The move means all new hires, with some exceptions, will be subject to individual approval starting Wednesday by the state’s budget office based on time-sensitivity and importance of positions, according to the Healey administration.

Tax collections in Massachusetts have consistently come in below expectations more than half way through fiscal year 2024, putting a strain on Beacon Hill budget writers who are also contending with a nearly $1 billion a year tab for emergency shelters that has prompted top Democrats to warn of further challenges.

Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz said officials are not putting in place a “hiring freeze” but rather implementing “hiring controls within the executive branch for the remainder of the fiscal year as one tool at our disposal to responsibly manage spending over the next three months.”

“These hiring controls, while temporary, will help ensure that the administration can balance the budget at the end of the year and preserve critical funding for core programs and services,” Gorzkowicz said in a statement Tuesday night.

The Boston Globe first reported the move, though it described it as a freeze.

It was not immediately clear how far-reaching the administration planned to go with their more stringent hiring protocols. But the state’s budget office said certain positions like direct care and public safety personnel will be exempt.

Seasonal positions, those that have to be filed due to a court order or settlement, returns from leave, and offers of employment made before April 3 “will also proceed,” according to the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.

Months of below benchmark revenues led Healey in January to lower tax expectations by $1 billion for this fiscal year and slash $375 million from the state budget. The decision to tighten up hiring in state government signals another escalation in the cost saving mindset that has taken hold on Beacon Hill this year.

Revenue figures for March are scheduled to be released Wednesday and could offer more insight into why Healey made the decision to pause hiring. Fourth quarter revenues carry “significant risk” to budgeted revenues, state budget officials said.

Healey is not considering further unilateral cuts to the fiscal year 2024 budget, according to the state’s budget office.

Hanover man Graham Abraham has been arrested and charged in connection with calling up the Boston hospital and making a bomb threat.

A Tufts Medical staff member on Feb. 2 reported to Tufts public safety officers that a former patient, later identified as Abraham, called the hospital and made racist remarks along with complaints regarding his experience.

Then about 30 minutes later, another staff member took a call from Abraham and reported that Abraham said, “Everybody is going to die.”

Officers reportedly reviewed the audio from the recorded phone line, and heard Abraham make threats and racist slurs such as: “All (expletive) in your (expletive) vomit hospital must die. (Inaudible) ready to bomb and blow up your hospital. Got guns and knives kill all (expletive). All (expletive) must die. (Expletive) roaches and scum of the earth. All (expletive) must be slaughtered and killed.”

Abraham reportedly made numerous calls to Tufts between Jan. 15 and Feb. 2, all with similar threats.

Police departments, including Transit and Amtrak police, are familiar with Abraham and his frequent calls. Amtrak received 78 calls from Abraham in January, including disturbing statements and bomb threats. Amtrak police has issued a trespass order and banned Abraham from all Amtrak facilities.

Abraham has also been flagged by the ATF and cannot legally purchase a firearm.

“We must take all forms of threats seriously,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said in a statement. “The challenge to law enforcement is finding a balance between a person’s mental health needs and the public’s right to be safe and secure in all settings.

“This defendant has made numerous threats and disturbing statements to individuals and institutions that have helped or tried to help him in some way,” Hayden added. “We’re moving forward with criminal action here because it is clearly necessary to prevent potential public harm.”

Abraham has been charged with bomb/hijack threat with serious public alarm.

Judge Mark Summerville ordered Abraham held on $5,000 bail, and to stay away from Tufts Medical Center. Mental health services for Abraham were recommended after an evaluation by a court clinician.

Abraham is also facing charges of threat to commit a crime, and assault and disorderly conduct in BMC Central in relation to two separate incidents. He’s due back in court for all three cases on April 3.

Biden leads former President Donald Trump by just two points — 44% to 42% — according to a Morning Consult poll of more than 6,000 registered voters released Tuesday, but only if they’re the only candidates on the ballot.

“The presumptive Republican nominee has rarely led Biden since the Super Tuesday primary contests, compared with consistent advantages he enjoyed throughout January and February. However, the race remains incredibly close, with 8% of voters threatening to vote third party and 5% undecided,” pollsters wrote.

Biden, according to the poll, is more popular than Trump for the first time since the start of the year, with the 46th President’s net favorability 6 points into the negative and the 45th President 8 points under water.

“This edge comes as Biden’s advantage over Trump on net buzz — the share of voters who heard something positive about each candidate minus the share who heard something negative — ticked up to 21 points, which is the largest margin since mid-November,” pollsters wrote.

The survey also shows that Republicans, as a whole, do better among those surveyed when it comes to the economy, national security, and immigration, while Democrats outperform regarding health care, entitlement programs, climate change, reproductive rights and abortion. The economy is top of mind among surveyed voters, according to pollsters.

“The economy remains voters’ top issue for the 2024 elections. And though the share who said it’s ‘very important’ in deciding their vote dropped during much of 2023, the economy’s salience has ticked back up in recent months,” they wrote.

The slight edge shown for the incumbent president in Tuesday’s poll matches a Quinnipiac University survey of 1,407 registered voters released last week, which shows Biden up by 3 points. That’s in line with polls put out by the university in February.

However, the same Quinnipiac poll once again showed that if voters are offered the chance to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein or independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, they pull enough of the vote to potentially give Trump the edge.

“Way too close to call on the head-to-head and even closer when third party candidates are counted. The backstretch is months away and this is about as close as it can get,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said with the release of that poll.

The massive bond bill, according to testimony heard by the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets on Tuesday, would allow for the creation of 40,000 new homes and the rehabilitation of 12,000 more.

Secretary of Housing Ed Augustus told the committee that solving the state’s 200,000-residence shortfall will require a “Herculean” level of effort, but that the governor’s bond bill takes huge stride in that direction.

“The Affordable Homes Act will have a significant impact on the future of housing across the Commonwealth,” Augustus said. “Every dollar in this bill supports families, seniors and renters struggling to access affordable housing. Every dollar prioritizes our state’s climate and decarbonization goals. Every dollar will help lift us out of our housing crisis.”

First offered by Gov. Maura Healey last October, the bill was previously heard by the Joint Committee on Housing and reported out favorably.

According to the governor’s office, the bonding bill is a “big, bold comprehensive package of spending and policy actions aimed at striking at the root causes of housing unaffordability while making progress on the state’s climate goals.”

The bill offers $1.6 billion to support repairs, rehabs, and modernization at the state’s 43,000 public housing units, including $150 million to decarbonize the public housing stock.

It would send $800 million into an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, $425 million into a Housing Stabilization and Investment Fund, $200 million into a Housing Innovations Fund, $100 million into a Mixed-Income Housing Fund, $70 million toward a Facilities Consolidation Fund, and a further $50 million to a Momentum Fund.

An additional $275 million would be invested in Sustainable and Green Housing Initiatives, and $200 million in the HousingWorks Infrastructure Program.

The bill also comes with “28 substantive policy changes or initiatives, three executive orders and two targeted tax credits,” according to Healey’s office.

“This legislation is an economic winner for our state. It’s an economic necessity for our residents, our communities, and our businesses. The bottom line is: we can’t wait, we have to act with urgency and at scale. Our residents, our communities and our employers are depending on it,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll told the committee.

Speaking at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event in February, the governor said the state is short of housing stock by about 200,000 units. Healey has said that shortfall is “the biggest challenge we face” and that solving it is “our highest priority as an administration.”

UMass Donahue Institute economic analysis of the bill estimates it will generate nearly 30,000 jobs, $25 billion in economic impact, and $800 million in tax revenue over the next 5 years.

Despite the undisputed need for more houses in the Bay State, not everyone is completely on board with the plan as written.

Gerard Frechette, vice-chair for the City of Lowell’s Planning Board, told the committee that communities like his would suffer under some of the changes proposed.

“The overall goals are admirable and worthy of consideration,” he said, but a plan to lower the square footage requirement to turn a single-family home into a multi-family dwelling would “have a detrimental effect on various areas” of Lowell.

“I ask that you reconsider the language,” of the relevant section, Frechette told the committee.

“This wording will most likely encourage the conversion of some of the most affordable single-family homes for homeownership into investor owned two-family homes in many of the neighborhoods in the city,” he said. “Already, 58% of our housing stock is rental stock.”

Virginia Crocker Timmins, vice chair of the Chelmsford Select Board, expressed similar concerns for her town if that rule stands.

“It not only obliviates single-family housing zoning throughout the state, but it completely usurps the rights of each municipality to set criteria for this type of usage that’s tailored to that municipality,” she said.

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance called the bill “counterproductive” and questioned a provision allowing cities and towns to set local option real estate tax rates between 0.5% and 2% for homes sold at or more than $1 million.

“Governor Healey is 100% off the mark on this proposal. This bill will not bring down the cost of housing in our state and will only exacerbate the decline in economic competitiveness we’ve seen in the last several years which is causing a massive flood of people and wealth out of our state,” the group’s spokesman said in a statement.

The committee took no action on the bill on Tuesday.

A plan to free up about 43 acres of land along the river to build an arena and park has prompted pushback from officials in Boston, including Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration, who say they have been left out of conversations around a stadium that could draw thousands to games or large events.

