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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Mayor Wu heads to D.C. to press for more help with migrant influx
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.
Today is slated to be the chilliest day of the week, but it’s good weather to check out the spots in our local ice skating guide. Just bundle up (and remember: it could be worse).
Now, let’s glide into the news:
Wu ➡️ Washington, D.C.: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is headed to the nation’s capital today to press President Biden’s administration for more help handling the growing number of migrants arriving in Massachusetts. During her appearance yesterday on Radio Boston, Wu said she’ll be “spending some time” with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to “echo” Gov. Maura Healey’s recent call for more federal funding and get updates on the “bigger picture.”
- While Massachusetts’ strained family shelter system offers housing to homeless families and pregnant women, it’s up to city-level shelters to house single homeless adults. Wu told WBUR’s Tiziana Dearing that migrant individuals now account for “a good 25%” of Boston’s shelter beds — and that the influx is growing. “It took five months for a thousand new residents to come to the Commonwealth, and then it was two months for the next thousand residents, and then it was a month for the next thousand residents,” Wu said. “And that pace doesn’t show any signs of letting up.”
- Meanwhile, Wu is not happy with the Healey administration’s plan to convert the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex, an active recreational complex in Roxbury, to an overflow family shelter. While “there are no good options,” Wu said the proposal would put out local community programs. She added the move is “painfully familiar” for a neighborhood that, over the decades, has faced “disinvestment, redlining [and] disproportionate outcomes.”
- Ultimately, the Roxbury complex is owned by the state, which has final say over how it is used. Healey’s office reportedly told lawmakers that it will begin acting as a temporary shelter tomorrow, serving up to 400 people (including the dozens staying overnight at Logan Airport.)
Day 8: Classes are canceled for an eighth straight day for Newton public school students, as the city’s teacher strike wears on. While teachers say some progress has been made, a deal on a new contract remains elusive and many parents are on their last nerve.
- What do the two sides disagree on? At least six areas, including annual raises, classroom aide wages, a requirement for there to be at least one social worker per building and some parental leave particulars. The Boston Globe has the details — with charts!
Dismissed? We’re nearly a month away from the Massachusetts presidential primary and the legal battle over Donald Trump’s ballot eligibility continues. Yesterday, a single justice on the state’s Supreme Judicial Court rejected the petition to keep Trump off the ballot, ruling the challenge was basically too early. Justice Frank Gaziano wrote the question of Trump’s eligibility “will not become ripe until, and if, he is selected as his party’s nominee for President.”
- Go deeper: The group’s lawyer, Shannon Liss-Riordan, says she plans to appeal Gaziano’s decision to the full SJC. You can read more about the ruling and reactions to it here.
Resolved: Cambridge’s City Council unanimously passed its resolution last night calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. It has become the second Massachusetts city to do so. The text of the resolution also directs officials to send a copy to Biden and members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation.
PSA: This is the first official week of tax season, and Massachusetts is one of a dozen states involved in the IRS’s new pilot program, Direct File, that will let some Americans file their taxes for free. (Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pumped. TurboTax? Not so much.)
- However, participation in this first year is limited. Click here for a breakdown of the eligibility rules and how “Direct File” will work.
P.S.— It’s time to give some shine to the creatives in your life! The nomination window is now open for the 2024 Makers. So, tell us about your favorite local artist of color — whether they be musician, muralist, chef or other kind of inspiring creator.
