Issuu

September 11, 2023

Assets Up, Lobbying Down: Inside BC’s Tax Filings Top Five FY22 Earners (1) Football head coach Jeff Hafley, $3.1 Million (2) Basketball head coach Earl Grant, $1.9 Million (3) Chief Investment Officer John Zona, $1.2 Million (4) Former head basketball coach Jim Christian, $933,595 (5) Former assistant football coach Frank Cignetti, $839,875 See A2

NPS Union, Officals at Odds By Annie Ladd Reid Asst. Newton Editor

Narrow Escape

ALINA CHEN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Eagles defeat rival Holy Cross 31–28 after rain and a game-sealing fumble recovery. By Graham Dietz Sports Editor

If people attending Boston College football’s Week Two matchup against Holy Cross thought the Crusaders looked like the home team, they wouldn’t be totally incorrect. When severe weather suspended the game with 1:58 left in the fourth quarter, there was an unmistakable presence emerging from only one side of Alumni Stadium. It wasn’t BC’s. The Crusaders had just received the ball after the Eagles failed to convert a third-and-long situation and punted to Holy Cross’ 10-yard line. Officials then penalized Quintayvious Hutchins for unsportsmanlike conduct,

adding 15 yards to the spot of the dead ball. As players exited the field, a sea of purple-adorning fans made it blatantly clear who wanted the win more. Four points away from Holy Cross’ first win over BC since 1978, students weren’t going to let a strong drizzle and lightning keep their energy down. As the Crusader faithful embraced the rain with open arms, tearing off shirts, screaming “Mr. Brightside,” and streaking across the turf, more and more Eagles fans walked away from the game. After a rain delay that lasted for two hours and 12 minutes, it took one play for Holy Cross (1–1) quarterback Matthew Sluka to take a designed run all the way to the Eagles’ 40-yard line.

Three plays later, BC avoided disaster, as Sluka drifted out of the pocket to his right and fumbled the ball, which Vinny DePalma recovered, to give the Eagles (1–1) a 31–28 win. “I don’t care what it took, there’s a minute and 58 seconds left,” Hafley said of the Crusaders’ final drive. “Anything that happened in the game, throw it out, just go play and find a way to win the game, and we did.” BC utilized a run-heavy approach on its first offensive possession. Third-string running back Kye Robichaux danced through the goal line to complete a 14-play, 85-yard scoring drive.

See Holy Cross, A12

Freshmen Gather for Convocation By Karyl Clifford Asst. News Editor

In the minutes leading up to 6 p.m. on Thursday night, thousands of freshmen gathered on Linden Lane, readying to march down the street and head to Conte Forum for the 2023 Freshman Convocation. After they arrived, author and convocation speaker Trady Kidder asked the assembled freshmen to imagine themselves in the shoes of the many homeless people living in Boston. “How, for instance, can you keep yourself clean in a city that has almost no public bathrooms?” Kidder asked. “Such deficits can make some homeless people seem incurably primitive or even alien, but that’s only if we see them from the corners of our eyes.”

Kidder, the author of Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People, also spoke on behalf of Jim O’Connell, who was unable to attend due to health reasons. “I want to separate that there was supposed to be someone else here with me, the main character in the book that I’ve written, Dr. Jim O’Connell,” Kidder said. “He is ill in the hospital.” O’Connell not only serves as the president of Boston Health Care for the Homeless, but he also established the nation’s first medical respite program in 1985 and created the nation’s first digital medical record for a homeless program, according to BHCHP’s website.

See Convocation, A2

KELLEN DAVIS / HEIGHTS STAFF

After almost a year of negotiations between the Newton Teachers Association (NTA) and the Newton School Committee (NSC), the two organizations are at odds. Ariana Foster, a fifth grade teacher at Lincoln-Eliot Elementary, said Newton teachers are organizing to settle a new union contract with the district as soon as possible. The union asked for higher wages, but the district has met its request with pushback, Foster said. “The last thing we want to do is to be in this process all year long,” Foster said. “So I think we want it to be as short and sweet and low impact for our students as possible.” The current negotiations come after a campaign to raise taxes, which would have provided additional funding for the NPS budget, partially failed in the spring. And the district faces continued scrutiny after it announced plans to cut staff positions earlier this year as a result of the failed override vote.

See NPS, A4

NewMo Cuts Rides By Connor Siemien Newton Editor

On Sept. 5, Newton in Motion, also known as NewMo, reverted its pool of eligible users to select groups in the city, such as lower-income individuals and the elderly, due to a decline in outside funding and grants. “[NewMo] had city support, but the city was also very instrumental in getting a lot of funding from grants,” Josh Ostroff, director of transportation planning in Newton, said. “In the fiscal year that ended in June, NewMo’s budget was almost $1.3 million, and that was done with only $275,000 of taxpayer funding. So, while it was very successful, those grants did not keep pace with our needs.” The city launched NewMo in 2019 to provide door-to-door transit service for seniors, expanded the number of cars in its available fleet, and eventually allowed all people in Newton to use the rideshare service.

See NewMo, A4

Magazine

Opinions

Columnist Elise Jarvis discusses the values that drove her to take on a year-long personal mission for the Church of Latter-Day Saints.

Drawing on her experience commuting around the city, staff writer Riley Davis shares advice on navigating the MBTA public transportation system.

INDEX

INSIDE

In Focus: Convocation A10

THIS ISSUE

NEWS........... A2 OPINIONS.. A7 NEWTON....... A4 A R T S . . . . . . . . A9 MAGAZINE.. A5 S P O R TS . . . . . A12