NPS puts eyes to the sky with new drone course

Newton Public Schools, in collaboration with the Boston Drone School, is offering Newton North and South high school students a class in drone operation for FAA Remote Pilot Certification.

“Drone technology is rapidly transforming industries, and our students deserve access to learning experiences that spark curiosity and open doors to future careers,” Superintendent Anna Nolin said in a statement announcing the program. “This partnership brings cutting‑edge, hands‑on STEM education and exposure to future careers directly to our classrooms.”

Starting next school year, this new STEM offering will teach engineering and flight skills along with safety and potential impacts unmanned aerial systems can have on policy, culture and everyday life.

Complete details can be found here.

[Don’t] love that dirty water

The recent rain has brought more pollution to the Charles River, made worse by outdated infrastructure, WBUR is reporting.

A report by watershed associations for the three rivers that flow into the Boston Harbor–Charles, Mystic and Neponset–shows that recent rain and old infrastructure have caused pollution in all three.

Deteriorating water quality in those rivers can have an environmental ripple effect, as the region saw before the Charles River was cleaned up over the past few decades.

Read the whole article, which has input from former Newton Ward 2 Councilor Emily Norton, here.

One-day farmers’ market coming to Newton Centre

On Saturday, June 13, Union Street will become an urban marketplace, with a one-day Spring Preview Farmers’ Market.

From 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., shops on Union Street will be open while the street is closed to traffic. There will be live music and family-friendly activities.

Martin Poetry Path annual opening May 31

You may have noticed a group of Newton Upper Falls residents clearing leaves and debris from the Martin Conservation Area’s Poetry Path last weekend. It was in preparation for the annual opening of the path.

On May 31, at 10 a.m., volunteers will post a new collection of poetry along the Poetry Path, and the public is invited.

The city purchased the Martin Conservation Area, consisting of around half an acre of protected land along Circuit Avenue, in 1982.

Auchincloss does deep dive on radicalization

U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-MA, has published an interview with Parents4Peace Executive Director Myrieme Churchill on Substack.

Their conversation is about online radicalization after a man allegedly tried to assassinate President Donald Trump at this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner.

“This is more common, and closer to home, than many of us might want to admit,” Auchincloss writes before the interview transcript begins. “It flares up, online and offline, as conspiratorial and deranged politics, as antisemitism, and as violence.”

The two discuss potential causes of radicalization and the impacts it can have on families and society offline.

Read the entire interview here.

Poulos qualifies for September primary

And speaking of Jake Auchincloss, he has his first official primary challenger, as tech professional Jason Poulos has collected more than enough signatures to get on the primary ballot.

This will be Auchincloss’s first primary challenge since he was elected to the Massachusetts 4th Congressional District in 2020. 

Poulos is positioned to go after Auchincloss from the left on a variety of issues. Poulos supports single-payer health insurance (“Medicare for All”), says he wants to end American involvement in foreign wars and has vowed to put an end to the federal government’s warrantless wiretapping.

The Democratic primary will be on Sept. 1.