Halina Loft, WGBH

Halina Loft

WGBH

Cambridge, MA, United States

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Recent:
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Past:
  • WGBH

Past articles by Halina:

Tornado Downs Trees, Spares Residents In Concord

A tornado of moderate strength (EF-01, the second lowest classification) blew through Concord this morning, the National Weather Service confirmed Monday. The tornado was 400 yards wide and a half mile long, and traveled at around 100 miles per hour. Concord Fire Chief Mark R. Cotreau told the Globe that there were no injuries or deaths. "We have 39 houses damaged in some way, but miraculously,… → Read More

#BernieOrBust? Sadness, Anger On Social Media Following Sanders' Endorsement

Social media is churning with the news that Bernie Sanders has endorsed Hillary Clinton, effectively ending the Vermont senator’s bid for the presidency. Despite news of a possible endorsement coming as early as last week, Facebook groups devoted to Sanders still reacted with shock and anger today. ‘BERNIE OR BUST’, which boasts of following of over 23,000 Facebook users, was covered in… → Read More

Boston Responds To Dallas Shooting Of Police Officers

The nation woke up Friday morning to the news of a shooting in Dallas that left five police officers dead and seven others injured. The shooting took place at a Black Lives Matter protest in the city organized in response to the shooting deaths of two black men by white police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued a statement this morning in… → Read More

The Jimi Hendrix Of Ukulele, Jake Shimabukuro

Don’t underestimate the ukulele. It may be small, but musician Jake Shimabukuro (@JakeShimabukuro) proves that you don’t need more than four strings to make great music happen. Shimabukuro is a ukulele virtuoso who’s been compared to the likes of Yo Yo Ma, Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix. From a young age, Shimabukuro was fascinated with the instrument. The ukulele is a 19th century Hawaiian… → Read More

Juno Probe Could Give Us Answers To Fundamental Questions About Our Solar System

On Independence Day, NASA celebrated a new victory when the spacecraft Juno successfully began its orbit of Jupiter, 540 million miles away from Earth. "There's a saying, you know, 'it's not rocket science.' Well today it really was rocket science," says Guy Buetelschies, Director or Space Explorations Systems for NASA. The mission was launched nearly five years ago to study the composition and… → Read More

Mass. ACLU Has A Plan For Police Body Cameras

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has laid out a plan to help the state’s police departments implement the use of body cameras. The plan would focus on three touchstones: accountability, reliability, and transparency. Police would be required to record all encounters on the street to ensure that a clear course of events can be documented. Individual officers would not be… → Read More

Two SCOTUS Rulings & One Mass. SJC Ruling In One Day. What Do They Mean?

The judicial branch was hard at work yesterday—the U.S. Supreme Court issued two major rulings yesterday on affirmative action and immigration, and here in Massachusetts the State Supreme Judicial Court released a decision based on the so-called “necessity defense.” So how will the decisions play out locally? An Affirmation Of Diversity In a 4-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled in… → Read More

Marty Walsh's Very Bad Month Continues

The federal indictment of a city worker, claims of union-related extortion and wire-taps. These are not the "best of times" for Mayor Walsh. Will they become the "worst of times"? Former United States Federal Judge Nancy Gertner and Commonwealth Magazine Reporter Jack Sullivan (@reportah) discuss. Last week Ken Brissette, the city's director of tourism, sport and entertainment, was arrested on… → Read More

Local Environmentalists Vs. ExxonMobil

Environmentalists take on ExxonMobil in Massachusetts, beginning litigation charging the petroleum giant with intentionally hiding what they've known about the science of climate change for years and years. Conservation Law Foundation President Bradley Campbell (@bradleycampbell) and Mystic River Watershed Association President EK Khalsa are fighting to prove ExxonMobil has knowingly operated… → Read More

Today In History: 12 Years Since Massachusetts Became First State To Legalize Gay Marriage

Twelve years ago today (May 17), as a result of the ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court in Goodrich versus the Dept. of Public Health, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. This was the spark that started the revolution that led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that marriage was a right to be enjoyed by all American, regardless of sexual 0orientation.… → Read More

Three Women Authors Join Forces For A Great Cause

Authors Alice Hoffman (@ahoffmanwriter), Anita Diamant (@AnitaDiamant) and Ann Leary (@annleary) are a tour de force when it comes to fighting breast cancer. The three women have come together, along with four other female authors, for the Pink Pages benefit at the Hoffman Breast Center at Mount Auburn Hospital. For Hoffman, Pink Pages is very near to her heart. “I think Mount Auburn is a great… → Read More

The Boston Marathon, Mile 5: The Story Of Bobbi Gibb

It was at that point that Gibb realized her run was going to be a social statement. "Here's the whole tragedy of prejudice: if you're not allowed to do something, how can you ever prove you can do it?" Asks Gibb. Gibb took a Greyhound bus back to Boston for the race. When she arrived, she called her parents and told her where she was, and what she planned on doing. "They totally freaked out. My… → Read More

The Boston Marathon, Mile 5: The Story Of Bobbi Gibb

Women weren’t allowed to compete in the Boston Marathon until 1972; now they make up almost half the field. Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to finish the race, sneaking on to the course in 1966. We talk to Gibb about that historic occasion on its 50th anniversary. → Read More

'Millennial' Is A Podcast That Spells Success For Its Creator (And Testifies To New Media's Direction)

Tan's idea was to produce her own podcast, and submit it to iTunes to demonstrate for prospective employers that she had the level of audio chops required for a paid full-time job in the real world. But a funny thing happened to Tan as soon as she hit iTunes. Before she could showcase her talents to a skeptical radio world, her podcast began to take off. Called Millennial, Tan's podcast was an… → Read More

Trump, Twitter, And The 'Real' Politican

Trump called Cruz a loser. Not a weak candidate or a disingenuous leader—a loser. Trump’s tweets cut to the punch, and this tendency has earned him a reputation among voters. Say what you will about Trump, but his use of social media in this campaign has been genius. Thanks in part to Twitter, he has accomplished what few candidates have been able to achieve: he is seen as a real person, not a… → Read More

WATCH: Two Wheelock College Professors Are Claiming Anti-Semitism & Discrimination

Wheelock College Professors Gail Dines (@GailDines) and Eric Silverman (@EKSilverman) are claiming that discrimination and anti-semitism have ruined their careers. Tuesday night, the professors joined Greater Boston’s Jim Braude to discuss the federal workplace discrimination complaints they've filed against the college, as well as Wheelock's response. Professors Gail Dines and Eric Silverman… → Read More

A Look Ahead To South Carolina

Now that New Hampshire is over and done with, it’s time for the presidential candidates to focus their attention on making gains in the South Carolina primary. While a new electorate may mean positive results for candidates who slumped in the Granite State, momentum from New Hampshire could also lead to unexpected victories in South Carolina. Senator Dan Wolf (@SenatorDanWolf),… → Read More