This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
☀️Sunny and warmer, with highs in the 50s. Sunset is at 4:13 p.m.
A way to make Boston’s housing market more affordable might be right under our noses, a new report from the Boston Foundation and the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations says. The main takeaway from the report: housing already priced at the lower end of the market could go to nonprofits who will preserve it instead of to developers who might tear it down and build pricier units in its place.
“It’s really a struggle for working class and BIPOC communities to have the right to remain in the city,” Lydia Lowe, with the Chinatown Community Land Trust, told GBH’s Meghan Smith. “And if we only focus on new development, particularly in a community like Chinatown, there’s very limited land available.” You can find the rest of the story here.
Four Things to Know
1. Police in North Attleboro and Plainville said investigators are extending their search for information about the person who killed two people and injured nine more at Brown University into their towns.
“I want to emphasize that there is no immediate threat to our community,” North Attleboro Police Chief Richard McQuade wrote in a statement to residents. In Plainville, police officials wrote that “law enforcement personnel may be present in Plainville or surrounding communities to interview students, employees, or potential witnesses, particularly as much of the campus population has departed for winter break.”
2. After the Trump administration updated its list of countries whose residents are completely banned from traveling to the U.S. — adding Syria, South Sudan, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, as well as Palestinian Authority — Massachusetts residents with connections to those countries said they were disappointed and worried.
“Banning them from accessing those opportunities in the U.S. is counterintuitive. I feel the South Sudanese basically are being left out in the cold,” said Panther Alier of the local nonprofit South Sudanese Enrichment for Families. And Amjad Bahnassi, a psychiatrist in Worcester who moved to the U.S. from Syria, said he sees it as going against American principles: “People want to work, want to serve. They come here because they have dreams. And instead of us taking advantage of that, we’re blocking that,” Bahnassi said.
3. Foster parents in Massachusetts will no longer have to promise they will support and respect the sexual orientation and gender identity of children they take in. The change came after families who had or wanted to take in foster children sued the state, claiming the requirement went against their First Amendment rights to practice their religion freely (more on that lawsuit here.)
It also comes after a directive from the Trump administration to “take appropriate action to address State and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.” The state can still use its discretion when placing children with foster families — for instance, placing young people who identify as LGBTQ+ with families who will affirm them.
4. What would it take to extend the MBTA’s Orange Line from Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain into Roslindale or West Roxbury? State lawmakers in the Massachusetts House approved some money last week to study the idea. Any actual construction, if it happens, would be years away.
“This is all linking up to a broader discussion that the T is about to launch, which is their 25-year outlook, which they update every five years,” Caitlin Allen-Connelly, executive director of the organization TransitMatters, told the State House News Service. “So the study is actually coming at a good time to be able to look at it system wide, whether or not it would actually provide the improvements that we need and better service.”
Boston Fleet looking to build on historic 5–0 start
Some numbers to keep in mind just in case anyone tries to question Boston’s city of champions moniker in your presence: the Patriots are 11-3 for the season, the Bruins are second in their division, and there’s another team that started its season on a winning streak.
The Boston Fleet, the city’s Professional Women’s Hockey League team, is on a 5-0 run to start the season, the first team in the league’s three-year history to achieve that record.
“It started way back in training camp when we had that mindset of something to prove this season, and we want to be hard to play against,” Boston defender and captain Megan Keller said. “So I think for us that’s just been our focus each game is trying to be a tough team to play against. And just building off each one and getting better.”
Last night the team beat out the New York Sirens, 2-0.
“You’ve got to celebrate things when they’re going well and acknowledge them, so we’ve done that — but we’re also not content by any means,” new head coach Kris Sparre told GBH’s Esteban Bustillos. “We feel like, as a team, we have a lot of work to do still.”
Read Bustillos’ full story here.
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