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⛅Cloudy and above freezing, with highs in the 40s. Sunset is at 4:13 p.m., one minute later than it was yesterday.
The executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, the state’s Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace, has a message for people who have not yet chosen a plan for next year: it’s time. While open enrollment goes until Jan. 23, 2026, the deadline to ensure coverage starting on Jan. 1 is Dec. 23, 2025.
Annual premiums will go up by an average of $1,300 a year, Audrey Morse Gasteier said. The jump will be higher for people who make just over $60,000 a year and people over 55 who don’t yet qualify for Medicare.
“Despite all of these headwinds from Washington, D.C. and some of the setbacks we’re facing, there does continue to be affordable health coverage that’s available to people here in Massachusetts, and we want to make sure people have the healthcare access and the financial security that comes with being covered,” Morse Gasteier said. “So, for anybody who was maybe putting off a decision because they were waiting to see what Congress may or may not do, don’t wait any longer.”
Four Things to Know
1. Police in Burlington arrested four people yesterday who had brought baskets of food, juice, hats, bedrolls and menstrual products to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in the town. Immigrants detained there have said they were forced to sleep on concrete floors or partially inflated air mattresses and that they did not have access to necessary medication and menstrual products.
“The blatant physical and emotional cruelty of ICE operations demands that we step outside our comfort zone to object,” one of the four, Roger Rosen, wrote in a statement in anticipation of the arrest. “Our attempt to deliver these necessities to our immigrant brothers and sisters is a recognition of their humanity and their right to be treated with kindness and respect.”
2. Governor Maura Healey is asking ICE to stop using Hanscom Field in Bedford for deportation flights and for flights transferring immigrants to out-of-state detention facilities.
“Flying these residents out of state and away from their support systems and legal counsel — often within hours of arrest — is intentionally cruel and purposely obstructs the due process and legal representation they are owed,” Healey wrote. “This is not the justice we believe in or stand for in Massachusetts or as Americans. This practice must stop.”
3. The Massachusetts Bail Fund is seeking answers about what happened to Shacoby Kenny, a 32-year-old man awaiting trial at the South Bay House of Correction in Boston who died last week.
The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office said Kenny had assaulted officers and was acting erratically. A former detainee told GBH News he saw about 15 to 20 officers handcuff and beat Kenny, and that it took 30 to 60 minutes before anyone attempted CPR. He said he believed Kenny was already dead before he was taken from the jail to a local hospital. “His eyes roll over and he dead and they was still hitting him,” the former detainee said. “It was bad. They didn’t have to do 'em like that.”
4. Two of the three Republicans running for Massachusetts governor said they disagreed with comments President Donald Trump made about the killing of film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner. “His comments were wrong and deeply disappointing,” Brian Shortsleeve said. “This was a terrible tragedy and the only appropriate reaction is to put politics aside and offer sympathy to the Reiner family.”
“Violence, grief, loss, and justice don’t know a political party,” Mike Minogue said. “I wish these comments were not made.” Mike Kennealy did not address Trump’s comments specifically: “The Reiners are victims of a horrific crime and our words as leaders should reflect that,” Kennealy said. “My prayers are with the Reiner family and their loved ones.”
In a letter of mourning, Brown president confirms identities of students killed in mass shooting
Three days after a person shot and killed two students and injured nine others during a final exam review, Brown University President Christina Paxson called the two students who died “two young people whose amazing promise was extinguished too soon.”
Ella Cook, a second-year student at Brown, was from Mountain Brook, Alabama, a competitive pianist, a member of the university’s Alpha Chi Omega sorority and vice president of the Republican Club.
“She was known for her compassionate, loyal and courageous spirit,” Paxson wrote in an open letter. “As I learn more about the vitality she radiated, I wish so much that I had the opportunity to know her.”
MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, who was finishing his first semester, wanted to become a neurosurgeon. He was born in Uzbekistan and graduated from high school in Virginia, where he was president of the Model United Nations chapter and captain of the Scholastic Bowl team, Paxson said.
“I have been moved by his current and former classmates’ descriptions of him as someone who generously shared his intelligence, humor and kindness with all those who knew him,” Paxton wrote.
“We must also keep the other victims of the shooting in our thoughts as we hope and pray for their healthy recovery,” Paxton continued. “We also know that the trauma from Saturday extends far beyond those with physical wounds. As I have spoken with students, faculty and staff over the last two days, I know the weight of this tragedy bears heavily on all of us.”
Read more from Ocean State Media here.
Dig deeper:
-Authorities share new video of suspected gunman in Brown shooting
-After Brown University shooting, how do you talk to kids about tragic events in the news?
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