Page 10 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, October 16, 2026 Bats in the City! Malden Public Library, Nov. 5, 7-8 p.m. T he Urban Biodiversity Alliance (TUBA) and the Malden Public Library will present a talk about urban bats as part of TUBA’s Bats in the City! Program, which celebrates International Bat Month (October) and International Bat Week (the last week of October). There will be an bat-themed art activity for kids of all ages. Costumes encouraged but not required. Bring your own bat dance moves for after the talk. Join Dr. Chris Richardson for his “Urban Bats 101” presentation and learn about Massachusetts bats. After the basics on bats, Dr. Richardson will dive into his current research: understanding how bat physiology and ecology connect with white-nose syndrome (WNS), a deadly disease killing bats. This will include his work on how bat colonies are recovering from WNS. He will also present on his research project on the diversity and activity of bat species in urban ecosystems. Dr. Richardson (http://www. bu.edu/biology/people/profiles/chris-richardson/) is an adjunct assistant research professor at Boston University. He is also a major collaborator at ~ Op-Ed ~ Keeping youth safe online By Kate Weldon LeBlanc and Amanda Spartichino Lopez he two of us became friends over 15 years ago when each of our oldest children had their first day of preschool here in Malden and were in the same class. At that time, keeping them safe meant grabbing their little hands to cross the street or buckling them into booster seats. As our kids got older, our T focus turned to protecting them online, which is always evolving and can leave parents feeling like they’re constantly trying to catch up. Families like ours shouldn’t need expert knowledge of app stores and age verification systems just to help ensure online spaces are safe. Parents deserve tools that are straightforward, consistent, and effective, which is why we were pleased to hear Housing Families’ 40th Anniversary Celebration Fundraiser H ousing Families is celebrating a remarkable milestone: its 40th Anniversary. In 1986, Housing Families opened its first emergency shelter for four families in Malden. Today, Housing Families continues to serve as a grassroots agency grounded in listening and responding to the needs of its clients and community. To celebrate its 40-year milestone, Housing Families will host a 40th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, November 5, at 6:00 p.m. Housing Families and Citizens Inn intend to join forces. Housing Families CEO Laura Rosi, Esq., stated, “To learn more about our union, we invite you to join our 40th Celebration Event.” To register for this event, access housingfamilies.org then “Who We Are” at the top. The event is within the “Events” category. At the bottom, click on “here” in “Register here!” that Meta is adding extra protections to their platforms following a settlement with various state attorneys general. We also hope that lawmakers from Massachusetts will support legislation that prioritizes parental consent and age verification for social media on the app store, like the App Store Accountability Act. This bill would create a consistent standard for ensuring users, like our own daughters and sons, access content that is age appropriate. Many apps currently rely on little more than a self-reported birth date, making it easy for teens to access content meant for adults. Parenthood, work and volunteering keep us plenty busy, so we appreciate any advancements that make our lives easier, such as daily two-hour time limits, automatic night mode, and a centralized age-verification approach. Technology has improved many aspects of our daily lives. Smart, practical safeguards like the App Store Accountability Act can help ensure that innovation continues, while giving families greater confidence that young people are being protected. We encourage Congress to advance this commonsense legislation. the Mt. Auburn Cemetery Urban Ecology Research and Education Project (http://mountauburn.org/stewardship/urban-ecology-at-mount-auburn/). For 17 years, he has been researching bats in the Greater Boston area. Chris is a TUBA advisory board member and has worked with them to develop the Bats in the City! urban wildlife education program for the City of Malden under the Malden Community Connections Grant program; Bats in the City! is funded in part by the grant to bring the people of our community together. If you require a reasonable accommodation or language translation or ASL services, please let the library know on your registration. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING CAdvocate all now! 617-387-2200 advertise on the web atwww.advocatenews.net
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