Latest news with #EmbraceIdeasFestival
Boston Globe
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
At Embrace Ideas Festival, Black Bostonians discussed politics, art, business
Advertisement Margaret Breeden, daughter of Boston civil rights leader Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'My parents really ingrained social justice in me every day at the kitchen table, so I came here to figure out what I could do to help,' she said. In the first panel of the day, State Senator Liz Miranda and Segun Idowu, chief of economic opportunity and inclusion for the City of Boston discussed how they were using government policy to uplift Black Bostonians in light of the new presidential administration. Miranda represents the 2nd Suffolk district which includes parts of Roxbury, Mattapan, Dorchester and Northeastern University or 'the Blackest district in the Commonwealth' in her words. Idowu, a member of Mayor Wu's cabinet, Advertisement Idowu said that Trump's tariffs and executive orders would impact the 'five pillars' of Massachusetts' and the city of Boston's economy — medical institutions, educational institutions, life science research, tourism and climate technology. Idowu also said Trump's tariffs were impacting community projects in the city like the P3 project, a plan to build affordable housing and a research lab on the site of a vacant lot in Roxbury. Miranda was critical of the Trump administration's rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. She said Trump's actions would hurt sectors like medical research. 'It's not just symbolic, it's sidelining brilliant people,' Miranda said. Miranda also said that even when DEI policies were not under attack, Massachusetts' government was not representative. 'I'm one of four Black women in the entire legislature of 200 people … we're not even represented in the bluest state in the country,' Miranda said. Miranda encouraged attendees to boycott companies that rolled back DEI efforts and to contact their alma maters if the institutions were abandoning programs to foster diversity. The politicians also told the audience policy wins they're proud of. Miranda said that she's proud of a bill she passed last year that addresses the higher morbidity rate that Black mothers face compared to white mothers. 'Six years ago when I first started talking about this issue, everyone told me 'there's no problem here,' here in the public health Mecca of the world,' Miranda said sarcastically. Advertisement Idowu said that he felt proud that people of color have started businesses in almost every neighborhood in the city and no longer feel limited to Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury. 'The whole city belongs to us … we can go to establishments in other neighborhoods now and not feel policed,' Idowu said. Priscilla Douglas, an executive coach and author who recently stepped down from the board of the Boston Public Library, attended the Embrace Ideas Festival. She is a lifelong resident of the city who went to Northeastern University and worked at the Roxbury YMCA and the Urban League growing up, but said the festival was eye-opening. 'Listening to the policy panel, I had no idea that 17 percent of Boston residents live in poverty,' Douglas said. At the last panel of the day, Jeneé Osterheldt, deputy managing editor for culture, talent and development at The Boston Globe interviewed entrepreneur Morgan DeBaun about her new self-help book and her career. DeBaun is the founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., a digital media company geared to Black millennials. DeBaun said that she had the idea to start a company focused on Black people when she was working for Intuit in Silicon Valley because she didn't see anyone building technology with Black users as the primary customer they were targeting. DeBaun, who is originally from Missouri, said that the murder of Ferguson teenager Mike Brown at the hands of the police in 2014 also led to her wanting to work with Black people. Advertisement 'I was sitting in a cubicle in San Francisco after Mike Brown and the people around me were asking 'what's for lunch,' they just were not seeing what I was seeing,' DeBaun said. In the audience, Laurie Nicolas resonated with DeBaun's experiences of working in predominantly white offices. Nicolas works in the healthcare space but started her own nonprofit called Pink Sunday which focuses on physical fitness for women. Nicolas learned about the Embrace festival after the inauguration of the Embrace statue in Boston Commons in 2023. She said she appreciated the diversity of the speakers at the festival. 'I want to focus on cultivating spaces where people feel included, not just people who look like me, but all kinds of diversity and I learned a lot from this event,' Nicolas. This story was produced by the Globe's team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter . Angela Mathew can be reached at
Politico
a day ago
- Politics
- Politico
The Karen Read race
