Boston officials are weighing whether to keep confidential a long-awaited report documenting discrimination experienced by Black residents in the city since 1940.

The report was prepared by experts at Northeastern University and was intended to accompany a separate Tufts University study examining slavery and its legacy in Boston from the 17th through the 20th centuries. 

The Tufts report was pulled from publication after concerns emerged about the accuracy of researcher Kerri Greenidge’s 2022 book, The Grimkes. The criticism intensified in July, when The New York Times reported that scholars had identified alleged factual errors in the work. 

The reparations task force is now considering withholding the Northeastern report until a replacement study for the Tufts research can be completed, The Boston Globe reported. There is no indication that the Northeastern report itself contains inaccuracies. 

‘Why put the cart before the horse? Why release part two when you haven’t seen one yet,’ task force member Antonia Edwards said, according to the outlet. ‘Originally we were going to combine the reports… so why don’t we just give a complete package to the community?’ 

The timeline for producing a new report remains uncertain. Both original studies were initially expected to be completed and released publicly by 2023. 

The prolonged delays have drawn growing criticism, particularly after $500,000 was paid for the research. 

‘Certainly it was our hope that we would have something to present for discussion [by now],’ chairman Joseph D Feaster said on Thursday. ‘But unfortunately something happened that is beyond our control. Hopefully we will be able to get back on track.’ 

The task force has not formally voted to withhold the report, although a majority of its members have indicated they would support the step, The Globe reported. It is also unclear whether the task force can delay publication itself or whether the mayor’s office will make the final decision. 

In a joint statement, Tufts and the City of Boston said: ‘The City and the University have reluctantly come to a decision to cancel the contract for the first volume of the report.

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‘The faculty member who had been leading the project is no longer employed by the University. The University has been unable to identify a replacement researcher with the subject-matter expertise necessary to deliver a report meeting the standard that the City and the University both expect.  

‘Tufts has returned the full contract value to the City. The funds will be redeployed to support other Task Force priorities.’ 

The Daily Mail has contacted the mayor’s office, the task force, Greenidge and Northeastern for comment. 

In 2024, the Boston People’s Reparations Commission called for the city to provide $15 billion in reparations. 

The commission said the money should be invested ‘monetarily and through public policy that will be in effect for black Bostonians for generations.’ 

Reverend Kevin Peterson, the commission’s head, told WCVB in 2024 that while the group was seeking $15 billion, the amount was ‘not enough’ because ‘every life is incalculable.’

Alongside its $15 billion request from the city, the commission also held discussions with white churches in Boston about a possible $50 million contribution.

According to the Commission, the enslavement of Africans in Boston began in 1638 and started a ‘legacy of social, political, economic and cultural injustice.’

‘At one point during the city’s history, one in 10 Boston residents were enslaved people who were linked to the trans-Atlantic slave trade,’ according to their website.

Now some members of the Black community in Boston are claiming reparations for the legacy of prejudice and disadvantage they have endured.

They say they are seeking to ‘effectively address the harm inflicted through the enslavement of Blacks in Boston and generations of systemic oppression.’

Bigfoot may have more New Jersey connections than its legend suggests.

A team of investigators is examining reports of Sasquatch activity across the Garden State, where the towering, humanlike creature has allegedly been spotted or heard nearly 80 times.

Although Bigfoot is most commonly associated with the forests of the Pacific Northwest, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has documented 79 reports from New Jersey on its website.

During a recent investigation at High Point State Park in northwestern New Jersey, researcher Mike Familant and his team focused on a strange, animal-like noise that emerged after they imitated an owl, Familant told NJ.com.

The team captured the sound in 2022, but the recording only raised more questions after an expert concluded that it did not match any recognized animal in the area, according to Familant. He chronicles alleged Bigfoot encounters through his online series, “In the Shadow of Big Red Eye.”

A military linguist “came back with a report that said it was outside of human vocal range and wasn’t any known animal from northwestern New Jersey,” Familant said.

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Familant also identifies the Delaware Water Gap and Stokes State Forest as possible New Jersey Bigfoot hotspots.

Jacob Korbel, an investigator with the organization, said he once doubted the creature’s existence. His perspective shifted after joining the team on a 2021 expedition into the Pine Barrens.

“About 100 yards away in front of us, there’s this whoop response,” Korbel told NJ.com. “And right away, I’m like, that’s nothing that I’ve ever heard before. That’s not an owl, that’s not a coyote, fox.”

“And you could hear it slowly getting closer to our position, like it was coming in to check us out. Like we were almost getting flanked,” he recalled.

The reports are spread across the state, with 18 sightings recorded in Sussex County, 16 in Burlington County and 11 in Ocean County.

Still, no conclusive scientific evidence has established whether Bigfoot is a hidden species, an exceptionally elusive animal or simply a long-running myth.

Believers cite alleged footprints, blurry images and even hair samples said to contain unusual DNA as signs that the legendary creature has been roaming North American forests for generations.

A true crime creator has been charged with felony wiretapping after authorities alleged that she shared a secretly recorded phone call involving Patrick Clancy’s father, who said he had answered the call by mistake.

Shawna Gramkow, who runs multiple true crime social media accounts with more than 50,000 followers, was charged with unlawful wiretapping on Oct. 20. The charge stems from a Sept. 4 incident involving Christopher Clancy, Patrick Clancy’s father, according to a police report obtained by News Media.

Police said Gramkow uploaded an Instagram video on Aug. 30 showing an unidentified person calling a number she said belonged to Patrick Clancy. The number had reportedly been read aloud in court by Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, during the murder trial.

