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.
🥵Sunny and hot, with highs in the 80s. Sunset is at 8:19 p.m.
About 978 people died of opioid overdoses in Massachusetts last year. It’s the first time since 2013 that the state has recorded fewer than 1,000 opioid-related deaths, and represents less than half the number of opioid-related deaths in 2022 — 2,364 people. There are three main things contributing to that data, according to a Department of Public Health report released last year: less fentanyl in drugs, fewer people using opioids and more overdose prevention services.
“While a 27% decrease in opioid overdose deaths is encouraging and reflects the impact of sustained investments in prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery support, we must never lose sight of the fact that behind every data point is a person — a loved one, a family member, a friend, a neighbor,” said Deirdre Calvert, director of DPH’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services.
State researchers also said that xylazine, a sedative veterinarians use, became more common in the local drug supply starting in 2020: “One hypothesis is that using drugs containing xylazine may protect from fatal overdose by increasing the length of time that people are sedated after using, therefore decreasing the total number of use events,” researchers wrote. “Another hypothesis is that due to the sedative effects of xylazine, suppliers may reduce the amount of fentanyl in their product.”
Four Things to Know
1. The first local World Cup match is Saturday, when Scotland faces Haiti in Foxborough. Right now, the National Weather Service forecast calls for a mostly sunny day with highs near 90. So if you’re going to the game or spending time outside, practice some heat safety measures.
“Check the weather forecasts and dress accordingly, first off,” Gov. Maura Healey said yesterday. “We know that there could be real heat. And with a lot of heat and a lot of crowds, we want to make sure that people have taken the right precautions and are hydrated and dressed appropriately.”
2. More than 800 parents and caregivers have filed complaints with the state in the last three years, saying schools did not adequately respond when their children were bullied or harassed. Parents and advocates say they want to see Massachusetts do more to address bullying in schools — especially since the Trump administration dismantled the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which had investigated discrimination claims.
“(Bullying) is underreported, underacknowledged [and] undervalued as an important issue for kids all across the state, particularly kids of color, particularly kids with vulnerability, disabilities and kids who might be different or seen as different by peers,” said Christa Kelleher, the research and policy director at the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School. “It’s been really frustrating, a little bit infuriating and definitely disheartening to see so little action and so little attention at the state level and at the local level.”
3. At a memorial service for former Rep. Barney Frank yesterday, hundreds of lawmakers remembered the 32 years he spent in Congress. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke about the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
“We were just having some trouble getting it out of committee, and people came to us and said, ‘If you take out trans, you can pass this in a minute,’” she said. “Barney and I said, ‘If we take out trans, we won’t pass it in 100 years because we’re never going to bring it up that way.’”
4. Martha’s Vineyard is installing food waste recycling machines at every public school on the island. The process is similar to composting: “you load the food waste in, you press a button, and in 24 hours the food is kind of ground up. It’s dehydrated. High heat is introduced so the water is evaporated,” said Sophie Mazza, the community food waste director at Island Grown Initiative.
There are also food recycling machines at the island’s transfer stations, where people can come to drop off garbage. “Due to the high food costs, restaurants are really savvy at not wasting a lot of food,” Mazza said. “And we don’t have manufacturing facilities here, which account for a lot of commercial food waste. So it’s a real high percentage of residential food waste here.”
National Park Service intends to remove selected quotes from Bunker Hill Monument
The National Park Service ordered the Bunker Hill Monument to remove signs with quotes about how people have remembered the battle over the years. The quotes talk about things like slavery, immigration, war and women’s suffrage. A National Park Service representative didn’t respond to GBH’s Don Seiffert, but told the Boston Globe in a statement that “Efforts to transform a routine exhibit refresh into a story attacking President Trump and this administration are tired, and the American people see through it.”
Here are the quotes:
“The Bunker Hill Monument is finished. Here it stands...it rises over the land, and over the sea...it stands a memorial of the last, and a monitor to the present, and to all succeeding generations.” —Daniel Webster at the Bunker Hill Monument dedication oration, 1843.
“As we drew near to Boston, there stood Bunker Hill Monument, towering up toward the heavens, as if in silent, bitter mockery of the millions of slaves guarded by the professed lovers of Liberty, who reared its lofty column.” —G.B. Stebbins in a letter to William Lloyd Garrison, published in the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, 1846.
“Now that a public orator has declared that foreign-born men have no association with the men of the Revolution, it is our duty to show that in love of freedom and loyalty to the Republic, the citizens of foreign birth take no second place…” —A contributor writing in The Pilot, writing a piece called “To Our Irish Societies,” 1875.
“The battle is celebrated for the justice of the cause, which, because it was just, was triumphant. The woman suffrage battle is like that of Bunker Hill — not won today, but sure to be later. Meantime, Bunker Hill Monument is our monument.” —Lucy Stone, writing in the Women’s Journal, 1889.
“Colored Americans were here that day fighting with other patriots, our own ancestors, of whom we are justly proud and on whom we base our claim for full liberty and equality as citizens.” —William Monroe Trotter, giving a Bunker Hill Day address in 1925.
“We find, upon reflection, that our duty to our country has not ended...We, as Vietnam Veterans, strongly feel that the United States should cease to build memorials to death and begin to glorify life.” —Arthur Johnson and Bestor Cram, writing in The Boston Globe in 1971.
Dig deeper:
-The other enemy America was fighting 250 years ago: Smallpox
-Pushing a ‘sacred rebellion,’ American colonists justified revolt with religion
-Abigail Adams implored her husband to ‘remember the ladies.’ Here’s what she meant.
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