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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Cohasset woman Ana Walshe is still missing — and now her husband is due in court
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The first week of the year was pretty packed with news, and by the looks of it, this week will be no different. Here’s what we’re following:
Let’s start with an update on the missing person story that’s been dominating local news: the husband of a missing Cohasset woman is due in Quincy district court today. The Norfolk district attorney’s office said that 46-year-old Brian Walshe misled investigators while searching for his wife, Ana Walshe, who has been missing since New Year’s Day. A search for the mom of three — or any evidence related to her disappearance — ended Saturday with no results.
- Anyone with information related to the case is asked to contact detectives at 781-830-4990.
After 15 rounds of voting last week, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was finally elected late Friday night — and members of the Massachusetts all-Democratic Congressional delegation are overall pretty frustrated and trying to assess the challenges ahead.
- Newton Congressman Jake Auchincloss told WBUR’s Sharon Brody that during McCarthy’s struggle to get elected, he made concessions to extreme right wingers in the GOP that he thinks eviscerated the power of the House speaker. He continued by saying, it “instead allow individual House GOP members to gridlock Congress over individual issues … it’s just a recipe to get nothing done.”
- House Minority Whip Katherine Clark says she thinks the deal gives Republicans leverage to cut Social Security and Medicare. Republicans have repeatedly stated that spending cuts in general are necessary to cut the federal deficit. “This is their written agenda that they had put forward during the midterms, that they are going to use the debt ceiling as leverage to take American seniors hostage,” Clark said on CNN this weekend.
- Can we back it up to the 15 votes for a second? It didn’t break the actual record, which remains the 133 ballots needed in 1855. But McCarthy’s 15 ballots do take second place, beating out 1923’s nine rounds of votes.
- What now? McCarthy’s term will likely last two years, but as part of his negotiations to secure the job he has made it relatively easy for even one member of the House to call for a vote to replace him.
- You can read our full report on local lawmakers’ reactions here.
More voting: Don’t worry, it’s not the House; this time, it’s Massachusetts gaming regulators. They are meeting again today to review applications for mobile sports betting apps and are slated to vote on Rhode Island-based Bally’s application.
- We still have some time before you’ll be able to partake in online sports betting in Massachusetts; the hope is to have that rolled out by mid-March. But you’ll be able to try your luck with in-person sports betting in just three weeks — right in time for the Super Bowl.
Speaking of the Super Bowl… sorry, New England Patriots fans. The season is over after losing to the Bills 35-23 in Buffalo yesterday. The Patriots’ season record was eight wins, nine losses, meaning no playoffs for us.
- This was the first game the Bills played since safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest. Hamlin, who has made great recovery progress and is expected to be released from the hospital in the coming days, per CNN, was watching the game from his hospital bed while players, coaches and fans expressed their support with T-shirts, signs and jersey patches featuring his name and his number, 3. I’m sure that first play kickoff return for a touchdown also made Hamlin feel pretty cheery (even if Pats fan had mixed emotions).
P.S.— The annual Moby-Dick Marathon returned — in person — for the first time since early 2020 this past weekend. You can read about what took place at the magical event here. (But, sorry, we can’t read the article aloud to you from the inside of a whaling ship. You’ll have to go to next year’s event for that kind of storytelling.)
