Brookline News

08/28/2024

Steps to Success, a program within Brookline schools aimed at closing the opportunity gap for low-income students, is aiming to expand its services using an influx of new funding.

Some days, Steps to Success’ programming means a boat excursion in Boston Harbor. Other days it means homework help, or a career skills workshop. In any form it takes, its goal is to close the “opportunity gap” between low-income students and their peers in Brookline. The nonprofit, which has ...

08/27/2024

A Brookline police officer is facing internal discipline after an investigation found that he was driving nearly 100 miles per hour seconds before a February crash in Chestnut Hill that seriously injured himself and another driver.

A Brookline police officer is facing disciplinary action after driving nearly 100 miles per hour in the moments before his cruiser struck another car in a February collision in Chestnut Hill that one witness said was “like an explosion.” Both the officer, who was in pursuit of a speeding vehicle...

08/26/2024

On Friday, the Brookline Public Library showed off a new high-tech materials sorter, aimed at letting staff spend more time helping patrons and less time handling the more than 800,000 items circulated by the library.

Read more, and check out a video of the sorter in action:

The Public Library of Brookline unveiled an automated materials handling system last week, following library systems in Newton and Wellesley in installing the high-tech sorting apparatus. The automated materials handling system is a system of conveyor belts located in what was once the circulation r...

08/26/2024

What's now Rifrullo was once Sealey's Ice Cream, opened in 1936 by a former stunt flyer and air taxi operator who lost his plane in an accident.

In our latest edition of Brookline Then and Now, read about the shop on the corner of Boylston and Cypress Streets, and the breakfast and lunch spot which now sits in the building.

In 1936, a former stunt flyer and air taxi operator named Lloyd Seaman, who had lost his plane in an accident, opened an ice cream shop with his wife Rhoda in the one-story commercial building at the southwest corner of Boylston and Cypress Streets. Seaman, who had worked at the Neapolitan Ice Cream...

08/20/2024

Keeping up with town government can be challenging for people who speak little or no English.

A new effort at Town Hall, launched in response to a bylaw passed by Town Meeting in 2021, is trying to bridge that gap and find ways to translate important meetings and documents.

Ahmad Hamssa, Brookline’s first language access coordinator, moved with his family to the United States from Sudan in 2003, and he learned English at the age of 7. Now, as he works to codify the town’s patchwork of translation and interpretation services, he hopes to ensure that other immigrant ...

08/20/2024

The town recently agreed to pay a $25,000 settlement to a former 911 dispatcher who had filed a lawsuit alleging that she was sexually harassed in the workplace.

The town of Brookline paid a settlement of just under $25,000 to a former 911 dispatcher who alleged that she was sexually harassed and retaliated against by coworkers. The town agreed to pay Alison Ning $16,683 for emotional distress and $8,217 for attorney’s fees, for a total of $24,900, accordi...

08/19/2024

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08/19/2024

Ruthann Dobek, who helped create the Brookline Senior Center and has been its director for 20 years, is retiring at the end of this year.

Dobek, called an "irreplaceable jewel" by one colleague, talked to Brookline.News about her four decades of service and advocacy for Brookline seniors.

When Ruthann Dobek announced her retirement at a May meeting at Town Hall, she was greeted with a standing ovation. The 64-year-old Dobek has spent the past 41 years working and advocating for Brookline’s senior population, first as a social worker for the Council on Aging and for the past 22 year...

08/18/2024

There are still plenty of ice cream days left this summer.

Here's how Jamie's Ice Cream Co., dreamed up by Brothers and Sisters Coffee owner Jamie Siracusa, become one of Brookline's hottest (or coldest?) spots for a scoop.

When Jamie Siracusa’s café Brothers & Sisters Co. was reduced to a take-out window during the Covid-19 pandemic, the young entrepreneur, not one to sit with idle hands, began concocting ice cream recipes in her back kitchen. As an avid consumer, a “one-ice-cream-a-day kind of girl,” she had a...

08/15/2024

Do you vote in Brookline's precinct 5, 13A, 14 or 15?

You'll want to read this article about the three men, all from Newton, aiming to be your next state representative.

