| ☁️ Mostly cloudy and breezy, with a high near 80 and a chance of showers in the afternoon. |
Keep one eye on the sky today — or at least on your weather app. Before what looks like a pretty pleasant long weekend, there's a chance of strong-to-severe thunderstorms this afternoon. Danielle Noyes has more details on the forecast here. Now to the news: Turn around: Massachusetts is beefing up infrastructure to prevent wrong-way driving, after a spate of fatal crashes in recent years. Gov. Maura Healey announced what officials called a "massive expansion" of the system yesterday at the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Danvers. That's where state trooper Kevin Trainor had been assigned before he was killed while trying to stop a wrong-way driver on Route 1 last month. And unfortunately, Trainor was hardly the first to be killed in this sort of incident. According to AAA, 135 people died in more than 5,700 wrong-way crashes in Massachusetts between 2018 and 2025. "Today is about saying we're doing everything we can to make sure it doesn't get to this point," Healey said. - What do we know about wrong-way crashes? State Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver described them as "uncommon" but "catastrophic." And research suggests they've been on the rise. According to AAA, the number of fatal wrong-way crashes doubled between 2014 and 2023. The vast majority happen at night. AAA's research pointed to alcohol-impaired drivers, older drivers and drivers without valid licenses as primary risk factors.
- What is the state doing? The new effort involves both low-tech and high-tech solutions. On the low-tech side, Healey said the state will add more pavement markings and wrong-way signs. On the more high-tech side, the state will expand a pilot program that uses thermal sensors to flash LED lights and alert police when a driver is traveling the wrong way down a road. (WCVB has a good video of how it works here .) Currently, the detection systems are in place on 16 highway ramps. Gulliver said the state will spend between $50 million and $75 million to expand them to over 400 locations over the next 18 months. Gulliver added the technology actually stopped one wrong-way driver Tuesday night in Danvers. "They turned themselves around without incident, and that's exactly what we want to see," he said.
- How has this worked elsewhere? Rhode Island actually began installing similar sensors on its high-risk highway ramps in 2015, as The Boston Globe recently reported. After eight fatalities from wrong-way crashes in five years, the state went a decade with none.
At City Hall: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu yesterday vetoed about $1.4 million in budget changes that city councilors made to her original proposal. As WBUR's Eve Zuckoff reports, the amount being debated is a fraction of the $11.8 million the Council moved around — and just .03% of the overall budget. But Wu says it would prevent the city from having to layoff parking enforcement officers, transportation planners and employees who install signs and repair signals. - What's next: The proposal now goes back to the Council. To override the mayor, nine of the 13 councilors must agree — and the countdown clock is on. The Council has to take action before the next fiscal year begins on July 1.
Heads up: A big partial shutdown is coming to the Red Line next month. The MBTA announced yesterday that Red Line service from Alewife to Park Street will be suspended for 10 days — July 21 through July 30 — for a variety of reasons (track work, signal upgrades, slabs). Click here for the details on shuttles and other backup transit options, including a free stretch of the commuter rail. - In other MBTA news: Tickets for trains to the Round of 32 World Cup game on June 29 in Foxborough are now on sale. They're still $80.
P.S.— Couldn't make it to The WBUR Festival? No worries! We're rolling out a selection of conversations from our festival as podcast episodes throughout the summer. Today, we're bringing you Tiziana Dearing's talk with Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Meghna Chakrabarti's sit-down with John Bolton. Check out the full podcast feed for more — or watch them as videos on our YouTube page (you'll also find the newsletter team's Meagan McGinnes-Bessey in conversation with Jeni's Ice Creams founder Jeni Britton there). |
|
| | | Nik DeCosta-Klipa Senior Editor, Newsletters | | |
|
The report is a final set of recommendations developed over the past year and a half by a statewide graduation council composed of educators, state leaders and community members. Its release comes nearly two years after Massachusetts voters scrapped the MCAS as a key high school graduation requirement. Certain changes, including the testing piece, will have to be approved by lawmakers. Read more. |
|
As the Senate primary heats up, Moulton's investments in private companies have already risen in value by more than $1 million. In response to WBUR's reporting, Moulton promised to place them into a blind trust. Read more. |
|
The Trump administration shared the details of the preliminary agreement to end the war with Iran on Wednesday. President Trump later said he had signed it, during a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron. Read more. |
|
Jessica Maher, SAG-AFTRA’s executive director for New England’s local chapter, said “we won with more than 70% yes vote and we look forward to bargaining." Read more.
ADDED: SCRUTINIZE THESE CANDIDATES BEFORE MAKING A DECISION! CARPETBAGGER & CRYPTO SCAMMER JOHN DEATON IS A PROVEN LIAR - WILL POST HIS HISTORY FROM HIS FAILED ATTACKS ON SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN...IN ADDITION, HE HAD CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED AGAINST HIM - HAVE THEY BEEN RESOLVED? DEATON VOTED 3 TIMES IN 20 YEARS?
NOTICE THAT DEATON NEVER OFFERS ANYTHING OF SUBSTANCE! WHAT ARE HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT ICE GESTAPO ABUSE, KILLINGS, INJURIES AND THE ICE GESTAPO ABUSE IN FOR PROFIT DETENTION CENTERS? THE SUSPENSION OF HABEAS CORPUS? MASS GOP HAS A HISTORY OF SUPPORTING LIARS! ASK THE HARD QUESTIONS!
SCRUTINIZE SETH MOULTON'S INVESTMENTS!
MOULTON HAS BEEN CONDEMNED BY THE TRANS COMMUNITY FOR HIS WARPED ATTACKS!
SENATOR ED MARKEY WAS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT AT THE DEM CONVENTION FOR GOOD REASON! HE'S ON THE SIDE OF HIS CONSTITUENTS!
|
|
Deaton, a moderate Republican who said he's never voted for Trump, sought to portray Moulton as a hyper-partisan Democrat, responsible for the dysfunction in Washington. In response, Moulton did all he could to tie Deaton to the president, who's deeply unpopular in Massachusetts. Read more. |
|
- The price of jet fuel has fallen over the past two months. Does that mean airline prices will follow suit? Don't count on it.
- Film critic Sean Burns contemplated walking out of "The Death of Robin Hood." But after the initial half-hour of gore, the Hugh Jackman-starring movie settles into a more interesting exploration of our cultural need for myths, Burns writes in his review.
- For the first time in World Cup history, FIFA is mandating hydration breaks to protect players from the threats of extreme heat. But the three-minute breaks have stirred criticism — and not just about commercials. Some scientists say they're too short to make a significant impact on cooling and rehydration.
- Blurry, low-quality Bollywood films were some of the only connections Raj Tawney had to his father’s homeland and culture growing up. So, when his father invited him to attend a tribute to actor Raj Kapoor, Tawney writes in this Cognoscenti essay that it felt "as if I had returned home after being estranged for so long."
|
- FIFA didn’t offer GBH News media credentials for the World Cup. We went anyway. (GBH News)
- Who Will Actually Thrive in the Hybrid A.I.-Human Work Force (The New York Times Magazine)
- The Billion-Dollar Peptides Gold Rush (Bloomberg)
|
What do you get when you combine the early breakout fanbase of the 2026 World Cup with a regional Massachusetts delicacy? Read more. |
|
Play: WBUR's daily mini crossword. Can you keep your streak going?
Before you go: That's a lot of tape. |
😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up here.
🔎 Explore WBUR's Field Guide stories, events and more.
📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org
📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. Check out all of our newsletter offerings.
📱 Download the WBUR App for iPhones and iPads or Android devices. |
|
|
|
Comments
Post a Comment