The proposal has been cast as potential boon for Everett, with Mayor Carlo DeMaria arguing the city could see millions returned to its coffers if a private development group revamps an outdated powerplant that sits on the site now.

As state lawmakers take another shot at reviewing a bill from Sen. Sal DiDomenico that would open up a pathway to developing the soccer stadium, Boston Chief of Planning Arthur Jemison said the plan does not include “significant parking” at the stadium.

Jemison said there is not enough information for the City of Boston to take a stance on the proposal but suggested Charlestown and surrounding neighborhoods “will bear the brunt” of the transportation impacts as the MBTA’s Sullivan Square stop is the nearest public transit option.

“The project would also rely on the Alford Street Bridge as a pedestrian connection to Sullivan Square, which is currently not safe as a major pedestrian thoroughfare. Last December, a pedestrian was killed at the intersection of Dexter and Alford (Streets),” Jemison said at a hearing before the Legislature’s Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee.

DeDomenico’s bill would remove the land at 173 Alford Street from a designation that restricts its use to commercial fishing, shipping, or other vessel-related activities and allow a developer to convert it into a “professional soccer stadium and a waterfront park.”

The measure has the backing of the Kraft Group and the New England Revolution, a professional soccer team owned by Kraft that could move to the future stadium from its spot at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

The location the Kraft Group is eyeing currently features a rundown power plant that DeMaria said can only be cleaned up with the financial and political power of a private development firm.

“They can get it done. They (can) get it cleaned up and build something that’s going to be beautiful,” he said. “There’s no parking spaces. I told them, if we go forward, there’ll be no parking there. We’re going to rely on public transit. We’re going to build out the transportation system.”

Everett is expected to lose out on $55 million in tax revenue between fiscal year 2021 and 2026 “due to the loss of value from this parcel,” DeMaria said. The city has already lost $28 million since fiscal year 2020, he said.

“We need this legislation to help pull Everett back from the harm this loss of revenue is causing our community,” he said.

Traffic concerns and the ability for elected officials and the public from Boston to participate in public meetings on the matter were top of mind for some.

Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan, who represents the West End Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway, and Mission Hill, said it would “be a nightmare for traffic” if TD Garden and the proposed stadium had events at the same time.

“Because I represent Fenway Park and because I represent TD Garden. I know that people are often willing to take the ticket and take resident parking if … the ticket is less than parking cost,” Durkan said.

New England Revolution President Brian Bilello said he expects the majority of fans would use public transportation “as they do with most urban stadiums, including new options for getting to a destination via water transit.”

“We’re trying to get the stadium and our club to public transportation, and what we hear from most of our fans is they want to have public access to the stadium. They want to have public transportation. So for us, public transportation is the entire reason why we want to be up in Everett and Greater Boston,” he said.

DiDomenico, a Democrat from Everett, successfully added language to a multi-billion spending bill in the fall that would have cleared the land for development. But it was ultimately cut from the final version after House Democrats said they had many unanswered questions.

Rep. Jerry Perisella, who co-chairs the Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee, said he believes the proposal has a chance to move forward this time around.

“I do think that there is some compelling arguments about what would happen to this site otherwise if we don’t allow a stadium to be built,” he said. “There are a lot of environmental issues related to that site.”

Meteorologists were warning that the powerful storm could spark power outages in parts of Massachusetts, as utility companies gear up for the early April nor’easter.

For the parts of Massachusetts where snow is predicted, the best chance for accumulating snowfall will be Wednesday night. The snow will be wet and dense, potentially leading to downed trees and power outages.

“The snow concerns will be for the higher elevations,” Bryce Williams, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Boston office, told the Herald.

“The Worcester Hills and northern Massachusetts could see some plowable snow,” he added. “The highest elevations could get 6 to 8 inches of snow.”

The National Weather Service issued a “Winter Storm Watch” for northern Worcester and northern Middlesex counties, along with western Franklin and western Hampshire counties.

Heavy wet snow and sleet will be possible.

“Total snow and sleet accumulations of 2 to 4 inches, with up to 8 inches near the state border with New Hampshire,” NWS warned. “Winds could gust as high as 55 mph.

“Plan on slippery road conditions,” NWS added. “The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches.”

Elsewhere in the Bay State, meteorologists are forecasting significant rainfall of 1.5 to 3 inches.

“Some rivers could see some minor flooding,” Williams said.

The strongest wind gusts are expected to occur from midday Wednesday to midday Thursday. Gusts in the 50 mph range are likely.

“Power outages are possible, especially where wet snow accumulates on power lines and trees,” Williams said.

National Grid and Eversource said they were preparing for the storm.

“National Grid is closely monitoring the weather forecast, and we have crews and personnel in place across Massachusetts ready to respond to any impacts this storm may bring,” said Tim Moore, VP of Electric Operations for New England. “We’ll be ready to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. If outages occur, our crews will work to restore the power systems as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Eversource also said the utility company was pre-positioning hundreds of crews and materials to respond to any storm damage.

Another threat from the nor’easter will be coastal flooding, especially around the time of the Thursday morning high tide on the eastern Massachusetts coast.

“There will be some nasty conditions, with 15 to 20 foot waves,” Williams said.

A “Coastal Flood Watch” will be in effect for the eastern Massachusetts coast, including Morrissey Boulevard in Boston.

A number of private colleges — some considered elite and others middle-of-the-pack — have exceeded the $90,000 threshold for the first time this year as they set their annual costs for tuition, board, meals and other expenses. That means a wealthy family with three children could expect to shell out more than $1 million by the time their youngest child completes a four-year degree.

But the sticker price tells only part of the story. Many colleges with large endowments have become more focused in recent years on making college affordable for students who aren’t wealthy. Lower-income families may be required to pay just 10% of the advertised rate and, for some, attending a selective private college can turn out to be cheaper than a state institution.

“Ninety thousand dollars clearly is a lot of money, and it catches people’s attention, for sure,” said Phillip Levine, a professor of economics at Wellesley College. “But for most people, that is not how much they’re going to pay. The existence of a very generous financial aid system lowers that cost substantially.”

Wellesley is among the colleges where the costs for wealthy students will exceed $90,000 for the first time this fall, with an estimated price tag of $92,000. But the institution points out that nearly 60% of its students will receive financial aid, and the average amount of that aid is more than $62,000, reducing their costs by two-thirds.

But many prospective students this year are facing significant delays and anxiety in finding out how much aid they will be offered by colleges due to major problems with the rollout of a new U.S. Department of Education online form that was supposed to make applying for federal aid easier. Many colleges rely on information from the form for determining their own aid offers to students.

“The rollout has been pure chaos and an absolute disaster,” said Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid expert.

Kantrowitz said that if the significant drop in people applying for aid under the new system persists, it could result in lower enrollments and even force some institutions to close.

Some of the other colleges with sticker prices of more than $90,000 this year include the University of Southern California at $95,000, Harvey Mudd College in California at $93,000, the University of Pennsylvania at $92,000, Brown University in Rhode Island at $92,000, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire at $91,000, and Boston University at $90,000.

Harvard University in Cambridge, puts its cost of attendance this fall at up to $91,000.

An estimated $1.09 billion prize is now on the line for Wednesday’s drawing, which can be paid out in an annuity over 30 years or as a $527.3 million cash payment. Both are subject to state and federal taxes.

“As this jackpot climbs toward a record level, we remind people to keep the experience of playing the Lottery enjoyable by playing responsibly and within their means,” said Mark William Bracken, Executive Director of the Massachusetts State Lottery.

Wednesday will mark the 40th drawing since a Michigan ticketholder last hit the Powerball jackpot on New Year’s, winning $842.4 million.

If won, the $1.09 billion prize would be the fourth largest in the game’s history and the ninth largest in U.S. lottery history. The last record topping jackpot was a $1.765 billion prize won in California on Oct. 11, 2023.

The odds of winning the Powerball’s grand prize are 1 in 292.2 million. The odds of winning any Powerball prize, starting at $4, are about 1 in 38.

In the Powerball drawing on Monday, players won $50,000 Quick Pick prizes from a 7-Eleven in North Reading and a Stop & Shop in Saugus.

Just one week ago, a player in New Jersey won a $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot, the 8th largest in U.S. lottery history.

Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for $2 at Massachusetts lotter retailers until 9:50 p.m. ahead of the drawing on Wednesday.

Massachusetts State Police troopers responded to a crash involving a cement truck and a pedestrian in a wheelchair in the area of Frontage Road and Traveler Street in South Boston just after 10:10 a.m.

“The pedestrian, an adult male, suffered fatal injuries,” Mass State Police said in a statement.

Police later identified the pedestrian as a 57-year-old Boston man. His name was not immediately released, pending notification of his next-of-kin.

The 2020 Mack Granite cement truck involved in the crash is owned by Boston Sand and Gravel, and the truck was being operated by a 53-year-old Medford man, police said. The truck operator was transported by Boston EMS to a hospital with possible minor injuries.

“No charges have been sought as of this time,” Mass State Police said Tuesday afternoon.

At 10:11 AM Troopers responded to a crash involving a cement truck and a pedestrian at Frontage Road at West 4th St. in South Boston. Patrols, detectives, and our collision reconstruction, crime scene, and commercial vehicle enforcement units are on scene. Updates to follow.

— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) April 2, 2024

This fatal pedestrian incident comes after a 4-year-old girl was struck and killed by a truck in Boston, near Boston Children’s Museum last month. Gracie Gancheva, 4, died following the crash in the Fort Point intersection of Congress and Sleeper streets.

Following that deadly crash, the Boston Transportation Department reported that it’s making safety improvements in the area.

“Last night, BTD restriped all the crosswalks near Congress and Sleeper Streets,” the city’s transportation department posted on Tuesday.

“Intersection daylighting w/ flexposts creates more visibility for drivers and pedestrians,” BTD added. “More safety improvements are on the way ahead of full reconstruction project planned for next year.”

Last night, BTD restriped all the crosswalks near Congress and Sleeper Streets. Intersection daylighting w/ flexposts creates more visibility for drivers and pedestrians. More safety improvements are on the way ahead of full reconstruction project planned for next year. pic.twitter.com/odiQ03me6V

— BostonTransportation (@BostonBTD) April 2, 2024

Against the backdrop of these two recent fatal accidents, a local group that pushes for safer streets is out with its annual fatal pedestrian crash report for Massachusetts. At least 69 pedestrians lost their lives in crashes in Massachusetts last year, accounting for about 20% of the 346 total traffic deaths across the state, according to the report from WalkMassachusetts.

Boston had the most pedestrian deaths last year, recording eight fatalities. Springfield had the second most pedestrian fatalities with seven deaths recorded.

The investigation for Tuesday’s crash is active, and is being conducted by troopers from the State Police-Tunnels Barracks, State Police Detective Unit for Suffolk County, Troop H Detectives, and the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Services Section, and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section.

While hundreds of veterans in Massachusetts struggle with homelessness, Healey picked the soldiers’ home property – which is deeded for use by veterans – for the latest shelter for the thousands of migrant families pouring into the state.

State officials argue that the building converted into migrant housing was vacant and slated to be demolished anyway, so they decided to use it for the migrant influx which is blowing a billion dollar a year hole in the state budget.

“Massachusetts has proven that we can take care of veterans and families experiencing homelessness in our state,” Secretary of Veterans Services Dr. Jon Santiago said in a statement. “While EOVS formerly operated the building slated for demolition, this project operates independently and will not impact the daily routines or services at the Massachusetts Veterans Home at Chelsea.

Really? They haven’t been doing a good job if you look at the number of homeless veterans – which stood at more than 500 one night last year.

Santiago — a former Democratic state rep — is supposed to make veterans his number one priority but clearly he’s more loyal to Healey than he is to our military heroes.

Healey and Santiago have their usual coat holders in the media to back them up, but the fact is the state could have used that vacant property at the soldiers’ home use for a number of uses for veterans, who need medical and mental health care as well as housing.

More than 100 migrant families are expected to move into the soldiers’ home property in the next month. Veterans were charged a fee to live there, but migrants will live there for free with all amenities like food and health care provided for free.

Massachusetts is facing a massive budget deficit to pay for migrants to live here, and officials admit they are pondering severe cuts to programs to prevent the state from going bankrupt.

With veterans now pushed aside, who will be next? Firefighters? Police? First responders? Towns and cities? The poor and middle class?

Healey, a Democratic first term governor, has been taking heat for her handling of the migrant crisis for months, and the conversion of the soldiers’ home is just the latest political debacle, judging by some of the response by Massachusetts residents.

In an attempt to control the damage, Healey announced last month that families will have to prove they have been looking for housing and jobs every month in order to stay at the shelters. The state Senate voted last month to limit the stay of migrants at shelters to nine months, with exceptions for pregnant women and people who are in job training programs.

This isn’t the first time Healey has chosen the migrants over veterans – the state turned several hotels near Gillette Stadium in Foxboro to migrant shelters, forcing out dozens of veterans and service members from their booked rooms for the Army-Navy football game.

The veterans had to fend for themselves after their rooms were canceled – and Healey and Santiago showed little interest in helping them.

Tania Fernandes Anderson has logged seven absences at regular weekly City Council meetings since taking office in January 2022, putting her at the bottom of the pack according to publicly-posted meeting minutes that track attendance — one of the metrics she describes as being “imperative” to assessing the performance of councilors in a hearing order she’s pushing this week.

“The roles and responsibilities of Boston city councilors are fundamental to the effective governance of our city, impacting the lives of residents and shaping the future of our communities,” Fernandes Anderson states in a hearing order filed for consideration at the Wednesday Council meeting.

“It is imperative to establish clear metrics to assess the performance of Boston city councilors in fulfilling their duties to their constituents, necessitating the implementation of measurable criteria such as responsiveness to constituent inquiries, attendance at meetings and hearings, and effectiveness in advancing key policy objectives,” she goes on to state.

Analyzing metrics and accountability as they relate to accountability and transparency, Fernandes Anderson writes, “could provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of governance mechanisms, highlight areas for improvement, and foster a culture of openness and responsiveness within institutions.”

Three of four absences logged in 2023 by Fernandes Anderson — who oversaw a budget process last fiscal year that sought to cut millions from the Boston Police Department — occurred on days when the Council took big votes on public safety.

She was absent on Sept. 13, when councilors voted to reject three $850,000 grants for the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, and again on Oct. 4, when four grants totaling $3.4 million were approved for the police department’s intelligence arm, over concerns the other councilors of color raised about the BRIC’s gang database.

Fernandes Anderson was also absent on Dec. 13, when the council voted, 12-0, to approve a new five-year contract for the city’s largest police union, and 6-6 to block a $13 million counter-terrorism grant for the metro Boston region.

She was present, however, and voted in favor of the federal counter-terrorism grant when, after a firestorm of criticism, it came before, and was passed by the body, 11-0-2, this term, on Jan. 31, 2024.

The hearing order she filed also calls for reviewing metrics and accountability as they relate to voting records, which she states “could offer a comprehensive understanding of elected officials’ performance, enhance public trust in the democratic process and facilitate informed decision-making by constituents.”

In the latest big vote taken by the Council, Fernandes Anderson joined at-Large Councilor Julia Mejia in voting ‘present,’ or abstaining from taking an on-the-record stance on a mayoral planning ordinance approved last week — which gave Mayor Michelle Wu the authority to create a new city planning department.

Of the 13 current councilors, Mejia was tied with Council Vice President Brian Worrell with having the second-most absences, six, since last term. Mejia was one of two councilors who voted ‘present’ on the anti-terror grant in January.

Fernandes Anderson and Mejia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Former Councilor Frank Baker, who chose not to seek reelection last year, was tied with Fernandes Anderson with seven absences in the 2022-23 council term, and Kendra Lara, who lost her bid for reelection, was not far behind with five absences.

Of a City Council that now makes $115,000 apiece annually, after voting themselves a raise that kicked in this past January, only Erin Murphy had perfect attendance over that 27-month time period.

Steward Health Care, which owns nine hospitals in Massachusetts, announced that their plans to close New England Sinai to the state in December. Steward’s ongoing financial distress continue to threaten other Massachusetts hospitals, and with a strong push from the state, the company is looking to sell their remaining facilities in the state.

The closure will remove 39 rehabilitation service beds, 119 chronic care service beds, and all ambulatory care services at the hospital, Steward wrote in a 90-day notice to the Department of Public Health in January.

The notice noted New England Sinai’s financial performance has decreased by more than 1,600% over five years, citing the “chronic under-reimbursement rates through public programs like Medicaid,” increased labor and material costs and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hospital was operating at about 40% capacity in 2024, the notice said, the hospital “does not anticipate a significant impact on patient access following the closure,” listing other rehabilitation and specialty care facilities in Stoughton, New Bedford, Braintree and Boston. All the patients were discharged ahead of the closure on Tuesday, Steward said previously.

Stoughton residents noted the impact of the closure Monday, noting family members, friends and neighbors treated.

“This is definitely a loss for the community,” said Leslie Baker, a long-term resident of the Stoughton area. “I haven’t been myself, but I know people who’ve been treated. And I knew a nurse who worked there. It was definitely an important place for many people.”

The Stoughton-based hospital traces its roots to 1927, when it opened as the nonprofit hospital Jewish Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Rutland, Massachusetts, according to the hospital site.

“Good Samaritan (Hospital in Brockton) is pretty close,” said Josh Miller. “But you can tell we can use more health care around here. For sure.”

The future of the facility is not yet certain, town officials said.

“Sinai Hospital has been a long term Corporate partner and a valuable contributor to our tax base,” Stoughton Town Manager Thomas Calter said Monday. “While they have kept us informed of their plan to close, they have provided no additional insight into their plans for the building. It is our hope that the real estate will remain a facility where Stoughton residents can benefit from their services and whereby it will continue to be a valuable asset benefiting the town of Stoughton.”

Old Man Winter just doesn’t want to call it quits for the season, as a nasty nor’easter is set to blast Massachusetts with several inches of snow for parts of the region.

The strong storm, which is expected to start Tuesday night and stay until Thursday, will likely deliver powerful gusty winds and drop buckets of rain on most areas. There will be a threat for power outages, along with river flooding and coastal flooding concerns.

It looks like all rain for the Boston-area, while the National Weather Service’s greatest confidence for snow accumulation is across the northern Worcester Hills and northern Berkshires.

