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.

Sign up here!

🥵Still very hot, with highs in the 90s. Sunset is at 7:47 p.m.

Today we have GBH’s Esteban Bustillos breaking down the discussions around White Stadium’s renovations. But first, some big news for the late-night crowd: the MBTA will run trains and a few buses until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights (technically the early hours of Saturday and Sunday) starting on Aug. 24. The later hours will apply to all subway lines, and bus routes 1, 22, 39, 66, 110, SL1, SL3 and SL5.

“We have been able to get to the point where we’ve improved our system; we’ve built up our workforce where we can now strategically add extended service on our subway system,” General Manager Philip Eng said.

As a bonus: the T is offering free rides on all lines from 9 p.m. to the end of service for five weekends in a row, starting Sept. 5 and ending Oct. 4. Happy tracks to all.

Four Things to Know

1. As Israel takes over more of the Gaza strip — and the number of Palestinian deaths from both military attacks and starvation continues to rise — more Massachusetts congresspeople are speaking out critically.

“The Israeli Defense Forces have doused much of the ring of fire that encircled Israel,” said Rep. Jake Auchincloss. “The resulting humanitarian conditions are totally unacceptable. Hamas has the culpability but Israel has the responsibility. Starvation is not acceptable.” Rep. Katherine Clark, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the House, said that Israel’s occupation of Gaza City “will only endanger hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians who will again be displaced by this conflict, worsen the humanitarian situation, and further threaten the remaining hostages.”

2. It’s still very hot today, which means more people are seeing high electric bills from air conditioner use. Unlike people in other states, low-income Massachusetts residents are not allowed to use federal home energy assistance to pay for air conditioning.

That said: some people with low incomes might qualify for discounted rates from their utility providers, Sharon Scott-Chandler, president and CEO of the anti-poverty agency ABCD, told GBH’s Craig LeMoult: “When we hear from people, we make sure they’re on the discount rate. We make sure that they’re getting the cheapest bill that they can. We find out if there are vulnerable household members and we might be able to call the utility company and see if there’s some protection that they could have.”

3. Here’s what people around town are saying about the arrest of Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins, who is facing federal charges over accusations that he extorted a cannabis company. Attorney and advocate Carl Williams said he’s worried about abuses of power. “It is when we give people enormous amounts of power and it is, a lot of times, unchecked, that has a tendency to lead to corruption,” Williams said. “There comes a point where people think they can — if the allegations are true — can just get away with things because they have power, because they’re important.”

But Kobie Evans, co-owner of Pure Oasis dispensaries, said he would not be surprised if charges against Tompkins end up unsubstantiated. “It sounded like he was just cheap and he wanted his money back,” Evans said. “I don’t know if [Tompkins] had the power to affect the outcome of [the cannabis company’s] trajectory.”

4. Students in Brockton are almost back at school — and they’re asking that their district do more to respond to bullying. 

“Rude comments, teasing, gossiping and physically assaulting,” said Enzo Timas, who is entering sixth grade. “I told the teacher, but the bullying did not stop. Other people decided to join in the bullying, so I had to defend myself.”

How White Stadium’s renovation is impacting the 2025 mayoral race

White Stadium, the athletics complex in Boston’s Franklin Park currently undergoing renovation, is coming up a lot on the campaign trail. GBH’s Esteban Bustillos, who has been covering the construction and legal fight around it for months, has a primer with everything you need to know about it. 

Built in the 1940s, White Stadium has spent decades in disrepair. The stadium had fire damage, failed to meet Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines and city officials wanted Boston Public Schools athletes to have access to a better facility. But because building (or rebuilding) a stadium is expensive, Boston officials under Mayor Michelle Wu formed a partnership with Boston Legacy Football Club, the new National Women’s Soccer League team. Under the agreement, they’ll share the costs: the team will use the stadium for home games, and Boston Public Schools student-athletes will have access to it the rest of the time.

“Each time, over the last 40 years, that’s there’s been a promise and a pledge and a plan to do something at White Stadium, it’s fallen apart and it’s never materialized,” Wu said. “This is the first time that we are actually getting it done.”

But some neighbors sued, saying they had concerns that the partnership will lead private groups to take over the public stadium. And Josh Kraft, the businessman running against Wu for Boston’s mayoral office, has aligned himself with neighbors critical of how the Wu administration handled the renovation.

“The stadium could be completely remodeled, repaired and updated for a fraction of that cost,” Kraft said. “And it could be used 100% of the time by BPS students and the families that live around the park. And I would make that commitment as mayor.”

Kraft said the project could cost as much as $172 million, citing a document the Wu administration has said accounts for worst-case scenarios. The city estimates the cost at $91 million in public city funds, though Mayor Wu has acknowledged the final total may be a bit higher.

There are also some concerns that a flashy new stadium will cause traffic problems and make surrounding neighborhoods in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan and Jamaica Plain unaffordable. (Wu has pointed people to an anti-displacement plan, saying “We can’t be in a space where the only choices are accepting long-standing, run down, subpar facilities and resources or feel like the new shiny, beautiful living environment is going to be for someone else,” she said. “It has to be for our community. And that is what this project is designed to prove.”)

How this shapes the mayoral race won’t be known for sure until September’s primary.

“I feel like without the opportunity of the other investors, it would have never gotten done. Like, pretty much ever,” said Antonio Halliday, the head track and field coach at Brighton High School. “Just by how I understand how things get done in the city, it would have taken much, much longer and a lot more funding and a lot more meetings and a lot more red tape that would have needed to be crossed for Boston Public Schools and [the city] to actually get this thing done.”

Read Esteban Bustillos’ full breakdown of the issue here.