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Boston's Morning Newsletter
2 New England cities top Fortune's list of best places for families to live
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.
While you were watching videos of that Canadian hovercraft off the New England coast, here’s what we’ve been following — including a search and rescue mission even deeper out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Let’s start with the latest here on land.
Cambridge residents are waking up today with some bragging rights. The city took the top spot on Fortune’s list of the 50 best places to live for families in the U.S., thanks to its “dual position as a college town and bustling metro.” Fortune’s rankings also credited Cambridge’s low crime rates, quality public schools and access to activities (i.e. restaurants, museums, nightlife, etc).
- Here’s the catch: the median sale price for a single-family home in Cambridge last year was $913,759, according to Fortune. So, good luck putting down roots if you’re moving with a family.
- Zoom out: Portsmouth, New Hampshire came in second in the rankings, which highlighted a city or town in each of the 50 states. Portland, Maine, and South Burlington, Vermont also made the list.
Do you use the app Toast for online food ordering? Then get ready to pay a little extra on your next meal. Beginning today, the Boston-based company is adding a 99-cent “processing fee” on all orders over $10 at select restaurants, with plans to roll out the fee nationwide on July 10, according to The Boston Globe. Toast — which is reportedly seeking to reach profitability for the first time this year — says the fee will help cover new features they’re adding to help restaurants.
- Some local restaurants are feeling burnt by the “hidden” additional fee, which isn’t viewable unless users click a small, gray “i” icon, according to the Globe. They worry it will upset customers already grappling with high inflation.
Normalcy is returning to Waltham this morning after a power surge caused widespread outages, disabled traffic lights and led to multiple house fires in the city Monday. Eversource says the surge knocked out power for about 6,000 residents, but most have it back now.
- The cause of the power surge has not been publicly identified, but it’s the second time it has happened in Waltham within the last year. Last October, a similar incident caused several transformer fires and light signal problems.
In memoriam: A funeral is being held today in Holyoke for David Bartley, the youngest-ever House speaker in Massachusetts, who died last week at the age of 88. Bartley was just 33 when he rose the ranks to become speaker in 1969. After six terms, he went on to serve as the president of Holyoke Community College for nearly three decades.
PSA: There’s another closure of the I-93 tunnel through downtown Boston happening tonight. MassDOT will close the northbound side of the Tip O’Neill Tunnel from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. tomorrow for maintenance, so expect delays if you’re on the highway late (or early).
- As for the MBTA: It’s the same one-stop overnight diversion on the Red Line’s Braintree branch as last week. Express shuttles will continue to replace commuter rail service between South Station and Braintree starting at 7:30 p.m.
P.S.— Did you know that in addition to hosting our live journalism throughout the year, our venue CitySpace is available for rent for personal, non-profit and business events? Summer dates are still open. Reach out to rentals@wbur.org to learn more.
