Connect with us

Boston, MA

Boston, stop living in the past – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Boston, stop living in the past – The Boston Globe


Thanks to the science of cryogenics — portions of Williams’s body are reportedly frozen in an Arizona life-extension lab — there is always hope of a Second Coming. A real treat for the Fenway Faithful!

Hardly had we shaken off the dust from Opening Day than we were greeted by the inevitable, garment-rending remembrances of the 2013 Marathon bombing. I well remember the civic trauma, and my heart goes out to the survivors and the many injured.

Having said that, a bombing that claimed three fatalities in Gaza or Ukraine wouldn’t cause anyone to cancel a day at the beach. “Hundreds killed in Darfur in the past week alone,” said a Globe story.

You would think it’s time to move on. But we won’t. Boston is the city that is always looking back, never looking forward — “a winter city,” as the embittered ex-Bostonian Elizabeth Hardwick called it in a famous 1959 essay. Hardwick reviled Boston as a musty antiques barn that “attracted men of quiet and tasteful opinion, men interested in old families and things, in the charms of times recently past.”

Advertisement

Don’t get me wrong. I love Boston history. I think it’s grand that people dress up as redcoats and rebel militia to reenact the primal events of our successful Revolution. This is a great city, a cradle of America’s industrial revolution, once the headquarters of militant abolitionism, a town that once credibly claimed to be the “Athens of America.” Ho Chi Minh worked at the Parker House, Martin Luther King got his PhD here, Malcolm X got turned on to books here: What’s not to love?

It’s the mawkish sentimentality of manufactured nostalgia that rankles me.

To be fair, some progress has been made. We seem to have finally shucked off the Kennedys, and none too soon, as the thinning of the bloodline becomes all too apparent. For the first time in years, I’m not aware of some literary or movie project seeking to capitalize on the glory years of the Winter Hill Gang or Boston’s answer to Robin Hood, James “Whitey” Bulger.

And, after three solid years of stultifying Brady-Belichick-Kraft programming, my beloved sports talk radio seems to have finally moved on to more pressing concerns, e.g., how Mike Vrabel will mess up the NFL draft and how the Celtics will run the table in the National Basketball Association playoffs.

Good luck with that.

Advertisement

By way of self-torture, I have watched a few episodes of the HBO series “Celtics City,” a shot-through-gauze remembrance of Boston’s basketball glory days — Red, Russ, Couz, Larry — weren’t they marvelous, blah blah blah. Yes, I admit that the Reggie Lewis segment was tragically moving. Sportswriter Jackie MacMullan was choking up on screen, and I was tearing up in my living room.

In the first episode, the producers stuck a microphone in the face of a contemporary Causeway Street fanatic, who insisted that “Bill Russell is in the house, Johnny Most is in the house, Red Auerbach is in the house …”

His conclusion? “The ghosts are out, you can feel it.” Yes, I can feel it all too well.


Alex Beam’s column appears regularly in the Globe. Follow him @imalexbeamyrnot.

Advertisement





Source link

Boston, MA

Woman dies after medical episode at Boston nightclub, family says – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Woman dies after medical episode at Boston nightclub, family says – The Boston Globe


The club, in a statement posted on Instagram on Tuesday, said it was “deeply saddened” by Colon’s death and that employees at the nightclub rushed to her aid.

“Our staff responded immediately and called emergency services while an off-duty EMT rendered first aid,” it said. “We are cooperating fully with all inquiries from law enforcement and city officials who are reviewing this medical episode.”

When police arrived at the Warrenton Street venue, they found a person lying on the dance floor, unresponsive and without a pulse, according to an incident report. They began performing chest compressions with the help of a cashier at the club who said she worked as an EMT.

Police said in the report that the large crowd inside the club did not comply with orders to give space to emergency medical personnel. Eventually, officers ordered the club to shut down and told patrons to leave immediately.

Advertisement

The woman, whose age was not disclosed, was then taken to Tufts Medical Center, police said.

Colon’s sister, Angelica Colon, wrote on social media Sunday that the club failed to immediately call 911 after being told about the medical emergency. She said only a few people at the club showed any “real concern,” while other patrons and staff “acted like nothing was happening.”

“My sister collapsed in the middle of the club,“ she wrote. ”I tried to lift her myself and couldn’t. I was screaming at the top of my lungs and was ignored. The music was only stopped for two minutes, then turned right back on — as if her life didn’t matter.”

Angelica Colon also couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Anastaiya Colon, who was at the club to celebrate her sister Angelica’s birthday, had smoked before arriving and had “a few drinks” at the bar, according to the police report. Drug use was not suspected as a factor in the medical episode, according to the report.

