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☀️Sunny and warm, with highs in the 70s. Sunset at 8:15 p.m.
There were 56 drowning and drowning-related deaths in Massachusetts last year. It’s the leading cause of death for American children ages 1 to 4, and disproportionately affects Black and Native American children — but it’s also preventable, experts told GBH’s Marilyn Schairer.
Some of the main ways to prevent drowning include putting up fences around residential pools, life jacket lending programs, community outreach and, of course, swimming lessons, said Sharon Gilmartin, executive director of the Safe States Alliance. Right now there’s a CDC Injury Center program that provides funding to local YMCAs for swimming lessons nationwide. President Trump’s proposed budget for next fiscal year would completely eliminate that funding.
“It’s not a luxury, and it shouldn’t be deemed dependent on what zip code that you live in,” said Dru Douillette-Belli, vice president of operations at the YMCA of Greater Boston. Schairer examines what causes drowning and how we can prevent these deaths locally.
Four Things to Know
1. Sheriffs in Massachusetts have $36 million in bank accounts outside public oversight, according to a report from Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro. The money comes from people hiring local sheriff’s offices for services like summons and subpoenas, but does not go into the offices’ regular budget. Some locations had the money sitting in accounts with no clear plans for how to use it. In other counties, accounts were used for grocery store purchases, Uber Eats deliveries and Netflix subscriptions.
“We came up with over 120 accounts. And these weren’t then known to the treasurer, they weren’t known to the state comptroller,” Shapiro said. “Where’s the oversight? Who knows what the spending is for? Who knows if it’s appropriate?”
2. A 30,000-square-foot training center in Brockton for Boston Legacy FC, the city’s new professional women’s soccer team, is expected to be completed by the end of this year, team officials said yesterday. There will be a weight room, fields for year-round training, medical facilities — and a full-service kitchen and lounge area.
“We believe facilities like this are essential to attracting top talent and continuing to raise the standard for women’s professional sports,” said Jennifer Epstein, controlling owner of Boston Legacy FC.
3. Thousands of people gathered Monday for the funeral of Robert “BK” Kilduff Jr., a second-generation Boston firefighter who died on the job May 23. “My dad represents everything our world can be if we look out for each other — if we reach out to help first, and ask questions later,” said his daughter, Hannah Jane Kilduff.
Kilduff worked for the Boston Fire Department for 24 years. He died after a fall from the third story while fighting a fire on Treadway Road in Dorchester. “His very last act was actually to yell up to the Ladder 4 and Ladder 6 roof men to back it up, because they were working in an intersection of the building that was unsupported due to the fire,” Boston Fire Lieutenant Greg Kelly said.
4. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge is switching to fully battery-powered landscaping equipment. That means the dozens of leaf blowers, hedge trimmers and chainsaws their crews use to maintain the grounds of the country’s first garden cemetery will now run on batteries, not gas.
The reason for the switch is primarily environmental, but there are other elements to it too. “Part of the awe of Mount Auburn is that it’s a portal to somewhere else,” Mount Auburn CEO Matthew Stephens said. “So when you have a backpack blower, that definitely takes away from that sense of awe or inspiration.”
Rental rip-offs to avoid in Boston
By Renuka Balakrishnan, GBH News associate digital video producer
When I started my first newsroom job after college, I moved in with my parents, saved money for a few years and waited to get an apartment until I found my footing.
This year, that time finally came.
I’m renting an apartment with my sister. We’d heard horror stories about how competitive Boston’s housing market can be, so we strapped on snow boots, bundled up and went to showings as early as February for leases starting Sept. 1. We trekked through two feet of snow, thanks to record-breaking storms, to see some of the smallest, darkest and dingiest 2-bedrooms the Greater Boston area had to offer.
But looking early wasn’t enough. The real trouble began when we found an apartment we loved. Suddenly, we faced a world of fees, policies and a 25-page lease to interpret.
This isn’t unique to Boston, but there’s been a steady wave of housing policy changes statewide that’s nearly impossible to keep up with. Buzzwords like rent control, broker’s fees and affordable housing are in the news almost every day, but few people have the time — or patience — to stay informed.
Broker’s fees, for example, have been illegal for most renters since August 2025. That means landlords and real estate agents can’t require tenants to pay a broker fee — typically one month’s rent — for brokers representing the landlord. (You’re still on the hook for a fee if you’re hiring your own broker to find units for you.)
During our search, we found rentals explicitly requiring broker fees, and brokers offering additional off-market units for a fee over email. We saw how the policies coming down from Beacon Hill can look different when they’re implemented on the ground.
I asked housing experts, including a lawyer, what’s going on.
Brokers said the confusion stems from a law that is difficult to interpret — and harder to enforce.
As a renter, you should know what landlords can and can’t ask for. In Massachusetts, landlords can take the first and last month of rent, a refundable security deposit and the cost of changing the locks. Dozens of listings we saw advertised pet and application fees. Both of these are unauthorized.
If you’re unsure about a charge, ask the broker directly.
“They can evade the question, but they can’t lie to you,” Todd Kaplan of Greater Boston Legal Services told me.
Watch here to learn more about rental ripoffs to avoid in Boston.
Dig deeper:
-Who’s responsible for low-hanging telecom lines in Mass.? It’s a tangled web.
-‘Granny unit’ law ‘a strong start’ but local rules cause delays, raise costs, report finds
-Building Hyannis: Apartment and condo construction may transform downtown
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