Support WBUR
Boston's Morning Newsletter
A look at the year ahead in Boston and beyond
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.
Look at that, you did it! You made it through 2024. Congratulations and happy new year.
Your new mission, should you choose to accept it: Get through 2025.
Here are some big happenings you can expect in the new year.
Let’s start with some happy news: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is expected to give birth to her third child sometime in the middle of January, and we don’t think it violates our journalistic impartiality to wish her a healthy and easy delivery. Wu, who plans to run for a second term, does not expect to take maternity leave, though she said she’ll likely work from home more often after she gives birth.
Also occurring at the start of the year:
- Workers are expected to wrap up renovations at Brockton Hospital early in the year, though it’s really an expansion of sorts: The hospital reopened with reduced capacity in August following a devastating fire in 2023.
- New Hampshire home sellers will have to disclose any potential PFAS contamination to potential buyers. It’s the latest in state and federal action to try and grapple with the known health risks associated with these so-called “forever chemicals.”
Spring is a time for new beginnings, even in court. The Karen Read retrial is expected to begin in April, bringing back 2024’s true-crime trial of the year. The case made national headlines thanks in part to scandalous text messages from an investigating state trooper, criminal charges of witness intimidation brought (and dismissed) against a Read supporter and a daily livestream of the proceedings.
Also happening in the spring:
- After years of delays, Harvard Square’s Out Of Town News kiosk will finally re-open as a sort of tourist-slash-community-slash-art space.
- Flour Bakery will open up shop in Boston Common, taking over the former restroom-turned-restaurant space from the Earl of Sandwich. The hope is the beloved local bakery will find better luck slinging cupcakes inside America’s oldest public park.
- It’s the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. And get used to the word “semiquincentennial,” which is a latinate description of “250th” but honestly sounds like someone cheating at Scrabble; you’re going to hear it a lot as we come up to the United States’ big birthday bash in 2026.
- The Boston Marathon steps off from Hopkinton on April 21.
By midyear, we’re getting a little beyond concrete scheduling, but there are some definite items of note, including:
- South Coast commuter rail service is expected to finally come online after years of planning.
- This time they mean it: In May, the feds will begin enforcing travel rules requiring a REAL ID. Getting your Massachusetts driver’s license upgraded takes a little more paperwork than your regular renewal. Here’s how to prepare.
- Boston Calling, the largest annual music festival in the city, returns for its 13th year on May 23-25. And while dates are still TBD, Somerville Porchfest typically occurs in May, a couple months before Jamaica Plain Porchfest, which is often in August.
- May is also time for a shameless plug: The WBUR Festival, celebrating our outlet’s 75th birthday, is set for May 29-31. Tickets go on sale Jan. 21.
- Here’s to hoping we can pencil in another NBA championship for the Celtics in June. But that’s not the only team-related news: The C’s are for sale, but a multi-billion dollar deal for an NBA franchise isn’t like picking up a rotisserie chicken at Market Basket. These things take time, and it’s not clear when a deal could happen, though later in the year is a safer bet.
- June 17 is the semiquincentennial (See? What did we tell you) of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the famous pyrrhic victory for the British that was actually fought on Breed’s Hill.
- 2025 may be an off-election year, but there’s really no such thing: Voters in Boston, Springfield, Newton and other municipalities will have to make some choices come fall.
- The Head of the Charles returns for Oct. 17-19.
That should be enough to get your 2025 planning started. Here’s hoping it’s the best year of your life.
