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.
⛅Clouds coming in, with highs in the 50s. Sunset is at 4:32 p.m. It’s day 36 of the federal government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history.
Looking for election results from around the country? Here’s a roundup of what to know.
Somerville is getting a new mayor, but we’re going to start off today talking about another city official who wasn’t on yesterday’s ballot: Alicia Privett, the city’s Environmental Health Coordinator — unofficially known as the rat czar.
“You gotta admire their tenaciousness, their ability to adapt,” Privett told NPR’s Ari Daniel. She even has a black-and-white illustration of a rat tattooed on her arm, tail curled and whiskers at attention. “They’re like my ultimate nemesis.”
Privett is among those leading Somerville in an experiment over the next year or so: can rat birth control reduce the city’s rodent population without causing the ecosystem damage often associated with methods like rat poison? You can hear more about the program here.
Four Things to Know
1. The Rev. Miniard Culpepper will be the next person to represent Roxbury on the Boston City Council. He had come in second to Said “Coach” Ahmed in September’s preliminary election in a field of 11 candidates, but bested Ahmed by about 600 votes in yesterday’s general election. “We all know that nothing gets done in this community without collective effort, and I look forward to drawing on all the wisdom of all of the candidates that ran [in District 7],” Culpepper said. “And, believe me, there’s a lot of hard work ahead.”
Once he’s sworn in, he’ll be the only new member on the City Council: the rest of the councilors retained their seats, as did Mayor Michelle Wu, who ran unopposed in the general election.
2. Robert Van Campen beat six-term Everett mayor Carlo DeMaria by 678 votes. About a year ago, the state inspector general’s office found that DeMaria had improperly used his office to give himself $180,000 in “longevity payments” when he won reelection.
“Tonight, the voters made it clear: it’s time to move forward. Change has arrived and it’s time to turn the page to the city’s next chapter,” Van Campen wrote in a statement to GBH News.
3. In Somerville, Jake Wilson won the mayoral race against his fellow at-large city councilor, Willie Burnley Jr. In his victory speech, Wilson said he’ll focus on the city’s housing crisis, on safer streets, on homelessness and substance abuse — and on rats. Afterward, he also talked about how East Somerville has become a target for federal immigration agents.
“We’re in East Somerville [at the restaurant La Brasa], where we have really felt the impact of ICE in the community,” Wilson said after his speech. “So we’re talking about the federal government coming in here and abducting our residents. We’re talking about, on the budget side, the possible loss of federal funds.” Also on the ballot in Somerville: voters approved a non-binding measure asking the city not to do business “with companies [that] engage in business that sustains Israel’s apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine.”
4. Federal immigration agents raided a car wash in Allston yesterday and detained nine people. City Councilor Liz Breadon said that, as far as she’s aware, all nine of those detained had legal immigration status.
“My understanding is that they all had documentation, whether it was a green card or a work authorization card or whatever, they all have documentation, but they were not allowed to go and get their papers,” she said.
Health care premiums could skyrocket come January for Mass. residents
If you’re one of 400,000 Massachusetts residents who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, you may have already logged in for open enrollment, which started Saturday, and experienced some sticker shock. With a federal tax credit that helps cover premiums set to expire, Massachusetts residents who get coverage through the ACA health connector will, on average, see their premiums rise by $1,300 a year — unless Congress intervenes.
“For a family of four earning between, let’s say, $120,000 and $160,000, they could lose access to that subsidy,” said David Seltz, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. “Right now they pay about $270 for monthly premiums. That could go up to $1,100 for monthly premiums. How are they supposed to plan for January?”
And health insurance is getting more expensive for everyone, no matter where you get your coverage: premiums will rise by 12% to 14% on average next year, according to Seltz.
“The numbers aren’t good,” he told GBH’s Morning Edition. “This is going to put health insurance out of reach for many people in Massachusetts.”
There are a few reasons why that’s happening, Seltz explained. One of them is the high cost of prescription drugs and the popularity of GLP-1s, also known as Ozempic and Wegovy, the drugs used for diabetes management and also prescribed for weight loss.
These drugs are effective, but expensive, Seltz said.
“We’re a global hub for innovation, but some of these breakthrough drugs come at a very high price, and that’s causing affordability challenges. One example is these new weight loss drugs, or GLP-1s,” Seltz said. “We’ve all seen the ads. The studies show that they’re very effective, but they are causing a really big affordability challenge.”
The bottom line: higher premiums likely mean more people will have to limit their coverage — or go without adequate health insurance altogether.
“That means that they’re not getting the care that they need when they need it, [or] they’re not filling their prescription, and that can lead to worsening health outcomes,” Seltz said. “That can lead to an exacerbation of health conditions and, oftentimes, that may lead to people using the emergency departments. And we already have a very crowded emergency department situation in Massachusetts.”
Listen to the full conversation here.
Dig deeper:
-New mothers charged with crimes would get mental health screenings, treatments under bill
-Morphine shortage impacts Massachusetts patients, hospice care and pharmacies
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