Boston Mayor Michelle Wu spoke to a joint committee on Beacon Hill Wednesday to advance her revised tax proposal.

The mayor urged lawmakers to approve it in time for Gov. Maura Healey’s signature. Wu called the revised plan, with more protections for small businesses, a compromise, balancing the needs of residents and the business community.

Boston’s commissioner of assessing used a paperclip as a visual aid during the presentation to lawmakers to illustrate a new balance: An effort to offset revenue losses caused by vacant business space by shifting and increasing the tax burden onto commercial properties.

“We need residents to have enough money in their pockets at the end of every month to go out and support our businesses,” Wu said.

She warned that homeowners could face steep property tax increases without the plan, which would likely be passed on to renters.

Lawmakers, however, pushed back, questioning the city’s financial needs.

“We all have to think about tightening our belts,” said Massachusetts State Sen. Susan Moran.

Wu countered, citing the need to address long-overdue salary adjustments for municipal workers.

“We had to sort of adjust the salaries after about four years of not having cost-of-living increases for municipal workers — the police contract, for example,” she explained.

Mayor Michelle Wu announced that she’s reached a deal to temporarily raise tax rates for local businesses amid a revenue shortfall. 

The revised proposal includes measures to protect small businesses, such as raising the personal property tax exemption threshold from $10,000 to $30,000.

Still, some critics remain unconvinced. Business owner Lou Murray argued the tax hike would ultimately trickle down to consumers.

“You tax somebody, they pass on the cost down the ladder,” Murray said.

Supporters like Boston resident Chaton Green said the tax proposal is critical for those already struggling on fixed incomes.

“I was sitting next to a 90-year-old woman, and she said, ‘I still have to work.’ And that broke me,” Green shared.

Because the proposal would temporarily raise Boston’s commercial property tax rate above the state limit, the mayor needs legislative approval to pass it on to the governor.

Boston University (BU) has suspended admissions for various Humanities and Social Sciences PhD tracks, including its art history program, for the 2025–2026 academic year. The news was first reported yesterday, November 19, by Inside Higher Ed.

BU did not make a public announcement, but an undated update to the PhD information page on the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’s website indicates that admissions to its PhD programs in History of Art and Architecture, American and New England Studies, Anthropology, Classical Studies, English, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, Romance Studies, and Sociology were temporarily suspended.

Inside Higher Ed’s report references emails between school administrators suggesting that the move was due in part to the financial implications of a recently ratified contract with the Boston University Graduate Workers Union (BUGWU). The contract, which ended a seven-month strike in October, ensured that the university’s PhD candidates are afforded a minimum yearly stipend of $45,000 with an annual 3% raise in addition to the school covering tuition throughout the agreement’s three-year lifespan. Additional contract points include expanded healthcare coverage, commuter benefits, and subsidized dental insurance among other benefits. Though the $45,ooo minimum was a significant raise, the university did not concede to BUGWU’s demands for a $17,000 increase in yearly stipends and 7% annual cost-of-living adjustments — a conflict that led to the longest strike in the university’s history.

As reported by Inside Higher Ed, emails between Stan Sclaroff, dean of BU’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), and Malika Jeffries-EL, associate dean of the university’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, implied that the financial requirements of the ratified contract were points of concern for meeting the needs of existing doctoral student cohorts.

However, Colin Riley, a spokesperson for the university, told Hyperallergic that the school “initiated [its] review of PhD programs through a task force in 2022 and began implementation of the recommendations this fall.”

BU also decided to reduce doctoral cohort sizes for the 2025–2026 academic year, Riley said, citing factors including “student success; job prospects and placements; the recommendations of the 2022 PhD Task Force on PhD Education; and ensuring we can honor the five-year funding commitments we have made to our currently enrolled doctoral students.”

A spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union Local 509 in Massachusetts, under which BUGWU organizes, did not immediately respond to Hyperallergic‘s inquiry.

Tuesday’s thrilling win over the Cavaliers kept the Celtics in contention for the 2024 NBA Cup.

The 120-117 victory at TD Garden improved Boston’s record to 1-1 in NBA Cup group play. It sits second in the Eastern Conference’s Group C, behind 2-0 Atlanta and ahead of 1-1 Cleveland thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker. Washington and Chicago round out the group at 0-1.

The three group winners and top second-place finisher from each conference qualify for the win-or-go-home quarterfinals.

“Even though it’s a November game, this was an NBA Cup game,” Celtics big man Al Horford said. “We squandered one away last week against Atlanta, and (we wanted to) find a way to get this win and try to stay relevant in that. It was important. I think it’s a good thing that this early in the season, you’re playing meaningful games like that.”

How can the Celtics advance? The simplest path would be to win their two remaining Cup games (at Washington this Friday; at Chicago next Friday) and have the Hawks, who opened Cup play with a 117-116 win in Boston, lose both one of theirs (at Chicago; vs. Cleveland). In that scenario, the Celtics would finish atop Group C and guarantee themselves a spot in the knockouts.

If Atlanta wins one or both of its remaining games, then Boston would need to worry about point differential, which is the second tiebreaker behind head-to-head. The Celtics currently are at plus-2 in NBA Cup play, with the Hawks at plus-13 and the Cavs at plus-15.

The Celtics will have prime opportunities to pad that number over their final two contests, as they’ll be heavily favored over both the Wizards (overall record: 2-11) and Bulls (6-9). It would behoove them to win those games by as many points as possible, even if it means keeping their foot on the gas late in a blowout. Boston already routed Washington by 20 in a non-Cup game back on Oct. 24.

In last year’s In-Season Tournament (as the NBA Cup was known at the time), the Celtics needed to beat the Bulls by more than 22 points in their final group game to break a three-way tie with Orlando and Brooklyn. Head coach Joe Mazzulla reinserted his starters in the fourth quarter and repeatedly fouled poor free-throw shooter Andre Drummond, and Boston won by 27.

“I apologized to Andre Drummond for doing that,” Mazzulla said at the time, “but it gave us the best chance considering the circumstances we were in.”

Both wild-card teams that advanced to the quarterfinals last season had 3-1 records in group play and point differentials of plus-34 or higher.

Losing to either Washington or Chicago likely would eliminate the Celtics from NBA Cup contention. Players on all teams that reach the knockout rounds receive escalating bonuses: $50,000 for the losing quarterfinalists, $100,000 for the losing semifinalists, $200,000 for the runners-up and $500,000 for the NBA Cup champions.

Originally Published: November 20, 2024 at 10:38 AM EST