CASE CLOSED, RACE OPEN — The drama surrounding the drawn-out Karen Read murder trial finally reached its courtroom conclusion Wednesday. Now, it's about to hit the campaign trail. Read was acquitted Wednesday of the second-degree murder charge prosecutors retried her for, accusing her of killing her boyfriend, John O'Keefe. The made-for-TV trial and retrial (now part of an HBO docuseries with a three-part Netflix film on the way) attracted a flurry of attention across the country and outside the courthouse. It also drew scrutiny to Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey's office, particularly after one of the lead investigators on the case, Michael Proctor, was suspended and then fired after an investigation found he shared details of the case with non-law enforcement personnel and disparaged Read in a series of texts. Morrissey has already drawn two Democratic challengers — Craig MacLellan, a former prosecutor in Suffolk County, and Djuna Perkins, a former assistant district attorney in Suffolk County— who both launched their campaigns amid the messy trial last year. Perkins called on Morrissey to step down in a lengthy Facebook post in the wake of the verdict, criticizing the cost of retrying the case. Republicans are also eyeing the office. The MassGOP put out calls to potential candidates on social media over the past few days. Morrissey's campaign didn't respond to an inquiry yesterday. A poll conducted shortly after the verdict showed Morrisey's support flagging. Only about 4 percent of the more than 1,100 registered voters who responded to the Opinion Diagnostics survey — which ran from 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday after the jury announced their verdict — said they believed he had performed his job as Norfolk County District Attorney well enough to deserve reelection. Sixty percent said they believed it's time for someone new to fill the role. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. Based on those results, 'It is impossible for me to see how he is going to be reelected in 2026 either by winning a Democratic primary, or winning a general election,' pollster Brian Wynne told Playbook. Morrissey, who hasn't faced an electoral challenge in more than a decade, still has a cash advantage. He has $426,696 in his campaign account as of the end of May, more than both Perkins ($30,517) and MacLellan ($25,002). GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Stay cool and stay off the Mass Pike this weekend if you can help it. TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey speaks at Embrace Boston's 'Embrace Ideas Festival' at 1 p.m. in Boston. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll speaks at a ribbon cutting for Martha's Vineyard Hospital & Navigator Nursing Home's workforce housing initiative at 5 p.m. in Edgartown. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu speaks at the Pine Street Inn job training graduation at 10:45 a.m. in the South End. THIS WEEKEND — Rep. Katherine Clark is on WBZ's 'Keller @ Large' at 8:30 a.m. and NBC 10 Boston Weekend Today at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@ DATELINE BEACON HILL — Senate putting reproductive rights bill on floor next week by Chris Lisinski, State House News Service: 'The Senate plans to vote next week on legislation updating a 2022 law that shields reproductive and transgender care providers from out-of-state legal action, Senate President Karen Spilka said Wednesday. Marking a response to the shifting policy landscape under the Trump administration, the Senate Ways and Means Committee plans Wednesday to advance the bill (S 2522) that top Senate Democrats pledged to pursue more than two months ago.' — Massachusetts state lawmaker 'lucky' to avoid serious injuries in hit-and-run by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald: 'Rep. Steven Xiarhos — a Republican who represents Sandwich and parts of Barnstable and Bourne — was involved in the hit-and-run on Route 3 in Braintree, while en route to the State House from Cape Cod, at about 10 a.m. on Wednesday. 'Another driver, operating recklessly at a high rate of speed, struck the rear of Rep. Xiarhos' vehicle on the highway and narrowly missed colliding with a nearby motorcycle,' Xiarhos' office posted on social media Thursday afternoon.' MIGRANTS IN MASSACHUSETTS — Mexican workers arrested in immigration raid in South End by Kevin G. Andrade, The New Bedford Light: 'In what may be the largest single immigration detention in the city since January, federal agents detained multiple men near a popular South End restaurant on Thursday. Between five and eight Mexican men on their way to work in the building trades were detained in an operation at the corner of South Second Street and Cove Street in the South End, according to Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts.' — Advocates push for juvenile fingerprint data sharing to end, as ICE detains Chelsea teens by Sarah Betancourt, GBH News: 'In Chelsea, at least five minors who were recently arrested by the Chelsea Police Department were detained by federal immigration authorities after their release from police custody. The similarities of these incidents have many in the community feeling extreme distress. In Massachusetts, it's standard practice for police to collect fingerprints of the people they arrest, and share those fingerprints to a database with the FBI.' THE RACE FOR CITY HALL BIG SPENDERS — The money keeps flowing in Boston's mayoral race. The 'Your City, Your Future' that's backing mayoral hopeful Josh Kraft also reported a spate of new donations Wednesday, including $100,000 from billionaire John Paulson, who was floated as a potential Trump Treasury secretary after the president won his second term. The pro-Wu 'Bold Boston' super PAC also reported its first fundraising haul Wednesday night. The PAC has raised $743,000 so far this cycle, a number that includes a $100,000 donation from 1199 SEIU MA PAC, $175,000 from the Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund and $100,000 from Karen Firestone, the mother of Mike Firestone, Wu's chief of policy. — McCauley stepping down from Ward 5 for likely mayoral run by Matt Petry, The Newburyport Daily News: 'Revealing that he has known for months that he would not be seeking another term representing Ward 5, City Councilor Jim McCauley shared why he is seriously considering a run for mayor. 