Sam Mintz

@samjmintz.bsky.social

Editor at Brookline.News, a nonprofit news site covering the town of Brookline, MA. Before this, I was a reporter covering transportation and energy policy in DC and Boston.

Exclusive: Bad actors have used Flock's massive camera network as a powerful weapon for intimate surveillance. Authorities have charged or accused at least 50 law-enforcement officers of using license-plate readers for unauthorized purposes.

How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking

Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.

washingtonpost.com

Body camera footage shows tense moments when Brookline police officers responded to an incident where ICE agents were scuffling with a detainee in Chestnut Hill. The officers decline to translate and stop a bystander from bringing the detainee a bottle of water. "We can't get involved."

@brooklinenews.bsky.social · 3d ago

Here's what it looks like when ICE comes to Brookline, seen through the body cameras of Brookline police officers who responded to an incident in May. brookline.news/new-body-cam...

I interviewed Jason Poulous last night, the progressive challenger to Jake Auchincloss in the MA 4th congressional district. We talked money in politics, Israel, ICE, housing, AI and more. Watch or read the transcript here: brookline.news/video-interv...

Video: Interview with congressional candidate Jason Poulos - Brookline.News

Brookline.News spoke to Jason Poulos about his run for Congress, his stance on AI, Jake Auchincloss' support from the pro-Israel lobby and more.

brookline.news

It's not an easy or fun or likely conversation but I wish we could talk about how to pursue media coverage of criminal trials like the Lindsay Clancy case that tries to make the world a better place, rather than the current status quo that leads to such grotesque and unproductive discourse.

New York Post claiming that Mamdani admin publishing the names and addresses of thousands of new York city property owners is "doxxing" is truly telling on themselves because anyone who has done an ounce of actual reporting knows that information was already public in deed records

If you showed Disclosure Day and Odyssey to someone who had never seen a movie before, their first reaction would be "what are all these moving images on this screen" but their second would be absolute shock that Spielberg is widely considered a better director

Jake Auchincloss, facing a progressive challenger in September's primary (though reportedly up 47 points per internal poll), votes with 100 fellow House Dems to cut off military assistance to Israel. Auchincloss been among the more pro-Israel Dems and received more than $1m from pro-israel PACs

let this be a lesson to deal with your feelings of gender anxiety and masculine inadequacy with a hobby or therapy or something and not a high stakes senate election

It was absolutely inevitable that Trump would get involved in the world cup in a way that would completely ruin the good vibes that were building against all odds

The owners of Party Favors in Brookline recently announced their store's closure. But it's a decision forced by rising costs, not a retirement by choice, and the Pergantis family is still hoping they can find a financial lifeline to stay open in some form. brookline.news/forced-to-cl...

Facing closure over rising costs, Party Favors owners search for a lifeline - Brookline.News

Asking for community support, and hoping to find a benefactor with funds to help them keep afloat, John and Mary Lynn Pergantis aren't quite ready to call it quits despite announcing the store's closu...

brookline.news

Looked it up in the dictionary, and yeah, it turns out they're right: Socialism is when you politely ask people to turn up their ACs a little bit so that the grid doesn't explode

While most other national news outlets are leading their sites with Trump's billion dollar crypto corruption right now, WaPo would like you to think about whether the trans rights movement has gone too far.

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End of an era for one of the most interesting and inexplicable restaurants in Brookline, which really had a strong cult following in the neighborhood. I've already heard from two (!) people who met their spouses there, presumably after hours as it morphed from a Chinese restaurant into a club

@brooklinenews.bsky.social · last mo.

Golden Temple has closed its doors for good after 66 years serving Chinese Food and nightlife in Washington Square. Have memories of this Brookline landmark you want to share? Put them in the comments or email smintz@brookline.news and we'll compile and publish them. brookline.news/golden-templ...

Extraordinary, enraging excess on display here (and I absolutely feel the same about Schefter, Chams etc who make much more.) You could fund a local newsroom for three or four years on this and the amount of good it would do in the world would be infinitely more than scooping NFL free agencies.

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