The family and friends of Gabriel Josh-Cazir Pierre are hosting a candle light vigil on Monday, September 19 at 7 p.m. The vigil will be held at the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Floyd Street.

The 17-month old Dorchester toddler died last Monday after he was left unattended in a van for most of the day. His death remains under investigation.

In a statement released though the Boston Police Dept. today, the public was invited to attend the vigil.
"The family understands that there are many who are grieving with them and many of whom will come out to be there during this time. All are welcome to share this time with family," the statement read.

September issue is available now.

Retiring in Haiti has long been a dream for many in the diaspora. So for many years, most of the people who returned to live in Haiti were from an older generation. Over the last 5-7 years that trend has shifted to a younger generation. Many young Haitian professionals have been actively involved in Haiti. Many had even worked there, on limited-time contracts for non-profits, government agencies and the private sector.

However, once the earthquake hit, the diaspora returned in droves for numerous missionary trips, school-building and agricultural stimulus initiatives and to support family affected by the destruction. And many returned to live for good – including some of Boston’s brightest.

Linda Accime holds a Masters of Arts degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University. She was born in Miami, Florida and grew up in Boston, and had been interested in working in Haiti for quite some time. As part of her experiential learning for her graduate work, she went back to Haiti to work on a public health initiative in 2008. Through a project with Hospice St. Joseph, she worked to increase access to health care services for Haitians living in the countryside.

Shabazz AugustineShabazz Augustine stood silently in a Suffolk Superior courtroom today as he was officially charged with the heinous murder of 26 year-old Julaine Jules, his one-time love interest who was found dead in the Charles River nearly one month after she went missing from her South Boston workplace back in 2004.

Augustine, 32, was arrested on a warrant issued after the Boston Police Cold Case Squad began probing the Jules murder this year. Augustine was a suspect early in the murder investigation, but according to prosecutors, his recent arrest was prompted by "incriminating remarks" that he allegedly made after the killing. The Dorchester man, who has been working at a dental clinic in recent years, was taken into custody at his workplace in Roxbury in June. He's been jailed ever since and was once again ordered to be held without bail pending his trial — which will not likely take place until September 2012.

(AP) -- Hurricane Irene cut power to more than a million people in Puerto Rico, downing trees and flooding streets on Monday, and forecasters warned it could be a major storm as it threatens Florida and South Carolina by the end of the week. There were no reports of deaths or major injuries in Puerto Rico, but Gov. Luis Fortuno declared a state of emergency and urged people to stay indoors to avoid downed power lines, flooded streets and other hazards.

"This isn't the time to go out to find out what happened ... This is the time stay in your homes," Fortuno said at a news conference.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic storm season posed an immediate threat to the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, though the center of the hurricane was expected to miss neighboring Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola. Nearly 600,000 Haitians are still homeless due to the January 2010 earthquake and that country could still see heavy rain and tropical-storm-force winds, said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ Thousands of Haitians living in one of the biggest tent camps created after last year's earthquake could soon have a new home: the mountains north of Port-au-Prince.

City officials plan to relocate the almost 20,000 people living on the 42-acre (17-hectare) Champs de Mars plaza across the street from the crumbled National Palace if the central government approves, Port-au-Prince Mayor Jean Yves Jason said Wednesday.

Rachelle Villarson, at the 2011 Women of Power luncheon in Boston.
Last week’s National Urban League conference in Boston featured many nationally reknown figures from Soledad O’Brien, Henry Louis “Skip” Gates to Rev. Al Sharpton and Bill Gates. Many Bay State officials welcomed conference attendees including Gov Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas Menino, several state representatives, administration leaders and members of the Boston city council.

However, one key group that helped to ensure the smooth operations of the conference was the hard-working volunteers. And one dynamic leader responsible for recruiting, training, coordination and execution for volunteers for several main events was Rachelle Villarson. Villarson, who was born in Brooklyn and came to Boston as a teen, is a finance supervisor at Partners Healthcare. She was appointed to the board of Young Professionals Network of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts (YPN-ULEM), as co-chair of the community service committee last summer. She hit the ground running.

Jeanpierre Augustin training in South BostonAfter the Haitian earthquake last year, Jeanpierre Augustin welcomed three family members into his family’s Lawrence home – survivors of the earthquake that killed 13 other relatives of the Augustin family. Jean-Pierre knew he had wanted to box for the past five years, but, after the quake, he knew for sure that he wanted to box for Haiti … in the Olympics.

The 25-year-old light heavyweight boxer, originally from Boston, is on the track to an Olympic appearance in London next year, where he will don red and blue.

“For a country that has nothing at all, if I can bring some light to it, that would be a good thing,” Augustin says.
The road to the Olympics, however, is an unsure one, requiring self-discipline and travel to intercontinental tournaments and foreign rings.

Shabazz Augustine: Charged with murdering Julaine Jules and dumping her in Charles River in 2004.
(Updated June 30, 5:10 p.m.) — A Dorchester man accused of suffocating a 26 year-old Malden woman to death in his Savin Hill apartment during a envy-driven argument— and then dumping her body in the Charles River in 2004 — was ordered held without bail this morning during his arraignment in Dorchester District Court.

Shabazz Augustine, 32, cowered out of view behind a door in a Dorchester court as the family of the victim, Julaine Jules, strained for a view at the suspect. Augustine, a dental hygenist, was arrested Thursday at the Kool Smiles clinic in Roxbury where he works by a team of Boston Police officers.

Jules was a pretty, Haitian-American woman who worked as a secretary at the Children’s Museum at the time of her death. She was missing for more than a month before her decomposed body— wrapped in plastic garbage bags— surfaced on the Cambridge side of the Charles River on Sept., 19, 2004.
Julaine Jules
The arrest of Augustine after seven years stunned the victim's family— which learned of the break in the case from Boston Police and the Suffolk County DA’s office yesterday. Prosecutors say that Augustine was upset after learning that Jules — whom he had an apparent romantic connection to— had been spending time with another man in the days before her disappearance.

This Monday, June 20 at 9 a.m., the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is hosting an information session about Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The briefing will be held at the John F. Kennedy building, in conference room 275B, in Boston.

During this session, officials will explain the details of filing for TPS in hopes that the information provided will encourage qualified individuals to apply.

“We really hope that Haitians take advantage of this extension... many people need to know that they shouldn’t be afraid to come forward. This will allow them to gain immigration status,” Denis Riordan, district director of USCIS, told the Reporter.