Boston, MA

Boston announces health initiative, $10M grant to improve life expectancy

Published

1 year ago

July 10, 2024

Boston announces health initiative, M grant to improve life expectancy

Boston will launch a new health equity initiative to address improve and address disparities in life expectancy across the city, Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Public Health Commission announced.

“Boston is a city that is rich with high quality health care resources,” said Commissioner of Public Health Bisola Ojikutu. “Yet, we have long-standing gaps in life expectancy and other health outcomes by race, ethnicity and neighborhood. In order to close these gaps, we need to focus on drivers of poor health that exist outside the walls of health care institutions, like poverty and economic inequality.”

City officials announced the start of the Live Long and Well agenda at a press conference at Vine Street Community Center in Roxbury. The agenda, kicking off with $10 million in funding from the Atrius Health Equity Foundation, will facilitate community partnerships and focus on Boston’s three leading causes of premature mortality: cardiometabolic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, cancers of the breast, cervix, colon, prostate, and lung, and drug overdoses.

While overall average life expectancy in Boston rebounded to 82 years since the pandemic and remains high for the country, stark disparities remain, speakers noted.

A BPHC’s Health of Boston 2023 report found that the average life expectancy in the Nubian Square area of Roxbury is 69 years old. Two miles over in Back Bay, the average life expectancy rises to 92 years old, 23 more years.

“The difference between Back Bay and Roxbury isn’t just distance — it’s income, it’s parks and green spaces, it’s access to healthy affordable food, education and opportunity,” Wu said. “And so our health equity agenda is designed to take these gaps on directly and to build on all the work that’s already happening in the community, across every department in the city, every neighborhood across Boston.”

The same 2023 report found that the racial gap in life expectancy in Boston has widened since the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic in 2019 Black residents of Boston lived until 77 on average, four years less than white residents. In 2023, Black residents lived until 76 years on average, six years less than white residents.

In terms of cardiometabolic diseases, Black residents died of diabetes at a 220% higher rate than white residents, the Health of Boston 2023 report found, and of heart disease at a 37% higher rate. Latino residents died of diabetes at an 80% higher rate than white residents.

The $10 million from Atrius Health Equity Foundation will support “community-led coalitions to improve financial wellbeing in communities with poor cardiometabolic health outcomes” as part of a strategy developed by the Boston Community Health Collaborative, the city said.

The city will be seeking proposals to work with organizations on this initiative helping at-risk residents “meet basic needs, have more access to financial supports and wealth-building opportunities, and navigate complex healthcare and social support systems.”

The agenda includes several existing programs and initiatives to prevent cardiometabolic diseases. Further details are listed on the Live Long and Well agenda on boston.gov/live-long.

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Boston, MA

Power outages in Massachusetts affecting tens of thousands amid stormy weather

Published

7 hours ago

December 19, 2025

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Power outages in Massachusetts affecting tens of thousands amid stormy weather

Updated on: December 19, 2025 / 5:16 PM EST
/ CBS Boston

Stormy weather caused power outages for tens of thousands of customers in Massachusetts, as well as over 200 cancellations and delays at Boston’s Logan Airport today.

According to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s outage map, about 65,000 customers were without power as of 3 p.m., down from 81,000 outages around noon. Some of the hardest hit communities were Foxboro, Wrentham, Pepperell, West Brookfield, Franklin and Holliston.

Wrentham police said drivers should expect delays as many streets are blocked by fallen trees. Police shared video of a downed wire sparking across one road.

High winds brought down trees and wires on roads across the state, according to damage reports from Skywarn weather spotters. One report said the wind blew scaffolding off a building on Heath Street in Boston.

Massachusetts Weather Radar

There was a high wind warning for much of eastern, northeastern and southeastern Massachusetts. The Blue Hill Observatory in Milton reported a wind gust of 79 mph on Friday just after noon.

Other communities reporting high wind gusts included Attleboro (65 mph), Wareham (62 mph), North Dighton (61 mph) and Wrentham (60 mph).

Heavy downpours and possible thunderstorms that could cause localized street flooding were expected to continue through mid-afternoon. The rain should move offshore by 5 p.m.

Logan Airport delays and cancellations

According to FlightAware, there were 110 total cancellations at Logan Airport, and 211 total delays. JetBlue was hit hardest, with 23 cancellations and 55 delays.

“Due to wind, Boston Logan may see delays and cancellations,” the airport’s website said. “Please check with your airline before coming to the airport.”

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Red Sox’s Veteran Leader Gets Alarming Projection For Upcoming Season

Published

19 hours ago

December 19, 2025

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Red Sox’s Veteran Leader Gets Alarming Projection For Upcoming Season

Somehow, in the midst of all the injuries the Boston Red Sox dealt with last season, shortstop Trevor Story stayed healthy.

Story played 163 games in his first three years as a Red Sox, then played 157 this past year. He led the team in home runs, RBIs, and stolen bases. His defense tailed off in September, but he was also leading the charge on offense by the time the Sox got to the playoffs.

Entering his age-33 season, Story has been vehemently endorsed as the starting shortstop by the Red Sox organization, specifically chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. Are the Red Sox counting too heavily on the veteran repeating his production from a year ago?

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Story coming back to earth this season?

On Thursday, MLB.com published a “snapshot” of the Red Sox’s Fangraphs projections for this season, and the No. 1 thing that stood out from the list was Story and the Boston shortstop group being projected for 2.0 WAR, which ranked 27th out of the 30 teams in baseball.

“This projection and ranking might be a bit surprising, considering that Trevor Story had a resurgent 2025 season with a .741 OPS, 25 home runs, and 31 stolen bases and finished with 3.0 WAR,18th-best among shortstops,” wrote MLB.com’s Brent Maguire.

“Projection systems, however, are notoriously conservative and are looking beyond just the previous season. Story was oft-injured and unproductive during his first three years with the Red Sox before 2025 and with him entering his age-33 season, there are still some questions about his production in 2026.”

Certainly, one projection does not mean Story is doomed to have a bad year, and if anything, he might have a better defensive season if he stays healthy, because he’ll be better conditioned for those final weeks of the year.

However, this underscores the need for the Red Sox to land another big bat, and ideally, two. The odds that Story leads the team in all of those offensive categories again feel slim, and even if he does, that likely means Boston’s offense was fairly pedestrian.

More MLB: Red Sox’s Former No. 5 Prospect Breaks Silence On ‘Surprise’ Trade

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Boston, MA

Person of interest in Brown University shooting identified, sources say

Published

1 day ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Person of interest in Brown University shooting identified, sources say

Authorities have identified a person of interest in the Brown University mass shooting, three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News.

This comes after days of intense investigation and a manhunt for a gunman who opened fire inside the Barus and Holley engineering building on the Providence, Rhode Island, campus on Saturday. Two students were killed and nine other people injured.

Another person of interest was previously taken into custody, but that person was eventually released when investigators ruled them out as a suspect.

Michael Tabman, a retired FBI special agent in charge, joined NBC10 Boston on Thursday to discuss the possible connection being investigated between the shooting death of an MIT professor in Brookline, Massachusetts, and last weekend’s mass shooting on the Brown University campus.

Investigators released a series of surveillance videos and images of a person of interest, asking the public for help with the search.

The shooting has raised questions about safety and security on Brown’s campus and concerns about misinformation and AI-generated images circulated online due to the high-profile nature of the case.

Investigators are looking into whether the Brown shooting may be linked to the killing of an MIT professor at his Brookline, Massachusetts, home this week.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

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