out of 81 total bylines, here are some highlights.
I led the FreeP as editor-in-chief for seven months, throughout the duration of Boston University’s first-ever hybrid experiment and the 2020 U.S. general election.
Read my farewell letter here.
CTRL+F to jump to categories:
business | housing | transportation | health | environment | politics | protests | identities | higher education | fun features | breaking briefs
Business
Lack of foot traffic continues to cripple small Comm. Ave. restaurants
Oct. 13, 2020 — Campus News | link/pdf
Behind a hand-drawn sign on the restaurant storefront that reads “Support Your Local Business,” the owners of University Grill and Pizza can often be found sitting at empty tables instead of preparing food behind the counter.
Liquor stores are still accessible in a global pandemic, and experts say it makes sense
April 28, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Gyms, theaters and shopping malls have all shut their doors to the public amid the coronavirus epidemic. Yet liquor stores remain open in Massachusetts because the state has deemed them essential businesses.
Local service industry suffers in wake of coronavirus precautions
March 17, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Food and retail establishments still packed a month ago now stand empty across the city.
Massachusetts seeing shortage of caretakers for seniors
Feb. 6, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Caretakers for the elderly and those with disabilities are getting paid too little in Massachusetts to keep working.
Contradictory regulations disadvantage smaller cannabis entrepreneurs
Dec. 5, 2019 — City News | link/pdf
Most municipalities have restrictive regulations that require businesses to secure a location for their enterprise while also limiting the areas in which stores can operate.
Housing
A look into life on the streets of Boston
Jan. 30, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
The Daily Free Press explored what it’s like to survive without a home during Boston winters.
City, housing experts say report naming 02215 most expensive ZIP code in U.S. is inaccurate
Nov. 14, 2019 — City News | link/pdf
Keisha Bannister refuses to sleep on the streets. At 41, the single parent has raised three children by seeking out homeless shelters in between apartments.
Transportation
How Baker’s $1 charge on Uber and Lyft rides might affect your commute
Feb. 18, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
A proposed fee hike for ride-hailing apps in Mass. promises revenue for transit improvements — and it’s riders and drivers who may end up shouldering the cost.
Bill to expand driver’s licensing moves forward in Mass. House
Feb. 9, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts cannot legally drive, but that may soon change.
Where do old T cars go after retirement?
Jan. 23, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
As the MBTA begins to replace some of its Orange and Red line cars, The Daily Free Press takes a look at where retired trolleys end up.
Distracted driving bill passes Mass. legislature, awaits Baker’s signature
Nov. 21, 2019 — City News | link/pdf
Massachusetts drivers might soon face penalties for driving with a phone in their hand. A bill aimed at deterring distracted driving passed the state legislature Wednesday and is now a signature away from becoming law.
Health
Boston residents say return of students more bearable than expected
Dec. 9, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Despite their fears this summer, some Boston residents said the reality of college students’ return beats the catastrophe they had expected.
Senior care services stay open while navigating coronavirus challenges
March 24, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
During a global pandemic in which elder populations are among those most compromised, local care services have stepped up protective measures for both their consumers and the workers who serve them.
Mass. Senate releases comprehensive bill to boost access to mental health care
Feb. 12, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
State senators released legislation that would tackle issues in all facets of the Massachusetts mental health care system, in which services remain inaccessible to many who need them.
Local biotech company developing coronavirus vaccine
Jan. 30, 2020 – City News | link/pdf
A Cambridge company is working to develop a vaccine for the new coronavirus that has ignited concern around the globe.
Court allows statewide vape ban to stand, for now
Oct. 24, 2019 — City News | link/pdf
A public health researcher who testified against the prohibition said in an interview that this ban misses the mark on reducing vape-borne illnesses — in fact, it could make things worse.
ENVIRONMENT
Experts, advocates analyze temporary reusable bag ban in Massachusetts
March 29, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Recent health concerns surrounding COVID-19 prompted Gov. Charlie Baker to implement a temporary statewide ban on reusable shopping bags Wednesday.
