The Common

Last year, minimum wage earners in Massachusetts gained a new $15 hourly pay floor -- the final increase in a five-year plan that aimed to increase pay for some of the states lowest earning workers. While Massachusetts' minimum wage is among the highest in the country, advocates say a $15 wage falls short of providing a livable income for workers in the state, considering the cost of living.

Today, WBUR Senior Business Reporter Zeninjor Enwemeka joins The Common to discuss a new push for a $20 minimum wage.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

If your New Year's Resolution is to see more live music, movies filmed in Massachusetts, or life-sized puppets acting out 19th century literary classics on stage – then boy, do we have the episode for you.

WBUR Assistant Director of CitySpace Candice Springer is back with her top picks for events and happenings around Boston this January.

Candice recommends...

Candlelight Concerts in Boston - Multiple dates and locations

Made in Massachusetts: 100 Years of Filmmaking in the Bay State - Jan. 14, The Brattle Theatre

Moby Dick - Jan. 23 - 28, Emerson Paramount Center

Field Trip: Boxing Night - Jan. 29, WBUR CitySpace

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first Black president, has resigned. Gay's six month tenure was the shortest in Harvard history. In the past months, she has endured controversy around the school’s handling of discourse over the war in Gaza, as well as alleged plagiarism in her own research. Gay’s decision to step down from her position also comes just three weeks after Harvard’s governing body cemented its support for her to remain in the role, as outside political pressures pushed for her resignation.

WBUR's Max Larkin joins The Common to discuss what this moment means for Harvard, and the precedent it sets for higher education more broadly.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Today, we're taking you to East Boston to check out some of the great Latino-owned restaurants in the neighborhood.

East Boston is a neighborhood of immigrants, through and through. Latinos make up more than 50% of the neighborhood, and just shy of 65% of Eastie residents over the age of five speak a language other than English at home, according to 2020 census data.

Our local guide is Luz Gladys Oliveros. Gladys is the Latinx Advisor for Equity and Inclusion for the Mayor of Boston and has lived in Eastie for almost 30 years. This episode is part of WBUR's Field Guide to Boston, a station-wide effort to help you connect with the city's communities.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

A 2023 report from the Boston Women's Workforce Council shows that the gender wage gap in Greater Boston decreased by nine cents over the previous two years, while the racial wage gap increased by three cents since 2021.

Today, Boston Globe Workforce and Income Inequality Reporter Katie Johnston joins The Common to break down this report, and what it can tell us about pay equity in our community.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common has been off this week, so in place of our regular show, we’re bringing you a special re-drop of our Earth Week series: Climate Now. Today’s episode published on April 20th, and brings us to Boston’s South End, where residents have already been feeling the intensifying effects of urban heat for years. 

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common is off today, but we’ve still got a great show in store for you. It’s the third episode of our Climate Now series from Earth Week 2023. It published on April 19th, and takes us to Hyde Park, where community members are fighting to protect a parcel of land called Crane Ledge Woods. 

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common is off again today, so we’re bringing you the second episode of our Climate Now series from Earth Week 2023. Today’s episode originally published on April 18th and brings us to the Boston Harbor Islands, where rising sea levels and storms threaten to wash away the irreplaceable history and nature the islands hold. 

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common is off this week so we’re re-sharing our Climate Now series from earlier in the year. Today’s episode originally published on April 17th and takes us to Boston’s Chinatown, where residents are taking climate resilience into their own hands. 

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Team Common is taking the day to rest and recharge with friends and family, we hope you are too. 

We’ll be in your feeds tomorrow with a special re-drop of our Climate Now series from Earth Week this year, which highlights the very real ways climate change is already impacting our communities here in Greater Boston. 

In the meantime, have a very happy holiday. We’ll talk to you soon.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.