It's Friday, the last day of our spring fundraiser. Boston stepped up in a big way after WBUR lost our federal funding last year. But we still have some work to do — $113,000 to be more specific — to reach our spring goal. We'll end the fundraiser as soon as we hit that mark. Make a gift this morning so we can get back to more of the coverage you rely on. Now, to local news: Make room, Orr, Russell, Williams and Brady: There's a new statue of a Boston sports icon in town — or, rather, 26.2 miles from it. As WBUR's Kevin Vu reports, local leaders are holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning in Hopkinton for the newly installed statue of Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to (unofficially) run the Boston Marathon. The bronze, life-size statue is located on the route, less than 100 yards from the starting line, at the corner of Hayden Rowe Street and Main Street, where Gibb now-famously hid in the bushes before sneaking into the 1966 men-only race. - A few more firsts: It's the first statue of a woman along the Boston Marathon route, joining several other works honoring race legends. It's also, remarkably, the first statue on the course sculpted by its subject. Gibb, a painter and sculptor, said the 26.2 Foundation reached out to her with the idea. "It was a little strange, you know, looking at my hands and my feet and my legs, and doing a sculpture of myself, but I did it," Gibb told Kevin in an interview.
- The backstory: Originally, the 26.2 Foundation reached out to Gibb about doing a sculpture of Joan Benoit Samuelson, but Benoit Samuelson "very quickly came back and said, 'No, please, you shouldn't do a sculpture about me; a sculpture should be done honoring Bobbi Gibb," nonprofit's president, Tim Kilduff, recalled. Gibb said the statue, which is based on a photo of her running down Boylston Street, took months to sculpt and cast. It was actually first unveiled in 2021 , but Kilduff said permitting and fundraising added a few more years to the process. "Our hope is that when someone either runs by or takes a moment to just stand and observe, that they get a sense of the historic nature of the Boston Marathon — and also the contribution that Bobbi made to marathoning and particularly to women running the marathon," Kilduff said. See a photo of the statue here.
- Flashback: Gibb went on to finish the 1966 marathon in 3 hours and 21 minutes — ahead of two-thirds of the field. In her interview with Kevin, she recalled getting a letter from the marathon's then-director, Will Cloney, denying her initial application for the race. According to Gibb, Cloney wrote that women were not physiologically able to run 26 miles. Gibb was already running up to 40 miles at a time, and said to herself: "I guess they have something to learn."
Speaking of running: Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve has a running mate. Shortsleeve announced yesterday that New Bedford City Councilor Shawn Oliver will run with him as a candidate for lieutenant governor. WBUR's Chris Van Buskirk has more on Oliver's background here. - FYI: In Massachusetts, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately in the primaries. However, it's become a common thing on the Republican side to team up ever since it worked out for Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci in 1990.
- Shortsleeve's announcement comes after GOP primary rival Mike Kennealy picked Peabody City Councilor Anne Manning Martin as his running mate earlier this month. (Cue everyone shipping Mike Minogue and Anne Brensley, the two major Republican candidates for governor and lieutenant governor who don't yet have a running mate.)
In court: A judge acquitted North Andover police officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons yesterday, after she was accused of pointing a gun at a fellow officer who attempted to serve her a restraining order last June. Prosecutors had charged Fitzsimmons with assault with a dangerous weapon. But the judge ruled prosecutors failed to prove she pointed the gun at the other officer, who shot her in the chest. - Fitzsimmons (whose legal team included former Attorney General Martha Coakley) testified that she was having a mental health crisis and had only tried to point the gun at herself. NBC Boston has a recap of the case here.
New on the curriculum: Boston is about to be the first major U.S. city to ensure artificial intelligence training in its public high schools. Mayor Michelle Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper that they plan to roll out AI literacy courses next school year, thanks to $1 million from tech entrepreneur and BPS graduate Paul English. However, as WBUR's Anna Rubenstein reports, the details are still being worked out. Signs of spring: Duck boat season is back. Boston Duck Tours kick off their 32nd season of amphibious tours around the city's downtown landmarks. P.S.— Who filed a friend-of-the-court brief backing Boston’s White Stadium renovation? Take our Boston News Quiz and test your knowledge of our recent stories. |
