelection this November. On the ballot to replace hi...

It’s day two of our election coverage, checking in with candidates competing for Boston City Council seats in districts 6, 5 and 3, all of which are facing a guaranteed change in leadership come January since no incumbent is running in them. Today, we’re heading to District 5, which is made up of Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale. Earlier this year, District 5 incumbent Ricardo Arroyo was eliminated...

Municipal elections take place on November 7 in Boston, and our city council is on the ballot. For the rest of this week, The Common is checking in with the candidates in three city council races -- District 5, District 6 and District 3, where a change in leadership is guaranteed. Today, we head to District 6, where earlier this year incumbent City Councilor Kendra Lara was defeated in a prelimina...

A new report from The Boston Globe shows that MBTA officials were aware of issues with the Green Line Extension's construction long before the line opened to passengers earlier this year. Previously on The Common, Taylor Dolven, transportation reporter for The Globe, explained that slow zones were imposed on parts of the GLX after it was discovered that the rails on certain portions of the line we...

Beech trees are native to the Northeast and make up about 10% of forests in Massachusetts. The tree, which is identifiable by its smooth trunk and wide canopy, is a crucial habitat and food source for many animal species in the region. But in recent years, a microscopic worm-caused disease has been targeting beech leaves, causing many trees to starve to death over time. The disease is spreading, a...

Federal student loan payment requirements have resumed after a break that lasted more than three years, which means a big change in monthly financial planning for many Bay Staters. According to the Education Data Initiative, almost 13% of Massachusetts residents held federal student loan debt in 2022, and the average federal student loan debt total was more than $34,000 per individual. We at The C...

The images and stories coming out of the Israel-Hamas war are devastating. As the death toll rises, Team Common has been thinking a lot about how, and where, we should add to the discourse going on worldwide and within our community as this crisis unfolds. We found ourselves going over just how hard it is to enter conversations that hold so much history and pain and complexity. So that's where we...

On Monday, Gov. Maura Healey announced that the state will soon stop guaranteeing shelter to families in need in Massachusetts. The governor said the system is overwhelmed, and announced a cap on guaranteed placements at 7,500 families. The state expects to hit this cap by the end of the month. The state said that once the cap is hit, qualified households, including those newly arrived from other...

As the climate crisis becomes increasingly dire, a group of scientists are considering a striking technique for carbon sequestration: An iron supplement for the ocean. The idea's called "iron enrichment," and it involves artificially introducing iron to parts of the ocean that are low on it. The goal is to help plants, especially algae, grow so that they can capture and sequester more carbon dioxi...

WBUR's Arts and Culture desk spent months pouring over almost 300 public submissions for its annual series celebrating creatives of color in Greater Boston. Now, the 2023 Makers have been announced. WBUR Reporter Arielle Gray joins The Common to discuss the project and the artists who will be featured online, on the radio and in-person all week long.  Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and...

There are few things the Northeast does as well as autumn. But the season can be tough for certain people, as shorter days and colder temperatures may bring on feelings of depression and isolation, and exasperate existing mental health concerns for some. Dr. Michelle DiBlasi is Chief of Inpatient Psychiatry at Tufts Medical Center. She joins The Common to share some tips on how to shore up your me...

Ruth E. Carter is a two-time Oscar-winning costume designer who has dressed characters in hit movies and TV series for more than three decades. Her designs can be seen in works such as Do The Right Thing, The Five Heartbeats, both Marvel Black Panther movies, Yellowstone and Seinfeld. She's also a native of Springfield, Mass. And on Sunday, October 15, she is being honored with the Coolidge Award...

Reina Carolina Morales Rojas, a recent immigrant from El Salvador, was living in East Boston when she went missing on November 26, 2022. It took Boston Police over 6 weeks to announce her disappearance on January 12, 2023 ––  a huge delay for a missing persons case. Almost a year later, she has yet to be found. Marcela Garcia is a columnist at The Boston Globe and one of few members of the media f...

Depending on what you read, it can be hard to get a sense of where the offshore wind energy industry is at in Massachusetts. On the one hand, the long awaited Vineyard Wind project is anticipated to start generating electricity for the grid by the end of the year. But on the other, the futures of other potential offshore wind projects are currently up in the air due to economic challenges, such as...

 Team Common is observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day (check out our recent episode on the movement to make it an official holiday statewide). So today, we’re bringing you a story from our friends in the WBUR Newsroom.  Joseph Grigely: In What Way Wham? is a new exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art that centers on the deaf experience. WBUR Arts Fellow Solon Kelleher recently took...

The weather is getting chillier and the days are getting shorter, which makes it a great time to catch a show. WBUR CitySpace Assistant Director Candice Springer joins The Common with three great live and film productions you can take in this month, all of which celebrate great movies, and the music that goes with them. Candice recommends...  - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live in Concert - O...

On Monday, October 9th, the City of Boston will recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day. But at the Massachusetts Statehouse, the second Monday in October continues to be recognized as Columbus Day. On Tuesday, a joint committee on Beacon Hill heard testimony on legislation that aims to change that. Jean-Luc Pierite, President of the Board of Directors of the North American Indian Center of Boston was t...

On portions of tracks adding up to more than a mile, Green Line Extension trains are moving at only three miles-per-hour. The MBTA says these slow zones are a response to recent tests showing that portions of the tracks are narrowing. A concept that many transit experts say is unheard of. Boston Globe Transportation Reporter Taylor Dolven broke this story last week. She joins' The Common with more...

Last week, state lawmakers voted in favor of a $1 billion tax relief package that officials say could save taxpayers in Massachusetts a collective $561 million this fiscal year. The legislation now awaits Gov. Maura Healey's signature. Today, Boston Globe Politics Reporter Samantha J. Gross joins The Common to discuss what this wide-ranging package could mean for parents, caretakers, renters and l...

Flash flooding events are expected to increase in Massachusetts under the impacts of climate change. Reading, a town about 20 minutes north of Boston, is trying to mitigate flood impacts with a nature-based approach that involves digging seven ponds in a conservation area near the river. The goal is for the ponds to collect water that might otherwise cause flooding, while offering additional benef...