| ☁️ Cloudy, with a high near 54 and some isolated showers. |
It's Friday. A quick reminder that a big chunk of the Red Line is taking a four-day weekend for signal upgrades. Shuttles are replacing all trains between Broadway and Ashmont through this coming Monday. The Mattapan trolley is also being replaced by shuttles through Saturday due to the work. Click here for more details on how to get around the partial closure or check out the T's obligatory diversion graphic. (Pro tip: the free commuter rail is your friend.) Now to the news: Take a number: The Trump administration is threatening to sue Massachusetts over the Registry of Motor Vehicles' policy against issuing confidential license plates to ICE without any strings attached. But as WBUR's Simón Rios reports, Gov. Maura Healey's office says the state will not change its policy. "Massachusetts is not going to allow state resources to be used to help ICE operate in secret while they are violating people’s rights and making us all less safe," Healey press secretary Jacqueline Manning said in a statement. - The backstory: Confidential plates conceal the identity of the owner or lessee of a vehicle, meaning they can't be looked up in databases. In a letter to Healey this week, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brett Shumate said the RMV is only issuing confidential plates for ICE vehicles after certifying they will only be used in criminal investigations. (As Simón reported last month , nearly half of the 7,000-plus immigrants arrested in Massachusetts since President Trump took office last year had no pending criminal charges or convictions; they were marked only for being in the country without legal status, which is a civil infraction.)
- The DOJ's view: Shumate said the policy is discriminatory against ICE, since the RMV doesn't require the same certification from other federal, state and local agencies. He also called it "deeply dangerous," arguing it could allow ICE officers to be "tracked to their home" or help suspects avoid arrest.
- The local view: Healey's office said it's just applying the RMV's policy of only issuing the plates to agencies with a "legitimate" need related to criminal investigations. "We all know that’s not what ICE is doing," Manning said. "This is an agency that can’t and won’t even tell us who they are arresting and why. We are not going to enable their tactics.” Healey's office also downplayed the risk of individual agents getting doxxed, since non-confidential plates only show the agency that owns the vehicle in databases.
- What's next: Shumate gave Healey a May 22 deadline to rescind the policy, or else he said the Trump administration "intends to seek judicial relief."
In court: Tyler Brown, the man accused in Monday’s Memorial Drive shooting rampage, pleaded not guilty to an array of felony charges via Zoom from a hospital bed yesterday. As WBUR's Eve Zuckoff reports, Brown's next court date is a dangerousness hearing next Thursday. A judge ordered Brown to remain in custody (either in the hospital or in jail) until then. - Meanwhile, prosecutors said the two men Brown allegedly shot are recovering. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Allain said one was hit in the back of the head, but has since been treated and released from the hospital. The other was shot about four times in the leg and is still in the hospital, Allain said.
Claims department: The Healey administration is updating Massachusetts rules to bar insurance companies from requiring sign-off before certain medical procedures and treatments. As WBUR's Priyanka Dayal McCluskey reports, these so-called prior authorizations are intended to control costs, but can also delay care. The new changes are intended to cut down on waits for certain important care. - Which ones? The new rules apply to a wide range of healthcare services — including urgent care, primary care, maternity care and preventive care, as well as imaging tests, physical therapy and medications for patients with certain chronic conditions, like cancer, diabetes and asthma. (Click here for a specific list of examples.) The new rules also require insurance companies to respond to urgent requests within 24 hours.
Ferry on: Good news for fans of Civil War history and ghost stories — ferry service to Boston Harbor's Georges Island resumes today for the first time in almost a year. Public access to the island was shut off last summer due to emergency repairs to a water line to the mainland. - However, ferry service to Spectacle Island will be delayed this year due to its own repairs. The island is still open to boaters and kayakers.
P.S.— Do you know why the MBTA is pushing to update dozens of Green Line stops over the next five years? Take our Boston News Quiz and test your knowledge of this week's stories. |
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| | | Nik DeCosta-Klipa Senior Editor, Newsletters | | |
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Harvard faculty are voting this week on a proposal to cap the number of A grades awarded in undergraduate courses in order to address the rampant issue of grade inflation at the vaunted institution. Read more. |
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In each of the complaints, landlords or brokers appear to be skirting the spirit of the law, which is aimed at requiring landlords to shoulder the cost of renting out their properties. Read more. |
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The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the abortion pill mifepristone can continue to be prescribed online or over the phone and sent through the mail, as a case brought by Louisiana against the Food and Drug Administration proceeds through the lower courts. Read more. |
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Vice President JD Vance took shots at Maine's Gov. Janet Mills during a campaign-style rally Thursday. He also advocated for former Gov. Paul LePage's bid for a seat in Congress. Read more. excerpts: “The remarks by the vice president today are nothing but a weak attempt to distract from the Trump Administration’s failing agenda, endless war in Iran, and failure to control crushing costs — including sky high gas prices — that Maine families and businesses are struggling with every day," Mills said. "Maine people deserved to hear about how the Trump Administration is making their lives better by lowering costs, improving health care, building housing, and fixing child care — but we got none of that because the President and Vice President don’t actually care about these issues or the hardships they are causing our state and people."
Welfare fraud has emerged as a top Republican talking point headed into the pivotal 2026 elections in Maine and around the country. The Trump administration has targeted largely Democratic-led states even though waste, fraud and abuse in programs like Medicaid is a nationwide issue. But Garrett Martin, president and CEO of the left-leaning Maine Center for Economic Policy, accused Vance of seeking to divide Mainers while the administration simultaneously pursues policies that hurt "everyday Americans" in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. "What the vice president said is a gross mischaracterization of what's actually happening on the ground," Martin said. "Clearly fraud should always be investigated and addressed. But this isn't really about fraud. It's about using isolated cases to attack public programs that help working families and seniors and children and people with disabilities." President Trump tapped Vance to lead a task force focused on welfare fraud. And his trip to Maine came one day after he announced that the federal government would withhold $1.3 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California because of what he characterized as inadequate anti-fraud efforts.
Several of LePage's potential Democratic rivals this November, meanwhile, joined the Bangor protests against Vance's visit to the city. Several dozen protestors also gathered across the street from the rally location, holding signs and banners mocking the vice president and denouncing the Trump administration. "The administration has been taking unconstitutional actions, they are breaking the law, they are corrupt beyond measure," said Deb Leon, a Holden resident and member of the group Indivisible Bangor. "They are stealing money from the social programs ... and doing what they want with it. Social programs are being robbed. They don't care about us. They don't care about us. They care about the billionaire cronies." |
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Citing concerns about data privacy and impacts on LGBTQ+ youth, advocates are rallying against House social media legislation. The House passed a bill in April that bans student cellphone use in schools and bans social media use for kids under the age of 14, adding the regulations onto a Senate cellphone ban bill passed last year. Read more. |
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In the early 1900s, the town of Hadley, Massachusetts was known as “the asparagus capital of the world.” Now, a local ice cream and dairy story honors this history with a special spring flavor called “Hadley Grass.” Read more. |
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