GBH Daily: Coyote spotting

🌤️Getting sunnier, with highs in the 60s. Sunset is at 6:41 p.m.

After a coyote attacked a person in Haverhill on Friday night, GBH’s Diane Adame spoke with a coyote expert: Dave Wattles, a black bear and furbearer biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. The coyote in question — which bit a man’s arm as he tried to get it away from a 2-year-old it was focused on — is more than likely dead, he said. “The animal was clearly rabid,” Wattles told Adame, having watched a video of the attack. “That animal — they believe it was struck by a car. Even if it wasn’t, they die fairly quickly once they start showing symptoms like that, so not an indication that there is going to be more.”

If you see a coyote, he said, start making noise. “That means yelling, making loud noises, aggressively chasing the coyote out of your yard if they’re in your yard,” he said. “Coyotes communicate with each other with dominant behavior, and people exhibiting that dominance will teach them that they should avoid people.” You can read Wattles’ full interview here.

Four Things to Know

1. Diesel costs $6.38 a gallon on average in Massachusetts, according to AAA, up from $3.85 a year ago. That’s making it harder for farmers to do business because they rely on diesel to power their trucks and other farm equipment.

“The whole chain, starting with the on-the-ground farm production expenses, are significantly increased by what’s going on with the energy markets,” said Warren Shaw, who owns a dairy farm in Dracut. “Frankly, the economy has been not reliable in any way for the past several years. But more importantly, now, during the sort of war-related energy crisis, it’s almost a disaster at this point.”

2. About 7,300 immigrants in Massachusetts who now get their health insurance through MassHealth’s Standard or Care Plus plans will no longer be eligible for those plans starting Oct. 1. That’s because of changes to Medicare eligibility for immigrants with legal status that Congress approved in 2025 as part of the One Big, Beautiful Bill. The change doesn’t affect people who have Green Cards.

Those affected should have already received letters informing them of the change and will be moved to either MassHealth Family Assistance or less comprehensive coverage through MassHealth Limited or Health Safety Net plans. They’ll also likely have to pay more out of pocket for health care.

3. A jury convicted Jason Eaton of attempted murder almost three years after he walked up to three Palestinian college students in Burlington, Vermont, and shot them without saying a word. Eaton admitted to shooting and injuring Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, but had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The three injured students, all 20 at the time, were staying with Abdalhamid’s family during Thanksgiving break. They all testified at the trial. Before the shooting, the three were walking down the street speaking in English and Arabic, and two were wearing keffiyehs. The shooting left Awartani paralyzed from the waist down.

4. Journalism organizations in New England criticized the White House’s decision to ban reporters from three media organizations: CNN, MSNOW and Politico. The three outlets have filed a lawsuit, and other major television networks have suspended their pool coverage of President Donald Trump in protest.

“It just shows a lack of either understanding of the First Amendment or total disrespect towards what the First Amendment stands for,” said Gregory V. Sullivan, president of the New England First Amendment Coalition. “These constant attacks on it are just so harmful to the nation and the freedom of information that our citizenry is entitled to.”

New survey finds parents feeling strain of keeping kids in sports as costs rise

About 53% of parents surveyed by the Harris Poll said they worried their kids won’t be able to play sports next year because it will be too expensive.

“Youth sports, as a whole, has just become such a private money-builder. And it’s just something that has been a bit unfortunate,” Steph Lewis, president and CEO of the nonprofit The BASE in Roxbury told GBH’s Esteban Bustillos. “And the unfortunate part, again, is families feel as if in order to get a great experience, they have to pay.”

Christy Keswick, president and co-founder of Good Sports in Braintree, said a lot of kids don’t need expensive world-class coaches and intense training regimes. They just need to play. She said she hopes to see sports brands that invest in professional leagues also give money to youth sports.

“[They] really have an opportunity to step up their investment to make sure that that whole spectrum of youth sports is viable and sustainable and there for the future,” she told Bustillos.

You can find the full story here. 

Dig deeper: 

-Bridgewater Little League balances fun with big business at Little League World Series

-For Boston youth, a World Cup dream turns into an epic reality

-Mass. lawmakers push to create umbrella agency to regulate elementary and middle school sports