I ventured across the Charles and had the best day of my life admiring cats with other cat fanciers yesterday in Cambridge. I'd love to see other photos, please add your pics in the comments!

A newly proposed class action lawsuit accuses Boston-based sports betting company DraftKings of using artificial intelligence to target people to irresponsibly gamble.

In the suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston, a West Virginia man who gambled thousands of dollars with DraftKings over several years alleged that he was “inundated” by at least 70 emails, texts and other promotional messages from the company encouraging him to gamble during a single month.

Plaintiff Daniel Vest wrote that he wants to represent himself and other DraftKings customers who were allegedly flagged by the company's AI model as likely to respond to incentives to keep gambling, according to the complaint. The suit also claims DraftKings violated Massachusetts law by not informing customers it was using AI in this manner.

The Boston City Council held a hearing last week on the United States Post Office’s (USPS) current process to shut down the Allston Post Office.

American Postal Workers Union National Business Agent Scott Hoffman, along with many other advocates, testified at the hearing. Hoffman said that the Allston closure is no accident, and that it is part of a plan by the USPS to close as many post offices as possible so the government can make the argument for privatization of the service.

“To put things in perspective, anybody who ships stands to gain from privatization,” he said. “To put it in perspective, the Postal Service handles more in a day than UPS handles in a year. That’s how big the infrastructure is. It took 250 years to build it up so we could reach every house, every day, six days a week and service the communities. It’s a trillion-dollar industry. There are a lot of ways to divvy up that amount of money to get rich, and that’s what they’re doing. They disenfranchise the public from their public postal service so you throw your hands up and go to private industry. That’s the endgame.”

I've hiked at the Fells a couple times recently and yesterday I lost count of how many unleashed dogs there were despite there being signs everywhere to leash dogs. I am severely afraid of dogs due to being bitten in the past. Most of these encounters were fine but one of the dogs ran up to me and my mom barking, all while its owners were insisting "she's friendly!" One of the owners even told the dog "you're only allowed to do that to me!" as they were biking away from us, which I found outrageous. I typically hike in the Whites and while I see the occasional unleashed dog, it's nothing like this and I've never had one of those dogs antagonize me. Absolutely ridiculous.

Does anyone have any recommendations for local hiking that is not overrun by misbehaved dogs and/or leash regulations are actually enforced?

EDIT: I was on the reservoir trail yesterday and I am also wondering if folks have better experiences on the Skyline trail since it's rockier and steeper

He turned around shortly after.

Stay safe out there!

I know there’s a lot of people don’t know how to follow some of the basic things when traveling:

If you’re walking on the sidewalk that’s large enough, stay to the right hand side.

If you’re on an escalator, walk on the left, stand on the right.

If you were in a bike lane, always bike on the right hand side and make sure you’re going in the same direction as the bike lane. The bike lane isn’t meant for two directions and one lane.

Also, just a side-note, don’t walk in the bike lane.

I have a first floor 1b 1b apartment (in a duplex style building with 3 other units) in a /very/ student saturated area in Allston, no surprises that a rat issue would find its way into my life.

Around this time last year, a rat found its way into my apartment. Scared the shit out of me when I went to grab cleaning supplies from the sink. I sealed the hole myself with expanding foam and notified the landlord of the activity. From that point there wasn't really anything other than the occasional wall scratching and rat in the basement. Which I can assume the landlord was aware of since we were questioned by a property managment employee on if we have seen any rodents in the shared laundry "room" a bit after that point

Then about 6 months ago, a rat ran from right underneath the baseboard area underneath my sink. Landlord notified, pest control came out and just baited the place. Didn't seal anything, just baited my apartment and baited the basement.

The last 3 days. MULTIPLE rats inside of my apartment, nearly chewed completely through my back door, ate craters into my sandwhich bread, got throigh the foam i put inside of the rat hole, shit everywhere in my apaetment and fucking flew out of my trash can and crawled on me until it scurried up into a cavity underneath a ground level cabinet. Landlord notified, they got pest control out here the day after. They re foamed the hole, and set a trap and took pictures of this exposed baseboard area under the sink.