In-person early voting gets underway on August 24, and Election Day is Sept. 3

Three men from Newton, all current or former city councilors there, are running for state representative in the 12th Middlesex District, which includes parts of Newton and a large portion of South Brookline. Rep. Ruth Balser, who has served in the State House for 25 years, is retiring at the end of....

08/14/2024

The Brookline Teen Center's Youthscapers program gives local students the chance to get out in the sun while learning professional skills--and getting paid, of course.

On one of the hottest days of the summer, 15 teenagers drenched with sweat pushed wheelbarrows through Larz Anderson Park, helping to mulch a path. It was this year’s largest undertaking as part of the Brookline Teen Center’s Youthscapers program, an initiative which has been ongoing since 2016....

08/12/2024

Force Multiplier, a group of volunteers led by Brookline residents Tom Hallock and Laura Weisel, grew from kitchen table conversations about combatting Donald Trump into a fundraising juggernaut that has sent millions to the campaigns of Democrats running for Congress around the country.

Like many people in Brookline, Tom Hallock and Laura Weisel were devastated when Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election. “I felt impotent, like my vote didn’t matter,” said Weisel, a retired nonprofit and academic manager. Hallock, who had recently retired from a career in publishing,...

08/11/2024

The pedestrian bridge over School Street has been taken down, the first step in the demolition of the Pierce School.

Workers took down the Pierce School pedestrian bridge over School Street on Saturday, the first step in the demolition of the school, which is being rebuilt after voters approved a debt exclusion in the May 2023 town election. After knocking out the glass panes, the crew lifted up the bridge with a....

08/09/2024

Brookline 19-year-old Ada Korkhin, who finished 32nd in the women's 25-meter sport pistol at the Paris Olympics, dishes on her experience competing and mingling with the world's best athletes, and her appreciation for Olympic memes.

Take deep breaths. Focus on the background music. Stare at the Châteauroux Shooting Centre floor and notice the rogue blade of grass, flower or bug flying around. Ada Korkhin was locked in on the shot process in her Olympic debut last week, but the 19-year-old Brookline native tried everything to d...

08/07/2024

Chestnut Hill Realty has paused demolition at the Waldo-Durgin site near Coolidge Corner until at least Monday, after outcry from neighbors and town officials who say the company didn't adequately inform the community about asbestos in the building.

Here's what you should know about the project, and what the company, town and state are doing to try to keep the site safe:

Demolition of a historic garage near Coolidge Corner has been paused until at least Monday after a barrage of criticism from neighbors and elected town officials, who alleged that developer Chestnut Hill Realty did not adequately inform abutters and the community about the risks from asbestos in the...

08/07/2024

Thanks to Brandeis University for the partnership and this writeup!

On Thursday evenings throughout the spring 2024 semester, a group of Brandeis University students piled into a van, battled evening rush hour along Route 9, and then fanned out in Brookline Village to cover the community. They put their classroom learning into practice while also helping to reimagin...

08/06/2024

Ever wonder what, exactly, happens when you file a complaint to BrookONline, the town's app for handling everything from rodents to potholes to graffiti?

We collected the data to try to find out. In four charts, plus some interviews with town officials, here's everything you need to know about what's happening behind the scenes.

When Mark Lowenstein hit a pothole on Rowson Road and went over the handlebars of his bike, he immediately opened the BrookONline app on his phone and filed a service request asking the town to repair it. BrookONline, the town’s version of a 311 system, is an online customer request and service ma...

08/05/2024

BEEP, Brookline's public preschool and pre-K program, is moving from half to full-day programming this coming fall.

Here's what that means for teachers, parents and kids:

After more than six months of negotiations between Brookline’s teachers union and the Public Schools of Brookline, the Brookline Early Education Program (BEEP) will shift from half- to full-day programming this fall. On July 8, the School Committee unanimously approved an agreement between the Bro...

08/04/2024

Brookline is brimming with bakeries, and really good ones at that. Why did they all end up here, and how do they coexist?

Reporter Madeleine Aitken takes a bite out of those questions:

Since March of last year, at least five bakeries — Lakon Paris Patisserie, Bakey, Meet Point Patisserie, Kyo Matcha and Oasit’s Sweet — have opened in Brookline, with a sixth, Flake Bakery, planned to open this summer. It’s not a new trend: Union Square Donuts opened in 2017, Drive-By Pies o...