NWS has issued a “Winter Storm Watch” for western Franklin and western Hampshire counties, where meteorologists are forecasting a chance for more than 7 inches of snow.

“As you go out west into the higher elevations, wet snow will fall especially on Wednesday night,” NWS Boston meteorologist Andy Nash told the Herald.

“There could be a few inches across the Worcester Hills,” he added. “The higher you are, the more snow there could be. Also, wet snow could be sticking to trees and power lines, which could result in some power problems.”

Very windy conditions, with gusts in the 50 mph range, adds to the power outage potential.

Winds should peak Wednesday night into Thursday, especially for the eastern Massachusetts coast and in the higher terrain.

As for northern Worcester County, the chance for more than 3 inches of snow is between 50% and 70% based off model estimates. In the city of Worcester, there’s a 25% chance for up to an inch of snow.

Outside of the higher elevations, the rain is expected to begin Tuesday afternoon, with the heaviest coming down Wednesday and Wednesday night.

“It’s a fairly long duration storm, and when it all comes to an end on Thursday, the Boston-area is looking at upwards of a couple inches of rain,” Nash said.

Saturated ground and swollen rivers from recent heavy rain could lead to urban or poor drainage flooding, with a renewed risk for minor river flooding.

Also, there will be a chance for coastal flooding around the Wednesday evening and Thursday morning high tides. The greatest potential on the eastern Massachusetts coast will be Thursday morning. In Boston Harbor, high tide takes place at around 6:35 a.m. on Thursday.

Meanwhile, parts of New Hampshire and Maine could be in store for a whopper of a snow storm. More than 18 inches of snow will be possible in northern New England from the April nor’easter.

“Visibilities may drop below 1/4 mile due to falling and blowing snow,” NWS warns. “The strong winds and weight of snow on tree limbs may down power lines and could cause scattered to numerous power outages. Significant snowfall and periods of heavy snowfall rates will combine with low visibility to create very dangerous driving conditions.”

Members of the joint committee appointed to match the Senate’s $863 million plan to House’s $245 million proposal met at the State House on Monday, when the committee’s leaders both expressed their understanding of the need for haste.

“I look forward to working with all of you to get this rectified as quickly as possible. You and I are experienced at it,” Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said told his House counterpart. “So I’m sure we will accomplish that goal quickly.”

“I’m looking forward to working with you, and all of you, on this supplemental budget bill trying to get it done as quickly as possible. We have some obviously important pieces in there that are of immediate need. And I know we share a desire to see this get to the governor’s desk as soon as we can,” House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said.

As is usually the case on Beacon Hill, the joint committee’s first and only public activity was to move into private executive session.

The state’s Emergency Assistance shelter system has been full for months, pushed to maximum occupancy by an influx of foreign migrant families. Massachusetts is alone among the 50 states in guaranteeing a right to shelter for pregnant women and parents of small children.

With more than 7,500 families currently occupying shelter space and hundreds more at overflow sites waiting for a spot, state officials have estimated that the funds to continue housing that many people will run dry sometime this spring.

Gov. Maura Healey, who declared a state of emergency around the migrant influx last August and filed the original request for a $282 million supplemental budget in January, said she supports the work of the joint committee, but wouldn’t speak to the pair of bills they are working to reconcile until she sees a final product.

“It’s up to the Legislature now,” she said.

From their start in a cramped basement in at the Arlington Street Church, over the last five decades the Samaritans have answered “more than 3 million calls, texts and chats” at their suicide prevention centers.

“That’s more than 150 people per day for 50 years. And now that our helpline is part of the 988 National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, we’re reaching more people every day,” Samaritans CEO Kathy Marchi said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. Suicides were up 2.6% year-over-year in 2022, when nearly 50,000 Americans took their own lives — enough, Marchi said, to fill Fenway park.

Gov. Maura Healey spoke to the gathered suicide prevention professionals, expressing her support for the work they do. Healey’s fiscal 2025 budget calls for over $14 million in funding for suicide prevention, up from $8 million in 2024.

“I don’t want anyone in the state to feel like they can’t talk about what they’re feeling, that they can’t talk about anxiety, depression, even thoughts of suicide. And know that there are resources out there, whether it’s texting the Hey Sam line or dialing 988,” Healey said.

Anyone experiencing thoughts of suicide or self harm can call 988 to speak with a mental health professional.

Joined by state and city officials, local unions closed off Boylston Street for more than an hour in the middle of the lunch-time rush on Monday, to protest construction efforts at 581 Boylston Street, or the Wesleyan Building.

The new owners of that building, according to multiple union members interviewed by the Herald, are allowing their general contractor to employ non-union workers at sub-par wages to perform construction work very near to the public and adjacent to where the 128th Boston Marathon will take place later this month.

Greater Boston Building Trades Unions Business Agent Chaton Green said protesting workers hope the owners of Wesleyan Building stop exploiting the workers there, but if they don’t, they want the organizers of the marathon to be aware of potential impacts of further protests.

“The hope is that the general contractor will cease exploitative practices on Boylston Street so that there is no overlap between the increasing protests at that building and the preparations for the race which will occur literally next to where workers are being taken advantage of every day by a bad actor. However, at the moment, the conditions in that jobsite are very concerning to many people and so there will be a lot of visibility and rallying in that area to ensure workers are as safe on the job as possible,” Green said in a statement.

Protestors will not necessarily attempt to cross the marathon route or interrupt the race, a spokesperson for the group said, but their presence will be felt for as long as Chevron Partners, the owner of the building, employees non-union workers.

“For working conditions like these to be occurring anywhere in Boston is deeply troubling. For them to happening at the same time and same place as the Boston Marathon, an event that reflects so much pride and is an example of what it means to be in Boston — support, solidarity, community, caring for each other — it flies in the face of what this race means and what fairness and decency mean to Boston,” Green said.

Frank Murray, President of the Ironworkers Local 7, said that construction workers currently working at the Wesleyan Building are not to blame, but they are being paid as little as $10 per hour to do dangerous work and that’s bad for workers everywhere.

“Unions offer a pathway to the middle class, and unions built the middle class. These people don’t have that chance,” he said. “They’re not bad people, they’re just being mistreated on the job site.”

Marcel Safar, a managing partner with Chevron Partners, said that he’s not aware of any exploitative practices going on there and he doubts any welder would work for $10 an hour.

“Kindly understand that Chevron Partners was not contacted by any of the protest organizers and so we did not know the nature of any objections prior to today,” Safar said. “Regarding labor practices, please note that Chevron Partners does not employ any construction workers at the site. The contractor is J.L. Dunn.”

J.L Dunn did not return a request for comment by press time.

According to the Boston Athletic Association, spectators — protesting or otherwise — are not allowed on the race course.

“Maintaining a clear course is important to support our 30,000 participants in safely navigating the course and running their best race, allowing easy access for emergency personnel, and assuring that all spectators have as clear a view of the course as possible,” a BAA spokesperson told the Herald.

Several local politicians joined the protests on Monday, including Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn and State Sen. Lydia Edwards.

“F—k around and find out,” Edwards said of the contractors.

The Herald reached out to Massachusetts Port Authority on Monday about whether Massport is seeing more, less, or delayed cargo due to the catastrophic bridge crash.

The largest port in Massachusetts has space right now, but a Massport spokesperson reported that ports closer to Baltimore would probably receive more ships and cargo due to the bridge collapse.

“Boston could certainly take more ships and cargo, but it is more likely that other major ports like Norfolk, VA and NY/ NJ will take the majority of the ships and cargo diverted away from Baltimore,” the Massport spokesperson said in a statement.

Baltimore is one of the largest ports along the East Coast and can handle much larger ships than Boston’s port.

“Shipping companies will try to do what’s most efficient and cost effective,” the Massport spokesperson added. “We won’t know for a while how long before ships will be able to access the Port of Baltimore.”

The Associated Press reported on Monday that the U.S. Coast Guard has opened a temporary, alternate channel for vessels involved in the clearing of debris at the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. It’s part of a phased approach to opening the main channel leading to the port.

Authorities believe that eight workers fell off the bridge during the collapse. Two workers survived, two bodies were found in a submerged pickup, and four more men are presumed dead. Weather conditions and the tangled debris underwater have made it too dangerous for divers to search for their bodies.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said at a Monday news conference that his top priority is recovering the four bodies, followed by reopening shipping channels to the port. He said he understands the urgency but that the risks are significant. He said crews have described the mangled steel of the fallen bridge as “chaotic wreckage.”

President Joe Biden will visit the collapse site Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced Monday. He will meet with state and local officials and get an “on-the-ground look” at federal response efforts, Jean-Pierre said.

Moore said he expects the president will leave with a better understanding of the task at hand.

“He’s going to see the fact that we have a ship that is almost the size of the Eiffel Tower, that weighs about as much as the Washington Monument, that’s in the middle of the Patapsco River,” Moore said. “He’s going to see a bridge that has been in existence since I was alive — I don’t know what that skyline looks like without the Key bridge — and he is going to come and he’s going to see it sitting on top of a ship.”

The Small Business Administration has opened two centers in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.

Yvette Jeffery, a spokesperson for the agency’s disaster recovery office, said affected businesses can receive loans for as much as $2 million. She said the effects could range from supply-chain challenges to decreased foot traffic in communities that depended heavily on the bridge.