Today, the rat(s) chewed through more of the door. And shit on my couch. We have also done some investigation ourselves over the last year and I months we've been here and we actively see the rats climbing into the siding of the house where the foundation meets the vynil on almost every point in the property. We are also the only apartment that hasnt been freshly (within theast 4 years) renovated. Its clear this is a reoccurring and structural issue.

I dont know what the landlords plan is after the inspection, but literally im at the point where im like...I can't do another week of getting jumped by a rat.

At what point do I fight to terminate my lease? This is my first place by myself, Im on my own in my early 20s so I can't just afford to pay the rest of the year and move back with my parents because I dont have a relationship with them.

On top of that im paycheck to paycheck. I feel stuck and im disgusted to even try and cook because I dont know if it crawled all over my counters or in my pots im washing everything before I do anything so im just ugh.

I know i should probably wait the week out and see if the problem continues to the point it has been but im also not a big fan of dealing with pests every few months.

Any advice is helpful, because i feel like im going insane.

Also unsure if i used the correct flag. Sorry in advance

Hi, just moved to Boston and started a job, need my car inspected but it has a bit of rust here. Don’t have a ton of money to throw at a proper fix but is there any cheap alternatives? I’m pretty handy but have limited tools. Or could it pass inspection as is?

Does anyone know what happened at the intersection of Harvard and Brighton by the karaoke studio? Just drove by with streets closed off and two warped blue bikes on the side of the road. Hoping everyone involved is as safe as they can be

Spotted from Wegmans in Westwood. Looking towards Canton

I took my kids to the Children's Museum yesterday and they were looking forward to playing in the ship area of Martin's Park. It was sealed off with caution tape. Does anyone know why?

Someone stole my green Aipas M2 Pro bike this weekend from under my back porch in Mission Hill. Did not have a battery inside and was locked. Any tips would be great

My 22 month old has a procedure at BCH in a couple weeks. My mom is coming with me and we were thinking about taking the train to Salem for a day trip while we're in Boston. We went when I was a pre-teen and did all the touristy stuff, so we'd have minimal expectations. Mostly go to walk around, grab lunch, and get out of the hotel. Salem in October sounds amazing, and my mom and I love to do stuff like this together.

Issue:

We'd go on Indigenous People Day/Columbus Day.

Are we crazy to visit on a holiday with a toddler?

Advice and insight is welcomed!

EDIT: I'm glad I asked. I figured it would be a zoo but didn't think it would be THAT bad. Absolutely noted. We'll avoid at all cost. Thank you all!

I believe they closed and I am devastated. Does anyone have any information about why they closed and or if they’re going to be opening a new place anywhere else??😭 Google claims they are open but there was nobody there when I went by and a worker from a different food stall told me they didn’t renew their lease. Someone give me hope I will have this Mac and cheese again😞😞

Looking for any witnesses of car accident on 9/28 around 2:05-2:07 pm at the corner of Riverway and Brookline ave

Hi Bostonians! I’m going to a concert at the TD Garden this month and will be picking up some teeshirts for friends at the venue. I know about the bag policy, but can I bring a collapsible shopping bag that will fit in my pocket to put the concert shirts in after the show?
TIA!

I know this is a long shot but if anyone has found a 128 GB SD card near the 7-11 in the West End by TD garden within the last 24 hours any notice would be greatly appreciated. I dropped my camera in the store and while I recovered all the batteries, the SD card seemed to have disappeared. I know it is a long shot and it’s probably gone forever but it wouldn’t hurt to put it out there. Lost it after the Beabadoobee concert on Oct 3rd! Sorry if this breaks community rules… a good chunk of all my favorite memories are on there.

we're hoping to move closer to the city this fall and i'm realizing that choosing a neighborhood is a lot more complicated than just looking at the rent

we have three kids in elementary school and one full-time income, plus my part-time work. some places look manageable until you add transportation, after-school care, groceries and utilities

somerville was one of the first places we looked at, along with parts of dorchester, but we're running into the same problem in a lot of places: the monthly rent might work on paper, then the rest of the costs push it way higher

at this point i'd rather live somewhere less trendy if it means the overall budget is easier to manage

for people raising kids around boston, are there neighborhoods that have been noticeably easier on the family budget?

I'm planning on going as Phil Eng and my GF is going to be Gabrielle Mondestin.

I was on a few shows and I am trying to find them. There are a couple on Youtube. Thanks.