08/02/2024

Here's what the flurry of action this week at the end of the state legislature's session means for Brookline:

Among the flurry of bills passed by the end of the State House session this week were some notable pieces of legislation which will impact Brookline. Most timely was one filed by Brookline Representative Tommy Vitolo which will allow the town to install 80 geothermal wells, each 600 feet deep, to he...

08/02/2024

As the return of American prisoners from Russia, including a Wall Street Journal reporter, hits the national news, listen to Brookline resident Miranda Daniloff speak about her own experience with her journalist father's 1986 arrest by the Soviet government, and the feeling of having him come home.

From the Brookline.News Stories Live event in May:

Miranda Daniloff tells the story of her brief, jarring moment of celebrity after her journalist father was arrested as an accused spy during the cold war in ...

08/01/2024

After years of renovations delayed by Covid, the JFK National Historic Site on Beals Street has reopened, with some new modern touches and accessibility improvements.

The John F. Kennedy National Historic Site on Beals Street reopened in June for its first full season in four years, after an extended closure caused by renovations and the Covid-19 pandemic. The work, which included updating the visitor center and adding accessibility improvements like a wheelchair...

08/01/2024

Have you read our Letters to the Editor lately? See what your neighbors think about the issues facing Brookline. And remember, submit your own by scrolling to the bottom of any article and clicking the button that says "Write a Letter to the Editor."

Brookline.News welcomes letters that respond to a story or other item in Brookline.News. To write a letter in response to an article on the Brookline.News website, go to that article and submit your response in the form that is available by clicking the button “Letters to the Editor” at the bott...

08/01/2024

Who's getting up early (or staying up late) to watch Brookline's own Ada Korkhin start her Olympic journey and compete in the 25 meter pistol? Qualifying starts Friday at 3 a.m. eastern. If she makes it to the finals, the medal shooting will start Saturday morning at 3:30 a.m.

Sitting on her bed in an effort to procrastinate packing up her Ohio State dorm room after finishing her freshman year, Ada Korkhin got the news she’d hoped for. The 2023 Brookline High School graduate qualified for this summer’s Paris Olympics and will represent Team USA in Women’s Sport Pist...

07/30/2024

At a "Flock Party" last weekend, the town unveiled five larger-than-life painted turkey sculptures which will be placed around town as part of a public art initiative.

Click to see more photos by Artemisia Luk and read about the project:

https://brookline.news/art-for-the-birds-brooklines-turkey-sculpture-flock-arrives/

07/29/2024

The husband-and-wife team behind Cutty's first opened the sandwich shop as a "litmus test" of their ability to run a business together.

14 years later, the Brookline Village spot has become a local institution.

In April, three Brookline favorites made it into the New York Times’ list of Boston’s best restaurants. This three-part series takes an in-depth look at the ideas (and food!) behind each restaurant, their struggles to stay open through a global pandemic, and the people who turned concepts into r...

07/28/2024

Here's what you need to know about the demolition and major development coming to Coolidge Corner.

Dust clouded the air just north of Coolidge Corner in recent weeks, as demolition began on the site of two historic garages which will now become the center of a major new development. The Waldo-Durgin project, decades in the making, is moving forward, although it will likely be years before a new h...

07/26/2024

Getting ready to retire after a 45-year career in law, Brookline resident Andrew Good was looking for something completely different to take on.

Read about how he got into blacksmithing, and what it looks like to work in his sweltering studio.

When Andrew Good started to wind down his 45-year career in law, he was looking for something completely different in retirement. Like many people, Good, a Brookline Village resident since 1978, wanted to reinvent himself and explore a new path in life. He first tried literally running away from his...

07/25/2024

A 45-year-old man was arrested this week after allegedly driving from Pennsylvania to meet a minor with whom he had been corresponding on the social media app Snapchat, and then ra**ng her in a Brookline hotel.

A 45-year-old man was arrested this week after he allegedly drove to Brookline from Pennsylvania and r***d a minor whom he had met on a social media app. Edward Garry is facing charges of enticing a child under 16 and aggravated r**e of a child, according to records from Brookline District Court. Ga...