Spencer Buell

1 week ago | bostonglobe.com | Spencer Buell

The Cambridge City Council this week passed a call for a ban on mandatory tenant-paid broker fees, joining renter-heavy neighbors Boston and Somerville in pressuring state lawmakers to end the practice for good. If they had it their way, the days of landlords requiring prospective renters to pay for the services of a real estate broker in Cambridge — often a full month’s rent, due up front — would be over.

1 week ago | bostonglobe.com | Spencer Buell

Former Cambridge city councilor Nadeem Mazen was arrested last month and is facing several charges including kidnapping after an alleged incident at a local hotel, police and court documents show. Mazen, who left the council in 2017, pleaded not guilty. He “categorically denies the charges brought against him,” his attorney, Zachary Barry, said in an emailed statement. “Mr. Mazen remains confident that a full and fair review of the facts will result in his exoneration.

1 week ago | bostonglobe.com | Spencer Buell |Catherine Carlock

CAMBRIDGE — The flier featured a picture of Mr. Monopoly, holding a crimson-red bag of cash, dashing toward a map of Harvard Square. It beckoned people to a community meeting in a high school library, and posed the question residents here have been asking for many years: “What does Harvard owe?” That was in long-ago March, when the people calling for Harvard University to pay more in taxes were unions, elected officials, and neighborhood associations.

3 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Spencer Buell

Father John Predmore, of Boston College High School, finished his third Boston Marathon Monday. Each year, he offers "free blessings" to spectators along the route.Linda Wood-O'ConnorSome who run the Boston Marathon try to finish as quickly as they can.

3 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Spencer Buell

It was not a picture-perfect race for 20-year-old Villanova student Matt Nawn, of Pennsylvania, who collapsed with just a few feet remaining on Boylston. But he persisted anyway, crawling on his hands and knees with considerable effort to cross the finish line without help. “You don’t quit. You keep going. That’s how I’ve always been in life,” Nawn said in an interview. He chalked his collapse up to dehydration, and is back in good health.