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Shirley Leung

@leungboston

Columnist at the Boston Globe, host of Globe Opinion's Say More podcast, contributor to GBH's Boston Public Radio. Boy mom.

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Latest posts by Shirley Leung @leungboston

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Red Line slow zones may be gone, but in this weather, maybe it’s just simpler to drive - The Boston Globe The MBTA has come a long way, but a transit system’s real test is whether it works when people need it the most and when driving isn’t an option.

On Tuesday morning, it took me two hours to get into the city because of delays on the Red Line. The delays continued into Wednesday. I drove instead. I'm not proud but sometimes it has to be done.

28.01.2026 23:07 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
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‘Like winning the lottery’: How a wave of free liquor licenses is making Boston a cooler place to eat, drink, and live - The Boston Globe The city has approved 64 liquor licenses since a landmark expansion in 2024.

Good to read @leungboston.bsky.social's Boston Globe article about how free liquor licenses are helping small, locally owned restaurants in #Boston neighborhoods. #equity #BostonEats

www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/13/b...

13.01.2026 12:00 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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‘Who the hell is this guy?’ How Bill Chisholm closed the wildest deal of his life and bought the Celtics. - The Boston Globe Chisholm grew up a tortured Boston sports fan. As a billionaire in his 50s, he achieved every child's dream: He bought his favorite team.

Must read about @thebostonceltics.bsky.social Bill Chisholm. This is the most comprehensive profile I've read about him from hiking the Appalachian Trail for weeks at a time every year to never have spoken to Irv Grousbeck, the architect of the $6.1 billion sale. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/17/s...

17.12.2025 15:03 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Globe Summit 2025 to gather trailblazers, change-makers to discuss ‘Revolutionary Ideas’ - The Boston Globe The annual summit brings leaders together "to tackle the biggest questions and challenges facing Boston and New England,” Boston Globe editor Nancy Barnes said.

Who will be at #GlobeSummit2025 Nov. 18 - 19? @danafarber.bsky.social CEO, @massgovernor.bsky.social, @yobencohen.bsky.social, @theonion.com CEO, @jfkucinich.bsky.social, @sincerelyjenee.bsky.social & more. Get tix at globe.com/summit.

22.10.2025 00:21 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1
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‘All Fudged Up’: The Ben in Ben & Jerry’s talks about an ice cream company’s fight for its soul - The Boston Globe After Jerry Greenfield resigned in protest, Ben Cohen says he plans to stay at the beloved ice cream maker they founded and push to preserve its values.

Read my interview with the Ben in Ben & Jerry's on fighting for the soul of the ice cream company. The come see @yobencohen in Boston at Globe Summit on Nov. 19. Get tickets or join virtually: globe.com/summit www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/17/b...

17.10.2025 10:34 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Healey opened the door to tweaking the ‘millionaires tax.’ Now what? - The Boston Globe The governor's comments suggest an openness to adjusting the tax many business leaders loathe. But any changes will be years away.

Here's my take on @massgovernor.bsky.social and the millionaires tax. Of course, she opened the door because she's getting an earful from business leaders who are strategizing how to undo or mitigate the impact. Recording of interview w/ @bostonglobe.com colleague Josh Miller embedded in story.

18.06.2025 13:28 👍 11 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 2

Such a great choice to lead TransitMatters forward. Caitlin brings a solid background w/A Better City & significant experience & #mapoli transit advocacy just got bigger & stronger. Looking forward to working with her as we advance our work! cc: @shannonlarson.bsky.social @leungboston.bsky.social

29.05.2025 14:23 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Uncertainty over tariffs is causing chaos for some Massachusetts manufacturers - The Boston Globe On the South Coast of Massachusetts, where production lines already churn out American-made goods, the whipsaw of tariff directives have filled factory bosses with dread.

The factory floor is ground zero for Trump's trade war. Writes @shurufu.bsky.social‬: "On a recent afternoon at Matouk’s factory in Fall River, Cairo towels were being embroidered with designs by a machine from Germany... cotton in the towels is from Egypt, where it’s turned into yarn..."

15.04.2025 12:19 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Did Harvard just grow the backbone we’ve been waiting for? - The Boston Globe In standing up to President Trump, Harvard asserts its leadership at last.

It was far from a foregone conclusion that @harvard.edu would stand up to the demands of Trump. But on Monday, Harvard showed its hand: “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights." #harvard #handsoff

15.04.2025 11:46 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Another challenger for Michelle Wu? Developer Thomas O’Brien considering jump into mayoral race. - The Boston Globe Developer Tom O'Brien is weighing entering the mayor's race, potentially a second major challenger to Mayor Michelle Wu.