'Last fall, I made a decision not to run for reelection in my ward. And over the last six or eight months, I've seen some things that I think we could do better with a change. I think I can represent that change,' McCauley said, earlier this week while sitting down with Daily News staff.' — West Springfield town councilor, a former cop, aims to silence mayor's 'echo chamber' by Aprell May Munford, The Springfield Republican: 'Over the last 10 years, town government has been on a spending spree, Town Councilor Daniel M. O'Brien says. To oppose that, O'Brien is running for mayor. He took out papers June 2 to run against incumbent Mayor William C. Reichelt in the November election. Reichelt says O'Brien's statements are not true, that town spending is reasonable, and residents are getting value for their money.' PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES — MassDOT goes with Irish service plaza operator over local objections by Matthew Medsgar, Boston Herald: 'The MassDOT board of directors has awarded a 35-year service plaza contract to an Ireland-based company over the hundreds of objections offered against the deal. The board sat through more than an hour of complaints about the deal during their regular meeting on Wednesday, with dozens of speakers arriving in person to voice their displeasure and hundreds of opinions offered to them in writing, before overwhelmingly approving the contract selected by a committee formed for that purpose.' ON CAMPUS — UMass Amherst sounds the alarm amid federal uncertainty by Juliet Schulman-Hall, MassLive: 'As the federal government cuts back on research and curtails foreign student enrollment, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is sounding the alarm and preparing for the worst, according to a Wednesday email from school administrators. All academic and administrative departments on campus have been asked to develop budget scenarios that include 3% and 5% reductions, according to the administrators. The departments are also being instructed to only hire for positions deemed critical to university operations. Hires that cost more than $50,000 must be approved by the vice chancellor or provost, the administrators wrote.' FROM THE DELEGATION — Markey wants answers from Verizon over lead in old phone lines by Jim Kinney, The Springfield Republican: 'U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey D-Mass., wants to know where Verizon's old lead-sheathed telephone cables are and what the legacy phone company is doing to protect its workers and the public. A sediment sample collected by federal inspectors from a telephone worker manhole under Central Street in Springfield in January was found to be 3% lead.' FROM THE 413 — Déjà vu: Northampton City Council fails to pass budget for second straight year by Alexander MacDougall, Daily Hampshire Gazette: 'In a repeat of last year's outcome, the City Council on Wednesday failed to approve Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra's budget for next fiscal year, owing in large part to the council president's legal inability to cast the deciding vote. Under the city's charter, the city budget must be passed by a two-thirds majority of the nine-member council, or with six votes. But Council President Alex Jarrett, who represents Ward 5 and spoke in support of the mayor's $145 million budget, could not take the final vote on the budget due to his daytime role in running the Pedal People co-operative collection service.' — Residents petition Amherst to help curb ICE actions in town by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: 'Amherst residents are petitioning the Town Council to push back on Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions that might lead to immigrants being held against their will and possibly being deported from the United States. At Monday's council meeting, the second held following the late May incidents in which two Amherst residents were picked up by ICE, an appeal was made by residents for police officers to take a more active role in helping immigrants living in the community, and identifying the legitimacy of federal agents who may be operating in town.' THE LOCAL ANGLE —Worcester city councilors fear for their safety amid rise in threats and harassment by Sam Turken, GBH News: 'Worcester city councilors say they've received an increasing number of threats in recent weeks, as tensions across the community remain high following an immigration arrest that turned chaotic. During a City Council meeting Tuesday, Councilor Etel Haxhiaj said she has been stalked, accosted at public events, and sent messages targeting her sons and calling for her to be raped and killed.' — Bridgewater-Raynham teachers speak out ahead of override elections by Emma Rindlisbacher, The Taunton Daily Gazette — How New Bedford is reviving vacant properties by Grace Ferguson, The New Bedford Light. WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD BE READING — Five years after COVID closed schools, Massachusetts parents still worry about pandemic effects on kids by Maria Probert, The Boston Globe. — Whistleblowers claim 2024 psychedelics ballot initiative violated campaign finance laws by Jack Gorsline, HorizonMass. — Fall River plows forward amid tariffs and harsh immigration policies by Omar Mohammed, The Boston Globe. HEARD 'ROUND THE BUBBLAH HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to state Sen. Sal DiDomenico, Mark Gardner, The Boston Globe's Samantha J. Gross, Eagle-Tribune alum Breanna Edelstein, Tom Tripicco, Sydney Asbury, and Anastasia Nicolaou. HAPPY BIRTHWEEKEND — to former state Rep. James Dwyer and Mason Reynolds, who celebrate Saturday; and to Sunday birthday-ers Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is 76; state Rep. Tram Nguyen, state Rep. Kay Khan, Matt Sheaff and Brendan Concannon.
