Crackdown Begins Against 812 Unvaccinated City Workers: The HUB

The HUB is a daily newsletter designed for what you want — to be caught up on the most interesting, important news in 5 minutes or less. It's a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but if there's something you want more or less of, email me at jimmy.bentley@patch.com.

Today is Wednesday, October 13. Let's get started.

City officials warned Boston employees a crackdown was coming for those who didn't abide by its vaccine mandate, and on Tuesday, Acting Mayor Kim Janey made due on that threat, suspending 812 employees without pay.

According to the Boston herald, Janey's office sent notices to 1,400 out-of-compliance workers last week. By Tuesday, around 600 began following the policy by either providing proof of vaccination or submitting to weekly COVID-19 testing. That means 4.5 percent of Boston's roughly 18,000 workers are suspended. What city departments are most affected was not immediately made clear.

"We are now implementing contingency plans for bus transportation and other school operations impacted by employee leaves of absence, due to unverified vaccination or testing," Janey's office told the Herald. "We continue to work closely with our diverse workforce, and our union partners, to ensure employees have access to vaccination, testing and verification systems to comply with the mandate."

Read more from the Boston Herald.

Top stories

A mother traveled more than 280 miles from New Jersey to Boston to find her son, a man struggling with drug addiction who went missing at Mass and Cass., the epicenter of the city's opioid crisis. The Boston Globe's Deanna Pan paints a humanizing story of Andrew, a bright man and gifted musician struggling with a plethora of mental health and drug issues, and a mother not knowing if her son was dead or alive. Andrew, who was identified by his middle name to protect him and his family's privacy, was found at Boston Medical Center and had several stab wounds, but unfortunately he left his mother again for another notorious drug market in Philadelphia. (Boston Globe)

Is Boston's mayoral election Michelle Wu's race to lose? That's the question Commonwealth Magazine asked when it spoke with two seasoned experts of the city's political landscape. Neither former City Councilor John Connolly nor Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, a veteran Roxbury-based political strategist, are counting anyone out. But both agreed Annissa Essaibi George needs to turn the tide in her three debates against Wu, the first being on Wednesday. And why that tide needs to change is because Wu has already built a winning coalition of white progressives and people of color, Connolly said. (Commonwealth Magazine)

The Boston Division of the FBI is participating in a nationwide effort to raise public awareness of hate crimes and encourage people to report them. According to the FBI, the number of hate crimes last year reached its highest level in more than a decade. There were more than 7,700 hate crime incidents reported to the FBI in 2020, and 426 were reported within the Boston Division's area. (WHDH)

Elsewhere in Massachusetts

Hopkinton High School is the first public school in Massachusetts to get approval to drop its indoor mask mandate, officials said Tuesday. Individual middle and high schools are allowed to lift the indoor mask requirement if they can prove at least 80% of students and staff have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Eighty-two percent of Hopkinton residents are fully vaccinated, including more than 95 percent of those between the ages of 12 and 19, state data shows. (Patch)

Voter registration reminder

If you plan on voting in the Boston city election on Nov. 2, keep in mind that today is the last day to register to vote and be eligible to cast a ballot for mayor and City Council. Eligible residents can register at the Secretary of State's website or by submitting an application in person or by mail to their local election office. Eligible Boston residents can also register through the Registry of Motor Vehicles, MassHealth or the Commonwealth Health Connector. Online registration must be completed by 11:59 p.m., Wednesday.

The best in Boston

Are you looking for a new place to get a cup of coffee? Or maybe you want a break from working remotely out of your home and want a change of scenery. According to Kev's Best, these are the city's five best cafés to do so. (Kev's Best)

Weather: The National Weather Service says mostly sunny, with a high near 77. There will be a calm wind of 5 to 8 mph in the morning.

– Jimmy Bentley

Jimmy Bentley is a Massachusetts and Rhode Island field editor for Patch covering Cape Cod, Braintree, Barrington, East Greenwich, East Providence and North Kingstown. He was a reporter at the Plympton-Halifax Express and interned for Patch while earning his master's at Emerson College. In his free time, Jimmy hits concerts (sometimes reviewing them for Patch), watches movies and plays ice hockey.