This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
☀️Sunny and summery, with highs near 80. Sunset is at 8:14 p.m.
Today we have a story about how healthcare workers and researchers eliminated a disparity in who gets mammograms in Boston. But first: a case in federal court is shedding a bit of light into how federal officials decided to revoke the visas of and detain some students involved in protests or activism over the war in Gaza. On Friday, a State Department official said that while the Trump administration has been claiming to do that work in the name of combating antisemitism, there’s no official definition of antisemitism the government has been following in these cases.
“In my opinion, antisemitism is unjustified views, biases, or prejudices, or actions against Jewish people or Israel that are the result of hatred towards them,” said John Armstrong, senior Bureau Official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs.
An attorney for the plaintiffs, Alexandra Conlon, argued that without a definition of antisemitism, the government can take action based on arbitrary standards. There’s a lot more to this case, and GBH’s Sarah Betancourt gets into it here.
Four Things to Know
1. Administrators at all assisted living facilities across the state must send letters detailing their fire safety and evacuation plans to residents and their families by the end of the week. They will also have to file a fire safety survey with the state.
Gov. Maura Healey said on Friday that the requirements are a response to the fire at the Gabriel House assisted living facility in Fall River last weekend, in which 10 people died. She called it “a moment to make sure that every Assisted Living Residence is prepared to respond to emergencies and to protect the safety of their residents.”
2. State numbers show that reports of all crimes fell 6.53% across the state in 2024 compared with 2023. The crimes considered most serious — murder, rape, robbery, arson, larceny and burglary — fell 4.4%. You can see charts with breakdowns of different crime statistics here.
“This new data is encouraging, and reflects the important work that law enforcement and community partners do day in and day out to keep the people of Massachusetts safe,” Gov. Maura Healey said.
3. Paul Dama, manager of the Suya Joint restaurant who was detained by ICE a month ago, remains in a New Hampshire jail after being denied both bail and release under electronic monitoring. Dama came to the U.S. in 2019, a year after members of Boko Haram kidnapped and tortured him. He has an asylum case pending. Last month, federal authorities told GBH News that Dama had been arrested twice for DUI, though he has complied with court orders since.
His sister Cecelia Lizotte, Suya Joint’s owner and chef, said he sounded “defeated” in their phone calls. “We gathered everything [to support him] and then some more, and then it was declined, denied,” Lizotte said.
4. Two Boston-area doctors spent last week at the North Pole, supporting and treating people who ran a marathon there. “You have to work much differently than you do back in the hospital, and do a whole lot more with a whole lot less,” said Dr. Luke Apisa, a faculty member from Mass General Brigham’s Division of Space, Ecological, Arctic and Resource-Limited Medicine. “We’ve got a backpack and a duffel bag, and that’s our entire medical kit for the three weeks we’re out here.” Also on the marathon’s medical team: Dr. Lonnie Petersen, a SPEAR Med affiliate and MIT professor.
On the same trip was marathoner Becca Pizzi of Belmont, who became the fastest woman ever to run the North Pole Marathon, finishing in 4 hours, 46 minutes, and 26 seconds.
For Boston’s Asian women, a mobile mammogram van has helped close a huge health equity gap
Come back in time with us to 1999: only about a quarter of Asian women in Boston reported having received a mammogram — roughly half the citywide average.
Now let’s fast-forward to 2023: 77% of Boston women over the age of 40 reported having received a mammogram in the past two years — and, according to a Boston Public Health Commission report, there appear to be no major racial disparities in the data..
That result is the product of some hard work by a lot of people. Among them: health care workers on Dana Farber’s Mammography Van (it’s really the size of an RV) that have given more than 50,000 mammograms and breast health services since 2002. It’s been part of a larger effort, which includes collaborations with health centers and education about how detecting and treating breast cancer in its early stages can significantly reduce the risk of death from the disease.
“When we were able to get data and reflect on [the increased rates], I was like, ‘Oh my God, I know the van is a part of that,’” said Magnolia Contreras, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s vice president of community health.
So why a van? The idea is to meet people where they are, eliminating the need to take time out of their day for a doctor’s office visit. It’s about offering not just mammograms, but also education and translation services around breast health, and creating space for open conversation about topics that can feel uncomfortable to discuss.
Lisa Gualtieri, who studies health policy and management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Tufts School of Medicine found, in a 2011 study, that in Massachusetts, Vietnamese, Chinese and South Asian women had some extra hurdles to overcome: some didn’t know that their health insurance covered screenings. Others faced cultural stigma and had to navigate challenges like getting time off work or finding someone to watch their children.
“When you think about all the barriers in terms of missing work, getting childcare, transportation; just the time involved, people also had this perceived barrier that it was going to cost when it didn’t,” Gualtieri said.
There are also generational gaps that make it harder for some people to keep up with technological advancements.
“I hear that all the time: ‘My breasts are going to be squashed!’” says Kate Kuleck, a technician who works in the van. She speaks Polish, English and some Russian. “But the machines we use today are much better than what their mothers or grandmothers had. Being able to explain that in their language helps ease that anxiety.”
Subscribe to GBH Daily
Your essential daily newsletter delivering trusted news, local insights, ways to connect, and can't miss programs from Boston and beyond.
