Brookline News

Brookline News Independent, nonprofit local news in Brookline, MA

A Billerica man pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing Tamar Vishlitzky, a long-time Brookline resident and therapist, by...
01/08/2026

A Billerica man pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing Tamar Vishlitzky, a long-time Brookline resident and therapist, by hitting her with his car in a Bedford crosswalk in 2024.

He was given a suspended sentence, which means he won't serve any time in jail unless he violates his probation.

Michael Quimby, 35, struck and killed Tamar Vishlitzky in a Bedford crosswalk in July 2024. He was given a suspended sentence, which means he will not serve any time in prison unless he violates his probation.

A 14-year-old boy was taken to the hospital with a "severe head laceration" after the moped he was driving crashed into ...
01/08/2026

A 14-year-old boy was taken to the hospital with a "severe head laceration" after the moped he was driving crashed into a car in Coolidge Corner on Thursday morning.

The moped driver, a 14-year-old boy, was traveling on Harvard Street toward Coolidge Corner when he “neglected to obey a red traffic signal” and crashed into a car, police reported. He was not wearing a helmet and sustained a "severe head laceration," police said.

You probably know anecdotally or intuitively that it's expensive and difficult to buy a house or condo in Brookline. But...
01/07/2026

You probably know anecdotally or intuitively that it's expensive and difficult to buy a house or condo in Brookline. But this data we collected from 12 months of sales might still stop you in your tracks.

A $600k average down payment and 46% of homes purchased with all cash sales meant that just 16 out of 595 buyers last year were able to pay less than $100,000 up front.

New data collected by Brookline.News illustrate the steep cash-in-hand costs for prospective homebuyers in Brookline.

Michael Jacobs, who has been on the board of the Brookline Housing Authority for 25 years, will not run for reelection i...
01/07/2026

Michael Jacobs, who has been on the board of the Brookline Housing Authority for 25 years, will not run for reelection in May.

Michael Jacobs has helped lead the Brookline Housing Authority since 2001. He has endorsed a new candidate, Jonathan Klein.

Another Coolidge Corner storefront is now vacant: GameStop at 271 Harvard Street has closed, as the video game retailer ...
01/06/2026

Another Coolidge Corner storefront is now vacant: GameStop at 271 Harvard Street has closed, as the video game retailer shuts down hundreds of stores across the country.

The GameStop location in Coolidge Corner has closed as the declining video game retailer shuts down locations across the country. A sign on the store’s door on Monday read: “store is now officially closed.”  After closing hundreds of stores in 2025, GameStop is shutting down more this week, i...

Don Weitzman, who served for decades as a local government leader and climate advocate in Brookline, died on Dec. 16 at ...
01/06/2026

Don Weitzman, who served for decades as a local government leader and climate advocate in Brookline, died on Dec. 16 at the age of 83.

Read more about his life and work:

Weitzman, Donald C. February 19, 1942 – December 16, 2025 Don Weitzman of Brookline, MA, died at home following a diagnosis of ALS in the early fall of the same year. He was 83 years old. The son of the late Mary (Cohen) Weitzman and Jacob Daniel Weitzman, and younger brother of the late David Wei...

A food hall? A ghost kitchen? A little bit of both? Read about the new Wonder restaurant (if you can call it that) plann...
01/05/2026

A food hall? A ghost kitchen? A little bit of both?

Read about the new Wonder restaurant (if you can call it that) planning to open on Harvard Street this year.

The Wonder location is opening this year north of Coolidge Corner.

Brookline and its school district have agreed to pay $3 million to the alleged victim of sexual abuse by former teacher ...
01/02/2026

Brookline and its school district have agreed to pay $3 million to the alleged victim of sexual abuse by former teacher Larry Chen.

Criminal charges against Chen were dropped earlier this year when the alleged victim told prosecutors she did not want to testify.

Criminal charges against Chen were dropped earlier this year because the alleged victim told prosecutors she did not want to testify.

The town has signed a new 10-year agreement with Comcast, which lets the company continue to operate its cable services ...
12/30/2025

The town has signed a new 10-year agreement with Comcast, which lets the company continue to operate its cable services in Brookline for a fee.

The agreement comes as Comcast continues to lose cable customers, meaning less revenue coming into the town budget and to Brookline Interactive Group, Brookline's cable access station and community media center.

The new 10-year agreement allows Comcast to keep operating cable in Brookline, and maintains some of the same fees as before, but funding to the town and its cable access station is dropping overall.

A resident's tax dilemma. A musician's quest to find history in Brookline. A high-profile crime. The end of one of Brook...
12/28/2025

A resident's tax dilemma. A musician's quest to find history in Brookline. A high-profile crime. The end of one of Brookline's flagship academic programs. And how Trump's cuts hurt one local federal worker.

Read more about what was behind these stories, and why readers were drawn to them.

It’s been a great year at Brookline.News, and we’ve got some stats to illustrate it.  Our site received more than 2 million page views, from nearly 900,000 users. On average, you stayed on our site for just over a minute and 30 seconds – in the era of TikTok and Twitter, that’s an eternity....

The Coolidge Corner Theatre is on track for record attendance this year, and "romantasy" stayed hot for local library pa...
12/26/2025

The Coolidge Corner Theatre is on track for record attendance this year, and "romantasy" stayed hot for local library patrons.

Here were some of the most popular books and movies in Brookline in 2025:

Here's what Brookline was reading and watching in 2025.

Here are 10 things to do in and around Brookline on this holiday week:
12/23/2025

Here are 10 things to do in and around Brookline on this holiday week:

10 things to do this week in Brookline, including Christmas festivities

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