Advertisement

Angelica Colon said that, while her sister had a medical condition, “that does not excuse what happened.” She said in the post that she was considering legal action against the club’s owners.

“A business that refuses to act during a medical emergency does not deserve to operate,” she wrote. “If this could happen to my sister, it could happen to anyone.”

“She was the greatest mother to our son and her daughter,” Stackhouse wrote. “Wherever I fell, she compensated and gave me so much more grace than I deserve.”

Icon is operated by Pasha Entertainment, which also runs the nightclubs Venu and Hava, as well as prominent restaurants such as Ghost Light Tavern and Kava Neo-Taverna, according to the company’s website.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with the individual’s family and loved ones,” the club wrote.

Advertisement

Last year, the city’ licensing board reviewed a 2023 incident at the club in which a woman was punched and thrown to the ground by another patron. Icon staff did not call police during the altercation, which the club’s director of security admitted was a “lapse in judgment.”

The woman who was punched later sued the club for overserving her attacker; Icon was ordered to pay $30,000 in damages, according to court records.


Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Boston, MA

Green Line back open after closure to replace 1800s beams – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

Published

on

Green Line back open after closure to replace 1800s beams – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


BOSTON (WHDH) – Getting around the city was made easier Tuesday after the Green Line reopened after a two-week shutdown affecting all branches.

The MBTA needed the closure to replace underground beams dating back to the 19th century.

Service returned Tuesday on the B branch between North Station and Babcock, on the C and D lines from North Station to Kenmore, and North Station to Heath Street on the E branch.

(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Advertisement
Join our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox



Source link

Continue Reading

Boston, MA

Red Sox outfielder, veteran leader signs with Seattle after four-season run in Boston

Published

on

Red Sox outfielder, veteran leader signs with Seattle after four-season run in Boston


After four seasons in which he emerged as a veteran leader and key bench player for the Red Sox, Rob Refsnyder’s time in Boston is over.

Refsnyder has signed a one-year contract with the Mariners, the club announced. According to a major league source, the deal will pay Refsnyder a base salary of $6.25 million in 2026. It also includes $250,000 in incentives.

Refsnyder, who turns 35 in May, was a journeyman utility player when he signed with the Red Sox as a minor league free agent in December 2021. Over the last four seasons, he found a home in Boston, where he mashed left-handed pitching and became an important clubhouse voice. Along with Trevor Story and Alex Bregman, Refsnyder helped form a core of older position players who helped the Sox navigate treacherous waters in the fallout of the Rafael Devers drama (and subsequent trade) over the summer. On the field, he was plenty productive, too, as he hit .269 with nine homers, 12 doubles and an .838 OPS in 70 games in his limited role in 2025.

Advertisement

In 309 games over the past four seasons, Refsnyder hit .276 with 27 homers, 119 RBIs, 48 doubles and an .804 OPS while serving as one of the best hitters in baseball against left-handed pitching. In 2025, he posted a .302 average, .560 slugging percentage and .959 OPS against southpaws, pairing with Romy Gonzalez to form a potent pair of right-handed platoon options for Alex Cora. Refsnyder’s .596 slugging percentage against left-handed starters was the fourth-best mark in baseball. Since the start of 2021, Refsnyder ranks third in the majors in on-base percentage against lefties (.405) among players with 300 plate appearances.

Refsnyder expressed strong interest in returning to the Red Sox in 2026 but in recent weeks, the writing has been on the wall for his departure. There aren’t many at-bats to go around in Boston’s crowded outfield/designated hitter picture and recent comments from manager Alex Cora made it harder to see Refsnyder returning in his role. Specifically, the club wants Wilyer Abreu — a platoon player to this point in his career — to get regular starts against lefties in right field, a position where Refsnyder logged 21 starts in 2025. Cora also praised the athleticism of Nate Eaton, who may take over Refsnyder’s role as a versatile, younger and cheaper version in 2026. Eaton had a .673 OPS against lefties in 49 big league plate appearances last year but the Red Sox think there’s more in his right-handed bat. Kristian Campbell is expected to focus on outfield work in spring training, too, further crowding a group that includes Abreu, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran and potentially Eaton and others.

The Mariners will be Refsnyder’s seventh major league team, joining the Yankees, Blue Jays, Rays and Twins. He had previously signed two deals to remain in Boston, agreeing to avoid arbitration at $1.2 million for 2023, then signing a $1.85 million extension for the 2024 season that included a $2 million option for 2025.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending