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🌤️Some sun and some clouds, with highs in the 70s. Sunset is at 7:55 p.m.

Today we take you behind the scenes with Paris Alston for one of her Walk Down the Block features. Plus, find out how you can contribute to GBH’s upcoming coverage. But first, a story about research behind bars: Dwight Williams, 41, is currently imprisoned for a 2005 murder he says he didn’t commit. Over the years, he’s tried to get state-appointed attorneys to take up his appeal, but has been repeatedly disappointed. He’s heard similar stories from other incarcerated people around him.

So Williams created a survey, basing his questions on a manual for public defenders, and distributed it to almost 60 people in state prisons. He found some patterns: half of respondents said their attorney met with them in person just 1-3 times, and 16% said they didn’t once meet in person with their court-appointed attorneys.

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“I basically took it upon myself to try to document these complaints and just gauge people’s experiences. So I created a questionnaire and I just asked people to answer yes or no,” Williams told GBH News Senior Editor Paul Singer. Williams’ findings, he says, point to a troubling conclusion: “people are not receiving their constitutional guarantee to effective representation, which is denying them also of a fair trial.”

Four Things to Know

1. Last week, Federal immigration agents detained a Milford woman originally from Brazil, taking her from her car in front of her daughters, ages 3 and 9. Tatiane De Jesus Santos is in the U.S. without authorization, having overstayed a tourist visa.

“She was crying and crying, asking them, ‘Please do not take me. I have my daughters,’” said her attorney Eloa Celedon, recounting what De Jesus Santos told her from an ICE detention center in Louisiana. “She’s an overstay. She has no criminal record. Yes, she’s out of status, but she has not committed a crime.”

2. Will the Connecticut Sun become Boston’s WNBA team? Not so fast: with the team’s current owner, the Mohegan Tribe, reportedly looking to sell, and a bid from Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca on the table, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said he’s trying to keep the team in state.

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“We’re right in the fourth quarter,” Lamont said. “We still have some catching up to do. But it’s not over until it’s over – we’re fighting like heck. Connecticut’s the home of women’s basketball – the Sun ought to be right here.”

3. The owner of a wildlife rescue organization in Salem that cares for injured bunnies, squirrels and other small mammals said she can no longer keep up with the high cost of living in Massachusetts and will move her rescue to North Carolina.

“It was either close permanently and give up everything, or relocate and still have a chance of having something,” said Jess Reese, owner of Salem Wildlife Rescue.

4. A sliver of good news for travelers: About 72% of flights departing from Boston’s Logan International Airport were on time in July, according to the aviation analytics firm Cirium.

That might be below the industry standard of 80% for good performance, but it is better than the on-time rates at Chicago’s O’Hare, New York’s LaGuardia and New Jersey’s Newark airports, which were all around 65%.

A Walk Down the Block: Brockton, Cape Verde’s '11th island’

By Paris Alston

Summer is the perfect time to take A Walk Down the Block – especially when it’s not too hot! I recently hit the pavement in Brockton to learn more about the Cape Verdean community’s huge footprint there. This came as the archipelagic country off the western coast of Africa celebrated 50 years of independence from Portugal on July 5.

Cape Verdeans began arriving in Massachusetts in the 18th century for maritime jobs like fishing and whaling. Today, more than 70,000 Cape Verdeans live here, making it the Bay State home to the largest Cape Verdean population in the U.S. The biggest community is in Brockton, and you can see it in the many shops, restaurants and other businesses that line Main Street and beyond.

“You feel like you’re in Cape Verde,” said Moises Rodrigues, a local politician who also heads the Cape Verdean Association of Brockton.

He and local historian Aminah Fernandes Pilgrim showed me around the neighborhood to illustrate the influence of Cape Verdeans on Brockton and also discuss the community’s migration patterns. They exchanged smiles, handshakes and hugs with residents and business owners along the way as they greeted each other in Cape Verdean Creole. It was evident that for them, independence not only means freedom, but joy and community as well.

I was inspired to report this story due to Brockton becoming the first majority-Black city in New England. That is in large part thanks to the Cape Verdean population there. Historically, there has been a lot of negative coverage of Brockton, but it was important for me to tell a story that would help shift that narrative, and to tell a positive story about immigration at a time when many immigrant communities are vulnerable. Through my own research I found Moises and Aminah, who have proven to be excellent voices and collaborators on this story. In addition to Moises’ monumental run for mayor, be sure to check out Aminah’s work with the Brockton Black History Tour.

As part of my reporting, I spent some time in the Brockton Public Library during the office hours that GBH’s Equity and Justice team hosts there every first Thursday of the month, including today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 304 Main St, Brockton. It’s a chance for us to connect to the community and hear what matters to you, and I highly encourage you to stop by sometime — especially if you’ve always wanted to chat with a journalist.

Check out the full Walk Down the Block here. 

Dig deeper: 

-Massachusetts Cape Verdeans mark 50 years of Independence

-Full series: A Walk Down the Block