-
1 week ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
Lubavitch of Cambridge, the Orthodox Jewish sect that was denied permission last year to expand its center on Banks Street in Riverside, has already sued the city in federal court and proposed a zoning ordinance that would eliminate many land use restrictions for religious organizations – both responses that would achieve the group’s expansion goal if successful.
-
1 week ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
The person detained by immigration enforcement agents outside Cambridge police headquarters this month is a 35-year-old woman from Revere, Leidy Torres Castano, police said last week. Cambridge police had arrested her on suspicion of trying to steal cream worth $33 from a Central Square business and pushing an employee as she fled.
-
2 weeks ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
Cambridge is unexpectedly losing some of its authority to regulate development and other land uses by religious and educational groups, including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The change is an unintended consequence of the groundbreaking multifamily housing ordinance that allows four-story housing throughout the city, according to a discussion Tuesday at a City Council Ordinance Committee hearing.
-
2 weeks ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
It may not be obvious, but immigration enforcement agents are “very active” in Cambridge, police commissioner Christine Elow told city councillors Monday. Two weeks ago Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took a person into custody when the individual left the police department building after being released on bail, Elow said. In that case, “we had somebody in custody a couple of weeks ago, and we didn’t know their [immigration] status,” Elow said.
-
2 weeks ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
Tension between the chief executive of the Cambridge Health Alliance – who also serves as the city’s health commissioner – and city councillors became evident at a budget hearing Wednesday.
-
3 weeks ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
A divided City Council committee gave a favorable rating to next year’s proposed budget for the Cambridge Police Department, sending it to the full council on Wednesday. Three members of the Finance Committee – which includes all the councillors – voted against the proposal because of their chagrin over police officials setting up their own alternative police response program without telling councillors, who were designing a separate city department to provide an unarmed alternative to police.
-
3 weeks ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
Assaults of employees and patients at Cambridge Health Alliance facilities spiked in March, reaching a peak of 75 incidents, or an average of more than two a day. Chief executive Assaad Sayah made a rare disclosure about the problem, saying at a public meeting last month that the health care system was experiencing a surge.
-
3 weeks ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
The city is coming closer to a confrontation with federal authorities over Trump administration policies such as requiring cooperation with immigration enforcement and outlawing diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Officials expect that Cambridge will need to sign an agreement to accept such measures to renew $6.3 million in annual federal grants that help fund supportive housing for formerly homeless people.
-
1 month ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
The city’s affordable-homeownership programs face increasing financial pressure from rising prices and costs, eligibility expansion and physical deterioration. The Cambridge Affordable Housing Trust has almost doubled funds available to upgrade and subsidize the resale of affordable homeownership units, to $13 million in February this year from $7.5 million in March 2024.
-
1 month ago | 
cambridgeday.com | Sue Reinert
Assaults on health care workers at Cambridge Health Alliance – and also of Cambridge police officers – are on the increase, officials at both organizations say. Police are trying to determine whether it’s a real trend or an anomaly. An alliance spokesperson said attacks on medical staff are a pattern nationally and that CHA works to prevent them.
