REGIONAL NEWS
Afghan arrivals enroll in English classes as they settle in western Massachusetts
Afghan evacuees now entering western Massachusetts are starting to enroll in local English classes.
Beacon Hill In 5
Some question whether Nov. 1 is the right time to lift Mass. schools mask mandate
Seven schools in Massachusetts have achieved an 80% vaccination rate and a waiver from mask rules from the state education department. But for other schools, masks remain mandatory. That rule expires on November 1.
Inequity
Black and Latino families continue to bear pandemic's great economic toll in U.S.
Jonathan Eta had managed to keep his head above water after he lost his job as an auto detailer in Southern California at the start of the pandemic. But last month, the emergency unemployment benefits he relied on expired. "Basically, now we're just out on our own, you know?" he says. Eta, who was born in Honduras, lives in the San Fernando Valley, where he's a single father to his three school-aged children. The financial strain he'd staved off for 17 months has arrived. He's now three...
Connecting Point
Politics
Border Patrol apprehensions hit a record high. But that's only part of the story
The Border Patrol recorded nearly 1.7 million migrant apprehensions at the Southern border over the past year — the highest number ever, eclipsing the record set more than two decades ago. But that doesn't mean it's the biggest number of individual migrants who've illegally crossed from Mexico into the U.S. in a single year. In fact, it's probably not even close. That's because the flow of migrants has changed dramatically since 20 years ago, when millions of people successfully crossed...
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More News
Hiring crisis in child care: 'We're stuck in a market that's broken'
In western Massachusetts, the cost and availability of child care can be a major barrier to employment for some parents. During the pandemic, it has become an even bigger problem, in part because day care providers themselves are having a harder time recruiting employees.
