On May 26, Mayor Marc Laredo responded to five FY27 Budget resolutions submitted by the City Council. The City Council reviewed those responses, submitted a sixth resolution, and ultimately voted to approve the $668,336,666 budget by a vote of 22-2. As explained here, the City Council’s amendment powers are limited,…
On May 26, the City’s Chief Operating Officer, Josh Morse, hosted an online community meeting on the possible consolidation of Ward and Underwood elementary schools. He presented the findings that led him to conclude the schools should not be consolidated, citing rebounding enrollment, site limitations and minimal, if any, cost…
On Friday, May 22, seven students from Newton North and South High Schools met with Mayor Marc Laredo to ask his support for the Plant Based Treaty and more plant-based meals in school cafeterias. The students, joined by Kimmy Cushman of Plant Based Treaty and Marcia Cooper of Green Newton,…
Longtime Newton resident and Vietnam War veteran Kevin McNamara has led an effort to hang banners honoring Newton residents killed in war at the intersection of Adams and Watertown streets ahead of Memorial Day. Wearing a Vietnam War museum hat and a tropical shirt, McNamara stood at that intersection admiring…
Barney Frank, former Fourth Congressional District Congressman, died on May 19 at the age of 86 after suffering from congestive heart failure. He was living in Ogunquit, ME with his husband, Jim Ready, and had announced less than a month earlier that he was in hospice care. A champion and…
For nearly a decade, the Newton Theatre Company (NTC) has been showcasing diverse voices telling their own stories during its annual “Monologue Project.” This year, the NTC and the Newton nonprofit Understanding Our Differences (UOD) partnered to create “The Monologue Project: Voices of the Blind, Deaf, and Physically Disabled,” which…
On May 20, Northland celebrated the topping-off of the first new residential building in its 23-acre development at the intersection of Needham and Oak streets in Newton Upper Falls — and unveiled the new name of the community to arise there, anchored by the historic Saco Pettee Mill: the Pattern…
Elisha M. Wachman, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has received the school’s annual Excellence in Faculty Mentorship – Senior Faculty award. Wachman, a neonatologist at Boston Medical Center, received the award for “exceptional commitment to mentoring faculty, …including peer-to-peer, near-peer mentorship and…
On May 21, the City Council began deliberations on the FY2027 budget as a Committee of the Whole, approving most departmental budgets while holding four – Law, Planning, Public Works, and Schools – pending responses to five budget resolutions approved in the meeting for submission to the Mayor. The meeting…
This article provides further details on the recommendations of the Newton Public Schools (NPS) English Language Arts (ELA) Curriculum Committee presented by Director of English Language Arts & Literacy David Kloker with support from Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Gina Flanagan at the May 11 School Committee meeting (see…
