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☔Cloudy, muggy, and hot, with some morning showers and highs in the 80s. Sunset is at 8:24 p.m.

Today we’ll hear about how some local artists are celebrating Juneteenth, which is tomorrow. But first, some news: more than 1 in 3 families in Massachusetts can’t afford food or regularly worry about where their next meals will come from, according to a survey from the Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham. That percentage of people facing food insecurity — 37% — is about flat from last year, but almost double what it was in 2019, when 19% of people were facing similar levels of hunger.

“These families are forced to choose between paying their rent and buying groceries,” said Catherine D’Amato, the Greater Boston Food Bank’s president and CEO. “Older adults are skipping meals to afford medications, children foregoing their medical attention or missing school.”

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley said the federal spending bill currently in the Senate (colloquially called the Big, Beautiful Bill) will make it even harder for more people to afford food.

“If passed, Massachusetts would lose hundreds of millions of dollars worth of SNAP benefits,” Pressley said. “This is an existential threat to the more than 187,000 people in my district who receive food stamps. And that is why my colleagues and I are fighting like hell.”

Four Things to Know

1. How much will Boston’s new White Stadium cost? A day after mayoral candidate Josh Kraft said taxpayers will have to pay $172 million, citing a city document, incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu said that figure is not the real cost, but a worst-case scenario estimate. So far the city has spent $50 million on demolition of the old stadium and preparation for the next phases of construction.

“We go through all sorts of disaster planning and scenario planning,” Wu said. “It is highly, highly unlikely that it will hit this sort of 172 number that’s been floated out there.”

2. An inauspicious statistic: the median sale price for single-family homes in Massachusetts hit $666,125 last month, up 4.7% from last year, according to real estate analysts at The Warren Group. The number of houses rose by about 2% to 14,358. The median price is significantly higher in the Boston area: $980,000, according to the Greater Boston Real Estate Board.

Condos are also getting more expensive, albeit at a slower rate: the median price hit $539,000 last month, up 1.9% from last May. “We talk a lot about lack of inventory, which is a problem, but still the state has seen an increase in the number of single-family sales since last year, as well as a rise in the median sale price,” said Cassidy Norton, associate publisher of The Warren Group. “Median sale prices tend to follow a curve throughout the year, with the high point usually in June, so buyers who can hold on may see deals later in the year.”

3. About 20,000 people are visiting the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for the world’s largest biotech conference this week. Up for discussion at the BIO International Convention are research developments, the industry’s use of AI and how federal funding cuts in the U.S. may affect the industry.

“I heard someone say yesterday that innovation and policy are sort of on a collision course,” said Sarah Alspach, BIO’s executive vice president and chief communications officer. “I think we’re confronting a number of important discussions around, you know, how do we modernize, how do we move forward.”

4. Nina Kuscsik, the winner of the first Boston Marathon in which women were officially allowed to compete, died on June 8 at the age of 86. Kuscsik was one of the women who ran the race unofficially before organizers formally allowed female participation in 1972.

“She was a fighter. And she was fighting for women’s rights and women’s equality,” said Jack Fleming, head of the Boston Athletic Association. “And I’d say she won. Did she do everything that she ever wanted to see for herself? I don’t know that, but she absolutely made a difference.”

At Cambridge Juneteenth event, local artists prioritize resilience and joy

Tomorrow is Juneteenth, the holiday marking the day in 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger got to Galveston, Texas, and — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — told people there that “all slaves are free.” The celebrations became annual and spread from Texas to the rest of the country. Former President Joe Biden declared June 19th an official federal holiday in 2021.

This year, an art gallery in Cambridge is putting on a special exhibition to celebrate, with a slightly belated event and discussion on June 25.

“It’s more important than ever for communities to understand each other, to understand each other’s histories — the challenges, the struggles, the joys — and it really makes for a cohesive community and society,” said Shazia Mir, community and social impact strategist for LabCentral.

One of the six artists featured is painter DaNice Marshall. She told Under the Radar host Callie Crossley that her work focuses on Black joy and the ties people can form if they’re willing to put themselves out there and connect.

“I just want people to just realize that we’re so much more alike,” Marshall said. “Life is so short, [and] just real difficult these days for all of us. And I think that art itself can bring us together.”

Listen to the full conversation here. 

Read more: 

From 2024: One of Massachusetts’ largest Black communities celebrates Juneteenth amid DEI pushback

Callie Crossley’s commentary: This Juneteenth, find ways to celebrate jubilee joy

From 2023: Juneteenth, the newest federal holiday, is gaining awareness