Food & Culture
Winter arts preview: twelve shows, concerts and exhibits worth leaving the house for
From a new chamber opera to a retrospective of a valley printmaker, the season is unusually ambitious for a city this size.
The Brindlemoor Dispatch
Local News
Local News
Ambulances take longest to reach three neighbourhoods, data shows
Median response times in Saltmarsh, Kestrel Hill and Ashby Cross exceed the city's eight-minute goal. Officials blame staffing and geography.
Local News
North Ferry weekend service returns after a two-year absence
The restored route runs every 40 minutes on Saturdays and Sundays. Ridership targets are modest, and so is the budget.
Local News
Old Quay seawall repairs delayed again as cost estimate doubles
Engineers now say the 1930s wall needs $58 million in work, up from $27 million two years ago. The city has $19 million set aside.
Local News
Enrollment is falling. The school district has to decide which buildings to close
A Dispatch analysis of ten years of attendance data shows elementary enrollment down 17 percent, with the steepest losses on the west side.
Local News
Rent stabilisation measure qualifies for the March ballot
Organisers submitted 31,400 signatures. Landlord groups say the cap would freeze new construction; tenants say they cannot wait any longer.
Local News
Eastgate transit corridor enters final design, with fewer stops than promised
Planners trimmed the line from 14 stations to 11 to keep the project inside its federal grant, angering residents in two neighbourhoods.
Business
Business
Housing starts slow to a six-year low as borrowing costs stay high
Builders filed permits for 1,140 units in the first nine months of the year, down 31 percent. Smaller developers have been hit hardest.
Business
Farmers market vendors push back on a new fee structure
The market board wants to replace flat stall fees with a percentage of sales. Small growers say it punishes their best weeks.
Business
Two of the valley's oldest credit unions vote on a merger
Members of Ferrybank and Tanner Mutual will decide whether to combine into a $2.1 billion institution. Branch closures are the sticking point.
Business
Grocery prices in the valley have outpaced wages for three years running
A basket of 20 staples now costs $87.40 at the median store, up 23 percent since 2023. Wages rose 11 percent over the same period.
Business
Downtown office vacancy hits a record 27 percent
Landlords are offering free rent, conversions to housing remain rare, and the lunch shops that depended on office workers are hanging on.
Business
Valley cannery expansion will add 300 jobs, but most pay under $22 an hour
The century-old Pellham & Daughters plant is getting a $96 million upgrade and a tax abatement that critics call overly generous.
Science & Tech
Science & Tech
Valley amateur astronomers help track a near-Earth asteroid
Observations from a backyard observatory in Kestrel Hill refined the orbit of a 140-metre object. There is no risk of impact, astronomers stress.
Science & Tech
New triage software cut emergency room waits, the hospital says. Nurses are less sure
St. Aldric Medical Center reports a 22-minute drop in median wait times. Staff say the system works best when they override it.
Science & Tech
Heat pump rebate demand overwhelms the county program
Applications hit 4,800 in six weeks, four times the forecast. The waitlist now stretches into next summer.
Science & Tech
Smart streetlights save energy, but residents ask what else they record
A 1,200-light pilot cut electricity use by 61 percent. Privacy advocates want a written policy before the city buys 18,000 more.
Science & Tech
River is warming faster than expected, a 20-year study finds
Average summer water temperature in the lower Brindle rose 1.8°C since 2005. Biologists worry about the autumn salmon run.
Science & Tech
University team says its iron-air battery could halve grid storage costs
Researchers at Valley Polytechnic report a prototype that stores energy for 100 hours. Scaling it up is the hard part.
Food & Culture
Food & Culture
Winter arts preview: twelve shows, concerts and exhibits worth leaving the house for
From a new chamber opera to a retrospective of a valley printmaker, the season is unusually ambitious for a city this size.
Food & Culture
Copper Row Records turns 50, and its owner is still not selling
The shop has outlasted cassettes, chain stores and streaming. Its owner says the secret is stubbornness and a very good coffee machine.
Food & Culture
The apple cake every valley grandmother claims as her own
We tested eleven family versions of the Brindle apple cake. This is the one we keep making, with notes on what you can change.
Food & Culture
Your guide to the Autumn Harvest Festival: food, music and where to park
Sixty food stalls, three stages and a pumpkin regatta. Here is how to do the festival without spending the whole day in a queue.
Food & Culture
How a community theatre company saved the Corwin Playhouse
Facing demolition, the 1924 theatre was bought by the company that has performed there for forty years. Now comes the hard part: the roof.
Food & Culture
Review: Larkspur Noodle Bar is small, loud and worth the wait
Fourteen seats, one cook, a menu that fits on an index card, and a bowl of hand-pulled noodles you will think about for days.
