Scott Van Voorhis reports on the end of Jay Hurley's long tenure as chairman of the Boston Zoning Commission following the commission's defeat of a Wu proposal for tougher climate-change/emissions rules for new construction in Boston. Read more.
Politico reports a group of "veterans across Massachusetts" has started work to convince City Councilor Ed Flynn, and a Navy vet himself, to run for mayor next year. It has an official PR spokesman, who now has his own PR firm but who, Politico notes, is "an alum" of Regan Communications, which is run, of course, by George Regan, who wants to "save our city" from those dreaded left-wingers like Michelle Wu.
Ed Flynn being not happy about the first week of school busing.
Boston City Councilors ordered up a hearing today at which to press Boston school officials to explain how the new BPS Zum (pronounced "zoom," but for obvious reasons not spelled that way) app that was supposed to make BPS buses run as softly as a cloud instead led to some buses not showing up in the morning for an hour or more - and some kids riding buses home for up to three hours as their poor, befuddled drivers tried to navigate Boston's dropped-bowl-of-spaghetti roads. Read more.
The city Office of Civic Organizing is offering $250 grants to neighborhoods that want to really go all out for Halloween this year. Read more.
CommonWealth Beacon answers the local political question of the year: Why is one of the Supreme Judicial Court's two clerks elected by voters in Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop?
It's a fascinating historical story involving voter anger over the way the SJC back in the day refused to stand in the way of a fugitive slave being re-captured in Boston to be sent back into slavery down south in 1850. Doesn't explain why the post is still elected, but then again, this is Massachusetts, where if we did something once, we are often compelled to do it forever and ever.
Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly Budd today swore in Maura Looney as the SJC's Clerk for the Commonwealth, replacing Francis Kenneally, who was appointed a judge in the district-court system earlier this year. Read more.
A former Boston cop who sued the city over his firing in state court in 2022 last week filed a similar suit in federal court - but added the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association to his list of defendants he says did him wrong. Read more.
The Italian Air Force Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team is scheduled to fly over Boston this afternoon. Read more.
DCR is out with its annual Allston Christmas warning for kids and their parents about the river roads.
WBUR has the definitive review of Monday's area-wide aerial ant orgy, including an interview with a myrmecologist who thinks the ants were a species known as "Labor Day ants" because of when they typically swarm - although still unresolved is the question of why so many of them decided to swarm all at once across a broad area.
A federal judge yesterday dismissed Dennis White's defamation and due-process suit against the city and former acting Mayor Kim Janey, concluding Janey didn't lie in her explanations for firing White in 2021, let alone say anything that rose to the level of"actual malice:" Read more.
Ducky storm cell.
A little after 8, Gary C. called up a Boston weather map on his Storm Radar app and got a map that Dick Albert would've loved. Rogers noticed it, too.
Johnmcboston shows us this morning's sunrise, turned hazy and red by smoke from wildfires way out west (like past Worcester, even).
Boston has failed to install as many new handicap ramps at city intersections as it promised to settle a 2021 suit, and many of the ramps it has installed don't meet standards and could prove a menace to people using them, advocates say. Read more.
At 8:16 p.m., the MBTA reported Red Line delays of up to 30 minutes due to a downed tree on the tracks near Quincy Center. At 8:34 p.m., the T reported bustitution between North Quincy and Quincy Center due to the Kilmerian obstruction. At 9:19 p.m., the T reported it had extended the shuttle service all the way to Braintree. As of 10:15 p.m., the T was reporting the Braintree branch was still blocked by that darned tree.
Some 4,500 workers at 35 Boston hotels voted overwhelmingly this week to authorize a strike, according to their union, Unite Here Local 26. Read more
Chart from BPHC July 28 report.
The amount of Covid-19 viral particles in Boston sewers - an indicator of the virus's presence in the community - soared in July, when levels were 163% higher than in May, - still way lower than numbers around New Year's and especially two years ago - the Boston Public Health Commission said today. Read more.
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