The bridge fell as the crew of the cargo ship Dali lost power and control March 26. They called in a mayday, which allowed just enough time for police to stop vehicles from driving onto the bridge, but not enough time to get a crew of eight workers off the structure.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

A woman was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport over the weekend after she reportedly tried to transport nearly $400,000 worth of marijuana, according to police.

The 28-year-old Michigan woman — Nalexus Palmer — has been ordered held on $3,000 bail after being arrested at Logan for attempting to move 74 pounds of vacuum-sealed marijuana to London, the Suffolk DA’s Office said Monday.

The marijuana shipment would have had a street value of $370,000 in the U.K., police said. Marijuana is illegal in the U.K., where it has an illicit-market street value of about $5,000 per pound. Marijuana possession is legal in Michigan and Massachusetts.

“While laws regarding simple possession in Michigan, Massachusetts and many other states may have changed, laws regarding marijuana trafficking haven’t, and anyone thinking they can move large quantities across state or international lines is taking a major risk,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said in a statement. “This defendant discovered that very quickly over the weekend.”

On Saturday at about 9 p.m., Massachusetts State Police troopers were called to Logan on a report that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents had seized about 74 pounds of suspected marijuana from a passenger, later identified as Palmer.

The Michigan woman had flown from Detroit to Boston, with further plans to travel to London. Agents seized two large suitcases containing multiple vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana. Each bag also contained an Apple AirTag.

“Palmer told State Police detectives she did not know what was in the bags and that an unknown woman had dropped them off to her earlier that day,” police said in a statement. “She said a man had organized the drop off but that she did not know the man’s name.”

Palmer reportedly said she met the man four years ago in Atlanta, and that he has provided her with money through Zelle and Cash App. She claimed that the man was going to give her money for a car when she arrived in London.

Palmer was charged in East Boston BMC with trafficking marijuana between 50 and 100 pounds.

Judge Debra DelVecchio set $3,000 bail and ordered Palmer to surrender her passport and stay away from Logan Airport, except for legitimate travel.

Palmer is scheduled to return to court on May 24 for a probable cause hearing.

From a Massachusetts state senator calling for “An Act banning Starbucks” to the Canton-based coffee giant announcing another name change, Dunkin’ reigned supreme on the internet yet again.

But let’s not forget about Market Basket, which announced “#MoreForYourDollar Weddings” in your favorite supermarket aisle — which many shoppers would probably actually consider for their wedding day.

Quincy Sen. John Keenan got people laughing on social media on Monday when he posted a video about the importance of Dunkin’ for the region, calling for the banishment of Starbucks

“We all know that America runs on Dunkin’, and Massachusetts is no exception,” Keenan said in the video.

He noted that Quincy, the City of Presidents, is where the very first Dunkin’ location opened.

In the video, a caption next to a picture of Quincy native President John Adams says he was a “two cream, one sugar kind of guy.”

“I see it as my sworn duty to promote this important part of our collective history,” the state senator said. “That’s why I’m filing legislation to ban all Starbucks.”

” ‘An Act banning Starbucks… or else’ will require all Starbucks locations within the Commonwealth to cease operations, as well as prohibit the sale of all Starbucks products,” he added. “Store locations will have a period of 6 months to surrender their beans, and there will be a ban on Cakepops that will go into effect immediately.”

With a nod to the Boston Tea Party, Keenan said the state will dispose of all Starbucks’ “contraband” in the Boston Harbor this December.

Under the legislation, Keenan said the state’s motto would also change to “Fac Tempus Doughnutius” to “recognize our Commonwealth’s dedication to hard work.”

Calling on all #DunKings and #DunQueens to help us pass An Act banning Starbucks… or else. Massachusetts runs on @dunkindonuts #MAPoli pic.twitter.com/NpnwH6sLsC

— John F. Keenan (@SenJohnFKeenan) April 1, 2024

Meanwhile on April Fools’ Day, Dunkin’ said it was changing its name, again.

“now we’re just DONUTS’. we will have coffee still,” Dunkin’ posted on social media. “pls don’t ask any other questions. just going thru it rn.”

“America Runs on the DONUTS,” its social media account reads.

Also on April Fools’ Day, Market Basket told shoppers to save the date.

“Coming soon to a Market Basket near you: #MoreForYourDollar Weddings,” Market Basket posted.

“Walk down the aisle in your favorite aisle,” MB added. “You’ll exchange vows with your loved one in an intimate ceremony, then guests will enjoy a Market’s Kitchen dinner and Bakery cake at the reception.”

Also in Amesbury, the police department joked that it was buying a $604,000 Lamborghini for its fleet of patrol cars.

“Recently citizens voiced concerns on social media about APD’s purchase of a Ford pickup truck,” Amesbury Police posted. “Chief Bailey echoed their concerns and said ‘pickups in New England just don’t make sense, have you seen the crazy drivas out there, how the heck are we supposed to catch criminals in a truck, I mean….where do we put them? Not to mention in the Lambo, we’ll be able to catch way more speedahs!’ ”

Taste of Massachusetts also on April Fools’ Day posted that Boston is banning influencers and cameras in restaurants.

“A new ordinance starting today, passed by the Boston City Council designs to ban Influencers, cameras and all photography during hours restaurant are open to the public,” Taste of Massachusetts wrote. “The move is designed to make the dining experience in Boston more pleasant and attract more diners.”

More than 20 migrant families have called Harborside Suites in South Yarmouth their home since last September, but the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals has declared the motel has violated a local bylaw that limits temporary stays to less than 30 days.

“We would move today if we could,” motel Attorney Mark Boudreau said during a meeting last week. “The migrants that are there, they are ready to move. A lot of them have work visas… They would like to get going so they can obtain work where they’re going to be.”

Building Commissioner Mark Grylls issued a violation notice to the motel – currently housing 27 families – last October, but he told the ZBA he had to have their blessing before he could start imposing fines.

Harborside Suites, on Route 28 in the popular summer vacation beach town, sought a reversal of the violation, pointing to state officials that had said that “emergency needs of migrant families supersede the occupancy requirements of local zoning.”

But ZBA Vice Chairman Sean Igoe countered that he’s not confident Gov. Maura Healey’s migrant state-of-emergency carries more weight than local ordinances.

In her declaration last August, Healey wrote: “To the cities and towns across the state, many of which have a rich history tied to waves of immigrants settling within their borders, I am encouraging their communities to keep welcoming those families who wish to resettle in all corners of Massachusetts.”

Igoe took exception to the governor’s wording before the ZBA voted to uphold Grylls’ violation notice. “She’s just urging the cities and towns, she’s not ordering us to do it,” he said.

The state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities did not immediately respond to a Herald request for comment on Saturday.

In January, the ZBA approved Harborside Suites maintaining the migrants as Boudreau had told members that the motel heard from the state that the families would be moved to a “larger facility in the Foxboro area” that would “provide better opportunities for food and room.”

Motels that housed migrants in Bourne and Wareham, which Boudreau represents, have been “completely evacuated,” the attorney said. The future shelter for the Yarmouth migrant families, he added, is “within a 20-mile radius of Foxboro.”

“Unfortunately, the property did not pass inspection and had some code violations so they have not moved,” Boudreau said last Thursday. “Everyone is aware in the motel that they will be moving as soon as the property is ready.”

The exact date when the families will be moving out is unclear, but in previous violations of the Yarmouth motel-stay ordinance, the ZBA has given 45 to 90 days depending on the situation, Grylls said.

“I don’t believe we’ve had circumstances like this,” he said.

Harborside Suites is the latest motel or hotel to be thrust into the spotlight of the Massachusetts migrant crisis.

A 26-year-old Haitian national, living at a Rockland motel housing migrants, was charged with aggravated rape of a 15-year-old girl who police described in a report as “disabled,” on March 14. A Hingham judge found Cory Alvarez dangerous a week later and ordered him held without bail.

Taunton officials in February sued the owners of the Clarion Hotel housing migrant families in that city for providing living quarters to nearly 450 people, more than 350-person capacity. The suit seeks over $100,000 in overdue civil fines.

House Speaker Ron Mariano has suggested that broad budget cuts could be on the table when lawmakers sit down next year to draft the fiscal year 2026 budget, fueled by the historically high cost of running the state-run shelters.

With an expected $932 million tab this fiscal year and $915 million in the next to maintain shelters, associated services, and keep municipal reimbursements on track, Mariano projected that a range of other programs could be on the chopping block and put the blame on the feds and their lack of action in solving the migrant crisis.

In his fight with the Yarmouth ZBA, Boudreau highlighted the state’s “great expense” while arguing that the emergency declaration and right-to-shelter law –  homeless families and pregnant women must be provided housing in the Bay State – took precedence over local ordinance.

“To the extent that there is a question of safety and a question of the adequacy of the rooms,” Boudreau said, “the Commonwealth has at great expense provided food, shelter, education, medicine and medical care. They’ve arrived legally, and my client is simply trying to cooperate with the town and the state in getting them moved.”

Since migrant families arrived at Harborside Suites last fall, Yarmouth firefighters responded to a flooding at the motel in January, and a 6-month-old baby was rushed to Cape Cod Hospital the day after they took up residence, according to the hyperlocal Hyannis News. The baby had  “phlegm coming from her mouth, with blood-tinged sputum, according to radio transmissions,” the hyperlocal Hyannis News reported.

