Latest news with #MissionHill
CBS News
5 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Boston renter says mice, bed bug problem has gotten worse, warns against used furniture
Boston's rodent and bed bug problem may be getting worse. A man who rents on Mission Hill says his landlord has been trying to get rid of the pests for months, and he's not alone. Fritz, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he's been experiencing bed bugs and mice at his apartment on Hillside Street on Mission Hill. He's been living there for almost a year. He started noticing mice in the building about six months ago. "We've been seeing four or five that we've caught then we've put everything in jars that mice can't get to, but we are still seeing mice," Fritz said. "Then we also had an incident with bed bugs." Fritz said after multiple exterminator visits, the problem is not going away in their unit. "There were droppings all over the pantry, a little bit on the floor," Fritz said. "It also just made it kind of gross to go cook in the kitchen when there may be mice droppings. We would clean it up and then a couple days later they obviously came back. Just makes it really tough." "We understand that neighborhoods with high rates of tenant turnover are particularly vulnerable to bed bug infestations-especially when used furniture is brought into homes or when residents attempt do-it-yourself treatments," Boston Inspectional Services said. "We strongly encourage anyone experiencing an infestation to immediately notify their landlord so that prompt and proper treatment can begin." Which is something Fritz has done on multiple occasions. "I think the message the landlord is sending is that he's doing everything he can. But from our perspective every day we are still seeing mice and bed bugs," Fritz said. "Makes it tough to stay there especially with the high rent prices." He also says he's been spending less time at his apartment because the issue hasn't been resolved. "I have heard that it's gotten worse," Fritz said. "I did speak with Terminix, and they said that they've seen an uptick in especially the Boston area, specifically with college students." Fritz, who just graduated college last year, warns college students who are getting ready to move back into their apartments soon to avoid used furniture. "It may seem like a good deal, a $50 couch but definitely worth it to just go and buy a new one in my opinion," Fritz said. "Or if you are getting used furniture, definitely make sure you are at least checking it, making sure there are no bed bugs on it, because you will be paying a lot more in exterminator fees than you will be in just buying the new property."
Forbes
30-06-2025
- Forbes
8 Wines That Will Sell You On Canada's Viticulture Potential
From Pinot Noirs that reflect mountain terroir to explorative Ontario Gamay, the great white north makes great wines. Martin's Lane Winery Recently, the Canadian wine scene has bloomed under a recent surge of patriotism. As retaliatory tariffs and tariff-related boycotts removed American wine and spirits from the country's major markets, Canadian winemakers stepped up. Missing Oregon Pinot Noir? Consider British Columbia. Do you have a California Chardonnay-sized hole in your heart? Niagara can offer some equally exciting options. Curious? It's time to try something Canadian. The following bottles are jumping off points for exploring Canadian wine. Start here, and explore from there. And, it's Canada Day! to tip your hat and pop a cork to your neighbors in the North. In Canada's Ocean Playground, crisp, sparkling wines have a maritime swagger. It's literal—the majority of Nova Scotia's vines grow within a mile or two from the ocean, on soil filled with deposited minerals and ancient sea creatures. The tidal activity is some of the world's most extreme, spraying showers of salt onto the vines. At Wolfville's Benjamin Bridge, sea-kissed sparkling wines come in many forms, from Champagne-like to low-alcohol and fruit-driven piquettes. Founded in 1999, the sparkling wine house played a pivotal role in elevating Nova Scotia's budding wine scene. Mission Hill's Award-Winning Oculus This is Canada's gold standard - the first 100-point wine the country has turned out. Looking at the winery it's easy to understand how vines and wine thrive from the land. Mission Hill sits on a grand hill above the Okanagan Lake, with the vines unfolding on the green slopes. Deer weave in between and under the vines, working away at the ground cover. When Anthony von Mandl opened Mission Hill in 1981, the valley was better known for its stone fruit — he was a strong, and sometimes sole, advocate for the valley's viticultural potential. He was right. When they first launched Oculus in 1999, it quickly became cult wine, a Meritage, Bordeaux-by-way-of-British Columbia bottle well worth the three-figure price tag. And it is, in its youth, muscular but tamed and elegant, with the bolder cedar box and blackberries softening under notes of wild flowers and violets. Let it age to fully explore Canada's potential. Thomas Bachelder's Curious Gamays Thomas Bachelder is known for his Chardonnay and Pinot Noir—inquisitive and exacting interrogations on the Burgundian grapes conducted in Niagara soil. He's made this apparent at both Le Clos Jordanne and his namesake winery, where he champions Burgundian grapes through a sustainable lens. On his own time, he's also a micronegotiant, pulling grapes from microplots and specific soils to look at what Niagara can do. Appropriately, his list of SKUs is dizzying—Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Gamay from here, there, and everywhere. Bachelder examines all them, where they're from and why they're worth knowing. Then, he ushers them through vinification, pulling lessons from his time in Burgundy and Oregon to puzzle together a wine that best represents each plot. I love all of them, but I am always most excited by the Gamays, which offer up many different personalities, and all of them well worth knowing. Checkmate's Exacting Chardonnays Checkmate, perched on an Oliver bench, specializes in two things: Chardonnay and Merlot. Which, in the wine world, is an odd coupling—both grapes are seldom grown in similar regions. In the Okanagan, it works. The cool climate and influence of the lakes and mountains allow both grapes to have long, elegant growing seasons (well, if the frost holds off). Checkmate approaches their wines by taking each vineyard and looking at its personality – the story of each microclimate. Which sounds like more of a cerebral exercise, but consider where Checkmate is. The winery sits on the Golden Mile bench, at the foot of an Oliver mountain. Its highest vineyards are at 1,200 feet – crisp, cool and kissed with mountain air. Other vineyards (like where the 'Little Pawn' is made) are on the adjacent side of the Valley, which is dry, hot, remote and arid. Showcasing each is an exercise in terroir, and a flex of winemaking prowess but mark my words, all of Checkmate's Chardonnays are beautiful and benchmark, threaded together by their draping acidity and tension. Martin's Lane Precise Pinot Noirs Despite what the Kiwi accent may suggest, winemaker Shane Munn has a deep-rooted understanding of Canadian terroir. His focus is Pinot Noirs and Riesling, which speaks volumes about his precision - those are two of the wine world's most prestigious and prickliest grapes. He constantly sticks the landing, turning the mountain air and ancient forests of his surroundings into intuitive, cerebral, special single-vineyards Pinot Noirs. The winery itself is designed in wood and corten steel to mirror the cliffs hovering over the winery and the soaring pines that surround the winery. It's a tiny property, producing only 2,000 cases per vintage and the majority gets snapped up by the wine club (which is wait-list only, sorry).
