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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Late-night MBTA blues: What to know about this week's nighttime Blue Line closure
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.
We’re starting the week on a rather chilly note, but it’s only getting warmer, with forecasted highs in the 70s and 80s (!) through the end of the week. Before you start pulling out those summer clothes from storage, let’s get to the news:
Massachusetts officials are emphasizing that medication abortions remain legal and accessible in the state, after two contradictory federal court rulings this past Friday threw the national legality of one of the two main pills often used for the procedure into national jeopardy.
- What happened Friday: A conservative Texas judge ordered the FDA to revoke its approval of the abortion pill mifepristone by this Friday. But hours later, a judge in Washington ruled in a separate case, blocking the FDA from pulling mifepristone off the market — at least in the 17 states that brought that case to court.
- What to know about mifepristone: As WBUR’s Martha Bebinger shared in our CommonHealth newsletter, 49% of abortions reported in Massachusetts occur using a two-drug regimen: mifepristone and misoprostol. Taken together, the two pills end a pregnancy without the need for surgery in 99% of cases. Medication abortions can also be done using misoprostol alone, with a 93% effectiveness rate.
- Go deeper: Here’s how medication abortion works.
- The local impact: Massachusetts was not involved in the Washington lawsuit. But even if the Texas ruling stands, medication abortions will still be available in the Bay State. Bebinger reports that local providers like Planned Parenthood will switch to the slightly less effective misoprostol-only abortions if mifepristone is pulled off the market.
- What’s next: Don’t count out mifepristone quite yet. Gov. Maura Healey is promising to announce a plan today at 1 p.m. that her office says will protect access to mifepristone in Massachusetts. And at the federal level, the Biden administration is appealing the Texas decision. (Some Democrats also say the FDA could use its discretion to effectively ignore the ruling.)
Late-night MBTA blues: The entire Blue Line is shutting down early each night today through Thursday for track work. Free shuttle buses will replace subway service from around 8:45 p.m. through the end of service each night between Government Center and Wonderland.
- The shuttles will only stop at Aquarium and State stations on the way into downtown Boston, and Bowdoin won’t get any shuttle service at all (meaning the station’s late-night users will have to walk over to Government Center, as if it were the 1990s again.)
- The reason for the early closure: 43% of the Blue Line remains covered by 10-25 mph speed restrictions, following last month’s reveal of a systemwide record-keeping breakdown on track conditions. So, crews will be using the overnight hours to replace and realign stretches of the Blue Line’s rails. (T officials aren’t saying how much progress they expect to make.)
- Today is also the first day on the job for new MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng. As he takes his first commute as GM this morning, Eng will get a firsthand look at the subway slow zones (which currently cover 24% of the system).
A stretch of Broadway in Cambridge remains closed this morning after a massive fire broke out yesterday at Faith Lutheran Church, only hours after Easter service. Fortunately, no one was hurt — but officials are still investigating the cause of the six-alarm blaze.
- Try to avoid the intersection of Prospect Street and Broadway if you’re driving through the Cambridge area this morning.
Mel King will be remembered by family and friends this week in the South End neighborhood that he long called home. A public viewing hours will be held today for the late Boston civil rights leader from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Union United Methodist Church — followed by a funeral service Tuesday at noon at the Columbus Avenue church.
- Watch: Tickets to attend the funeral tomorrow are fully booked, but the event will also be live-streamed online, as well as at Boston City Hall, the Bruce Bolling Municipal Building and Titus Sparrow Park in the South End.
- Listen: Local writer and historian Dart Adams joined our daily podcast The Common last week to discuss King’s ongoing legacy.
P.S.— We’re one week from the Boston Marathon, so this is the last week to catch “The Finish Line” in the windows of CitySpace at 890 Commonwealth Ave. Read the story behind the photo display here.
