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The last time you'll find this on your lawn

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The last time you'll find this on your lawn

The Newton Tab, Needham Times, Watertown Tab & Press and nearly two dozen other weekly Massachusetts newspapers will be landing on front lawns for one final time this week.
 
And with that, an era that began at least as early as 1870 in Watertown; 1874 in Needham and 1882 in Newton will come to end.
 
It’s all part of a plan announced in March by the papers' publisher, Gannett, to transform to online news sites only. 
 
Gannett is also shutting down print editions in Brookline, Burlington, Dedham, Sudbury, Waltham, Wayland, Weston, Westwood, Norwood and Walpole, among others.
 
Of the Gannett papers currently serving our chamber communities, only the Wellesley Townsman will continue printing. Needham is also served by the Hometown Weekly group, which provides a nice service, but virtually no original journalism.
 
“Instead of local news, or articles following continuing developments in any town, Gannett’s websites will carry thematic stories from around the region – stories that will appear in many of its so-called 'local' papers," writes Brian T. Watson at the Eagle Tribune.
 
“Reporting, editing, and the selection of which articles to run will come from centralized, regional offices. In addition, Gannett will rerun articles and columns pulled from, say, the Detroit Free Press and USA Today, other papers that it owns.”
 
Judging by the number of Newton Tabs that sit unread on the lawns in my neighborhood, many people won’t notice their papers are gone.
 
That's because these publications abandoned our communities, and us, years ago.
 
But this moment still stings.
 
Just announced: Our Spring Business Symposium
 
Please join us two weeks from this morning (May 17) at 9 a.m. for a special virtual event focused on the opportunities and challenges before our region’s businesses and non-profits. 
 
We’ll begin our Spring Business Symposium with a brief presentation of the chamber’s annual Business Outlook Survey, followed by a conversation with top leaders in the financial services, retail, the arts, and more.  
 
Our guests will include Eastern Bank Chair Bob Rivers, who just landed in the No. 3 spot on Boston Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Bostonians list.
 
Also joining us will be Catherine Peterson, executive director, ArtsBoston and Jon B. Hurst, president, Retailers Association of Massachusetts. Others to be announced soon. 
 
?RSVP here.
 
Baker proposal would send $4.7M to our chamber downtowns
 
Gov. Charlie Baker's $3.5 billion economic development bill doles out pieces of American Rescue Plan funds to virtually every municipality in the state in the form of downtown recovery grants.
 
That includes $3.1 million to upgrade the streetscape at Pettee Square in Newton Upper Falls.
 
Our other chamber communities would receive the following for unspecified economic recovery efforts:
 
  • $627,760 to Needham
  • $573,400 to Wellesley
  • $378,780 to Watertown
The bill also steers $300 million to the Unemployment Trust Fund to address overpayments.
 
This morning the Globe's Jon Chesto explores what else is in the bill -- the politics behind it.
 
April showers brings Biergartens
 
Waltham’s Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co. opened its Mighty Squirrel Biergarten at Arsenal Yards in Watertown this weekend. The 7,000-square-foot seasonal space is open Thursday through Sunday and is dog-friendly.
 
Biergarten guests are encouraged to enjoy take-out food offerings from Arsenal Yards’ many restaurants, including celebrity chef Jason Santos’ Buttermilk & Bourbon, Tori Jiro, Kura Sushi, Condesa Restaurante Mexicano and Tequila Bar, City Works Eatery, and Frank Pepe, along with Sweetgreen, Garbanzo, Shake Shack, Chipotle, and others. (Watertown News).
 
Taking Newton restaurants to new Heights
 
The news team at The Heights continues to provide some of the best coverage you'll find of Newton.
 
Lately they’ve been busy profiling many of the city’s restaurants as part of its Newton Food Guide.  
 
Other need to knows
 
  • The SBA will hold an in-person breakfast at the Newton Marriott Thursday (May 5) at 7 a.m. to celebrate the National Small Business Week Awards. Register .
 
  • The Mosesian Center for the Arts will honor Rania Matar and Dawn Evans Scaltreto at its hold its annual fundraiser on May 17. Matar is a Boston-based, Lebanese-born, award-winning photographer whose work has been widely exhibited in museums worldwide. Scaltreto was instrumental in establishing an arts center at the Arsenal and a longtime champion of Mosesian Arts. Details
 
  • An affiliate of The Bulfinch Companies is seeking to add another floor onto the Neiman Marcus store at the Natick Mall and to convert the property into a lab-and-office building. (BBJ)
 
  • Are you a landlord of a 2-3 family home struggling with your mortgage payments or have tenants who are experiencing trouble paying rent? The Volunteer Lawyers Project may be able to access provide legal assistance before you start any court proceedings or if you already have a court case pending. Details.
 
  • Yes, that was Wellesley native and cancer survivor Ben Lepper announcing the Patriot’s  Draft’s 2nd round draft pick on Friday night in Las Vegas, on World Wish Day.
 
 
Read this if your business preregistered for HireNow
 
The state's HireNow grant program has stopped accepting new applicants.
 
But if your business or nonprofit preregistered for the program before it shut down, you must now create an account on the HireNow Portal using the same email with which you pre-registered.
 
Complete your registration now even if you have not yet hired your planned new employees.
 
?If your employer registration is not completed, you will not be able to claim funds later should funding run out. Contact hirenow@commcorp.org or (617) 789-8573 with questions.  
 
Support for immigrant license bill may depend on how you ask
 
A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll this week suggested that Massachusetts voters are evenly divided on whether to grant driver’s licenses to people here without legal immigration status.
 
But could that be, in part, because many respondents didn't really understand the proposal, which was the backing of law enforcement groups, immigrant rights advocates, insurance companies and many business groups?
 
“Some poll respondents who said they opposed the idea told Globe reporters in later interviews that they felt more comfortable with the bill once they learned more details,” writes Samantha J. Gross and Matt Stout at the Globe.
 
Massachusetts would be joining 16 other states with similar policies and have the potential to make our roads safer by making sure more drivers are properly trained and insured.
 
In a separate question, more than half of survey respondents said they think people riding the subway, trains, and public buses in Massachusetts should be required to wear face masks.
 
 
That’s Need to Knows for today – James Brown’s birthday – unless you Need to Know if it’s possible to avoid plastic while grocery shopping even for a week.
 
Greg Reibman (he, him)
President
Charles River Regional Chamber
617.244.1688
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