It's Monday, again. A quick reminder that shuttle buses are replacing the Green Line's D branch between Riverside and Kenmore through Friday. Click here for details about the alternative transit options and the two other Green Line diversions ahead this fall. Now to the news: Here comes the Sun: As the iconic Citgo sign in Boston's Kenmore Square is prepped for a small move, its counterpart 30 miles north is making a big return. For the first time since 2017, the "Sun" signs atop the historic Lowell Sun Building will light up tonight. As WBUR's Fausto Menard reports, the relighting — which local officials have been somewhat dramatically teasing for months — marks the return of a decades-old downtown landmark that some refer to as Lowell's own "Citgo sign." - The two Sun signs (one facing east and one facing west) have been perched on top of the 10-story building since 1934. Stephen Stowell, the administrator of the Lowell Historic Board, said the Sun continued to operate and maintain the signs even after the newspaper moved out of the building in the 1960s. " It's something that was quite a bit of a landmark," Stowell said. "There's even accounts of people using it as navigational landmarks to find their way downtown."
- Over time, the neon signs — which the city says were prone to moisture-related failures due to the weather — became increasingly costly to keep on. " It was not uncommon to find the sign company going up there maybe three and four times a month just to maintain it," Stowell said. He was even asked about having them removed in 2017, as they fell into prolonged disrepair. " There was a sense of sadness when they hadn't been lit for a number of years," Stowell said.
- That sadness, however, has been replaced by pockets of excitement about their relighting. Over the last eight years, the city has worked to transfer ownership of the signs from the newspaper to the building's owners. The city has put $60,000 into restoring the signs and replacing the neon with LED lights, which officials say "faithfully replicates the neon's signature glow" with just 15% of the energy. Stowell said it will "require far less maintenance than the neon."
- If you're in the area: The city is holding a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. tonight in front of the Lowell Memorial Auditorium to celebrate the relighting.
SNAP decision: More than a million Massachusetts residents could lose their food benefits this weekend, as the federal government shutdown continues. As WBUR's Chris Van Buskirk and Rachell Sanchez-Smith report, local Democrats are pushing the Trump administration to release billions of dollars to continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP or food stamps. - According to Gov. Maura Healey, no president has let SNAP benefits lapse, even amid a shutdown. The Trump administration has said they won't have money to fund SNAP benefits starting Nov. 1. But Democrats see it as a play for "political leverage" or retaliation. "While the most vulnerable of Americans can't and won't be able to put food on their kitchen table, Donald Trump is building a $300 billion ballroom next to the White House," Sen. Ed Markey said Friday.
- What's the backup plan? Healey said the state can't use its rainy day fund to backfill the food benefits. "It's about $240 million a month that comes in through SNAP benefits," she said. "No state can make up the difference." Meanwhile, Healey announced that a new program through the United Way will take donations to help support people who are losing food assistance.
- Zoom in: In Massachusetts, 1.1 million residents receive SNAP benefits, including 300,000 children and a similar number of people with disabilities.
- Zoom out: Across the country, 42 million SNAP recipients could see benefits disappear. Anti-hunger advocates say it would lead to "the most mass hunger suffering we've had in America since the Great Depression."
Heads up: An up to 14-month closure of Cambridge's Linear Park path begins today. As Cambridge Day reports, the city is closing the popular path — which is used by roughly 1,500 pedestrians and cyclists a day — between Alewife station and the Davis Square area for a $8 million improvement project. The upgrades include repaving and widening the path, improving drainage and planting new trees. - Cambridge officials say they will share more details early next year about when exactly the path might reopen. In the meantime, here's the detour map.
P.S.— The first fully public phase of ticket sales for next year's World Cup begins today. Starting at 11 a.m. through Friday, fans can enter a lottery for the chance to buy tickets sometime next month or early December. Just know: they may not be cheap. |
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