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☔Rainy day, with highs in the 50s. Sunset is at 4:26 p.m. It’s day 41 of the federal government shutdown — which U.S. Senate Republicans, along with seven Democrats and an independent, took the first step toward ending last night.
Meet Patricia Andeweg of Newport, Rhode Island — one of the many travelers stranded at Logan Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration canceled 10% of flights from 40 major airports nationwide due to the federal government shutdown. Logan was supposed to be her first stop on the way to celebrating her 90th birthday with family in Australia. But her connecting flight from Boston to San Francisco was canceled at the last minute.
“By the time I get there, the birthday celebrations would all be over,” Andeweg told GBH’s Jeremy Siegel. “And how would I get back if this is going to go on?”
She decided the trip wasn’t worth it after all.
“I’m missing my birthday but, on the other hand, I met so many helpful people, right, left and center,” she said. “I call it my journey to nowhere.”
Happy birthday, Patricia. Wishing you smoother travels in the future.
Four Things to Know
1. One of the nine people detained by federal immigration agents at a car wash in Allston this week is Héctor Valladares, whom his daughter-in-law described as an “older, gentle man” from El Salvador who has lived in the U.S. for 25 years. “It’s very emotional for my children,” his daughter-in-law, Sandra, told GBH News. “They see him all the time and spend time with their grandfather.”
Sandra says she managed to speak on the phone with Valladares for about three minutes last week. He told her he was forced to sign a document before ICE agents took him away, and he worries it was a deportation order. “He was very quiet, very depressed,” Sandra said. “He said his case won’t be won; he’s worried that our family will waste money on him.”
2. Prosecutors will not retry Rickey “FuQuan” McGee, a Boston man who spent 28 years in prison for a murder he says he did not commit. McGee — who was serving a life sentence for the 1997 killing of Geta Yalew, shot during a convenience store robbery — was released last month after a judge ruled there was “a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice” in his original trial.
The evidence against McGee at the time came from two witnesses: one whom prosecutors had promised to shield from bank fraud charges, and another who was just 15 years old — whom McGee said Boston police officers tampered with. “Just coming to the end of my criminal case was so vital and pivotal, not just for me but for my family,” McGee said.
3. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can stop transgender people from getting passports with their chosen sex markers while a lawsuit makes its way through court, one of the plaintiffs in the case, a trans man from North Adams, said he wants people to know just how far-reaching the issue is.
“It might be anytime you get a new job and you need to show that documentation, you’re opening a new bank account, buying a house and you need to show your ID, you lose your drivers license,” Reid Solomon-Lane said. “We’ve been having really serious conversations, my wife and I, about considering leaving the country, and I know that we’re certainly not alone. And I think that that’s devastating to think about. My wife and I, the biggest thing we say is that we don’t want to leave.”
4. Everett’s new mayor, Robert Van Campen, says he wants to focus on relieving overcrowding in the city’s schools and rebuilding trust in city government. He’s Everett’s first new mayor in 18 years, having defeated incumbent Carlo DeMaria last week.
Van Campen said he also wants to rebuild residents’ trust in city government. Last year, the state inspector general issued a report stating that DeMaria had improperly awarded himself “longevity bonus” payments totaling $180,000 for winning reelection. “I want people to look at city hall in Everett and I want them to be proud. And I want them to know that decisions are being made there… that are in their best interest and that their tax dollars are being spent and that they can see where every penny is spent and that they can trust the process,” Van Campen said.
Massachusetts unveils plan to protect communities from sea level rise
Massachusetts is working to prepare for increased flooding. Projections from the Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model estimate sea levels could rise 1.3 feet by 2040 compared to 2008 levels, and about 4.3 feet by the 2070s. And it’s not just a concern for coastal communities: climate scientists and engineers warn that more intense precipitation could also lead to inland flooding, as Leominster experienced in 2023.
“The state has to step in and take on more of this responsibility as it fades away from the federal government,” said Bob Pahl, an architect who lives in coastal Hull.
So how do you manage that? Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has released a new 144-page plan. It includes large-scale projects like preserving salt marshes to use as natural buffers, as well as smaller-scale efforts such as elevating homes in flood-prone areas.
“This plan is about helping people and local businesses stay safe and save money,” Gov. Maura Healey said last week. “When we invest in stronger roads, flood protections and coastal restoration, we’re not just preventing damage — we’re protecting livelihoods.”
One note for anyone in the housing market: Massachusetts is now one of 14 states where homeowners are not required to disclose flood risks to renters or buyers, according to the National Resources Defense Council. A report released last week recommends making such disclosures mandatory.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel here,” said Norman Abbott, an analyst with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Boston. “Texas, New Jersey, New York — they’ve all done this sort of stuff after major floods have occurred. So this is our chance to get in front of this.”
For this plan to become a reality, lawmakers in the Massachusetts Legislature will need to pass a bill Healey has submitted, called the Mass Ready Act. We will keep you posted.
Read Marilyn Schairer and Sam Turken’s full story here.
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