I spoke with Boston Public Schools superintendent Dr. Carol Johnson Feb. 4 about school closings, the district’s Acceleration Agenda, the budget, student assignments and programs for English Language Learners. Johnson also spoke about the challenges of preparing students to compete in the global economy.
By Talia Whyte
The first debate among the qualifying candidates to take over the seat left by ousted city councilor Chuck Turner took place Jan. 20 at the Roxbury YMCA. This is possibly the most watched city council race in recent history, where there were originally 16 candidates, but only six candidates who actually received the minimum number of signatures to be on the ballot were invited to the debate. Also in the debate were pro-life advocate Roy Owens and city employee Danielle Renee Williams. Perennial candidate Althea Garrison was also invited, but was a no-show.
Watch the video here
By Talia Whyte
Gov. Deval Patrick joined over 400 8th graders representing every city and town in Massachusetts Jan. 15 to commence his administration’s ambitious youth service day – Project 351. The event was organized by the Patrick-Murray Inaugural Committee and took place on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to help honor his legacy of service. The youth ambassadors were selected by the superintendents and principals in their communities based on their strong ethic of service.
In addition to making a stop at the Catholic Charities Haitian Multi Service Center, Gov. Patrick, Lt. Gov. Murray and the ambassadors also visited other area nonprofits, including The Dimock Center, Greater Boston Food Bank, and Blackstone Elementary School.
View the video here
Global Wire
By Talia Whyte
Yesterday I listened to Living on Earth’s Holiday Special, where they had on Firoozeh Dumas, an Iranian-American humorist, who talked about her assimilation into America’s food culture. While growing up in Iran, Dumas talked about going to farmers’ markets with her mother and buying food fresh…
…America being a land of immigrants has prided itself for embracing the many food traditions that have been imported to these shores over the last 500 years. But in recent years, no thanks to the way the American food system is set up, many healthy ethnic foods are being erased for a more processed and packaged diet of Chicken McNuggets, KFC Double Downs and Slurpees.
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