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 sunny, with highs in the 80s and a slight chance of showers. Sunset is at 8:21 p.m.
Keep reading for a Free Ride to art galleries in Lowell, where you can see this mural by the artist Angurria and a lot more from local creatives. Bonus weekend plans: Culture Show host Jared Bowen has a book rec and an ICA show you should check out.
Haiti and Scotland are facing off in the first World Cup game at Boston Stadium tomorrow, and for both teams it’s a return to soccer’s biggest stage after decades of absence. Here’s what you need to know:
Haiti’s men’s team made its first and only other appearance in the World Cup way back in 1974 in West Germany, when Richard Nixon was still in office in the U.S. Their road back to the World Cup was anything but easy, as the team couldn’t even train or play in Haiti due to unrest in the country. The game here is bound to be a celebration for Haitians everywhere, especially those in Massachusetts, as Haitian striker and local legend Frantzdy Pierrot, who went to high school in Melrose, will be on the roster.
For the Scots, the wait hasn’t been as long: They last played in the World Cup in 1998. You may have heard that their fans have rented school buses to get to Foxborough this year. The team is led by captain Andy Robertson and features goalkeeper Craig Gordon. At 43, he’ll be the oldest player in this year’s tournament. And you need to watch midfielder Scott McTominay’s bicycle kick against Denmark that helped send the Scots to the Cup. Neither team has ever made it out of the group stage, and in Group C, where Brazil and Morocco loom, every edge matters for two squads looking to make history.
Esteban Bustillos, reporter, GBH News
Four Things to Know
1. A Brockton Public Schools official had told Mayor Moises Rodrigues to stay away from Brockton High School’s graduation last weekend because a graduating student had accused him of wrongdoing, according to a May 26 letter excerpted by former Brockton resident Tonya Pickett on social media and verified by GBH News.
Rodrigues claimed this week that he did not know who the student — who later got a temporary harassment protection order against him — was. But the letter names her and tells Rodrigues not to enter Brockton High School or go to any senior activities, like graduation. Rodrigues came to the graduation and gave a speech, during which a woman approached the stage telling him to leave and yelling “You know what you did to my daughter.” State Police assigned to the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office are investigating.
2. Rachael Rollins, the former Suffolk District Attorney and U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts who is once again running for the job of Boston’s top prosecutor, said in her first interview since announcing her campaign that she left the U.S. Attorney’s office under circumstances she called “incredibly messy.” Rollins ran on a platform of changing how Boston, Chelsea, Winthrop and Revere handled criminal prosecutions. She declined to prosecute lower-level misdemeanors, launched a human trafficking unit and dismissed cases in which police and prosecutors made errors.
She resigned from her job as U.S. attorney, and federal investigators later found that she had used her position to help a candidate running to replace her and violated the Hatch Act by attending a Democratic National Commission fundraiser. “I feel shame, like, remorse about what happened. But what is important to me is for you to understand that DOJ policy allows me, as the U.S. attorney, to do these things, and I believed I had that authority,” she told GBH News’ Jim Braude and Shirley Leung of The Boston Globe. She said she’ll see “whether the people of Suffolk County buy that or not.” You can watch the full 20-minute interview here.
3. Tenants at a public housing high-rise in Salem called a meeting with city officials this week to talk about a problem: The 12-story, 110-unit building at 27 Charter St. houses seniors and people with disabilities, but the elevators are often out of commission, sometimes for days at a time.
“I’m in a wheelchair. My legs don’t work,” resident John Hamilton said. “One [elevator] stopped two feet under the first floor, which meant that I was trapped there. The doors would open, but I couldn’t get out, and then the doors closed and I couldn’t open them.”
4. Mark your calendars: the state’s annual sales tax-free weekend will be August 8-9. Shoppers will essentially get a 6.25% discount on anything under $2,500 — with some exceptions. Sales of cars, motorboats, tobacco, marijuana products, meals, alcoholic beverages and some utilities will still be taxed.
Free Ride: Thinking outside the frame
By Gal Tziperman Lotan, newsletters producer, GBH News
Every Friday this summer, when the Commuter Rail is free, GBH Daily is hopping aboard to see how much fun we can have without spending any money. Welcome to the second edition of Free Ride.
Sure, you could go to Boston and pay $20-30 a ticket to see masterful works of art. But you can also head north to Lowell, home to a collection of art galleries and local artists you can enjoy absolutely free: Each one of these galleries costs $0 to visit. If you have some extra cash and see something you love, you can of course buy a print or original work of art — I spotted small pieces for as little as $6 and larger ones for a few hundred. Your Free Ride won’t be free anymore, but you can feel good knowing you supported the Merrimack Valley’s art scene.
Lowell’s Market Street is about a 20-minute walk from a Commuter Rail stop, but the Lowell Regional Transit Authority runs frequent buses (free through the end of June!) that will get you there in 5-10 minutes. Your first stop can be The Brush Art Gallery and Studios at 256 Market St., behind the visitor center of Lowell National Historic Park. They’re open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays. When you walk in you’ll see Lowellscapes, a collection of photos from around the city, like colorful lights reflecting off steel on Bridge Street by Tammy Dohner, and the Mass Mills Smokestack photographed from above (with a drone) by Coleman Rogers. Walk a bit further in and you’ll see artist studios: spaces where local artists work and exhibit their paintings, photographs, quilts and more. I loved the large portraits from Jalix Delacruz, with grayscale subjects juxtaposed against colorful backgrounds.
Down the block, the Arts League of Lowell runs the ALL Arts Gallery at 307 Market St. They’re open from noon to 4 p.m. Fridays. The gallery’s current show is called On the Merrimack, celebrating 200 years since Lowell’s founding. Some of my personal favorite pieces:
- a paper diorama by artist Dian Hosmer called “Under Cover of Darkness,” showing a woman in a black dress and orange hair running through the woods
- “MILL BOYS,” an acrylic painting from Christian Whitton that feels like a glance into the city’s past
- A collection of works from Karl Wen Sun, who uses calligraphy, photography, painting and drawing.
Plus: right next door is the Gates Block Garden, where you can sit with your own notebook under a colorful mural by the artist Angurria and sketch whatever comes to you.
The next stop requires a bit of walking — or another free bus ride from either the Commuter Rail or Market Street — to Western Avenue Studios, at 122 and 160 Western Ave. This five-story building houses studios for hundreds of artists. There are photographers and painters, sculptors and tattoo artists, fashion and graphic designers; people who work in just about every medium. Start on the bottom at the Loading Dock Gallery, where there are rainbow-hued prints. Then pick your path: wander around, looking at the art and popping into studios where artists have their doors open and want to chat, or you can choose your favorite medium and follow a tour — photos and video, painting and drawing, fashion and fibers, clay and glass or printmaking. Even on a slow day, it’s a fascinating place.
Like this Free Ride? Share it with a friend and tell them to subscribe to GBH Daily for more.
And remember: if you take any of these hikes or have your own Free Ride ideas to share, I want to hear from you! Send me a note at daily@wgbh.org.
Dig deeper:
-Boston is a walkable city. Boston By Foot shows you how to do it
-Books to have on your radar this summer
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