Politics
‘Politically homeless’ young conservatives seek to build Republican Party of the future
Oct. 15, 2020 — Community Features | link/pdf
Conservative college students disillusioned with today’s partisan polarization are banding together to push for reform in the Republican Party. Founded in Massachusetts, “gen z gop” advocates for discourse over division and seeks to vote President Donald Trump out of office.
Biden collects wins on Super Tuesday, Warren loses home state
March 4, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
The most consequential night of the presidential primary season drew to a close with the former vice president emerging victorious.
Green presidential candidates run alongside red and blue
March 4, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
One of the largest ever Democratic fields in a presidential primary election has saturated the 2020 candidate pool with blue. But also vying to win the White House this year are a handful of even more progressive contenders who often go unnoticed — they’re running under the Green Party.
Local Super Tuesday voters share polling booth thoughts
March 4, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Sen. Elizabeth Warren returned home to Cambridge to cast her vote for president on a balmy Super Tuesday morning. Across the river in Boston, citizens filed into their local polling stations to do the same.
Warren canvassers ramp up statewide advocacy in final stretch before Super Tuesday
March 1, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Canvassers for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign swept through various Boston neighborhoods the weekend before the Massachusetts primary.
Sanders, Buttigieg take New Hampshire as Yang, Bennett drop out
Feb. 12, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
The New Hampshire primaries saw a leap ahead for Sen. Bernie Sanders, an end of the road for several hopefuls and a reshuffling of the conversation around the front-running candidates.
Biden finishes in fifth, leaves New Hampshire early
Feb. 12, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s primary night party in Nashua, New Hampshire missed a key attendee: the candidate himself.
Mass. bill could give cities freedom to lower voting age
Jan. 23, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Massachusetts is considering a bill that would let individual cities lower minimum voting age to 16 in local elections.
BU alums descend on New Hampshire in race for White House
Dec. 10, 2019 — Campus News | link/pdf
Five BU alumni had no idea after leaving BU they’d be joining the presidential campaigns of three current and former 2020 Democratic primary candidates in the most crowded and diverse primary in U.S. history.
Ben Shapiro at BU says America was not built on slavery
Nov. 14, 2019 — Campus News | link/pdf
Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro spoke at Boston University Wednesday evening after weeks of controversy on campus surrounding his impending visit. Individual protesters raised their voices inside the venue at various points throughout the event.
Why the City Council elections see lower voter turnout
Nov. 6, 2019 — City News | link/pdf
In Tuesday’s municipal election, 17 percent of all registered voters — as of September — cast their ballots for Boston’s at-large City Council members, a dip of more than 10 percent compared to the last election in 2017.
Presidential hopeful Cory Booker speaks on inspiration, values at Fenway bar
Oct. 22, 2019 — City News | link/pdf
“When I started weighing the pros and cons of running for president, I began to look at the lists,” Booker said to The Daily Free Press. “One was all about fears and the other one was all about courage and faithfulness. And so I when I saw that, it was clear to me what I needed to do.”
Andrew Yang holds rally in Cambridge following Thursday’s Democratic Debate
Sept. 17, 2019 — City News | link/pdf
After presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s rally in Cambridge, he told The Daily Free Press that his campaign has been successful despite the comparatively limited coverage it has received from the media.
Protests
BU community holds multimodal protest against campus reopening plan
Aug. 13, 2020 — Campus News | link/pdf
Cars, pedestrians and bikers took to Commonwealth Avenue to rally against Boston University’s reopening plan. Those who weren’t present in person tuned into the event via Zoom.
Gallery: Protestors Again Take to Streets Against Police Brutality
June 5, 2020 — Photo, City News | link/pdf
Attendees gathered at the Soldiers Memorial monument to stand and chant before marching to the District E-13 police station for a moment of silence and a die-in demonstration in honor of George Floyd.
Third round of protests yield progress after riots
June 3, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Several police kneeled before the crowd at the Boston Police Headquarters, and in Jamaica Plain, officers approached protesters to facilitate a conversation.
A Boston transformed by dawn: how the night unfolded
June 1, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Shattered glass on every sidewalk. Discarded loot strewn across the streets. And in the dead of night, a pandemic-era Boston has never looked more lively.
