The national poverty level is about $23,000 a year, but if a family of four in the Boston ­area wants to have three meals a day and pay bills, it means having to earn at least $74,000,  Crist says. “That’s what we call the meal gap. People ask, ‘Do I pay the electric bill, the heating bill, or do I buy food?’ ”

(NECN) – It's time to go on the record again with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. This week, President and CEO Paul Guzzi discusses the Massachusetts and Connecticut unemployment rates for this month, Massachusetts legislation and Jet Blue coming to Rhode Island. For unemployment rates for the month, Massachusetts remained the same but Connecticut has increased. "I think the real message is that this is a slow and fragile economic recovery, and we have to keep focused," said Guzzi. "I wouldn’t react on one month’s data." Guzzi also says there will be a meaningful Continue reading >>>

Gosule watched Thursday’s vote from the Senate gallery with Chuck Maguire, whose brother, Woburn police officer John Maguire, was gunned down on Dec. 26, 2010, after responding to a botched jewelry heist. The officer’s killer, Dominic Cinelli, was a career criminal who’d been paroled the previous year.

QUINCY, Mass. — Supermarket chain Stop Shop encouraged healthy lifestyles among children with an interactive event in Boston Tuesday. The Ahold USA-owned chain's Healthy Kids Summit, which took place at Fenway Park, included a panel discussion with Red Sox left fielder Daniel Nava, YMCA of Greater Boston executive director of healthy living Joann Donnelly, Boston Public Health Commission medical director Huy Nguyen and others. The event, which drew more than 200 people, was designed to educate parents, caregivers and children on nutrition and exercise. The panel discussion included Continue reading >>>

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Hospice of the North Shore Greater Boston, a not-for-profit organization, has a variety of flexible volunteer opportunities currently available in Wellesley and surrounding communities. Volunteers enrich the lives of our patients and their families by providing compassionate support, whether visiting with patients to read, running errands or providing a listening presence. Some volunteers choose to assist with administrative, clerical, outreach and fundraising efforts.  A 16-hour training, provided free of charge, is required of all volunteers.  The next Volunteer Training will be held on Continue reading >>>

Updated at 6:00 PM, July 18th, 2012 Hail from Wednesday’s storm in Lynn (Natasha Koroleva/Instagram) BOSTON — Severe thunderstorms that could bring heavy rain, wind and hail are moving across Massachusetts. The National Weather Service has lifted all of its severe weather warnings, but thunderstorm watches remain in effect for a few more hours. Essex and Suffolk counties were briefly under a tornado warning just after 2 p.m. Wednesday. Meteorologist Mark Rosenthal says the storms could continue into the evening. “We have a severe thunderstorm Continue reading >>>

Neil Swidey had a wonderful article (N.Y. vs. Boston: The endgame) in the Boston Globe Magazine on the fabled Boston-NY (or is that NY-Boston) rivalry delving into the ever-timely question: “Where did all this nonsense begin?” What most intrigued me was his reference to New York’s plan to take “Roosevelt Island and a decrepit hospital that offers priceless views of the United Nations and the Chrysler Building” and turn it into “a new tech-focused graduate school that, in many ways, will be built in the image of MIT.” Swidey’s set-up is pitch-perfect in noting the pride Greater Continue reading >>>

by Stop Shop Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 3:06PM EDT QUINCY, Mass. - The Stop Shop Supermarket Company LLC hosted a “Healthy Kids Summit” today Tues., July 17 at Fenway Park in Boston, Mass. with help from local community experts including Red Sox leftfielder, Daniel Nava, the YMCA of Greater Boston; Elizabeth M. Ward, M.S., R.D. The Hood “Answer Mom,” and the Boston Public Health Commission. The free event, which drew more than 200 local residents and customers, educated parents, care givers and children on the important nutrition and exercise information needed Continue reading >>>