Developer Tom O'Brien is weighing run for Boston mayor, reports @leungboston.bsky.social

Chatter around another candidate entering the race went into overdrive this weekend, after Josh Kraft's rough Ch. 5 interview aired www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/10/m...

10.03.2025 16:29 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Republicans vs. Mayor Wu. Who won? - The Boston Globe Globe columnist Shirley Leung talks to political reporter Jim Puzzanghera about Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's appearance at a Congressional hearing on so-called "sanctuary cities."

“I feel like she prepared like this was a presidential debate, right? She came with one-liners," Globe political reporter Jim Puzzanghera tells @leungboston.bsky.social.

Listen to their discussion on Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's congressional hearing on #SayMore:

10.03.2025 15:55 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Another challenger for Michelle Wu? Developer Thomas O’Brien considering jump into mayoral race. - The Boston Globe Developer Tom O'Brien is weighing entering the mayor's race, potentially a second major challenger to Mayor Michelle Wu.

@wutrain.bsky.social just had the best political week of her life. Still that isn't stopping potential challengers from jumping into the November race. Will Boston developer Tom O'Brien throw his hat in the ring? #bospoli

10.03.2025 16:39 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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‘Exhausting’: New England jobseekers lament a stagnating jobs market - The Boston Globe Layoffs are rising in some New England states even as job openings have tapered and employers are hiring less. We speak to job seekers about what it's like to search for jobs in the current labor mark...

Good take here by @shurufu.bsky.social about the New England job market ... (Spoiler alert: It's not good.) Layoffs ticked up in all New England states, job openings down in all but one state.

07.03.2025 11:43 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Traffic can be tolerable on Mondays and Fridays ... 😅

03.03.2025 14:09 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Dear Hasbro: Bring Monopoly, Candy Land, and Scrabble back home to Massachusetts - The Boston Globe An open letter to CEO Chris Cocks on why the toy company should relocate its headquarters to Boston from Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Globe's @leungboston.bsky.social makes the case for Hasbro to move its HQ to Boston:

"The scouting trips to narrow down potential headquarters in downtown Boston and the Seaport have been the talk of the town"

24.02.2025 18:54 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Tell us: What are your pandemic memories, photos and videos? - The Boston Globe For an upcoming story to mark the anniversary, the Globe is asking readers to share their memories of moments from the pandemic, through May 2023.

COVID-19 five-year anniversary coming up. Share your pandemic memories with @bostonglobe.com. More information below. 👇

11.02.2025 22:28 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Americans are drinking less, and not just in January - The Boston Globe Damp January, the relaxed cousin of the Dry January trend, can help develop healthy habits beyond the first month of the year. Plus, the alternates don't taste... that bad.

“Don’t get me wrong, a drink here or there is not going to cause enormous harm, but there’s an appreciation that any bit of alcohol brings with it some level of harm,” @drscotthadland.bsky.social tells @leungboston.bsky.social in this week’s episode of #SayMore.

06.02.2025 16:29 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Want to make business leaders squirm? Ask them about the Boston mayor’s race. - The Boston Globe While Mayor Wu has had a sometimes-contentious relationship with Boston’s business community, business leaders aren’t necessarily jumping to back challenger Josh Kraft just yet, either.

What makes Boston business leaders squirm, @leungboston.bsky.social asks?

Just ask this question: “Are you supporting Mayor Michelle Wu or backing challenger Josh Kraft?”

07.02.2025 13:59 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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In looming mayor’s race, who has the Black vote: Michelle Wu or Josh Kraft? - The Boston Globe In Boston’s upcoming mayor’s race, the city’s Black electorate is up for grabs. And as Black voters go, so goes the election.

With the official kick off Josh Kraft's mayoral run today, I've been watching this story line for months about whether Wu can hang onto Black voters and how many will consider voting for Kraft. #bospoli

04.02.2025 14:41 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
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Trump has declared war on DEI — but why? Women and people of color aren’t taking over America. - The Boston Globe The about-face on DEI programs reflect a misguided notion that women and people of color have been offered unfair advantages and given a disproportionate amount of work.

"Ultimately, Trump’s aversion to DEI stems from fear — the fear that Black, Latino, and Asian people will surpass everyone else. What the president doesn’t realize is that Making America Great Again doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Diversity has always been our greatest strength."

