Boston

March 5, 2021 0

Will apprenticeships help save the US workforce in pandemic aftermath?

By Carey Lin (To read this post in Chinese, please click here.) On Feb 17, the Biden administration announced their goal of providing better-paying work opportunities for Americans, beginning with the Apprenticeship Act of 2021, which includes putting $400 million into apprenticeship programs. While the act has yet to pass, the Department of Labor (DoL) has also announced that they will be taking action to strengthen and streamline the Registered Apprenticeship Program to ensure that it can better meet the […]

March 5, 2021 0

Looming MBTA Service Reduction Causes Anxiety Among Local Residents

by Martin Ma (馬笑喻)

MBTA riders took 333,000 daily trips in 2020, a fraction of the 1.26 million trips taken daily in 2019, according to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. In response to dwindling ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic, the MBTA announced service changes as part of its Forging Ahead initiative, which was created in response to the organization’s $580 million budget shortfall. On Feb. 23, the MBTA service planning team held a virtual meeting to inform the public about the temporary schedule changes […]

February 19, 2021 0

Amidst new state initiatives, bilingual senior home residents reflect on overcoming vaccine hesitancy

by Christine Mui

For weeks, a coalition of local organizations and medical professionals have urged Governor Charlie Baker to prioritize the state’s minority and immigrant communities during COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Further slowing vaccination efforts, vaccine hesitancy stemming from historical health inequities persists among eligible seniors in those communities. Two Chinese residents of the Brown Family House, who received the COVID-19 vaccine as part of Phase 1 of Massachusetts’ rollout plan, spoke to Sampan about the experience and why they overcame their vaccine hesitancy. […]

February 5, 2021 0

Tufts Medical Center talks COVID-19 vaccine efficacy & roll-out

by Carey Lin

About a year since the first outbreak of the coronavirus, vaccines countering the virus have finally begun rolling out. However, there has been a lot of confusion and concern about the efficacy of the vaccine and the method in which it is available to the public. Sampan had the opportunity to interview Dr. Helen Boucher, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Tufts Medical Center (TMC) to address some of these concerns. Dr. Boucher has been at the frontlines in managing responses […]

China Pearl resturant in Chinatown will face challenges

February 5, 2021 0

Restaurants foresee business challenges for Chinese New Year

by Shira Laucharoen

Restaurants in Chinatown and beyond anticipate that this year’s Chinese New Year will be different from past celebrations. While business owners said they believe people will still find ways to keep the spirit alive, many spaces whose banquets bring in a significant amount of revenue will be cutting back on the festivities. The holiday will mostly be honored at home, owners said. “We haven’t been prepping in the sense that we have in the past, because of COVID and the […]

January 22, 2021 0

Thank You, Boston

by guest

By Mayor Martin J. Walsh On January 12, I held my final State of the City, which was broadcast live from Boston’s newest civic treasure, the completely rebuilt Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library in Nubian Square. 2020 was a tough year. 2021 is a year for healing as we keep each other safe; get through this final stretch of the pandemic; and build a recovery that moves all our neighborhoods forward. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we have […]

January 22, 2021 0

A Boston origin of… duck sauce?

by Richard Auffrey

If you dine at local Chinese restaurants, you’ve probably been served a container of duck sauce, a versatile sweet and sour sauce that is commonly used for dipping fried foods, from eggrolls to chicken fingers, fried wontons to crab rangoons. It has become such a familiar sauce that you can find it at non-Chinese restaurants too, especially with an order of chicken fingers. What is the origin of this curious sauce? Theories abound about its origin, most believing it acquired its name […]

Councilor Ed Flynn addresses concerns in Boston Public Schools panel

January 22, 2021 0

BPS Panel on concerns of the AAPI community

by Mandy Sun

Councilor Ed Flynn hosted a panel discussion with Superintendent Brenda Cassellius to address the concerns with the immigrant Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in regards to Boston Public Schools (BPS). This discussion provided a long-awaited platform for AAPI educators to express their concerns while sharing their vision for an inclusive and anti-racist education structure. Given the Boston AAPI community’s long history of being silenced and unheard within the system, Ed Flynn, District 2 councilor, reasserted that, “our Asian community […]

A purple train, like the commuter rail trains that will experience MBTA service cuts

January 22, 2021 0

First of MBTA service cuts, reduced weekend train service, to start Jan. 23

by Christine Mui

Weekend train service will be slashed for all but five commuter rail lines as part of the first MBTA service cuts to go into effect next week. Beginning Jan. 23, the commuter rail will only offer weekend service on the Newburyport/Rockport, Framingham/Worcester, Fairmount, Providence, and Middleborough lines. Trains will be added to the Middleborough, Fairmount, and Newburyport/Rockport lines to fill in previous service gaps and maintain more consistent train intervals. The service cuts were approved last month by the MBTA’s […]

In March, this is what your new electricity bill from Eversource might look like, with graphs that show your usage history

January 8, 2021 0

Boston launches Community Choice Electricity program

by Anqi Zhang

As a step working towards Boston Mayor Walsh’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, Boston is set to launch the Community Choice Electricity program (CCE). All Boston residents will be automatically enrolled in the program in February 2021, unless they choose to opt-out. “Through the program, the city of Boston can pull the collective buying power of Boston’s residents and businesses to negotiate favorable electric contracts with electricity suppliers,” said Aidan Smith, CCE Outreach Coordinator on the Dec. 21 […]

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