Town leaders assured residents last December that there were no active cases of tuberculosis at the motel after a brief scare, the Cape Cod Times reported.

Yarmouth resident Cheryl Ball told the Herald Saturday she is “very pleased” with the ZBA’s decision and hopes it creates a precedent across the state.

“It’s draining our resources,” Ball said of the impact the migrant families have had on the town. “They’re a burden on our education system because we have to pay extra tax dollars to support them in our schools. We have emergency services that we are providing to the hotel that comes out of our tax money.”

No one has won the Powerball jackpot since New Year’s Day, when a Michigan ticket holder collected a $842.4 million prize. If won, the nearly $1 billion jackpot could be collected in an annuity paid out over 30 years or as a $471.7 million cash option, with both subject to state and federal taxes.

After Saturday, there have been 38 drawings with no winner, nearing the all-time record for winnerless Powerball drawings streaks. The current record was set in 2021 and 2022 at 41 consecutive drawings without a winner.

The Powerball jackpot has broken $1 billion only four times in the game’s history. The largest Powerball prize — and largest lottery prize ever won — was a $2.04 billion jackpot on Nov. 7, 2022, sold to a resident in California.

The Powerball jackpot would be the 10th largest lottery prize in U.S. history if a ticket holder gets lucky on Monday’s drawing.

The whopping Powerball prize continues to grow just days after a ticket sold in New Jersey won a $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot, the eighth largest prize in the country’s history.

The odds for Saturday’s Powerball drawing were were 1 in 292.2 million.

Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Drawings are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m., and tickets can be purchased for $2 Massachusetts lottery retailers up to two hours before each drawing.

High elevation regions like the Berkshires and northern Worcester County have upwards of a 50% chance of seeing a foot of snowfall midweek, NWS Meteorologist Torry Dooley told the Herald.

There is a 60% to 70% chance those regions see six inches or more by Thursday, according to the forecaster.

“There is some possibility for some significant snow,” Dooley said.

The rest of the state will probably just get wet for most of the week, he said, though there is a chance the Boston region sees some wintery mix that does not stick around after falling.

“These systems during the off seasons are always difficult, because there isn’t really much cold air locked in place,” he said. “It’s really marginal temperatures for snow to accumulate.”

Monday will see highs in the mid-50s and could be rainy but won’t be a total washout, according to the meteorologist. Most of the rain that does fall will be felt south of Boston and around the Cape, he said. Overnight temperatures fall just below 40 degrees.

The mercury only climbs into the mid-40s on Tuesday and rain showers are possible in the afternoon, Dooley said. NWS predicts up to an inch of rain is possible with a 30% chance of precipitation. The chance of rain increases steadily overnight and rain becomes likely after 3 a.m. Wednesday.

It will be chilly, windy, and wet on Wednesday, with a 90% chance of rain, highs barely reaching into the low-40s and gusts up to 40 mph possible. Overnight lows stay above freezing for most of the state but could fall below 30 degrees in high elevations and bring the snow along, Dooley said.

Rain is likely Thursday, according to the weather service, when there is a 70% chance of precipitation and more gusty wind forecast. High temperatures will hover in the low-40s through the day before falling close to freezing overnight.

The clouds part somewhat and the chance of rain falls to 30% by Friday, when the temperature is expected to climb back into the mid-40s. Similar conditions are called for Saturday. Sunday could bring mid-50s temps under sunny skies.

“There’s really no good way to sugar coat: we have another active weather week ahead with rain Tuesday through Thursday night,” Dooley said.

There is some concern another week of rainfall could lead to flooding, Dooley said, and the weather service will be monitoring the river and stream levels to determine if weather advisories are required. NWS will likely have a snowfall map available later this week, he said.

Despite pushback from the state’s largest teachers unions and the association representing superintendents, Gov. Maura Healey says she still supports a plan to require districts to take up an evidence-based reading curriculum and has come out against their proposal to remove the standardized MCAS testing requirement for high school graduation.

Many districts in the Bay State are not using scientifically backed methods to teach reading, according to Healey, and she wants every school to “get behind” her plan to make sure every kid in the state can “read, and read well.”

“It’s pretty clear and simple what needs to happen. There’s actually science-based curricula out there — the science of reading. There is a way to teach kids how to read,” the governor told WBZ’s Jon Keller. “Many of our districts aren’t using that curricula. They are not teaching kids how to read in a way that’s proven for their success.”

The Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents have both pushed back on a bill currently before the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, which would give the state the authority to force local districts onto an evidence-based reading program.

Healey also included $30 million in her fiscal 2025 budget for a “Literacy Launch” program aimed at helping schools that aren’t using evidence-based learning systems teach their educators how to transition away from outdated models.

According to the educators, forcing the change represents the removal of local control from school districts. Healey said she doesn’t buy that.

“For god’s sake, this is about reading,” Healey said. “I would hope that there are certain things we can all get behind for the greater good of this Commonwealth, particularly our young people.”

The governor has also come out against a move by the teachers unions to ask the voters whether or not passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test should determine if a high school student graduates. The teachers say the test is unfair and that it only measures the wealth of a student’s district.

The governor, despite endorsement by the teachers union during her election, said that sometimes she and the group will have to disagree.

“We may not see eye to eye on everything, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes,” she said.

The focus, according to the governor, should not be on teachers and if they are held to account for their student’s MCAS scores, but on whether the students are actually learning.

“It’s having a way to assess how our young people are doing, that’s what we need to focus on.” she said.

“Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back,” Biden declared.

While the Transgender Day of Visibility is not new — the event has been held annually by international human rights advocates since 2009 — this year March 31 happened to coincide with Easter, and the timing of Biden’s proclamation was not entirely well received.

Karoline Leavitt, former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign press secretary, went so far as to call the president’s proclamation “blasphemous.”

“We call on Joe Biden’s failing campaign and White House to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only — the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” she said in a statement.

Leavitt and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson also called out Biden over this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll event, claiming the president prohibited the use of religious symbols in egg design submissions, after a flier for the event put out by the American Egg Board requested only submissions that did not “include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements.”

“The Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter — which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Banning sacred truth and tradition—while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day’—is outrageous and abhorrent. The American people are taking note,” Johnson said via the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

The Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter — which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Banning sacred truth and tradition—while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as “Transgender Day”—is outrageous and abhorrent. The American people are taking note. pic.twitter.com/ZCExyVkAVS

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 30, 2024

“It is appalling and insulting that Joe Biden’s White House prohibited children from submitting religious egg designs for their Easter Art Event, and formally proclaimed Easter Sunday as ‘Trans Day of Visibility.’ Sadly, these are just two more examples of the Biden Administration’s years-long assault on the Christian faith,” Leavitt said.

Despite any blowback over the proclamation, the White House’s official social media accounts and those of both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were used to express support for the March 31 Transgender Day of Visibility, with both 2024 Democratic candidates declaring that “trans rights are human rights.”

On Transgender Day of Visibility, we celebrate transgender and nonbinary Americans. Their courage has given countless others strength, but no one should have to be brave just to be themselves.

We see you. We stand with you. We won’t stop fighting for you. pic.twitter.com/pVPLDolpjk

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) March 31, 2024

“Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our nation. On Transgender Day of Visibility, our Administration honors the extraordinary courage of transgender Americans and reaffirms our commitment to forming a more perfect union – where all people are treated equally,” a post by the White House account read.

Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our nation.

On Transgender Day of Visibility, our Administration honors the extraordinary courage of transgender Americans and reaffirms our commitment to forming a more perfect union – where all people are treated equally. pic.twitter.com/ElRf9l62Nk

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 31, 2024

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey also joined the conversation, posting her own message of support for the Bay State’s transgender community.

Our trans friends, family, and neighbors should feel seen, safe, and celebrated for being exactly who they are.

On Transgender Day of Visibility, and always, we’re committed to protecting your freedom to live fully and authentically.

— Maura Healey (@MassGovernor) March 31, 2024

“Our trans friends, family, and neighbors should feel seen, safe, and celebrated for being exactly who they are. On Transgender Day of Visibility, and always, we’re committed to protecting your freedom to live fully and authentically,” she wrote.

According to White House staff, uproar over the family-friendly Easter Egg Roll tradition is misplaced. The event has held the same non-denominational standard for submitted egg designs through all presidential administrations over the last several decades, including the four years of the Trump White House.

“Fyi on all the misleading swirl re White House and Easter: the American Egg Board flyer’s standard non-discrimination language requesting artwork has been used for the last 45 years, across all Dem & Republican Admins—for all WH Easter Egg Rolls —incl previous Administration’s,” deputy assistant to the president Elizabeth Alexander wrote on X.

Easter and Transgender Day of Visibility were not the only occasions marked this March 31, which was also National Farm Workers Day, Cesar Chavez Day, National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day, National Crayon Day, National Tater Day, Transfer Day (for residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands), and Eifel Tower Day.

Next year, Easter will fall on April 20th, a day associated with both marijuana slang and the birth Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, though it’s unlikely either event will receive a White House proclamation. It will again fall on March 31 in the year 2086.

