On March 27, in its first update to the City Council, the Community Dialogue Working Group presented results and recommendations based on its citywide survey and community discussion. In early February, City Council President Marc Laredo and Vice President David Kalis established the five-member group led by Ward 1 Councilor…
Fig City News
What do Post Malone, Rihanna, David Beckham, Cardi B, Travis Barker and Popeye all have in common? They all have eye-catching tattoos, of course. Celebrities — both real and cartoon — are continuing a practice stretching back 5,200 years, when the first evidence of tattooing was found on Otzi the…
A March 24 fire in a two-family duplex at 1243 Walnut Street in Newton Highlands took the life of one man, identified by the Middlesex District Attorney’s office as 69-year-old Scott Patz. According to the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, another adult in the home was injured but did not…
Recent honors, appointments, and arrivals for people who live or work in Newton…
On March 25, as the spring sports season began, Newton’s Parks, Recreation and Culture Department hosted a webinar detailing its plans to continue making improvements to and transforming some of the City’s athletics fields. Newton’s 118 acres of fields “are for the health and well-being of children and other park…
Large number of early childhood students requiring IEP’s blamed on pandemic isolation. On Thursday March 20 and Monday March 25, the School Committee held its first two special meetings to review the Newton Public Schools (NPS) budget proposed by Superintendent Anna Nolin and NPS staff for Fiscal Year 2025 (fall…
On February 7, CAN-DO opened VITA — its free tax-preparation service for low-income individuals — and welcomed its first two tax filers into its office in Nonantum, in space provided by The Village Bank. Since then, approximately forty additional tax filers have entered the doors. Eight community members answered the…
Newton is one of ten Massachusetts communities that is aiming to participate in the Ten Communities Program – a state pilot program to require electrification of all new buildings and major renovations of those buildings. The goal of the pilot is to eliminate reliance on fossil fuels as a power…
On March 21, a group of Muslim residents hosted Newton’s first community-wide interfaith Ramadan event. During Ramadan, Muslims fast daily from dawn to sundown and customarily gather with family and friends to break fast in the evening with a meal, Iftar. For this event, about 250 Muslim and non-Muslim residents…
At its March 25 meeting, the City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee (ZAP) met with John Sisson, Director of the Economic Development Commission (EDC), to discuss ways to help local small businesses survive as Newton embarks on village center development. The topic, docketed by Councilors Albright and Kelley, has been…