Boston police pepper spray protesters in confrontation during police brutality march
May 29, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
“I couldn’t open up my eyes no more,” 18-year-old Rania Belqaie said, as screams broke through in the background. “My eyes were burning.”
Anti-vaccine protesters gather to oppose mandatory statewide immunization
Feb. 5, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Anti-vaccine protesters gathered before the State House to oppose bills that would mandate immunization for all children attending in Massachusetts.
Identities
City centers on creating accessible content for populations with varied needs
March 2, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
The City of Boston is taking measures to make the materials it produces more accessible to all.
White supremacist propaganda more than quadrupled in Mass. in 2019
Feb. 26, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
The U.S. last year saw the highest activity on record for white supremacist propaganda — with Massachusetts among the states that recorded the most cases.
MBTA’s Dudley Station to become Nubian Station
Feb. 20, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
For years the primary commercial center of Roxbury — a majority-Black neighborhood — bore the name of Thomas Dudley, a colonial Massachusetts governor who enabled slavery.
Boston’s first Black female-owned radio station to launch in April
Jan. 21, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Spark FM will cater specifically to local interests within the urban Black community.
MFA recruits teens to assemble major art exhibition
Jan. 20, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts revealed its first ever exhibition curated completely by high schoolers. “Black Histories, Black Futures” is a centerpiece of the MFA’s 150th anniversary celebration.
Art exhibit aims to foster religious unity
Oct, 31, 2019 — City News | link/pdf
President of CARAVAN Paul-Gordon Chandler, who spoke at the exhibit’s opening reception in Downtown Boston, said in an interview the exhibition is an “artistic response to the rise of anti-Semitism and increasing anti-Muslim sentiments.”
Higher Education
In era of online exams, concerns over cheating develop new nuances
Dec. 9, 2020 — Campus News | link/pdf
For Boston University students having difficulties managing school because of COVID-19, the morality of cheating during online exams is far from black-and-white.
Students adapt to life on an empty campus
March 26, 2020 — Campus News | link/pdf
The sound of birds chirping on Commonwealth Avenue has grown clearer these past mornings with the typically bustling street now near-devoid of pedestrians and cars.
GALLERY: Life on an empty campus
April 27, 2020 — PERSONAL PHOTO ESSAY | link/pdf
My own story, one of many surrounding lives displaced by the coronavirus pandemic.
FUN Features
COM graduates wed at BU Beach 11 years after meeting on campus
Oct. 3, 2020 — Community Features | link/pdf
They’ve known each other since just before their freshman year, but 2013 Boston University alumni Casey Rabin and Andrew Feldman didn’t fall in love until after graduation. Saturday, the two will wed on the BU Beach — the site where they first met.
BU first-gen student shares her motivation to succeed, shares other graduates’ stories online
April 28, 2020 — Community Features | link/pdf
COM senior Josee Matela created The First-Gen Graduates of 2020, a digital yearbook sharing the stories of others who broke barriers to triumph in the world of higher education.
BREAKING BRIEFS
BU breaks record for new COVID-19 cases in one day
Dec. 12, 2020 — Campus News | link/pdf
The same day, Massachusetts reported its highest single-day case count: 4,613.
Boston University instates policy to issue degrees to students after death, starting this Fall
Aug. 12, 2020 — Campus News | link/pdf
The University released the policy June 12, but did not make an announcement or notify the BU community otherwise.
Statewide non-essential business closures, stay-at-home advisory extended till May 4
March 31, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Gov. Charlie Baker also extended his 10-person limit on social gatherings to May 4.
Massachusetts instructs visitors to self-quarantine, ramps up health resources
March 27, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
All individuals entering the state are instructed to self-quarantine for 14 days. Meanwhile, residents can now also check their symptoms online at no cost.
Baker orders non-essential businesses to close, advises residents stay home
March 23, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
Gov. Charlie Baker issued a statewide order Monday morning to close all physical locations of non-essential businesses, effective noon Tuesday through noon April 7.
Massachusetts sees first confirmed case of coronavirus
Feb. 1, 2020 — City News | link/pdf
State public health officials confirmed a UMass Boston student who had returned from Wuhan, China tested positive for the virus.