☔Another muggy, rainy day, with highs in the 70s. Sunset is at 8:22 p.m.

Today we have a look at how national forces almost derailed a veterans’ housing project in Worcester — and how the community got the project back on track. But before we do that: Floridians Annalise Bankston and her mother Chris got on a flight to Boston Wednesday morning and, without thinking, took their shoes off at the TSA checkpoint, unaware of a federal regulation released the day before by US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem saying they no longer had to do so.

“They didn’t tell me to take my shoes off, I just took them,” Chris told GBH’s Jeremy Siegel.

On her way back from a vacation, Antoniette Okoh of Randolph said she was happy to hear about the change. She usually travels with her infant, she said.

“Normally it’s very hectic, but keeping our shoes on, it makes it a lot easier, a lot faster,” she said.

Four Things to Know

1. Federal agents arrested six people (and are looking for a seventh) accused of running a network of marijuana grow houses using forced labor, Boston-based federal prosecutors said. 

The seven, all Chinese citizens, are accused of growing cannabis in Braintree, Greenfield, Melrose and Quincy here in Massachusetts, along with some places in Maine. Federal prosecutors say they smuggled people into the U.S., taking away their passports and forcing them to work in the grow houses. Agents are still looking for Yanrong Zhu, 47, of Greenfield and Brooklyn, New York.

2. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said yesterday that she will subpoena Harvard for data related to its international students. The school has given the administration “thousands of data points,” university spokesperson Jason Newton said. “The administration’s ongoing retaliatory actions come as Harvard continues to defend itself and its students, faculty and staff against harmful government overreach aimed at dictating whom private universities can admit and hire, and what they can teach,” Newton said.

Leo Gerdén, a student from Sweden who just graduated from Harvard, said it feels like President Donald Trump is using students as political pawns. “He is using us in a very dehumanizing way, requesting information, threatening to deport all of us,” Gerdén said. “It is creating a very scared climate on campus. And now more than ever, we need Harvard to fight for us.”

3. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said she’d support a statewide ban on cell phones in schools, but would also like to see language requiring companies like TikTok and Meta (which owns Instagram and Facebook) to verify users’ ages and limit the number of hours minors can spend on their platforms every day. The most recent version of the law, currently before the state senate, does not include those requirements.

“They have designed these apps to keep our kids addicted. We want to hold them accountable,” Campbell told GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “If we do not do something about these addictive devices with addictive platforms on those devices, then 10 years from now…the uptick in depression and self harm we see amongst our kids will only get worse.”

4. With the Mohegan Tribe reportedly exploring a sale of its WNBA team the Connecticut Sun, Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell said he’d like to see the franchise come to Boston. 

“I know we have interested business groups in Boston that would welcome a chance to relocate the Connecticut Sun to Boston,” Worrell said. “They’ve been New England’s team for two decades, but I think a spot in Boston would help them reach the audience they deserve. And with TD Garden, we have the facility right here in Boston to welcome a WNBA team.”

A veterans housing project almost fell through amid funding cuts and tariffs

Stephanie Marchetti had everything lined up to turn old school buildings into 44 apartments for homeless veterans in Winchendon, a Massachusetts town of about 10,000 on the New Hampshire border. Her nonprofit, the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center, had bought the boarded-up buildings for $1. She had funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and bank loans for the conversion. She had veterans waiting in the nonprofit’s shelter, eager for the project to be done so they could move in.

Then it almost fell apart. 

President Donald Trump’s cuts to funding across the federal government made her bank nervous that funding for this project would be cut too. Though HUD never withdrew its money, the bank threatened to take away its loan if the project kept relying on federal funding.

Tariffs on building materials meant the project was suddenly more expensive — and Marchetti’s budget was $2 million short.

“I had sort of resigned that this project was dead,” she said.

But Marchetti, local veterans and their representatives did not give up. Marchetti got state funding to replace the $5.6 million HUD funding, keeping the bank loan in place. She negotiated with contractors to lower some costs, and State Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik talked to Housing Secretary Edward Augustus asking for help to cover a $900,000 shortfall.

“We really pounded the pavement to honestly cash in a lot of favors,” Zlotnik said.

Now the project is back on, slated for a 2027 opening. Stephen Wilson, who relies on MVOC’s services, said he can’t wait.

“It’d be awesome,” Wilson said. “Having veterans all around me — there’s nothing better because when I sit down and talk to another veteran, they know what I’m talking about.”

Marchetti said she won’t be able to fully enjoy the moment until construction crews are on site. And the whole ordeal has left her feeling disillusioned.

“I will no longer be shocked by negative decisions that impact our veterans,” Marchetti said. “People shouldn’t get hurt because of decisions made by those who haven’t suffered in these ways.”

Sam Turken has the full, exclusive story here.