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.
🌂Cloudy day, rainy night, with highs in the 50s. Sunset is at 4:29 p.m. It’s day 38 of the federal government shutdown (here’s a rundown on how that may affect Thanksgiving travel if Congress does not vote to reopen the government before the holiday.)
If you have a flight today or in the coming days, make sure to check its status. Boston’s Logan is one of 40 airports nationwide where the Federal Aviation Administration is cutting 10% of flights — an effort to ease pressure on air traffic controllers working without pay during the federal government shutdown. The impact might end up being more significant when you count Boston-bound flights from other airports.
Kevin Curtiss, an air traffic controller and New England Regional Vice President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told GBH’s Jeremy Siegel that air traffic controllers were already overworked and understaffed before the shutdown. Many were living paycheck-to-paycheck, and have now gone more than a month without getting paid.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” he said. “I have no idea if that decision is going to help or not.”
So what should you do if you have upcoming air travel? Katy Nastro, a travel expert from Going, the flight deals app, told NPR she recommends picking nonstop flights when possible, leaving in the morning, and buying tickets that you can change without extra fees.
Four Things to Know
1. Six people in Massachusetts prisons have died this year in either confirmed or suspected suicides. Most were housed in behavioral assessment units at MCI-Norfolk or in residential treatment units for people with behavioral challenges at Souza-Baranowski, according to the nonprofit Prisoners’ Legal Services. The Department of Correction is hiring an independent investigator to look into the deaths.
“It’s unclear why [the independent investigation] wasn’t mobilized after the first or second person was able to kill themselves again in particular units that were supposed to be designed to support or prevent people who had mental illness from being able to harm themselves,” said Dave Rini, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.
2. Massachusetts is one of 25 states — plus Washington, D.C. — suing the Trump administration over its decision to only partially fund SNAP benefits during the federal government shutdown. Yesterday attorneys for the federal government said the administration expects the proposed cuts to be slightly smaller than anticipated — though still significant: 65% of the total benefits, rather than about 50%. Some families may still face larger reductions.
“Hunger is not a political bargaining chip,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in a statement. “Never in the history of the SNAP program has the federal government declined to fully fund benefits.”
3. GBH laid off another 15 employees yesterday from its kids’ programming, finance, marketing and technology departments, according to President and CEO Susan Goldberg. The organization has already gone through two rounds of layoffs in 2025.
“The loss of federal funding continues to ripple through our business,” Goldberg said in a statement. “We’re grateful for their contributions and that of our entire staff as we reimagine our work to meet this unprecedented moment and transform our business for the future.”
4. Moises Rodrigues, Brockton’s newly elected mayor, immigrated to the U.S. from Cape Verde when he was a teenager and was the first Cape Verdean person elected to the City Council back in 2013. He wants to focus his first term on youth crime prevention programs, securing a new contract for the city’s desalinization facility, and cleaning up local streets.
“We will hold absentee landlords accountable for maintaining their properties and open spaces,” Rodrigues said in a campaign video. “By prioritizing cleaning and beautification, we will foster the sense of pride and make Brockton a city we are all proud to call home.”
The Massachusetts residents stepping up to help feed their neighbors
We have three stories from local food pantries in two corners of the state show how communities are stepping up to support some of the 1.1 Massachusetts residents who rely on SNAP benefits to pay for food. In Springfield, city officials, the local NAACP chapter, the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts are all working together to collect money and food donations. About 71,000 people — 47.4% of the population — are considered food insecure.
“The majority of these individuals and families are working families, and then you have disabled veterans, elderly seniors and children,” Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said. “This is a man-made disaster...it’s a federal government issue...and we need the federal government — from the president on down to the congressmen and senators to get their act together.”
Down on the Cape, the Sandwich Food Pantry has seen a modest uptick in people seeking food — and a heartening rise in people offering to help.
“We have absolutely had more donations, and thank God, because we’ve got more clients, too,” pantry director Gigi Ridgley told CAI. “They always step up here in Sandwich. I’ve been doing this for 37 years at this food pantry. And the people have always stepped up when we had a problem — when we were in need.”
And in Watertown, the restaurant Ritcey East is packaging frozen prepared meals for people who need them. Yesterday’s offerings included roasted pork loin with mashed potatoes and spinach, grilled chicken with rice, beans and plantains, and breaded eggplant over risotto.
The restaurant is collecting $10 donations for the effort through the online order section of its website (look for the Buy a Meal for the Community Fridge option.) They’re also collecting non-perishables to deliver to local food banks and community fridges — and offering customers who bring donations a coupon for free fried pickles. You can watch a minute-long video showing what the meal preparation looks like here.
“The only way you get through things is asking for help,” owner Max Ritcey told GBH’s Renuka Balakrishnan. “I’m not ashamed when I ask for help for me. I don’t think anybody should be.”
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