Boston.com Today
Sign up to receive the latest headlines in your inbox each morning.
A recent report by the social media site Stacker appears to confirm what anyone who’s tried to buy a house in Greater Boston over the last year or so already knows: There’s so little stock, and prices are so high, that many folks are looking beyond the Bay State’s borders for their dream house.
With mortgage rates high, and hybrid work and work-from-home an option that’s undeniably on the table, potential buyers are expanding their searches “outside costly urban cores,” Stacker’s analysts noted.
Stacker’s analysts said they “examined data from Realtor.com’s Cross-Market Demand Report to see where people in Boston are looking to buy homes,” adding that the “view share is based on page views of active listings during the first quarter of 2024 on Realtor.com. It does not include international viewers.”
Here, then, are the top 10 most-viewed communities, according to Stacker, with additional analysis from Niche:
10. Lebanon, N.H., 2.6% of views: Lebanon, which is just about two hours from Boston, was ranked the second-best place to live in Grafton County, according to Niche. It scored an A-grade overall on Niche’s report card.
9. Miami, Fla., 2.7% of views: The South Florida art deco mecca finished 34th among the nation’s top retirement destinations, according to Niche. It scored a B-Plus overall on Niche’s report card. But caveat emptor: Housing scored a D-Plus, and it nabbed a C-Minus for crime and safety, according to Niche.
8. Springfield, Mass., 3.3% of views: Springfield finished 205th overall nationwide among the best cities for young professionals, according to Niche. It scored a C-Plus overall on Niche’s report card, nabbing a D-Plus for crime and safety.
7. New Haven, Conn., 3.3% of views: The Elm City was ranked the 57th best place nationwide for young professionals, scoring a B on Niche’s report card. Caveat emptor: The city got a D-Plus for housing and C-Minuses for schools and safety, according to Niche.
6. Manchester, N.H., 4 % of views: Manchester was ranked the 106th best place nationwide for young professionals, according to Niche. It got a B-Minus on Niche’s report card, scoring C’s across most metrics.
5. Barnstable Town, Mass., 4.4% of views: The Cape Cod community was ranked the 16th best place to live in Barnstable County, according to Niche, netting a B-Plus on its report card. Housing scored particularly poorly, grabbing a C-Minus, from Niche.
4. Portland, Maine, 4.7% of views: Portland was ranked the 14th best place to live, overall, in the Pine Tree State, according to Niche, grabbing an A grade for its amenities and services.
3. Worcester, Mass., 6.1% of views: Worcester was ranked the 103rd best city nationwide for young professionals, according to Niche, netting an overall grade of B for its amenities. The city’s nightlife and diversity both got A grades on Niche’s report card.
2. Hartford, Conn., 6.2% of views: Connecticut’s capital city was ranked the 204th best city nationwide for young professionals, according to Niche. It nabbed an overall grade of C-minus in Niche’s report card, scoring particularly poorly for its safety, housing, and public schools.
1. Providence, R.I., 8.3% of views: Rhode Island’s state capital was ranked the 43rd best nationwide for young professionals, according to Niche. The city “offers residents an urban suburban mix feel and most residents rent their homes. In Providence, there are a lot of bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and parks,” the website noted in its report card.
It may actually begin to look a lot like Christmas, at least for a moment to kick off the weekend before the busy holiday week.
We’ve mentioned an offshore system developing Friday a few times this week, but a separate system to our west will dive just south of New England as the coastal storm develops. Why does this matter? Well, that incoming storm may tug or influence the coastal low, forcing the system to drift closer to the Southern New England coast. This could bring some rain and accumulating snow for Boston and other parts of coastal New England Friday into Saturday morning.
There’s still uncertainty as to how much the two storms will interact and that will determine the final storm track. But should the coastal low push west enough to clip the coast, we should only see relatively weak impacts and perhaps just some festive light snow showers as you’re out in the city Friday evening or shopping Saturday morning.
It’s looking like some light rain and snow showers will begin working into Southern New England and the Boston area mid-afternoon on Friday and bring light to steady precipitation throughout the evening. Like a similar storm last week, wet weather will enter the picture from the south and be supported by additional moisture blowing onshore from the east. At some point Friday night, the wind direction will shift to the northeast as the core of the storm passes offshore, making this storm technically a nor’easter.
Just like a similar system last week, the storm will strengthen as it passes and therefore race out of the region. By Saturday morning, between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., this storm will be near Nova Scotia and clouds will be thinning for a dry weekend.
Temperatures will be in the mid-30s from Worcester to Boston Friday afternoon with Southeastern Mass. and the Cape closer to 40 degrees. With some added warmth blowing on shore, that’ll make it even trickier to set the rain-snow line and those areas could start off with rain.
