Latest news with #Brookline
CBS News
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Students head to the movies in Massachusetts for opportunity to learn new lessons from films
Middle and high school students in the Boston area are leaving their classrooms to learn lessons at the movie theater. The Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline just wrapped up its first year of the Coolidge Classroom. The program, created with local teachers, is designed to enhance classroom lessons, highlighting everything from social studies to science to language. "Teachers value this program," said Sophie Blum, the director of education at the theater. "We didn't know when we launched this program what the response would be." Enhancing classroom lessons During the pilot year, Coolidge Classroom welcomed more than 2,000 students, showing six films over the course of six months. "It's a change of pace. I feel students want to learn some real life content," said Xiaoxu Jing, a Mandarin Chinese teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. "I think good movies have very good educational value, similarly to how good books have good educational value," said senior Neva Vuletic. Jing's students screened "The Farewell," written and directed by Boston College alumna Lulu Wang. The movie, about a Chinese-American woman who learns her grandmother has a terminal illness, features both English and Mandarin. "It was really good for us to know Chinese to watch this movie," said freshman Hugo Shiung. "There's, like, two layers to the movie, if you know another language. The English layer with the subtitles but also there's a whole other language with slightly altered meanings." Connecting with each other After watching the film, Blum helps lead the conversation, engaging the students as well as their teacher. "The goal of Coolidge Classroom, beyond curriculum, is to give students who wouldn't necessarily have an opportunity to connect with each other something to talk about," said Blum. "Everybody should get the chance to not only see an interesting movie but see with their classmates," said junior Naveen Tuio. Everything, from the lunch and popcorn to the transportation, is free for the schools and students. "The breadth of dialogue that you can get in a program like Coolidge Classroom that you can't get if you just stay in your own classroom, in your own school, in your own neighborhood," said Blum. "That's been my favorite part of the program so far." There are already eight movies scheduled to be screened for the upcoming school year, including the Academy Award-winning film "Flow."
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Entire Boston condo complex on notice after 100,000 bed bugs found in unit occupied by hoarder: ‘It's disturbing'
Residents in a Boston -area condo complex are frustrated and horrified after learning that more than 100,000 bed bugs had infested their neighbor's home, and were spreading to theirs. Some residents of the Brookline, Massachusetts condo community have taken to cleaning out their units and throwing away anything that is or might be contaminated by bed bugs. One resident, Richard Rubin, told NBC 10 that the entire thing is "disturbing." According to the management at Concorde Condominiums, one of Rubin's neighbors has approximately 100,000 bed bugs in her apartment alone. Brookline's department of health said that the unit is occupied by an elderly woman with mental health and hoarding issues. The department told NBC 10 that the infestation in her unit is one of the worst it has ever seen. In May, inspectors saw the woman's condo and condemned it. The town determined that the unit was "unfit for human habitation." During their search, inspectors found bed bugs living on the woman's doors, walls, ceilings, hallways, and floors. On top of the bugs, the kitchen and bathroom were not even accessible to the woman due to the amount of trash piled up inside. "The danger to the life or health of any occupants is so immediate that immediate condemnation is ordered," the town wrote about the unit. Experts from Dewey Pest and Wildlife were called in to assist in the inspection and called the condo "deplorable." 'Conditions are best described as deplorable,' an entomologist with the service wrote, according to Brookline News. 'Most inspectable surfaces and items in the unit have been heavily contaminated by bedbugs and their feces.' Despite the order, the property management company still had to fight to get control of the unit from the woman. A judge ultimately sided with the property management at the condo and the woman who owns the unit was given a two week deadline to clean up her condo. She failed to clean the condo by the deadline, which gives the property management company permission to go in a clean it themselves. Property management told NBC 10 it plans to go into the unit next week, and it expects that practically everything inside will have to be thrown away. It is unclear what will happen to the condo owner after that, but property management at the complex hopes local government officials will be able to assist her. It's been two months since the situation came to light at the condos, and that's been enough time for the bed bugs to spread. According to the property management, the insects have spread to at least seven other units in the building. Rubin told NBC 10 that two residents have completely moved out over the issue. "It's very frustrating to a lot of tenants, and it causes a lot of aggravation," Rubin said. Rubin previously attended a Brookline Select Board meeting where he expressed his frustration at what he believed to be a lack of action on the part of local officials. 'As a building, we cannot get social services to go in and do anything. We don't have the power. We don't have the clout. You guys do. But nobody will exercise that power. Nobody will send somebody in,' he said. Town Administrator Charles Carey said the town couldn't have gone in any earlier without first obtaining a court order, and that now that the judge's deadline was passed, it could move to assist the residents. Another resident reportedly had a bed bug bite that became infected. Though that bite has since healed, the individual reportedly still have around 40 bites on his body, according to Brookline News. The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said it was difficult to sleep knowing that overnight he'd be feasted on by insects. 'Just sleeping at night knowing you're getting eaten alive is unsettling,' he told the paper. Bed begs can cause swollen, red, itchy bites, can infest beds, couches, chairs, and clothing, and are notoriously difficult to fully exterminate from a home or apartment unit.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Yahoo
Vandals use ‘Free Palestine' brick to smash Mass. Kosher grocery store window
Brookline police are investigating a vandalism in which a brick with the words 'Free Palestine' painted on it was used to smash the front window of a Kosher grocery store early Sunday morning. Officers began investigating the incident after the owner of The Butcherie notified police that a brick had been thrown through the Harvard Street store's front window overnight, Brookline police said in a press release. The words 'Free Palestine' were painted on the face of the brick in large red letters. Officers' preliminary investigation indicates that shortly after midnight, a group of masked suspects walked from Coolidge Street to The Butcherie and threw the brick through its front window, police said. The suspects then fled back down Coolidge Street without targeting any other businesses. Investigators have not determined exactly how many suspects were involved, but they believe there were at least two, police said. Any residents or businesses in the area who might have video footage related to this crime are asked to call Brookline detectives at 617-730-2711. Mass. double stabbing kills couple, orphans their child, police investigating Massachusetts lawyer sentenced for smuggling synthetic marijuana into prison Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: Two lawmakers shot, one killed, in politically targeted shooting North Shore man sentenced to life for killing his 80-year-old mother Man accused of biting, kicking ICE, DEA officers during arrest in Marlborough Read the original article on MassLive.