29.01.2025 01:16 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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BOS Nation doesn’t want to feel like ‘the baby sister.’ That’s why the team won’t play with the men in Everett. - The Boston Globe The new professional women’s soccer team believes that having their own stadium is key to their financial success.

1/2

NWSL commish Jessica Berman tells @leungboston.bsky.social ‘(BOS Nation FC) would not have gotten the team if they didn’t have this plan.’
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/23/b...

23.01.2025 14:05 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Eric Adams Heads to Mar-a-Lago to Meet With Trump The New York mayor, who is under federal indictment, has spoken warmly about President-elect Donald J. Trump in recent weeks and has said he is open to receiving a pardon from him.

Breaking News: Mayor Eric Adams of New York, who has been indicted on corruption charges, is said to be headed to Mar-a-Lago to meet with President-elect Donald Trump.

17.01.2025 00:10 👍 388 🔁 124 💬 148 📌 101
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As Amazon and JPMorgan roll out five-days-a-week mandates, Boston appears committed to hybrid schedules - The Boston Globe A survey by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce shows that most office employers have made no change to their return-to-office policies for at least the past year.

Hybrid model continues to roil Boston office market but stability could be around the corner. The sector's new mantra: “Survive until ‘25" ... “The fix is in ‘26.” www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/16/b...

16.01.2025 18:28 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Yes I saw!

16.01.2025 15:07 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Michelle Wu’s historic pregnancy was barely news, and that’s progress - The Boston Globe The mayor maintained a busy schedule, from press briefings to tree lightings, managing to keep the focus on her policies instead of her growing belly.

@wutrain.bsky.social just had a historic pregnancy. For the most part, it was barely news, and that's progress. As @maryannemarsh.bsky.social put it: "She hasn’t missed a beat, very matter of fact, all business.”

We've come a long way since the coverage of Jane Swift. #mapoli #bospoli

16.01.2025 14:18 👍 12 🔁 1 💬 2 📌 0
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Very few women have delivered babies while serving in elected office. Here’s what a few had to say. - The Boston Globe Wu is one member of a tiny but growing group of prominent women politicians who have delivered children while serving in office.

Michelle Wu, who just delivered her third child, is one of just a few women politicians who have not only led and legislated while raising young kids, but delivered them while in office.

“There are barriers,” one fellow mayor-mom told me, “if we allow it.”

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/14/m...

15.01.2025 17:05 👍 66 🔁 10 💬 2 📌 3

Catching up with a few thoughts on everyone else’s thoughts on how I (& presumably all women) should behave re: work/family 🧵

Overall- important & meaningful to see the range of takes here reflecting so many personal, hard decisions made in a system that so often blocks balance & choice.

16.01.2025 05:33 👍 226 🔁 55 💬 6 📌 7
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‘There will be a lot more corruption’: Trump’s inner circle is starting to look a lot like American oligarchy - The Boston Globe A second Trump term may open the floodgates to an unprecedented amount of corporate influence over government.

In his farewell speech, Biden warned about the oligarchy in America. Here's my piece in November warning about the new American oligarchy.

16.01.2025 12:20 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Michelle smiles from the backseat next to baby Mira in her car seat & too big puffy onesie coat for the car ride home from the hospital

Michelle smiles from the backseat next to baby Mira in her car seat & too big puffy onesie coat for the car ride home from the hospital

Baby is wearing a pink shirt and wrapped in a pink fleece blanket while being held by big brother at home

Baby is wearing a pink shirt and wrapped in a pink fleece blanket while being held by big brother at home

Michelle & her family celebrate mom’s & baby’s birthdays at home with treats from Sweet Teez & Sugar Bakeries

Michelle & her family celebrate mom’s & baby’s birthdays at home with treats from Sweet Teez & Sugar Bakeries

Came home yesterday with plenty of time for baby snuggles all around + treats from Sweet Teez & Sugar bakeries!

Best birthday ever 💕

15.01.2025 13:29 👍 335 🔁 18 💬 37 📌 4
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Homeowners and renters in Boston are feeling the pain of higher property taxes. Who will they blame? - The Boston Globe Sure, Mayor Wu could have been a little savvier handling the delicate political dynamics, but her heart was in the right place: protecting homeowners and renters.

As big property tax bills hit mailboxes of Boston homeowners, who will get blamed in an election year? City's tax challenges won't be going away this year.

09.01.2025 23:22 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1