Herald wire service contributed.

But some members of the Governor’s Council want to know exactly how a blanket pardon of at least tens of thousands people — the first of its kind in Massachusetts — will actually work. Healey said records would be updated automatically but councilors said they wanted more details that were missing when the governor announced the move earlier this month.

The group voted to schedule an informational hearing for Wednesday at noon, according to a council staff member.

Not all were immediately on board with the idea, including Councilor Marilyn Devaney, who said that it would only slow down the timeline for people who have had to deal with the ramifications of past convictions.

“There are people that are waiting and there isn’t any law against what they have been accused of and it’s preventing them from jobs and so much. This was all discussed,” she said Wednesday. “If anyone has any objections when we’re voting on it, that’s when any person who objects to approving the pardon will talk. But having a hearing … I think it’s really unconscionable. People are waiting.”

Her colleagues didn’t agree.

“I understand the concern. But frankly, this is the first time in history this has happened in the commonwealth. I know other states have done things like this. I think for transparency and for the public and for procedure, that it’s not a bad idea to do. It is our job,” Councilor Eileen Duff said.

Healey’s office has said pardons for misdemeanor cannabis possession convictions could impact “hundreds of thousands of people.” The plan would take effect immediately after the Governor’s Council votes to approve it, Healey said, though there could be a delay for individual criminal records to be updated.

Healey argued the pardons were the “most comprehensive action” by a single governor since President Joe Biden pardoned federal cannabis possession convictions and called on state leaders to do the same.

“The reason we do this is simple, justice requires it. Massachusetts decriminalized possession for personal use back in 2008, legalized it in 2016. Yet, thousands of people are still living with a conviction on their records, a conviction that may be a barrier to jobs, getting housing, even getting an education,” she said earlier this month.

While a majority of Governor’s Councilors told the Herald they were on board with the idea shortly after the governor announced it, the group approved an “informational hearing” on the initiative.

Councilor Terrence Kennedy said he initially thought an informational hearing wasn’t necessary but had a change of heart.

“I think that it’s important that the public fully understand what the pardon means and what impact it has on people as well as the councilors. And I think the only way you can really get all of that is by way of a hearing,” he said.

Devaney ultimately relented in her opposition.

“I did not vote against it because if that’s the will, then so be it and you’ll be chairing it and so be it,” Devaney said to Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, who chairs the Governor’s Council.

Drinks to-go eighty-sixed?

Most people would be lying if they said alcohol didn’t help them get through the darkest days of the pandemic, and the ability to grab a drink or cocktail to-go during that time was also a boon for struggling restaurants.

But the pandemic-era policy is set to lapse Monday without any action from the Legislature, which has so far not found a compromise on legislation that could include a permanent extension of the measure.

A spending bill passed by the House earlier this month codified the practice into state law. But the Senate did not include the language in their version when they pushed the bill forward a few weeks later.

The proposal is stuck in inter-branch discussions because it includes hundreds of millions for the emergency shelter system housing migrants and local families and a policy that would cap families’ stay in shelters at nine months. Negotiators meet for the first time Monday morning.

A deal could very well pop this week considering the drinks policy has expired and money for the shelter system is running out. But until then, drinks to-go and another pandemic-era initiative allowing for outdoor dining are about to be eighty-sixed.

Everett and soccer fans get their Beacon Hill moment

Supporters of turning a run-down industrial park in Everett into a soccer stadium will have a chance to lobby lawmakers on a bill filed by state Sen. Sal DiDomenico that opens a path forward for the development.

The Legislature’s Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies scheduled a 2 p.m. hearing Tuesday. DiDomenico’s proposal is the only matter up for discussion.

A push for a stadium near Encore Boston Harbor was put on ice late last year after lawmakers ultimately scrapped it from a controversial spending bill that also included money for emergency shelters.

DiDomenico, an Everett Democrat, filed a standalone bill in December that would remove a portion of land at 173 Alford Street from a “designated port area” on the Mystic River only “for the purpose of converting the parcel into a professional soccer stadium and a waterfront park,” according to the bill text.

The roughly 43-acre plot is partially in Boston and Everett, according to the bill.

The agency informed the Herald this past week that the heavily redacted 15 installments of Whitey’s dirty dealings already dropped in their public records “Vault” will be the last we see. Forever!

That can’t be tolerated. The Herald has 90 days to file an “administrative appeal,” and we fully intend to do so.

As we reported, the files posted in dribs and drabs are mostly run-of-the-mill mobster fare, with talk of loan sharking, horse race fixing, and ruthless gang rule. What about the rest? The agency’s contract with this devil must be made public. If the past is truly prologue, members of law enforcement must learn from the agency’s mistakes in dealing with depraved career killers.

Today’s Department of Justice has a spotty record regarding transparency. On one hand, it exceeded expectations when it exposed Rachael Rollins’s politicization of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.

Former U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling bravely launched a campaign against the ruthless MS-13 gang in New England, saving lives. But he didn’t prosecute former Gov. Charlie Baker’s son for allegedly groping a woman on a Boston-bound flight.

Now U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has a rare opportunity to overturn the FBI’s penchant for incestuous secrecy, overrule the G-men, and order the release of every memo on Bulger’s sordid life.

This is not a journalistic paper chase using the Freedom of Information Act for an academic exercise in the First Amendment. This won’t be made into a Hollywood flick with A-list actors pretending to be from Boston. This is all about the victims.

When the news broke this week that the FBI was dumping Bulger’s file in the trash, one of those loved ones left to grow old alone without her husband called the Herald to lament the end of this painful road.

“This makes me feel that anything new that might still come out won’t be shared with the victims,” said Mary Callahan, now in her 80s. “Maybe this means they don’t want to share that. It could be money we are owed. There’s 33 of us, when I last counted. I’m seeing this as the FBI telling all of us to ‘Go Away!'”

Mary’s accountant husband, John Callahan, was executed in South Florida on Bulger’s orders in 1982 — and the FBI played a central part.

John Callahan, the former president of World Jai Alai, was shot dead by John Martorano, one of Bulger’s hitmen. Martorano testified he was working for Bulger when he killed Callahan, who was also a friend of his. Bulger wanted Callahan dead because the Boston businessman could implicate them in a 1981 slaying of another World Jai Alai executive.

Disgraced ex-FBI agent John “Zip” Connolly was convicted of second-degree murder in 2008 for wearing his FBI-issued sidearm when he met with Bulger in Boston to warn him of what John Callahan knew. Zip is now home in Massachusetts on a “compassionate release” from his Florida prison cell as he battles cancer.

The corrupt rabbit hole goes deeper.

We filed a public records request for Bulger’s FBI file soon after he was murdered in a West Virginia prison in 2018. The first installment was posted on July 8, 2021. The last one dropped on Oct. 3, 2022.

If that’s all we see, shame on the FBI.

The Huskies’ unstoppable NCAA hoop run continued with their most dominant performance, a 77-52 bashing of Illinois, as the Herald’s Steve Hewitt writes.

Larry David, Seinfeld co-creator and star of his own hit series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” seemed annoyed (but when doesn’t he seem so) at photo requests while watching the game. Did he realize he’s in Boston?

“Groundhog Day” star Bill Murray was also in the stands. He’s a Chicago native but his son, Luke Murray, is a UConn men’s basketball assistant coach.

Spencer, the golden retriever affectionately known as the Boston Marathon dog, is now immortalized along the route in Ashland, near where he and his owner Rich Powers, of Holliston, stood and cheered on runners over the years.

A large crowd of friends, family, community members, and of course, golden pooches and other friendly doggos, gathered Saturday for an unveiling of a bronze statue in honor of Spencer, across the street from the Ashland Community Center.

“There was definitely a need for this,” Powers said. “The statue isn’t for me, and I don’t want anyone to think an arrogant guy had a statue made of his dog. That’s not what we did.”

“This is for the world,” he added. “If you don’t know his story, I think the statue is going to mean something to you. For those who know Spencer, he was a sitting angel who just lived in our house — he was too good not to share.”

Spencer started to grow into an icon around the course’s third-mile mark in Ashland in 2015, his first marathon, as he held a Boston Strong flag and another flag of a heart. The 2022 race was especially memorable, with 20 runners waiting in line at one point to meet Spencer who sported an official race bib, and to take pictures with him.

Sadly, Spencer died from cancer in February 2023, and his sister Penny died eight days later from a tumor on her spleen and liver that caused internal bleeding.

Carrying the heart of a champion, Spencer overcame serious health challenges before he ultimately succumbed to his cancer.

In November 2020, a 3.5-pound benign tumor between Spencer’s liver and spleen caused him to bleed internally. Surgery helped save Spencer’s life, which Powers called a miracle.

Months later, a tumor formed on Spencer’s spleen and doctors diagnosed him with cancer.

But the golden pooch’s legacy has certainly lived on. Hundreds of golden retrievers showed up to the Boston Common the day before last Marathon Monday sporting yellow marathon bandanas in honor of Spencer.

And though the Ashland Select Board rejected a proposal last July to place a bronze statue of Spencer at the community center, nearby residents, Robin and Cynthia Hicks, quickly stood up and offered a portion of their 16-acre land as an alternate site.

