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.
☂️Some snowflakes, then rain, with highs in the 40s. Sunset is at 5:36 p.m.
The start of attacks in Iran by U.S. and Israeli forces over the weekend was followed by waves of misinformation, Boston University Prof. Joan Donovan told GBH’s The Curiosity Desk. That can make it hard for people who are trying to discern what’s happening — whether because they have loved ones in areas being bombed (Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates) or because they simply want to know what’s going on, she said. In hectic situations like this, “every breaking news moment is an opportunity to fill the void with whatever kind of propaganda you see fit” for people who traffic in disinformation, Donovan said. Even President Donald Trump posted a real image of an airstrike’s aftermath, coupled with a “before” image depicting a completely different area.
“What was happening on Saturday was a volley of misinformation, particularly on X [formerly Twitter,]” Donovan said. “There was also footage from video games being circulated as if it were part of the attacks. A fighter jet that had been taken down was a video game simulation.”
So how can you tell what you can believe? Look for what Donovan calls TALK: timely, accurate, local knowledge. She also suggested finding sources that can be held accountable if they get it wrong (as she put it: people who can be sued.) As Curiosity Desk host Edgar B. Herwick III pointed out, a lot of us are used to getting what we want as soon as we want it, but verifying information can take time. Pause before sharing, and think critically before you repost news on your own social media accounts. You can find Donovan and Herwick’s full conversation here.
Four Things to Know
1. After the U.S. and Israeli militaries began attacks on Iran this weekend, the Massachusetts Republican Party said they “stand firmly in support of President Trump and the effort to defend Americans and U.S. interests around the world against the brutal Khamenei regime.” Yesterday John Deaton, a Republican candidate for Senate, said he wanted more information about the strikes: “We were told in June of 2025 that Iran’s nuclear capabilities were obliterated. Was there progress? What was the current status in negotiations?”
Micah Jones, who is running for a U.S. House seat on the North Shore, said he is “somebody who is very concerned about forever wars, but I still believe that there is a surgical use of American force that can be very much used to advance U.S. interests and also keep both the United States’ interests abroad and our alliances safe.” (We have coverage of Democratic representatives’ reactions here.)
2. Sheriff’s departments in Massachusetts regularly overspend their budgets with the tacit approval of state lawmakers and end up asking lawmakers for millions in extra funding — a result of a budgeting process that state Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro called “opaque, chaotic and deeply flawed.”
Sheriffs in Massachusetts are in charge of county jails for people who are awaiting criminal trials, houses of correction where people serve time for misdemeanors, for bringing people in their custody to court and medical appointments among other duties. Shapiro’s office found that Hampden, Plymouth and Suffolk counties in particular routinely overspend their budget by as much as 28%. He suggested the legislature completely redo the budget process for sheriff’s offices which he called “broken.”
3. Life expectancy has gone up for Bostonians overall in the last decade — but not for everyone. Black Bostonians have seen their life expectancy decline: Black men in Boston have a life expectancy of 74.4 years, compared with 82 years for men of other races. Black women’s life expectancy in Boston is 81.1 years, compared with 86.9 for women of other races in the city.
“The gap between Black residents and the rest of the city has doubled,” Mayor Michelle Wu said last week. “The numbers we’re releasing today are not any that any community should stand for or tolerate.” So the city is trying to end those disparities: Officials are giving the Dana Farber Cancer Institute $1 million to increase access to cancer screenings, and giving another $1 million to organizations across the city that work on improving the health of Black men.
4. The MBTA is hiring more staff for this summer’s World Cup games in Foxborough, General Manager Phil Eng said. The agency is adding trains to Gillette Stadium and redoing Foxborough’s Commuter Rail station to allow passengers to board through any door, not just a few. Eng said he hopes more frequent, reliable trains can encourage people to rely on public transportation beyond the World Cup.
“This is a Celtics parade on steroids. This is the Super Bowl on steroids, because it’s not just a one-day event. This is 39 days of people from across the globe visiting Massachusetts,” Eng told GBH’s Morning Edition. “We also know and are cognizant that we need to make sure that we continue to serve our regular riders 365 days a year. That’s why building up our workforce, reinvesting in infrastructure has given us a fighting chance to do this.”
‘Surreal’: Cape Cod wheelchair curler will compete for U.S. medal at Paralympics
If you’re looking for a local athlete to root for in the Paralympics, which begin this week, let us introduce you to Sean O’Neill. He’s a 39-year-old lawyer from Falmouth who will represent Team USA in wheelchair curling. Athletes in Paralympic curling use a delivery stick to throw the stone, and don’t have sweepers — the people who rub brooms on the ice to glide the stone to its target.
“We have to be that much more precise, more accurate with our shots because there’s no sweeping to help to correct or to try and get some added distance,” O’Neill told GBH’s Meghan Smith. “It’s got to be good right when it releases from the stick.”
So why curling? O’Neill said he loves that it’s both a physical and mental challenge. There’s a lot of strategy, he told Smith, in “trying to think through an end, think through a shot, really plan out a game.”
He’s also been encouraging other people to take up wheelchair curling. “Four years ago, I was sitting where you are,” he told one person at his home rink in Falmouth. “Now I’m going to the Paralympics. So watch out.”
The U.S. has never won a Paralympic medal in wheelchair curling. You can watch the games on NBC and Peacock.
And you can get a deeper look at O’Neill’s training here.
Dig deeper:
-Greying curling club in Mass. seeks younger members for fun on the ice
-Trying adaptive cross-country skiing in Massachusetts
-A public radio reporter tries short-track speed skating
GBH Daily
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