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☀️Sunny and cold, with highs in the 30s. Sunset is at 4:38 p.m.
When figure skater Max Naumov heads to the Olympics in Italy next month, he says he’ll carry photos of his parents so he can feel their presence with him. Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were ice skating coaches at the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood and died a year ago when their American Eagle flight collided with a helicopter near Washington, D.C.
“I can’t describe how difficult it was in the very beginning and through month after month of just really, really trying my hardest to keep a positive mindset, keep all of the personal issues at home, and stay focused on skating when I was here,” Naumov said this week. “But thankfully, skating became a tool that actually helped me overcome all of that.” Another Skating Club of Boston duo on Team USA: pairs team Emily Chan and Spencer Howe. You can read more about the Boston delegation, meet some top figure skating talent from around the country, and have a look at the Boston Fleet’s hockey players who will be playing on Olympic ice.
Four Things to Know
1. After the Trump administration announced it will indefinitely suspend immigrant visa processing from 75 countries, immigrants in Massachusetts who hope to help their spouses, parents, or other loved ones join them say they are worried and confused. The administration had said it does not want to accept people from countries “whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates,” but the suspension applies to any applicants from those 75 countries, which include Brazil, Haiti, Colombia and Albania.
“It’s an additional fear — inpas. That’s the expression being used in Haitian Creole. It means, ‘there’s no way out,’” said Rev. Myrlande DesRosiers, director of the Everett Haitian Community Center. “Every single option that people could have is blocked.”
2. Local mental health and addiction organization leaders say they were caught off guard this week when the Trump administration announced plans to cut $2 billion from overdose prevention and recovery programs nationwide — and were left confused again a day later when officials said the cuts wouldn’t happen after all.
“I have no idea why they rescinded it. I have absolutely no idea,” said Peter Evers, president and CEO of Brockton Area Multi-Services, Inc. “I’m happy that they have but, at the same time, we are as in the dark about why it was rescinded as much as we were at 3 o’clock in the morning when it was sent out.”
3. If you get your health insurance in Massachusetts, you’ll soon no longer need to seek prior authorization from your health insurance company before receiving certain kinds of medical care. That includes primary care, chronic disease management, reproductive care, physical therapy and addiction treatment.
Gov. Maura Healey gave this example: someone with diabetes won’t need an insurer’s prior authorization for insulin or pumps. “You won’t need it for the first time or for subsequent appointments,” Healey said. “You won’t need it for any adjustments or upgrades that you get. And you won’t need it if you change jobs either.”
4. On a sweet note: today is Fig Newton Day, which commemorates the figgy, chewy snack named after Newton, Massachusetts. Fig Newtons were first commercially produced by the Kennedy Biscuit company in Cambridge in 1891.
“It’s not, as many people think, named for Sir Isaac Newton,” Beth Folsom, program manager at History Cambridge, told GBH’s Morning Edition. “The Kennedy company already had a number of different cookies and other pastries that were named for local areas or towns. There was a Harvard, a Shrewsbury and a Beacon Hill.” The factory building at 129 Franklin St. (near Central Square) is still standing and has been turned into condos. If you’re in the area, History Cambridge has a self-guided candy tour you can follow.
What to do this weekend: Theater, art, and ‘Heated Rivalry’
Looking for some culture this weekend? Here are three suggestions from GBH’s executive arts editor and the Culture Show host Jared Bowen.
“The Great Privation” at Company One Theatre: This play starts with a mother and daughter in 1832, protecting the grave of their husband and father from graverobbers. The story then flashes forward to the present day, where the women are counselors at a sleepaway camp in Philadelphia on the same grounds. “It’s actually a comedy, it’s actually supernatural, there’s even horror. It’s wildly inventive,” Bowen said. The play runs through Jan. 31 at The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University in Boston. Tickets are pay what you want, starting at $0.
Martin Puryear: Nexus at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston: This exhibition from American sculptor Martin Puryear shows decades of his work, across subjects and mediums. “You’ll find gallery after gallery of his gorgeous, gorgeous sculptures that he’s created over decades, that reconcile everything from toxic masculinity to our history of enslavement in this world to the power of birds,” Bowen said. “It’s just beautiful, shimmering art.”
“Heated Rivalry,” on HBO MAX: If this very talked-about show isn’t already running through your head, Bowen recommends giving it a go. “Yes, there’s lots of sex. Yes, it’s really steamy and hot. But ultimately, this is an amazing series with incredible writing, incredible acting, because it’s about the interior story of two male hockey players who find each other, who find their personalities, who find their love and affection and how that can blossom without trauma.”
Want more culture suggestions? Follow GBH’s The Culture Show on Instagram.
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