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Boston Globe
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Rain and new rules don't dampen Somerville's PorchFest
Somerville's PorchFest began in 2011 and has grown steadily since. Last year, driven by a performance from Guster, a popular 1990s and 2000s band from the area, the event reached new heights, with countless thousands of people completely packing many of the city's streets. The city became so packed that it — in collaboration with some musical artists — changed the rules this year in an effort to keep Somerville's primary arteries clear for traffic and emergency vehicles. The rules prohibited performances on 13 streets including Broadway, Summer Street, and Highland and Somerville avenues which hosted several dozen shows last year. Advertisement Also new this year is a team of 'ambassadors' to help guide foot traffic, point newcomers in the right direction, and serve as liaisons for bands performing in the same areas. They handed out maps with the locations of Porta-Potties, which were more numerous in an effort to keep people from relieving themselves on anyone's lawn. Advertisement The city also encouraged bands to coordinate time slots to space out performances. Still, Somerville was bustling. Groups of people who looked to be in their 20s and 30s roved the streets stopping every half block or so to check out the latest show they'd stumbled across. Traffic on the highway exits leading into town backed up in barely-moving lines of brake lights. Powder House Square was a disaster. Parking spots were fever dreams. 'It's a great day for local music,' said Croteau's bandmate Dan Oshiro, 25. Done by 1 p.m., the guys planned on making the rounds and seeing what else was going on. And the sounds of guitars and drums reverberated down every street. There was a variety of acts, from DJs to brass bands, but many had some flavor of rock. Often, it included 90s covers — think 'The Bends'-era Radiohead, Nirvana's 'Heart Shaped Box,' or Smash Mouth's 'All Star." Chad Wishner and Hayley Lynch, both 27, stood on Hall Avenue suspiciously eyeing one particularly adventurous DJ who'd spun a trap remix of Lit's 'My Own Worst Enemy," another 90's anthem. 'It's the age everyone is,' Wishner said. 'It's music from when we all were kids.' But the real draw, Lynch said, was the local acts. She provided quick directions to a good rock band and a fun horn section that performed with a vibraphone nearby. 'I love seeing all the local bands,' she said. 'It's really their time to shine.' The event, as it always does, had a game-of-telephone feeling to it. Many people wandering around had a couple of spots they planned to hit. There, they'd be meeting a friend of a friend, or maybe that person's cousin, who is, perhaps, playing drums or bass on some other guy's porch. Advertisement Such was the case for 27-year-olds Kalina Korzec, Parth Dhruve, and Ali Bacon, who'd paused briefly near Davis Square to listen to the vibraphone act that Lynch had described. They planned to see someone they knew who was in an a cappella group, as well as a mutual friend's coworker, who was playing a show somewhere else. Dhruve grinned: 'That's PorchFest.' Sean Cotter can be reached at
CBC
24-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
B.C. trying to recruit U.S. doctors amid Trump healthcare uncertainties
Social Sharing In a throne speech marking the start of the B.C. legislative session last week, the government promised it would look to attract U.S. health-care professionals to help fill staffing gaps. As part of that, it also promised to make it easier for trained health-care workers from other contries to get their credentials recognized. It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump makes changes to the American healthcare system and as political tension rises south of the border. It's a set of cricumstances that's causing U.S. healthcare professionals to look abroad for work, says a Canada-based recruiter. Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians are without a without a family doctor, and several rural communities have had to deal with intermittent emergency room closures due to worker shortages. WATCH | Promise to halt ER closures in rural B.C.: B.C.'s new health minister pledges to fix emergency room closures in rural communities 3 months ago Duration 2:14 Health Minister Josie Osborne says she wants to convince Canadian health-care workers who have left B.C. to work in the U.S. or other parts of Canada to return. "We need health-care workers. We know how hard they work ... and we'd welcome anybody home," she said on Thursday. A Health Ministry spokesperson said the incoming Health Professions and Occupations Act will speed up the licensing process for professionals trained in other countries. According to the ministry, from January 2023 to December 2024, 1,607 internationally educated doctors received full or provisional registration in B.C. The spokesperson also said the province has expanded a licensing program, that previously had 32 seats annually, to now have 96 seats per year. The province's regulatory college has also implemented a "fast-tracked licensure" policy to help people from other Canadian jurisdictions get certified in B.C. Uptick in interest, recruiter says B.C.'s push to add more U.S.-trained health-care workers is proceeding at a time when the new U.S. administration under President Donald Trump has moved to cut back federal health programs and withdraw the country from the World Health Organization. The B.C. Health Ministry spokesperson said that prior to the this latest promise to attract health-care workers from abroad, the province already had efforts active across Canada and internationally, including those branded as Health Match B.C. and B.C. Health Careers. B.C.'s efforts are even visible in other provinces, said Jill Croteau, who is a doctor recruitment specialist for Ontario's Niagara region and the board chair of the Canadian Society of Physician Recruitment. Croteau says she's seeing increased interest in coming to Canada among U.S. family doctors, obstetricians and psychiatrist, due in part to U.S. political climate. "In the last ... few weeks we have had an increase of interest from physicians that are looking to come back to Ontario or looking to move into Ontario," Croteau said. WATCH | Trump moves to cut federal health programs: RFK Jr.'s top U.S. health official job raises 'misinformation' concerns: doctor | Canada Tonight 11 days ago Duration 6:06 Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vaccine critic who has pledged to tackle chronic disease, was named U.S. Health Secretary on Thursday after overcoming resistance from the medical establishment and members of Congress with promises to limit his role in vaccination policy. Dr. Joss Reimer, the president of the Canadian Medical Association, says 'misinformation does not respect borders,' adding that any misinformation is very concerning. Better working conditions needed: union BC Nurses' Union President Adriane Gear says she supports recruiting U.S. health-care professionals, as well as Canadian professionals currently practicing in the U.S. As talk of punishing U.S. tariffs on Canada has increased the impetus for the removal of interprovincial trade barriers, Gear says that licensing remains a serious stumbling block to recruiting from elsewhere in Canada. "There's definitely ... red tape and other challenges, that certainly slow down the process that I think the British Columbian government could work on," she said. Gear also says the province needs to improve working conditions for the nurses it hires, noting there are almost 6,000 nursing vacancies in B.C. "[We] know that we can recruit people, but the question is, can we retain them?" she said.
