Free Republic

In December, Roxbury residents learned the Walgreens location on Warren Street would close its doors in January. It's the fourth Boston Walgreens to close in just over a year, all of which have been in predominately Black and Latino neighborhoods. For customers in those communities, the closures mean more than just losing a pharmacy — it may also mean decreased access to groceries, hygiene products and certain essential healthcare services. Today on The Common, Boston Globe Money, Power and Inequality Reporter Tiana Woodard explains how the closure of retail pharmacies further exacerbates healthcare disparities in the city and what options...

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley endorsed fellow Massachusetts lawmaker Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic presidential primary Wednesday. Pressley's endorsement came after the rest of a grouping of progressive congresswomen colloquially known as "the Squad" announced they were supporting Senator Bernie Sanders' bid for the presidency. In a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Pressley said she was supporting Warren because the senator is a "consistent" advocate for progressive change who "never loses sight of the people." "You've all heard about the senator's plans, but here's the thing - the plans are about power. Who has it, who refuses to let it go,...

Most Democrats would back a democratic socialist for public office, according to a Hill-HarrisX poll released on Wednesday. The survey found that 75 percent of Democratic voters said they would support a candidate who embraced the label, while 26 percent of Republicans and 36 percent of independents said the same. Younger voters were also more likely to throw their support behind a self-described democratic socialist. Seventy-four percent of those aged 18-34 said they would back a candidate with the tag, compared to 52 percent of those aged 35-49 and 30 percent of those aged 50-64. However, voters were nearly evenly...

Boston’s city council is getting a new look: its first female majority and a more racially diverse lineup than ever before. Voters on Tuesday elected the council’s first Latina. They also voted in a slate of female candidates. Starting in January, the 13-member council will have eight women. Seven councilors will be minorities, the council’s most ever. Asian American city councilor Michelle Wu says it’s the “new face” of Boston politics. Voters also rejected a ballot question to change the name of Dudley Square in historically black Roxbury to Nubian Square. SNIP The council was a white male bastion for...

BOSTON, Mass (WPRI) — The search is on for a driver, accused of a hit-and-run that injured police officers. According to Boston Police Superintendent Randall Halstead, police were responding to a report of a person with a gun at around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, when they spotted a car that matched one of the three possible descriptions given. When approaching the car, the driver took off, dragging two officers and nearly hitting two others.

The daughter of former Vice President Al Gore appeared Friday at a hearing in West Roxbury Municipal Court after she was arrested for protesting the construction of Spectra Energy’s West Roxbury Lateral pipeline. “This pipeline is being built in West Roxbury against the will of the community. Elected officials have opposed it,” Karenna Gore said outside of the courtroom. “We’re in a position with climate change where, if we just keep on going like nothing is wrong and continue to use fossil fuels… then we are really headed for the worst.”

“Don’t make this about race.” I’ve heard this sentence a lot recently, read it a lot online. Saw its use launch a Facebook flame war while I waited for my plane to board at the end of spring break. It’s the easiest way for white people to invalidate experiences of oppression and avoid fraught debates about justice in America. But of course it’s about race—everything is. Our country was built on oppression, and race is everywhere, at every moment on my standard trip back to Harvard. The view from my airplane window is about race. Colonizers killed Indigenous people for...

BOSTON (AP) -- Archeologists in Boston are digging at the boyhood home of slain black rights activist Malcolm X. The two-week archaeological dig begins Tuesday in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.

Decorated Boston Police Officer in Coma After 'Unprovoked' Shooting Mar 28, 2015 By EMILY SHAPIRO A Boston police officer was shot during a motor vehicle stop in Roxbury on March 27, 2015. ABC News A police officer decorated for his role in the Boston Marathon bombing remains in critical condition in a medically induced coma after he was shot in the face during a traffic stop, the city's police commissioner said today. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans called the shooting of Officer John Moynihan on Friday night "unprovoked." He and five other officers had pulled over a driver in Roxbury,...

A Hub gang cop was seriously injured last night after being shot in the face during a Roxbury gun battle that left one suspect dead, an innocent bystander wounded and neighbors ducking for cover. “The officer here is in tough shape, but we’re all pulling for him and hopefully he’ll pull through. His family is with him, the clergy has been here, and again, let’s pray for him,” Boston police Commissioner William B. Evans said following the 6:40 p.m. shootout on Humboldt Avenue near Ruthven Street.

