Celebrity chef calls fired cafeteria worker ‘hero’ Mass. housing squeeze brings calls for action

Canaan, N.H. (AP) — The plight of a fired school cafeteria worker in New Hampshire has caught the attention of award-winning chef José Andrés.

Bonnie Kimball was fired by a food supply vendor for Mascoma Valley Regional High School on March 28, a day after giving a free lunch to a student who couldn’t pay.

The company later offered to rehire Kimball but she declined. In the meantime, she has received an outpouring of support — from co-workers who quit in protest to strangers who have raised more than $5,000 on her behalf.

Andrés, who owns restaurants in Washington, Las Vegas and other cities, is known for his efforts to help Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

He tweeted a link Friday to a news story about Kimball, praising her and advertising job openings at his restaurants. While he did not explicitly offer her a job in the tweet, many of his fans responded as if he had.

“The hero is Bonnie Kimball! If she needs a job we have openings at @thinkfoodgroup if you know her, let her know!” he wrote.

An email request for comment was sent Sunday to a spokeswoman for Andrés. An email request also was sent to Kimball, and a message was left on her voicemail.

She told The Associated Press last week that she was in awe of the attention and support she has received.

“When I walked out of the school the day that I got fired, all that was going through my head was that I wouldn’t be able to show my face again. People would think I was a thief,” she said.

The incident comes as schools across the country are struggling to deal with how to address students who can’t pay for their lunch.

A 2011 survey found that a majority of districts had unpaid lunch charges and that most dealt with it by offering students alternatives meals.

Last month, federal lawmakers also introduced “anti-lunch shaming” legislation to protect students with unpaid lunch bills.

The USDA also discourages practices that stigmatize students, but allows districts to set their own policies.

Boston — By nearly any measure, the Massachusetts economy is booming. Thousands of jobs are being created and unemployment is at historic lows.

The flip side? Try finding a place to live that won’t break the budget.

The realities of a housing market where affordable homes, condos and apartments are increasingly hard to come by for middle- and low-income residents has prompted numerous proposals on Beacon Hill for spurring housing development. But so far, there’s no consensus.

According to the online real estate database company Zillow, the current median value of a home in Massachusetts is $407,700, up nearly 4 percent in the last year. The median asking price of currently listed homes is $474,900.

And while buyers are experiencing sticker shock from record-high prices, renters aren’t faring any better.

In recent testimony before the Legislature’s Committee on Housing, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker noted that Massachusetts’ median monthly rent of nearly $2,500 for a two-bedroom apartment is the highest in the nation.

Among the culprits in this decline, Baker said, is a century-old state law that requires a two-thirds vote of a municipality’s governmental body — city council or town meeting, for example — to authorize zoning changes needed to clear the way for new housing projects.

The supermajority requirement allows a vocal minority in any city or town to block otherwise worthwhile projects, critics contend.

Legislation filed by the governor, similar to one that came up short in the Democratic-controlled Legislature last year, would abolish the law he called “outdated.”