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Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu traveled to Rome last week to present their plans for de-carbonization and climate resiliency at a multi-day summit hosted by the Vatican and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

The Wu administration aims to reduce the city’s carbon footprint via a suite of initiatives, including new rules on Boston buildings, which are responsible for over 70% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. Wu's goal is for city buildings, old and new, to be carbon-neutral by 2050.

Meanwhile, Gov. Healey is pushing her own climate reforms in the state legislature.

For more on their trip to Italy, Darryl C. Murphy speaks with Boston Globe politics reporter Samantha J. Gross, who traveled with Wu and Healey last week.

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

As school years wind down at colleges and universities around the state, the last student encampments protesting the war in Gaza have been dismantled.

At some schools, student protestors packed up the tents of their own free will. At others -- including Emerson, Northeastern and MIT -- they were forcibly disbanded by police.

With summer fast approaching, questions remain about the tactics employed by universities to disperse student protesters. The Common's Darryl C. Murphy speaks with WBUR senior political reporter Anthony Brooks about what happened and what comes next.

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

The state is hoping a new pilot program providing ESL classes to newly arrived immigrants staying in Massachusetts emergency shelters will help them achieve self sufficiency faster. The pilot is lead by the nonprofit English for New Bostonians, which has been teaching occupationally-focused language classes with the goal of providing students the skills and confidence to find employment, and continue improving their English in other settings.

Claudia Green, English for New Bostonians executive director, and Thaís Lobo, who heads the English Works Program for English for New Bostonians, join The Common to discuss the importance of language instruction for newly arrived immigrants and the future of the pilot program. 

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Today is the 20th anniversary of gay marriage becoming legal in Massachusetts. The right for same sex couples to marry was brought about by the Goodridge Decision, which made Massachusetts the first state in the country to secure marriage equality. Back in 2004, Arline Isaacson, Co-Chair of the Massachusetts GLBTQ Political Caucus (formerly known as the Mass Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus), was one of the advocates who worked to secure marriage equality in the Commonwealth.

Arline joins The Common to reflect on this anniversary, and discuss the ongoing efforts to improve the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in Mass. today. 

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

When the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission launched its Social Equity Program, it promised a pathway for groups disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs into the newly legalized cannabis market. But today, social equity operators are finding that getting into the cannabis business is a far cry from the lucrative opportunity it once was, sometimes leaving them worse off than when they started the process. 

"CommonWealth Beacon" reporter Bhaamati Borkhetaria spoke with cannabis operators in the region who graduated from the state’s Social Equity Program, she joins The Common to discuss their experiences, and the barriers they continue to face getting established in the cannabis industry.

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Colleges and universities across the country are gearing up for graduation, including here in Boston. Commencement comes at a very tense time on many campuses though, as student protest encampments in support of Palestinian people and school divestment from Israel have been dismantled by police at numerous schools, notably MIT and Emerson College. Tufts and Harvard Universities also had encampments that were recently disbanded by student protestors themselves.

WBUR Senior Education Reporter Carrie Jung joins The Common to discuss the mood among students as this tumultuous year comes to a close, and whether disruptions can be expected at graduation ceremonies over the next weeks.

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.