A police officer decorated for his role in the Boston Marathon bombing remains in critical condition in a medically-induced coma after he was shot in the face during a traffic stop, the city's police commissioner said today. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans called the shooting of officer John Moynihan on Friday night "unprovoked." He and five other officers had pulled over a driver in Roxbury, Massachusetts, when the driver began firing at the officers, according to police.

Three women are accused of attacking a man on the number 28 MTBA bus and then throwing bleach on him. Police said the women hit a man over his head and stole money from his pocket. As they were leaving the bus, they took bleach from a water bottle and threw it in the victim’s face, according to police. Neighbors in the Roxbury community were horrified. “Yeah it is disappointing for these young kids. There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach,” said one woman. “The reason why the kids are out of hand is because...

A 13-year-old who police said was an innocent victim was shot in the stomach last night on a Roxbury street while walking to church for choir practice. The victim was taken to Boston Medical Center after the 7:10 p.m. shooting on Humboldt Avenue. Police said he is in critical condition and that his mother was by his side. Police said they are looking for a gray vehicle tied to the shooting at the corner of Homestead Street. Danielle Hunter, 29, said she stayed holed up in her home after she heard four shots. “The violence — it’s just terrible. It’s...

— On Thursday, a crowd of around 250 people gathered at a public library in the urban neighborhood of Roxbury. They were brought together by unions and community organizing groups. One woman addressed the crowd in Spanish; many talked about their experiences on Medicare or Social Security. They held signs reading: “The people have spoken. Protect services” and “Raise revenue.” Congress this week will begin to debate how to address the “fiscal cliff” – the expiration of several tax cuts at the end of the year at the same time as major cuts to domestic and military spending, referred to...

Abdel Majid left behind family and friends in Morocco four years ago to study and work in the United States. Yesterday, as he heard the traditional Muslim call to prayer at the new Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury, he truly felt at home. “The population here - most of them are immigrants far from where they grew up,” said the 29-year-old Revere man. “To hear the call of prayer makes you feel this is really your country.” Yesterday, Muslims from across the region watched the capping of the mosque’s minaret, the tower from which the call to...

Law student takes aim at Wilkerson... She is the daughter of immigrants. She is black and Hispanic. She is a single mother, and a Muslim. And, to the delight of the state party, Samiyah Diaz is also a Republican. The law student, who is collecting signatures to oppose state Senator Dianne Wilkerson, the Roxbury Democrat, in November, may have little chance of besting the 13-year incumbent. But for longtime Republicans, Diaz's candidacy is as much about shifting the image of the Republican Party as it is about winning. ''For the Republican Party, which needs to find some new energy on...

A lawyer, citing a state law that encourages open debate about development projects, is seeking dismissal of a suit that claims his clients conspired to stop construction of a large mosque and cultural center in Roxbury. Boston lawyer Jeffrey S. Robbins declared in motions filed last Friday in Suffolk Superior Court that his clients had not made any false or defamatory statements about the Islamic Society of Boston, which is developing the $24.5 million project in Roxbury Crossing, or its leaders. Also, Robbins, who represents a handful of the groups and individuals named in the suit, stated in his motions...

A lone cop trying to cuff a man firing bullets into the night sky in Roxbury early yesterday was confronted by nearly 200 frenzied, bottle-throwing, cursing youths. By the end of the tense incident, eight people, including six teens, were arrested. According to police, the officer walked into the crowd standing near Lawrence Avenue and Mascoma Street at 1:22 a.m. He watched Luis Rivera, 23, of Roxbury stand in the middle of the intersection, point a gun toward the sky, and squeeze off one round. The cop began to approach Rivera, who apparently did not realize that a uniformed officer...

The Islamic organization poised to build the largest mosque in the Northeast on a site in Roxbury has long-standing ties to an Egyptian cleric who praises suicide bombings and a Muslim activist indicted last week in a terrorism financing probe. The Islamic Society of Boston, which has city approval to build a sprawling $22 million Islamic cultural center and mosque on Malcolm X Boulevard, has had a long association with Dr. Yusuf Abdullah al-Qaradawi, whose vocal support of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas prompted the State Department to bar him from entering the U.S. four years ago. The local religious...

Holy Wisdom Byzantine Catholic Church had a promising beginning when it opened in the Succasunna section of Roxbury in the 1970s: The modest building was the only Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic parish for 38 miles. Worshippers from coal and steel mining towns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with roots in Eastern Europe joined Holy Wisdom to practice their religion, which follows the principles of Roman Catholicism and the customs of the Eastern Orthodox church. In recent years, membership has declined. Holy Wisdom's congregants, like Byzantine Catholics elsewhere in New Jersey, have joined Roman Catholic churches that are closer to home. Decreasing...