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Jamaica Plain News

City Curbside Food Waste Collection Program Shifting to Every Other Week Schedule

The city’s curbside food waste collection program is shifting to collecting every other week instead of every week. The program was launched in 2022 and operated in conjunction with an independent company, Garbage to Garden. Residents wanting to participate are given household buckets that are lined with compostable bags to collect food waste. Food waste and more than food waste of all sorts is accepted, including bones, meat, coffee grinds, pet food, fireplace ash, and…

Petition Implores Boston School Committee to Set Student Screen Time Policy

Parents frustrated with the amount of screen time their students get at Boston Public Schools are petitioning the School Committee to create an official screen time policy. The Los Angeles Unified School District and New York City Public Schools recently created screen time policies for every grade level. Boston parents would like a similar policy to be enacted here. The policy would include removing digital devices from early education classrooms through 2nd grade, block non-traditional…

Pulitzer Prize Winner Jayne Anne Phillips Discussing New Book at JP Library on Oct. 8

Jamaica Plain resident and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jayne Anne Phillips will be discussing her newest book, Small Town Girls, at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library on Oct. 8. Small Town Girls is Phillips’ ninth book and first nonfiction title, and is a “writer’s memoir” in essays. Phillips grew up in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia, and in the essays “…Phillips brings us into her childhood and family, most movingly her mother. From the…

Woman Dead After Car Crashes Into Bench at Faulkner Hospital

A woman who was sitting on a bench was killed when a vehicle crashed into a Faulkner Hospital building on Thursday morning. Video from the scene showed a black SUV had hit the Belkin House after 10 am, according to WCVB. Two people in the vehicle were treated for non-life threatening injuries. The Belkin House was also evacuated after the vehicle hit a gas line outside of the hospital. National Grid crews came to the…

Celebrate 15 Years of Margarita Muñiz Academy on Oct. 7: New England’s First Dual-Language Public School

The Margarita Muñiz Academy started in 2012 with a ninth grade class to become Boston’s first public dual-language high school. Grades were added and it was a high school serving ninth to 12th grade until 2024 when it added 7th and 8th grad classes. The school now has more than 470 students. From its building on Child Street, Muñiz Academy “implements a college preparatory, culturally relevant two-way bilingual curriculum that provides students with the 21st century…

Celebrate Footlight Club’s 150th Anniversary with Cocktail Gala on Oct. 3

America’s oldest community theater company—The Footlight Club—is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a special cocktail gala fundraiser on Oct. 3. Gala goers are encouraged to don creative cocktail attire for an elegant evening that will feature a catered menu, an open bar, and a silent auction on unique items and experiences. Possibly most entertainingly intriguing is that cast members from past productions will return to The Footlight Club’s home at Eliot Hall to provide live…

Celebrate 350 Years of Eliot School at Nifty 350 Festival on Oct. 3

In 1676, a group of local residents donated corn and land to create a school in Jamaica Plain—and thus became what we know as the Eliot School today. In 1689 Rev. John Eliot endowed the school with an additional 75 acres, and that is where the name Eliot comes from. The school went through many different iterations and styles—from being a Boston Public School, having multiple campuses in Boston, at some point taught plumbing (it…

Stupid Weather: Jamaica Plain Open Studios Cancelled Due to Storm & Won’t Be Rescheduled

Jamaica Plain Open Studios has been cancelled due to the impending nor’easter that’s going to hit Boston this weekend—and unfortunately JP Open Studios will not be rescheduled this year. “Unfortunately, we have come to the difficult decision that JPOS 2026 will be cancelled on both Saturday and Sunday, to ensure everyone’s safety in unprecedented conditions,” said Susan Duprey, Executive Director & the Jamaica Plain Arts Council Board. “We understand this decision is disappointing, not only for…

MBTA’s Camera Enforcement Program Will Fine Drivers Parked and Idling in Bus Lanes

As part of its new automated camera enforcement program starting on October 1, the MBTA will only provide notices to motor vehicles parked in bus stops or standing in bus lanes—but starting January 1, violators may get fined. “When bus stops are blocked, people with disabilities, people with strollers, and anyone who has mobility challenges loses the option for level boarding,” said Interim Transportation Secretary and MBTA General Manager Phil Eng. “When bus lanes and…

City Asks Forest Hills Cemetery to Find ‘Alternative Designs’ to Razing Long Vacant House

The Forest Hills Cemetery plans to demolish a house from 1870 on its property, but the city would like the existing structure to not be demolished. The house at 45 Yale Terrace has been vacant for many years and is in disrepair, said a Forest Hills Cemetery employee to Jamaica Plain News. In its application, the Cemetery said the mansard-style house was constructed in 1870, and doesn’t have any historical designations. The Cemetery would also like…

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