I’d say that I-495 and east to Boston, south to the Cape, will start with cold rain before quickly switching to light snow showers as the temperatures drop heading into Friday evening. Western New England won’t see much action with this storm outside of a few flurries at times.
A switch to snow from the Boston area to south coastal areas should happen fairly quickly and really only the outer Cape will stick to rain.
All in all, it’s looking like light accumulations from a coating to 2 inches, with the higher totals happening around the I-95 and I-495 belts. There could be a heavier pocket of snow that pushes an isolated 3 inches in a couple of spots.
Outside of Southern New England, Downeast Maine will be clipped by the outer edge of this storm, where Bangor to Millinocket might snag about 4 to 6 inches.
This storm will strengthen as the evening progresses and wind gusts will reach anywhere from 20 to 30 miles per hour for folks along the coast. The blustery conditions will likely stay in place Saturday after the storm passes.
The main question is: If it does snow more than an inch in Boston, will it be enough to stick around to count as a white Christmas come Wednesday morning? We’ll keep you posted.
Ken Mahan can be reached at ken.mahan@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @kenmahantheweatherman.
A man is facing charges for stabbing someone five times outside a Boston music venue this month, prosecutors said.
Witnesses told investigators the fight that led to the stabbing early Dec. 1 near the Roadrunner in Brighton began when Collin Hullum’s sister was confronted for cutting a line at the bar, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday. A TikTok video showing part of the ensuing incident depicts Hullum with a knife, they said.
On Tuesday, Hullum, 36, was ordered held without bail on charges of assault to kill and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, prosecutors said. He’s due back in court Thursday.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Hullum had an attorney who could speak to his arrest.
The incident was reported about 2:34 a.m., where a 26-year-old man was being treated after being stabbed five times in the back, prosecutors said. Surveillance footage showed him and his friends arguing with three people inside the entrance to the neighboring Warrior Ice Arena.
One of the three people, later identified as Hullum, can be seen striking the man who was wounded in the back, prosecutors said. He was tracked down through eyewitness accounts and surveillance video showing him walking to his car and driving away.
Prosecutors said the man who was stabbed appeared to have been trying to break the fight up.
“What was supposed to be an evening out enjoying a show quickly turned into a violent altercation that resulted in one man facing serious injuries and another man facing serious charges. The victim here seemed to be attempting to stop the violence. I thank him for that and I wish him a full recovery,” District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement.
Another person seen with a knife in the fight tried stabbing two people inside the Warrior Ice Arena’s foyer as well, and will face charges later, according to prosecutors.
Neighborhoods
Missed the viral Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest in New York? Couldn’t make it to the Tom Holland lookalike contest on Boston Common? GBH Kids and Boston Children’s Museum has the event for you.
The two groups are joining forces to host an Arthur the Aardvark lookalike contest on Dec. 20 in honor of the longtime PBS Kids show produced by GBH. The contest is set to take place at noon, rain or shine, in front of the Hood Milk Bottle, a representative from GBH said.
The representative said fans of “all ages” are encouraged to dress up as Arthur to compete in the contest. Participants may win prizes like Boston Children’s Museum tickets and the opportunity to have a photo of them dressed as the aardvark featured as Arthur’s official TikTok and Instagram profile picture.
GBH said attendees will have the chance to pick up some Arthur-themed swag at the event, and Arthur himself may even be around to snap some selfies.
The show, aptly named Arthur, was created in Boston for GBH in 1996 based on books by author Mike Brown. The anthropomorphic aardvark is known for his “signature look,” GBH said, which consists of a yellow sweater, blue jeans, and big, round glasses.
The Boston’s Children’s Museum even has an exhibit dedicated to the cartoon called “Arthur and Friends,” intended to encourage skills like “reading, understanding feelings, creative problem solving, and connecting with friends and family,” the museum’s website said. According to the GBH spokesperson, their “longstanding partnership” with the museum, and the exhibit, made the perfect recipe for a lookalike contest.
Doppelganger face-offs have had their share of viral moments lately, starting off with the Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest in November. Since then, multiple similar contests have sprung up around the country, including a Jeremy Allen White lookalike contest in Chicago, and yes, even a JFK lookalike contest here in Boston.
Sign up to receive the latest headlines in your inbox each morning.
Canadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country
Inside the launch — and future — of ChatGPT
OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change
U.S. Supreme Court will decide if oil industry may sue to block California's zero-emissions goal
Meta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit
Conservative group debuts major ad buy in key senators' states as 'soft appeal' for Hegseth, Gabbard, Patel
Freddie Freeman's World Series walk-off grand slam baseball sells at auction for $1.56 million
Meta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age