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, with highs in the 80s. Sunset is at 8:11 p.m.
Today we have a free ride to a greenhouse that doesn’t typically allow outside visitors. But first: Boston’s hottest club is the Massachusetts State Senate, where lawmakers are using a $325 million economic development bill as an opportunity to introduce some amendments that they hope will make the state more fun. Some of these 10 amendments have to do with booze: There are proposals to permanently allow cities and towns to set bar closing times at 3 a.m. instead of 2 a.m. and to legalize happy hour drink discounts.
There are also alcohol-free proposals: One of the amendments would create a $1 million grant program for people who want to create public art, performances or cultural events for their communities. And there’s a suggestion from Sen. Paul Feeney to devote $5 million to planning a Massachusetts Cup, which would bring international soccer tournaments here more regularly.
Not on board with the fun agenda: House Speaker Ron Mariano, who would have to usher the legislation through the chamber he leads. He told GBH’s Amanda Keane there’s plenty of fun to be had here already. “I’ve never had a problem finding it,” he said. With that, the amendments hang in the balance. “Would happy hour and later last call be great? Yes, of course,” said Rep. Sam Montaño of Jamaica Plain, who sponsored some House amendments similar to those in the Senate. “Am I going to put any political capital into getting these through a body that mostly is of an age that remembers when they repealed happy hour when my constituents can’t afford health insurance and their rent? No.”
Four Things to Know
1. Organizations in Salem are trying to figure out how to help people in the city’s densest neighborhood, the Point, better deal with extreme heat. Ana Vargas, a 68-year-old who has lived at the Point for 16 years, said she feels ready for heat waves because she has air conditioning in her one-bedroom apartment. “The only downside is the bill after. It’s the same as the wintertime,” she said in Spanish.
And that’s where the issue is, said Shantel Alix, director of community building for North Shore CDC. “People can apply for fuel assistance in the winter. They cannot do that in the summertime,” Alix said. “Those programs don’t exist. There’s no policy addressing that need.”
2. A week ago today, Elivia Savadier Sagov took her two dogs, Dobby and Louie, for a walk in Millennium Park in West Roxbury and a swim in the Charles River. That weekend Dobby, a 16-year-old mutt, stopped eating and drinking. She was lethargic and had diarrhea, Sagov said. Dobby died Sunday night. “She was 16, but I think she had a few years left in her. She was healthy,” Sagov said. “I think she would have died of old age, hopefully, or in a quiet, comfortable way.”
State public health officials are testing the water in that area of the Charles River for cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. While they wait for results, they’ve told people to keep themselves and their pets away from the Charles between Kendrick Street in Needham and Spring Street in Dedham and West Roxbury. Sagov put up handwritten signs herself, warning people to stay out of the water.
3. A judge suspended Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Steve Kerrigan’s driver’s license for 45 days. Last month police in Southborough pulled him over because he was driving in the middle of two lanes and gave him a breathalyzer test, which registered his blood alcohol content at .089.
Kerrigan pled no contest to charges of driving under the influence and a marked lanes violation. “I regret and take full responsibility for my actions and their consequences and appreciate the Southborough PD and Westborough Court for their professionalism and service,” he said in a statement.
4. Construction crews started using a hydraulic hammer yesterday to take down the South Natick Dam. The dam wasn’t built for any practical purpose — it was constructed to create jobs during the Great Depression, and has been failing for a few years. But the decision to get rid of it was an emotional one for locals who grew up with it.
“If the dam breaks and it floods, it could ruin people’s houses and stuff, and that’s kind of scary,” said Jordan Kacavich, 12. “I feel like they have a good reason for taking it down. But the waterfall did look pretty.” You can see photos of the demolition here.
Free Ride: A secret garden in Wellesley
Welcome to Free Ride, your weekly guide to a $0 day trip. Remember: the MBTA Commuter Rail is fare-free every Friday this summer. As each weekend approaches, I’ll invite you to take a break and find some nature, art, science, fashion, music and more — all for $0 (or as close to free as I can get).
College campuses feel like a liminal space in the summer. But fewer students mean the rest of us have an opportunity to explore these campuses — and may enjoy easier access than during the academic year.
Today marks one of these opportunities: Wellesley College is opening its Global Flora conservatory, a greenhouse usually only open to students and staff, from 9 a.m. to noon — all for free. Hop on the Framingham/Worcester line and get off at Wellesley Square, about 40 minutes from South Station. The greenhouse is about a 10- to 15-minute walk from there.
Once you enter Global Flora, find the Camellia Pavilion as your first stop. It’s home to a 150-year-old Durant camellia tree, a gift from the college’s Class of 1926 that was already 50 years old when it was planted at its current location. It’s a nice place to sit, take a few deep breaths and think about our links to the past.
Then walk into the greenhouse itself, starting with the dry biome. It houses desert plants and other flora from arid climates: cacti, succulents, an olive tree and more. Go through a small plastic curtain and pass into the wet biome, a more humid environment with subtropical plants where you can walk among floppy green leaves. There’s also a mezzanine with a piano and some seating. When I visited I saw people sitting there and painting, which is a great way to pass the time among the greenery.
After exploring the Global Flora conservatory, leave the greenhouse and walk toward the Whitin Observatory, a collection of domed structures that house telescopes. There’s not much to see there during the day (although Wellesley College’s A.S.T.R.O. Club hosts public nights periodically), but the parking lot leads straight to the Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden. There are signs marking different culinary plants: pawpaw trees, catmint, honeyberry and Solomon’s seal. You’ll get back onto the train having learned a bit about the plants that grow around the world — and the ones that grow in your own backyard.
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 trips or have your own Free Ride ideas to share, I want to hear from you! Send me a note at daily@wgbh.org.
😎More free rides:
-Thinking outside the frame in Lowell
GBH Daily
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