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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Here are the historic firsts Massachusetts will mark today
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
Massachusetts is making history today, folks. In only a few hours, Maura Healey will be sworn in as governor. Let’s kick off this morning by talking about why that’s such a big deal:
It’s a lot of firsts: Healey is the first woman to be elected governor in Massachusetts and she’s the first openly lesbian governor elected in any state across the country. Alongside her, Kim Driscoll will be sworn in as lieutenant governor, making the duo the first female pair elected governor and lieutenant governor in any state.
- We’ll have live coverage of today’s ceremonies, beginning with Radio Boston at 11 a.m. — so, be sure to tune in! The musical headliner will be six-time Grammy award-winning Brandi Carlile, if you need another reason to watch.
- For Healey’s inauguration address, she told WBUR she’ll talk about the opportunities and challenges ahead: “It’s a spirit of hope, of optimism, of of resolve and resoluteness, something that Massachusetts and the people of Massachusetts have always been proud of. There’s a reason we were first on so many fronts, and I think that this is a time when we can step up, come together and really move this state forward.”
- Work from home: Gov. Charlie Baker is technically still on the job until noon today, but he left his State House office for the last time last night. You can check out photos of Baker’s “lone walk” and other ceremonies from his last full day in office here.
- Another historic moment: Andrea Campbell today will become the first Black woman to serve as the state’s attorney general.
Donna Buckley, the new sheriff in Barnstable County, is making good on her campaign promises. She announced her department is scaling back its relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
- Specifically, she’s ending an agreement that gave deputies the authority to enforce federal immigration laws, including to arrest people wanted on immigration warrants. The Barnstable department was the last sheriff’s office in New England with such an agreement.
Attention Boston skiers: It just got a little easier to hit the slopes. The MBTA began running its “ski train” from North Station to Wachusett Mountain last night for the first time since 202o. “If you want to get here without worrying about parking, without worrying about bad road conditions, you can take the train. It’s also a good way to be more healthy for the environment,” Chris Stimpson, a spokesperson for the mountain, told WBUR’s newscast team.
- More deets, please: it’s a 90-minute ride that runs Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays through early March. It will cost you about $12.25 each way.
After the federal government recently rejected funding the replacement of the Cape Cod bridges, the state is looking for other ways to find some cash.
- Massachusetts had submitted the application for nearly $2 billion in federal grants to replace the Bourne and Sagamore bridges. This is the second time the feds have said no; another application for federal project funds was denied last September. State officials aren’t pleased, saying they think it’s the federal government’s responsibility to replace them.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns and operates the bridges, recommended in 2020 that the bridges be replaced with two new wider ones rather than trying to rehab the current bridges (the latter would cost more money, too). The current ones over the Cape Cod Canal are more than 85 years old.
P.S.— Massachusetts launched 25 community behavioral health centers around the state earlier this week (noted in Tuesday’s newsletter). But there’s also a new behavioral health helpline that’s officially live, meaning people can call or text 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The number is 833-773-2445 (BHHL).