“So, you guys voted and Patrick said yes. So, at the trial Kevin Reddington released Patrick’s phone number and one of y’all decided to give him a call. Now on this particular call, Patrick’s dad was still on the line, he was kind of mumbling still on the phone, I guess he didn’t know that the phone was still going,” Gramkow said, according to the detective’s account in the report.

The detective reported that the video contains the voice of an adult man, although the speaker’s words could not be clearly understood. When Christopher Clancy contacted police on Sept. 4, he said he believed the voice was his and connected it to a phone call he received Aug. 6.

Clancy told investigators that he had accidentally answered a call from an unfamiliar number rather than rejecting it. Police allege the caller then recorded him without his knowledge or permission as he discussed his oldest son, Brian. The recording was later posted on Gramkow’s Instagram account, the report said.

“Mr. Clancy recalls while driving in the Town of Scituate sometime around August 6th, 2026 he received a phone call from a telephone number he did not recognize. Instead of declining the incoming call; he believes he accidently answered, creating an open line of communication for the unknown calling party who proceeded to record Mr. Clancy’s comments without his knowledge or consent. Mr. Clancy recognized some of his comments as being in regard to his eldest son Brian,” police wrote.

Although Massachusetts authorities have filed the wiretapping charge, Florida officials said Gramkow had not been taken into custody.

News Media sought comment from Gramkow. In a Facebook video that did not directly mention the case, she said the “allegations are false. And easy to prove.”

“And yes I got all the ‘Dirty Deets,’” she added in a written post.

Gramkow’s case comes as the legal positions of Patrick and Lindsay Clancy appear to diverge in separate civil lawsuits involving Lindsay’s medical providers.

At a Wednesday hearing in Norfolk County Superior Court, attorney Howard Cooper said he expects Lindsay Clancy to testify in a lawsuit Patrick Clancy brought against her healthcare providers.

“We believe that Lindsay Clancy, once her Fifth Amendment issues are resolved one way or the other, will testify that she told these defendants explicitly that she had homicidal ideation, that she was worried about something awful happening to her kids,” Cooper told the court.

In a statement provided to News Media, Reddington disputed that account. He said Lindsay Clancy has never indicated that she would testify and denied that she told healthcare providers she had homicidal thoughts about her children.

“It has come to my attention that counsel for Patrick Clancy represented to the court in his civil case that my client, Lindsay Clancy, will testify about statements she made to her healthcare providers,” Reddington said. “Lindsay Clancy never told any of her healthcare providers that she harbored homicidal ideation toward her children. She never indicated that she intended to testify in Mr. Clancy’s lawsuit, and no one acting for her ever represented that she would.”

“Mr. Clancy’s counsel does not speak for Lindsay Clancy,” Reddington added.

Lindsay Clancy faced three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, who were found strangled at the family’s home in January 2023.

Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on Friday, Sept. 4, after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, ending in an 11-1 divide.

The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Leo cast a mail-in ballot in Illinois during the 2026 midterm elections, following his criticism of President Trump’s positions on Iran and immigration.

He is the first pope in history to vote in a US general election.

The Chicago-born pontiff “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen” whenever he has been eligible, the Holy See press office said.

“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.”

Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff at the Will County clerk’s office, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the pope appears on the “list of individuals who requested a vote by mail ballot for the upcoming election.”

British historian Michael Walsh told CNN that this marks the first time a pope has voted in a democratic, secular election.

The historic vote follows Pope Leo’s condemnation of Trump’s war on Iran as “unjust” and his criticism of the president’s threat to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization.”

The pope and Trump have also clashed publicly. In April, Trump attacked Leo on Truth Social, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” while adding, “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

The Chicago-born pope replied that he had “no fear” of the administration and said his efforts were focused on “promote peace and multilateral relationships.”

Pope Leo has repeatedly used his platform to challenge Trump’s policies, including mass deportation efforts and tighter border controls.

During his first major US television interview, in July 2026, the religious leader criticized the administration’s “in humane treatment” of migrants at the US-Mexico border.

He pointed to America’s historic “principles” of freedom and opportunity, as well as its tradition of welcoming immigrants.

“My grandparents were immigrants,” Pope Leo told NBC’s Nightly News at the time.

“On my mother’s side, we have people who were both slaves and slave owners. There’s a history of, if you will, growing up in the kind of experience that helps me to recognize myself – one of the greatest wealths of the United States.”

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Records show that the pope, who is a US citizen, is registered to vote in the Chicago suburb of New Lenox.

He has voted in both Republican and Democratic primaries and also cast a ballot in the 2024 presidential election.

In another controversial move in April, Trump shared what appeared to be an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick person, followed by a photoshopped image imagining Trump Tower on the moon.

The post came after Leo denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” he said had fueled the joint US-Israel war in Iran and urged political leaders to stop fighting and negotiate peace.

That same day, Leo led an evening prayer service in St Peter’s Basilica as the US and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan during a fragile ceasefire.

The pope did not mention the United States or Trump by name during the prayer.

But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and American officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

The Pope told the thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square that the public is ‘growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it and becoming indifferent’.

Speaking from the Vatican balcony, the Pope said: ‘Let those who have weapons lay them down!

‘Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force but by dialogue.’

Leo did not specify a conflict within his message, known as the Urbi et Orbi blessing – translated as ‘to the city and the world’.

In the 2024 election, Trump won 55 percent of Catholic voters, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate.

But Trump’s administration also has close ties to conservative evangelical Protestant leaders and has claimed heavenly endorsement for the war on Iran.