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.
🌡️Hot and muggy, with highs in the 90s and afternoon showers. Sunset is at 8:04 p.m.
You might feel like your brain is on the verge of melting today, especially if you’re working outdoors. While that’s not literally true, there is something to that feeling: “Heat makes people slower to react and worse at making decisions,” Adam Dean, a labor economist at George Washington University, told NPR. “That means farmworkers driving a tractor or a construction worker operating equipment are more likely to have a fatal accident on a hot day.”
There are ways to prevent that. Researchers found that when California started requiring employers to provide plenty of free, clean drinking water and shady spots to rest, the number of workers who died on the job during hot days fell by about one third. If you’re spending a lot of time outside today, take it slow, take breaks, stay in the shade as much as you can, reapply sunscreen and drink lots of fluids. And remember what Tatiana Begault, the executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, told GBH’s Diane Adame: “The job is not going to get done if you’re dead, so we want to be very clear on this — your life matters, it is important,” Begault said. “I’d rather invest in training than in funerals.”
Four Things to Know
1. Local Muslims said they are grieving the deaths of three men killed in a shooting at a mosque in San Diego. Police are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.
“Almost every day at this point is a heavy day for our community, between what this country that we live in has supported and funded happening in Palestine, to the bombing in Iran, to this,” said Fatema Ahmad, executive director at Muslim Justice League. “It’s just day after day. It’s really hard.”
2. Massachusetts has a new person in charge of cannabis industry rules and regulations: Christopher Harding, who was head of the state’s Department of Revenue under former Gov. Charlie Baker. Gov. Maura Healey announced his appointment yesterday under new rules that give her office more control of the Cannabis Control Commission. Also on the commission: attorney Anthony Wilson and Xiomara DeLobato, the vice president of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council.
None of the existing CCC members are coming back. That includes Chair Shannon O’Brien, who was fired following accusations of inappropriate behavior and then reinstated after a long legal process. “Given everything that’s gone on, I think it’s important to have a fresh start — fresh look at things,” Healey said.
3. TSA now says medical marijuana is allowed in both carry-ons and checked bags. The guidance says that officers don’t look for illegal drugs, “but if any illegal substance or evidence of criminal activity is discovered during security screening, TSA will refer the matter to a law enforcement officer.”
This might just be putting unofficial policy on paper. “In my own view, TSA hasn’t really been looking for small amounts of marijuana for personal use at the airports for many years,” said Jeremiah MacKinnon, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance. But the change might give more peace of mind to patients who “were deathly afraid of bringing their cannabis with them because of the potential for legal repercussions if they were caught,” MacKinnon said.
4. Kids at Beethoven Elementary School in West Roxbury joined a program that teaches them how to ride a bike in physical education classes. BPS Regional Superintendent Kristen Weeks described the day she opened a curtain to reveal bikes to kindergarteners as “pure joy.”
“Over April break there was a family that traveled outside of Massachusetts and they went to a grandparents’ house,” Weeks said. “And the kid ran into the garage and grabbed the bike and just started riding it. And the mother wrote an email to us, and was like, ‘I had no idea he learned how to ride a bike in school, and I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity.’”
‘Granny unit’ law ‘a strong start’ but local rules cause delays, raise costs, report finds
Accessory dwelling units — the jargony name for smaller apartments people can build in their basements, over their garages, in their backyards or as additions to their homes — have been legal statewide for about a year. Lawmakers hoped they would give people looking for an affordable place to live more options.
Here’s the scorecard for the first year, according to a new report from Boston Indicators: Cities and towns reported receiving 1,639 applications for such homes in 2025, and issued 1,224 permits. For context: state officials say Massachusetts needs to add 222,000 houses and apartments by 2035 to meet demand. Researchers at Boston Indicators estimated that if 2 percent of single-family homeowners added a smaller unit, the state would get about 30,000 new homes.
“This was a step in the right direction, but it was still a conservative step, and that’s holding back the state from seeing as much ADU production as people need and as the state really could use,” Amy Dain, a senior fellow at Boston Indicators, told GBH’s Liz Neisloss.
Neisloss got a rundown on these units and what’s standing in people’s way when they try to build them. There’s also a map you can use to zoom in on exactly how many ADUs have been approved in your city or town.
Dig deeper:
-Boston goes big on little homes: ADU event aims to spur homeowners to build
-Once-abandoned mills are now home to thousands of Massachusetts residents
-An overlooked result of the housing crisis? Renters stuck in shoddy apartments.
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