CBS News
15-06-2025
- CBS News
"Free Palestine" brick thrown through window of Massachusetts kosher grocery store, police say
Antisemitism at record levels in New England, new report finds Antisemitism at record levels in New England, new report finds Antisemitism at record levels in New England, new report finds Police in Massachusetts say they are investigating a hate crime after a brick with "Free Palestine" written on it was thrown through the window of a kosher grocery store. It happened Sunday morning at The Butcherie on Harvard Street in Brookline. Brookline business targeted Police said that just after midnight, three people wearing masks came from Coolidge Street and through the brick through the business window. The Brookline Police Department said "Free Palestine" was written in large red letters on the brick. Police said it is unclear exactly how many suspects there were, but added that there were at least two. After throwing the brick, police said the masked suspects then ran off back down Coolidge Street to an unknown location. No other businesses in the area were targeted, police said. Police are asking for the public's help as they continue to investigate the incident. Anyone withy video is asked to contact the Brookline Police Department at (617) 730-2711. Antisemitism in Massachusetts In October, police investigated when offensive stickers were found in Brookline, as well as Cambridge. The stickers, which were an Israeli flag with the Sar of David replaced with a blue swastika, were placed outside a synagogue, a grade school, and a popular Jewish deli. A recent audit compiled by the Anti-Defamation League found antisemitism on the rise in New England. Specifically, more than 400 incidents were reported in Massachusetts. That ranked the state fifth in the nation behind New York, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
How many stars are there in space?
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you'd like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@ Exactly how many stars are in space? – MeeSong, Brookline, Massachusetts Look up at the sky on a clear night, and you'll see thousands of stars – about 6,000 or so. But that's only a tiny fraction of all the stars out there. The rest are too far away for us to see them. Yet astronomers like me have figured out how to estimate the total number of stars in the universe, which is everything that exists. Scattered throughout the universe are galaxies – clusters of stars, planets, gas and dust bunched together. Like people, galaxies are diverse. They come in different sizes and shapes. Earth is in the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy; its stars cluster in spiral arms that swirl around the galaxy's center. Other galaxies are elliptical – kind of egg-shaped – and some are irregular, with a variety of shapes. Before calculating the number of stars in the universe, astronomers first have to estimate the number of galaxies. To do that, they take very detailed pictures of small parts of the sky and count all the galaxies they see in those pictures. That number is then multiplied by the number of pictures needed to photograph the whole sky. The answer: There are approximately 2,000,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe – that's 2 trillion. Astronomers don't know exactly how many stars are in each of those 2 trillion galaxies. Most are so distant, there's no way to tell precisely. But we can make a good guess at the number of stars in our own Milky Way. Those stars are diverse, too, and come in a wide variety of sizes and colors. Our Sun, a white star, is medium-size, medium-weight and medium-hot: 27 million degrees Fahrenheit at its center (15 million degrees Celsius). Bigger, heavier and hotter stars tend to be blue, like Vega in the constellation Lyra. Smaller, lighter and dimmer stars are usually red, like Proxima Centauri. Except for the Sun, it's the closest star to us. Red, white and blue stars give off different amounts of light. By measuring that starlight – specifically, its color and brightness – astronomers can estimate how many stars our galaxy holds. With that method, they discovered the Milky Way has about 100 billion stars – 100,000,000,000. Now the next step. Using the Milky Way as our model, we can multiply the number of stars in a typical galaxy (100 billion) by the number of galaxies in the universe (2 trillion). The answer is an absolutely astounding number. There are approximately 200 billion trillion stars in the universe. Or, to put it another way, 200 sextillion. That's 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000! The number is so big, it's hard to imagine. But try this: It's about 10 times the number of cups of water in all the oceans of Earth. Think about that the next time you're looking at the night sky – and then wonder about what might be happening on the trillions of worlds orbiting all those stars. Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you'd like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@ Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live. And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you're wondering, too. We won't be able to answer every question, but we will do our best. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Brian Jackson, Boise State University Read more: Are there any planets outside of our solar system? Why does gravity pull us down and not up? Why are planets round? Brian Jackson receives funding from NASA.
