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| ☀️ Sunny and humid, with a high near 91. |
A heat advisory is in effect today through Friday for almost all of Massachusetts. According to the National Weather Service, the temperature and high humidity will bring the heat index close to 100 at certain times. Remember these tips to stay cool. Now, in related news: Channeling climate change: The Boston Children's Museum is beginning work this month on a $15 million plan to protect itself from the floods and sea level rise associated with climate change. Located on the banks of the Fort Point Channel, the museum is one of Boston's most flood-exposed institutions — something leaders learned firsthand during a nasty winter storm in 2018 . "We actually started getting water in the museum," Carole Charnow, the museum's CEO, told WBUR's Dan Guzman. "And this was of grave concern to us because we know that storms are getting more frequent [and] becoming stronger." - What they're doing: Charnow said Phase 1, which is expected to take up to two years, includes putting a "waterproof membrane" around the brick of the old 19th century wool warehouse that still serves as the museum's home. They'll also raise some utilities within the building and install underground drainage, tanks and pumps to send floodwater back into the channel. The museum also has acquired deployable flood barriers from the city that they can put up during storms. " We should be able to really protect the bridge-to-bridge area here from Congress [Street] over to Seaport Boulevard," Charnow said. The museum held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the project yesterday — with an actual groundbreaking scheduled for Aug. 17.
- What's next: Phase 2 of the plan would be more noticeable to the public. It calls for transforming the Harborwalk in front of the museum into a waterfront park to "beautify" the area and provide additional flood protection. The exact timeline is still up in the air, since it involves collaboration with the city of Boston and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "We cleaned up the whole of Boston Harbor, and we want to make sure that we actually still have a beautiful green area for people to come and enjoy," Charnow said. "We don't want to just put walls all over the place."
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| A rendering of the Boston Children's Museum's planned flood protection measures by the design firm Sasaki. (Courtesy of Boston Children's Museum) |
Boston police are investigating a fatal shooting yesterday in Dorchester. The department says they found a man with multiple gunshot wounds near Blue Hill Avenue by Franklin Park after reports of gunfire just after 10 a.m. The man, whose name has not yet been released, later died at the hospital. - It's at least the third fatal shooting in Boston this week, after a 21-year-old man was killed in East Boston on Sunday and another shooting in Hyde Park on Monday left a 26-year-old man dead and four others injured.
- Earlier this week, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told WBUR's Tiziana Dearing that fatal shootings in the city were down compared to this time last year, but that overall shootings were slightly up. Both remain historically low. " But at the end of the day, when you're out in the community and something has happened, people don't care what the numbers say," Wu said.
🤢 Massachusetts has twice as many cases of cyclosporiasis so far this year compared to all of 2025. According to state data, this year's count is up to 147 as of Aug. 1, compared to 74 total last year. It's also the most in a single year since 2019's record outbreak. Deja vu: Gov. Maura Healey's new parole board pick is facing pushback, after her previous nominee — who also had a prosecutorial background — was rejected by the Governor's Council. State House News Service reports opponents outnumbered supporters during a hearing yesterday for Healey's new nominee, Kaitlyn O'Leary. Critics said their objections against O'Leary weren't personal, but that they want Healey to nominate someone with more expertise in rehabilitation and reentry. P.S.— Perhaps appropriate given this week's weather, CitySpace is hosting a screening Friday of the Boston-based buddy comedy "The Heat" starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. It's part of our "Set in Boston" film series. After the movie, WBUR film critics Sean Burns and Erin Trahan will talk to the film's casting director Carolyn Pickman. Get tickets here! |
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| | | Nik DeCosta-Klipa Senior Editor, Newsletters | | |
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There are no firm numbers, but there could be a million or more Americans conceived with a donated egg or sperm. Jacqui Comstock is the product of both. She has a lot of genetic relatives — at least 28 half-siblings — not to mention their children, her aunts and uncles, a twin brother, cousins. The list goes on. Read more. |
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The governor signed legislation Wednesday that she and lawmakers say provides the strongest immigrant protections in the country. Read more. |
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Both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating what happened when a commercial jet took off just as Marine One left the White House for Andrews Air Force Base with the president aboard for the first leg of a West Coast trip. Read more. |
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The federal government is interested in acquiring 249 parking spots in Boston. Local officials are already lining up against the move. Read more. excerpts: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is conducting market research to identify sources capable of providing surface and/or structured vehicle parking spaces in the vicinity of existing or planned ICE facilities in the locations identified in the Schedule below," the notice reads. Gov. Maura Healey issued a statement opposing the parking inquiry, saying ICE has engaged in illegal tactics. "We see what ICE is doing to our communities every day. People are afraid to go to school, doctors' appointments, court or even church," she said. "ICE is shooting people dead, separating families, and making us all less safe. That’s why I’m about to sign the strongest protections in the country against their abuses."
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said she had not heard of any ICE expansion in Boston outside of published reports about the parking inquiry. She said she remains opposed to increased ICE presence in the city. "We have signed executive orders at the local level, and I joined seven other mayors or city leaders in the metro area all declaring that ICE should not be able to stage on public property, on city property, or to use public buildings," she said. "When it is private property, we will have to look into our, our full legislative and legal options." Once potential parking is identified, the feds will consider whether to continue the process of leasing the spots. The notice said leasing would be for a minimum of three years. |
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In February 2026, Baystate announced it was ending most of its gender affirming care for minors, other than counseling, saying it could not risk losing millions of dollars in federal reimbursement. Since then, the legal landscape has evolved. But Baystate has not restarted gender affirming care. Read more. |
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- Milton schools aggressively investigate residency. Black students face more scrutiny, records show. (The Boston Globe)
- NBC News bets on Steve Kornacki with new subscriber franchise (Axios)
- Kill the Ticks (The Atlantic)
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“As a little kid, there was no women's professional baseball league," says Beth Greenwood. "So I just dreamed of playing for the Boston Red Sox.” Read more. |
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