A Massachusetts law that took effect last August says broker’s fee must be paid by the person who hires the broker — and in most cases, that is the landlord.
But in over a dozen complaints to the attorney general’s office reviewed by WBUR, landlords or brokers appear to be skirting the spirit of the law, which is aimed at requiring landlords to shoulder the cost of renting out their properties.
Under the law, renters can still hire a broker to represent them and find them an apartment. In that case, the renter would agree to pay the broker’s fee. And that caveat appears to be creating confusion — or a loophole that some in the real estate business appear to be exploiting.
Tap the link in our bio for more.
📝: Stephanie Brown/WBUR
📸: Jesse Costa/WBUR
A gunman opened fire on Memorial Drive in Cambridge on Monday, seriously injuring two people before he was shot by police and another person. Alleged shooter Tyler E. Brown pleaded not guilty to six felonies and two misdemeanor charges in court Thursday.
Here's what we know about events leading up to this week's shooting. Read more at our link in bio.
📸 & 📝: Eve Zuckoff/WBUR
Even if you live in an urban area, you don’t have to go far to find interesting birds. That idea is key for Boston-area birder Kat Hepburn (@katbirder ).
Hepburn says to her, accessibility in birding means “accessibility for people with various needs but also the urban city living person.”
“So like I, myself, don’t drive,” she said. “So if it’s outside of the train system, it’s already not accessible to me.”
That, in addition to making sure there is a welcoming environment, is at the core of the way she plans birding outings with others.
Raquel Zaldívar (@raqzal ) of @ournewengland went on a spring quest near Boston with Hepburn, who is a board member of the Brookline Bird Club (@thebrooklinebirdclub ) and a volunteer trip leader for the group.
🎤 Hosted & edited by Raquel C. Zaldívar • @raqzal@ournewengland
📹 Visuals by Raquel C. Zaldívar & Zydalis Bauer @ournewengland
Doctors spend years becoming experts in how the body works, how it can break down and how to recognize and treat various illnesses. Their training rarely involves what’s known as “nature-based medicine.”
Dr. Susan Abookire has made it her mission to change that. She’s developed an unusual addition to the courses taught in most medical schools, a voluntary two-hour session that challenges doctors and medical students to embrace the health benefits of spending time outdoors.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📝 Martha Bebinger/WBUR
📸 Jesse Costa/WBUR
Artificial intelligence is changing a lot about people’s lives. And it’s certainly changing healthcare for patients and the medical professionals who treat them.
Our series “AI in the doctor’s office” looks at the machine-learning tools transforming the field — from “ChatGPT for doctors” to bots trained by clinicians to deliver therapy and to programs that sharpen X-rays or spot subtleties in mammograms to detect cancer faster than ever before. We explain how as the technologies swell in popularity, they’re often giving rise to both fears and hopes about what it will mean for our health.
We also created an interactive tool that lets you experience what it’s like to talk to a leading generative AI platform about common mental health problems — and learn from Boston-area therapists about what the bots do right and what they miss.
Full series at wbur.org/aihealth or at the link in our bio.
This series was funded in part by a grant from the NIHCM Foundation.
Illustrators for the series:
Caroline Hu for WBUR (@hudrewthis )
Allison Tanenhaus for WBUR (@atanenhaus )
Boston-based Fidelity Investments announced late last month it is calling all of its employees back to office five days a week.
The move to bring its 8,000 Boston employees back into the city full-time drew pushback from some workers worried about childcare and long commutes.
But Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told WBUR’s Tiziana Dearing she celebrates Fidelity’s decision, because it will bring more foot traffic to the city. Listen in Tuesday morning for more from our conversation with the mayor.
🎙️: Tiziana Dearing and Rob Lane/WBUR
🎥: Katie Cole/WBUR
Everybody knows that the fluffernutter was created in Massachusetts. But did you know that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have Boston roots, too?
The first recipe for a PB&J was published by the Boston Cooking School 125 years ago. The recipe looked a little different than the sandwich of today, and was meant as a snack in tearooms.
Over the decades PB&J evolved into an egalitarian lunchbox staple for kids and grown ups of all backgrounds.
Tap the link in our bio for more on the history of the PB&J.
📝: Andrea Shea/WBUR
🎥: Katie Cole/WBUR
Smith College is under investigation by the Department of Education for admitting trans students. More to come on 88.5 FM and nepm.org
📷 Photos, interview: Nirvani Williams
📝 Editing: Ismary Santiago-Lugo, Elizabeth Román
The full lineup for the WBUR Festival is here! It’s got something for everyone: big ideas from Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and White House chief of staff, and Neil Blumenthal, co-founder of Warby Parker; podcast faves like Jad Abumrad and David Greene on Friday; and pop culture conversations with Lindy West and Alexandra Petri. Plus, a street fair with vintage threads, music and fun stuff for the kids. Get all the details for the two-day fest running Friday, May 29 to Saturday, May 30 at festival.wbur.org.
🎥 Hadley Green for WBUR
The World Cup comes to Massachusetts next month. And MBTA General Manager Phil Eng says the transit agency will be ready.
The MBTA has committed to transporting 20,000 fans by commuter rail to Gillette Stadium on match days. Roundtrip tickets are $80 a pop, which is four times the usual fare for an event train to the stadium in Foxborough.
But Eng told WBUR’s Tiziana Dearing he thinks it’s a fair price considering the disruption to the other parts of the network caused by the demand during the World Cup. Plus, he says the tickets allow riders to use the whole commuter rail system on the day of their game.
Tap the link in our bio for more.
🎙️: Tiziana Dearing and Rob Lane/WBUR
🎥: Katie Cole/WBUR
This year marks the 50th anniversary of “Art in Bloom” at the Museum of Fine Arts, an annual tradition of pairing floral arrangements with art in the museum’s collection. In honor of the anniversary, floral design participants were assigned to one of 50 objects across the museum’s collection.
Head to the link in our bio for a full history, and more pictures of floral arrangements with the museum's art.
📝📸 Artemisia Luk/WBUR
Baked bean-topped hotdogs? Lobster poutine? Nutella-filled mini empanadas? @fenwaypark recently unveiled several "New England-inspired" additions to its menu — and our WBUR staffers had to give them a try. Here's what they thought of the ballpark's new bites — and which they'd eat again at a future Red Sox game. #tastetest #redsox #boston