A GoFundMe collected more than $39,000 from 487 donors for the statue to become reality, and there are plans to add a few sitting rocks and a bench for visitors.

“It’s here forever,” Robin Hicks told the Herald. “My plan is to keep this land as long as I can until I pass and give it to my children and see what they can do with it.”

“This is what it’s about,” he said while watching a crowd of supporters getting their first glance of the statue. “The feel good — that’s what Spencer was about.”

Spencer’s fame caught the attention of those not just in the Greater Boston area but also of those who live outside of the Bay State.

Maine resident Barbara A. Walsh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote “SPENCER: Boston’s Beloved Marathon Dog,” a book that chronicles the golden pooch’s life. She first learned about Spencer when she read his obituary in the New York Times and thought “Wow, a dog gets an obituary in the New York Times — got to be pretty special.”

“I hope it becomes a best-seller because it’s for all ages; it’s not just for kids, this is a story for adults,” Walsh said. “Courage, inspiration, kindness – we could use all of those, and Spencer certainly gave his heart to everybody.”

New Jersey resident Jessica Coyne Ritter and her mother stopped by the celebration on their way back home after taking a trip to Boston. Coyne Ritter ran the marathon last year through the Boston Bruins Foundation and said she felt Spencer’s presence even though it marked the first since his passing.

“Sometimes it can get rough, and you have to dig down deep,” she said of running the marathon, “but you don’t have to dig down deep with Spencer because he’s just there and you get to love him.”

Delahunt died from a long-term illness surrounded by family while at the Marina Bay neighborhood, his family said in a statement in a statement to the Herald.

“While we mourn the loss of such a tremendous person, we also celebrate his remarkable life and his legacy of dedication, service, and inspiration. We thank everyone who has given him, and our family, care, and support. We would also like to acknowledge all those who stood with him for so many years in his work towards making a difference in the community, throughout our country and the world. We could always turn to him for wisdom, solace and a laugh, and his absence leaves a gaping hole in our family and our hearts,” the family said.

As the district attorney for Norfolk County for over 22 years, Delahunt pioneered the nation’s first prosecutorial unit focused on domestic violence and sexual assault cases and programs to combat violence against women that later became models for the rest of the country.

He served as the representative for Massachusetts’ 10th Congressional District from 1997 to 2011, which included the South Shore, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. Delahunt said his decision in November 2010 to not run for re-election “had nothing to do with politics.”

“I’ve been wrestling with this decision for a while,” he said, according to Herald reporting from the time, which credited former U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy as urging Delahunt to stay in office to help pass former President Barack Obama’s first-term agenda.

His departure from Washington was mourned by fellow Democrats, including former U.S. Sen. John Kerry, who said Delahunt had an “incredibly strong voice” for Massachusetts and would leave a “void” in Congress.

As he ran for a first-term in Congress in September 1996, Delahunt pointed to unrest among the middle class about living standards at the time.

“There’s a growing sense on the part of the middle class that sustained middle-class living standards for many now are being eviscerated, or at least an effort has been made to reduce them dramatically during this past session of Congress,” Delahunt said, according to Associated Press reporting from the time.

One of Delahunt’s more debated accomplishments as a U.S. representative saw him broker a deal in 2005 with then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to provide winter heating oil to low-income residents in Massachusetts. Delahunt cast the deal as a “humanitarian gesture,” according to news accounts from the time.

The move earned him some backlash from critics and was seen by some as an attempt to put a thorn in the side of the Bush administration.

But Delahunt, who was later present at Chavez’s state funeral in 2013, brushed off the pushback.

“I don’t report to George Bush,” Delahunt said in December 2005, according to reporting by the Associated Press. “I’m elected by the people here in Massachusetts. So I don’t feel any particular need to consult with George Bush or Dick Cheney about oil.”

He was a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and served as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, among other designations. Delahunt was also a congressional delegate to the United Nations.

When Delahunt announced he was leaving office in 2010, Republicans eyed his seat as a potential momentum builder in the wake of U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s victory earlier that year. But ultimately, Democrats would retain the seat when U.S. Rep. Bill Keating declared victory in November 2010 over Republican Jeffrey Perry.

After leaving office, Delahunt worked at the law firm Eckert Seamans, which said in a statement they were “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of our partner and friend.”

“Bill was a tremendous colleague and dear friend to many at the firm. Throughout Bill’s numerous years of dedicated service to the legal and U.S. political community, Delahunt developed significant relationships with world leaders, ambassadors, and countless clients of Eckert Seamans, as well as advancing his community in Massachusetts. Our firm extends heartful thoughts and prayers to Bill’s family during this difficult time,” the company said in a statement.

Delahunt had a stint in the state’s cannabis industry after leaving politics.

He ran Medical Marijauna of Massachusetts, a firm that at one point was granted provisional approval to sell medical cannabis but was later turned down in June 2014 because of profit-sharing concerns with a management company also led by Delahunt, among others.

He stepped down as the company’s chief executive officer in March 2014, the Herald reported.

Delahunt’s was recognized in October 2022 when the Norfolk County Superior Courthouse was named in his honor.

“The challenge to improve the quality of life for our communities was exciting and inspiring, and our initiatives fundamentally transformed the justice system,” Delahunt said at the time.

Herald editor Joe Dwinell contributed reporting.

He bought a condo on Sleeper Street in 1985, drives by the area five or six times a day, and said he constantly sees young kids and families running down the sidewalk to a crossing where a 4-year-old girl was killed after being hit by a vehicle last weekend.

“They’ve been at the museum. They’re all pumped up. They start running down the sidewalk,” he told the Herald Saturday morning. “I see parent after parent, hoping somebody who can move faster with a big arm, kind of grabbing them and herding them in. So it’s totally understandable how the little girl ended up in the street.”

Joseph was one of more than a dozen residents who joined city officials at a gathering to remember Gracie Gancheva, a 4-year-old from Denver, Colorado, who was hit by a truck shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday and was later declared dead at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Locals who showed up Saturday said the intersection at Sleeper and Congress streets can be dangerous for pedestrians and drivers who are not paying attention, with one resident describing driving on Congress Street as the “wild, wild west.”

A city official said Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration is in the process of putting in place temporary safety upgrades, including removing a parking spot on the southeast corner of the intersection to increase the visibility of a crosswalk.

Boston Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge said “multiple city staff engineers, planners” were looking at the area to see what improvements could be made quickly like adding additional markings and barriers and restriping all of the pavement markings and crosswalks in the neighborhood.

“We’re looking at additional changes that we can make at this intersection and in the surrounding area to ensure that the basic safety infrastructure that we rely on, that the signs are there, that we have the warnings for drivers, that pedestrians can see where they’re going, and they can see cars that may be turning,” he said.

The city has long been planning upgrades to Congress Street, a major arterial road that connects South Boston to downtown, like “significantly” wider concrete sidewalks on both sides of the street, new crosswalks, bike lanes, and places for cars to briefly pull over.

The project includes reconstructing Sleeper Street between Congress Street and Seaport Boulevard with accessible sidewalks and a raised crosswalk for Martin’s Park, according to the city’s website.

Raised crosswalks for Sleeper and Farnsworth Streets along Congress Street will “slow turning vehicles and make pedestrians more visible,” according to a presentation from the city.

Franklin-Hodge said the project is in the final stages of planning and design.

“We expect to have it bid out for construction later this year and into construction by early next year. We’re looking at whatever we can do to accelerate that timeline but … we anticipate it will be fully funded in the budget,” Hodges said.

Tom Ready of the Fort Point Neighborhood Association said that after public meetings on the project over the past few years, most people “felt comfortable” with the redesign because it would slow cars down and “provide a safe environment for pedestrians and support bikes in the neighborhood.”

But as the neighborhood continued to work with the city on “some of the deficiencies” in the neighborhood, the scope of the project increased, Ready said.

“That’s what’s, frankly … slowed things down and I guess maybe we were trying to be too perfect and trying to get too much done. But in the end, what we’re after is for exactly what they said they want to do,” he said. “We recognize that construction time frames can be difficult, but that shouldn’t prevent (the city) from doing temporary things out here immediately.”

Ready said the neighborhood association asked the city to assign a police detail to patrol the area and the intersection ahead of April School Vacation Week to protect kids who come and go from the Boston Children’s Museum and Martin’s Park.

The one block area that includes the museum and the park saw over 1 million visitors before the pandemic in 2019, said Charlayne Murrell-Smith, the vice president of external relations and corporate development for Boston Children’s Museum, who is also a trustee for the park.

Murrell-Smith said those numbers are quickly returning.

“We do believe that the museum and the park need to be thought of differently and considered in the same context as a school zone and with some particular additional kinds of warnings and notifications that exist around schools,” she said. “We know that there are policy changes that need to take place for that to happen.”

Franklin-Hodge said implementing a school zone around the museum and park is technically against state law but the city is looking at creating a reduced speed zone around the area.

“There’s a couple of different, other types of speed controlled zones that are allowed in different circumstances. And so we’re looking at all those options to see what we could do potentially around here,” he said. “We do have some legal authority to do what’s called a safety zone and we’re trying to figure out if that can be applied here.”

Councilor Ed Flynn said Gancheva’s death was a “horrific accident.”

“Let’s recommit and work together to ensure that this type of horrific accident never happens again,” he said.