GBH Daily: Sand sculpting

Right hand holding hose sprays water into left hand holding clump of sand — Canadian artist Jobi Bouchard uses a hose to wet sand during the Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Festival on Friday, July 17 in Revere, Mass.

Gal Tziperman Lotan is a digital producer for GBH’s Morning Edition.

July 21, 2026

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.

🌂Partly sunny, with possible afternoon thunderstorms and highs in the 80s. Sunset is at 8:14 p.m.
The hands you see belong to Canadian artist Jobi Bouchard, who was among the sculptors at this weekend’s Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Festival. GBH’s Dan Murphy captured him spraying water onto sand from a hose as he shaped his first-place winning sculpture of a conch shell. GBH’s Renuka Balakrishnan also went to ask artists: what does it take to create a sand sculpture at this level?

“You need to be artistic, that’s the first thing. See things in 3-D,” said organizer Meleneige Beauregard, who herself has been sand sculpting for about 25 years. “And not be shy. Being around people looking at you while you work. Most of the time, it is in front of [the] public.” You can see more photos from the competition below and some video here. But first, some news.

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Four Things to Know

1. About three-quarters of Massachusetts voters polled by MassInc Polling Group said they’d support a bill to regulate AI companies. “I think a lot of the risks of AI are very pervasive and sort of hidden — like the fact that your doctor’s using it, your lawyer’s using it, and the way that may interact with you,” said John Basl, a professor of philosophy at Northeastern University. “I think there’s a sense in which these numbers probably underestimate the risk that people are concerned about, just because it’s focused on these big one-shot risks.”

Among the proposed regulations: making it mandatory for AI companies to report safety problems within 24 hours of discovering them, protecting whistleblowers, having a safety plan they update annually, and paying $1 million per violation. For a bit of context: Anthropic, which sponsored the poll, reported being valued at $965 billion back in May. A $1 million fine is 0.0001% of that.

2. The head of the Massachusetts State Police, Colonel Geoffrey Noble, said the agency “clearly has a misconduct proliferation problem.” He spoke with the State House News Service and WCVB’s On the Record about a range of issues, including: the killing of Enrique Delgado-Garcia, a State Police recruit who died after an unsanctioned boxing match; an overtime scandal that led to the federal convictions of several troopers; and racist and sexist text messages sent by former Trooper Michael Proctor that were revealed during the Karen Read trial.

Last week, after reports that two off-duty troopers were involved in a fight at a Quincy bar, Noble said the agency is discussing reforms “every day.” “We understand that the commonwealth expects the Massachusetts State Police to operate at the highest levels. We expect the Massachusetts State Police to operate at the highest level,” he said.

3. Attention, Red Line riders: there’s no train service between Alewife and Park Street from today through July 30. MBTA crews are working on fixing up tracks, signals and noise-reducing infrastructure, GBH’s Jeremy Siegel reports.

While trains are out of service, you can board a shuttle bus that follows the Red Line route; take the Commuter Rail for free between Porter and North Station; or use a bus to get to the Green or Orange lines. The MBTA has put together a map showing some common routes here.

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4. The Red Sox got off to a rough start this season, winning 10 games, losing 17 and firing Manager Alex Cora. But now they’re on a 13-game winning streak (knock on wood).

GBH’s Esteban Bustillos explains the team’s recent hot streak: “If you look at the season as a whole, the Red Sox have 413 total runs — ‘meh’ by MLB standards. But in the month of July, the team has been near the top in runs across both leagues. And pitching-wise, the Red Sox staff has posted a blistering 2.34 ERA for the month so far. Hot enough to start a barbecue in most ballparks.”