Support WBUR
Boston's Morning Newsletter
A grandfather and grandaughter both qualified to run this year's Boston Marathon — an apparent first
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 getting another edition of the classic Celtics-76ers rivalry in the first round of the NBA playoffs, after Philadelphia won their play-in game last night. Game 1 is Sunday afternoon at TD Garden. (Click here for the full schedule.)
But first, another big sporting event just around the corner:
On your marks: Even in its 130th year, the Boston Marathon is still marking firsts. As WBUR's Amanda Beland reports, Monday's marathon is believed to be the first time in documented history that a grandparent and grandchild have both qualified to run Boston together. Carlos Sanchez, a 67-year-old Texas resident, is running his first Boston race with his granddaughter, Mia Sanchez, a 23-year-old Harvard graduate student. They joined WBUR's Morning Edition to talk about what the achievement meant to them. (Listen to the audio here.)
- Carlos didn't pick up running until he was 50. But since then, he's completed 37 marathons. He qualified for Boston with a time of 3:50:49 in a marathon last year in Ventura, California (nearly 15 minutes under the time needed for his age group). "It's just something that's really special being able to achieve this with my granddaughter," Carlos told WBUR's Tiziana Dearing.
- Mia qualified for Boston on her first try in the same race, with a time of 3:14:26. A former collegiate runner, she credits Carlos for providing her motivation to train. "He helped me find just the strength and the confidence to do things," Mia said. "He makes the hard parts of running look so easy and look so fun."
- Zoom in: The Boston Athletic Association doesn't officially track familial connections, so Sanchez began researching the marathon's history after he and Mia both qualified. He found evidence of previous grandparent-grandchild duos running the race together as part of a charity program, but no examples of two getting a bib by meeting the race's strict qualifying standards.
- Zoom out: According to the BAA, Carlos and Mia are among the 14,281 athletes who have indicated Monday's race will be their first Boston Marathon. The full field is nearly 32,600, according to the group's website.
- Get ready for race day: Planning to watch Monday's marathon in person or from afar? Here's everything you need to know.
At City Hall: The Boston City Council is moving forward with a proposal to get rid of minimum parking requirements for some new residential buildings. Critics of the minimums say the rules artificially increase the price of housing, and it's an issue that has united progressive councilors and real estate industry groups. "These rules were established in the 1950s out of the false thinking that parking would reduce congestion," City Councilor Sharon Durkan said. "Instead, they've made it harder to build housing and force developers to build more parking than we actually need." The change still needs approval from the full City Council and Boston's Zoning Commission.
- Boston had already eliminated parking minimums for income-restricted affordable housing developments. Durkan's zoning amendment, which was referred to the Council's planning committee, would apply to market-rate housing, too. Boston would join neighbors Cambridge and Somerville in getting rid of parking minimums citywide.
In related news: Boston city councilors say that Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox has agreed to appear before them to answer questions about the fatal police shooting of a Dorchester man last month. Cox has been under pressure from councilors to release body camera footage from the shooting.
- The Council also unanimously approved a separate measure requesting police to turn over five years of body cam footage tied to officer-involved shootings.
On Beacon Hill: The House unveiled its annual budget proposal yesterday. As State House News Service reports, the $63 billion spending bill largely tracks Gov. Maura Healey's initial proposal from three months ago, with a few tweaks. Democratic leaders also described the bill as "fluid" due to uncertainty stemming from a possible income tax ballot question this fall and the impacts of federal policy changes.
- Meanwhile: Democrats in the state Senate passed a $3.6 billion environmental bond bill last night that includes a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at supermarkets and other retail stores. The Senate also passed plastic bag bans in 2019 and 2024, but the proposal never got through the House.
P.S.— It's time to vote for your favorite local entry in NPR's 2026 Tiny Desk Contest. There were 184 entries from Massachusetts into the national contest this year, but our panel of judges were able to whittle down the list to 22 local finalists. You can watch all of the videos via this YouTube playlist and then go vote here.
