Speaker 1: This is WBZ, Boston's news radio, redefining local news.
Speaker 2: Good Morning, eleven o'clock. Cole, We're up to fifteen degrees
Speaker 2: in Boston, and on Laurie Kirby, let's get right to
Speaker 2: it in Washington, which shop administration as a warning for
Speaker 2: cities and states that might not be on board with
Speaker 2: his immigration agenda. The Justice Department this morning is telling
Speaker 2: its prosecutors to investigate local jurisdictions that stand in the
Speaker 2: way a beefed up immigration enforcement. That could mean tighter
Speaker 2: restrictions on sanctuary cities like Boston, Cambridge, and Newton. This
Speaker 2: is one of several steps the new administration has taken
Speaker 2: to crack down on immigration. Just this week, on his
Speaker 2: first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order
Speaker 2: that would end birth rights citizenship as codified in the
Speaker 2: Fourteenth Amendment. Eighteen states, including Massachusetts, have already filed suit
Speaker 2: over that order, and over to another pillar of President
Speaker 2: Trump's agenda, The new administration is already dismantling the federal
Speaker 2: government's diversity, equity and inclusion programs. ABC's Karen Travers picks
Speaker 2: up the story from there.
Speaker 3: The Trump administration says by five pm today, all federal
Speaker 3: employees working on diversity, equity and Inclusion or DEI programs
Speaker 3: and initiatives must be put on paid administrative leave. That's
Speaker 3: according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management
Speaker 3: obtained by ABC News. This move by the Trump administration
Speaker 3: shuts down the relevant DEI offices and programs across the
Speaker 3: federal government. It follows his executive action to dismantle federal
Speaker 3: DEI programs, something he pledged to do on the campaign trail.
Speaker 3: Karen Traver's ABC News The White House.
Speaker 2: Allegations of domestic verbal abuse surface in Washington and could
Speaker 2: spell trouble for President Trump's defend Secreary Secretary nominee, and
Speaker 2: CBS's Lynda Kenyon has that story.
Speaker 4: She Hegseth's former sister in law, Danielle Dietrich, who was
Speaker 4: married to Hegseth's brother, has provided an affidavit. She describes
Speaker 4: how Hegseth's second wife, Samantha, had an escape plan if
Speaker 4: she feared for her life. Dietrich said she did not
Speaker 4: personally witness one incident in particular, but did witness others,
Speaker 4: saying Hegseth was verbally abusive and threatened her. She also
Speaker 4: cited instances when Hegseth was drunk and passed out in
Speaker 4: both public places and family gatherings. Hegseth's attorney accused Dietrich
Speaker 4: of having an axe to grind against the entire Hegseth family.
Speaker 4: Linda Kenyon CBS News, the White House.
Speaker 2: And on Beacon Hill Today, Governor more Heeey is taking
Speaker 2: the ramps off a new fiscal year twenty twenty six budget.
Speaker 2: That big announcement will be made in the one o'clock hour.
Speaker 2: Transportation and education may well grab the biggest piece of
Speaker 2: the funding pie. The governor has already said she wants
Speaker 2: to infuse eight billion into a long term plan to
Speaker 2: upgrade the MBTA, another transit here, and hopes to infuse
Speaker 2: more than two billion into higher ed. The governor has
Speaker 2: insisted that no new taxes will be necessary to pay
Speaker 2: for it all. Some even cold today, quite cold again
Speaker 2: below freezing during the daytime twenty two to twenty six.
Speaker 2: So many of you are in the mid to low
Speaker 2: teens right now, so it's bitter cold despite that sun,
Speaker 2: and again we are just having this arctic air stuck here.
Speaker 2: It's not going away even through the weekend. Looks incredibly cold.
Speaker 2: We're lucky when we heat hit thirty two degrees for
Speaker 2: our high on Friday. That's the only day. Maybe you're
Speaker 2: freezing tomorrow, by the way, a little bit of snow
Speaker 2: tomorrow if you're in the cape in the Islands. Other
Speaker 2: than that, what you see, what you feel out there
Speaker 2: right now is the prevailing weather situation. So there it
Speaker 2: is eleven o five. It appears that Boston Mayor Michael
Speaker 2: wo will have at least one challenger in this year's election.
Speaker 2: WBZ Sherry Small has more.
Speaker 5: Josh Kraft has decided to run for Boston mayor. Craft
Speaker 5: is a nonprofit lead and the son of New England
Speaker 5: Patriots owner Robert Kraft. He's expected to make a formal
Speaker 5: announcement next month. The fifty seven year old has never
Speaker 5: held elective office. He currently Lesacondo in Boston's North End
Speaker 5: as his primary residence. Michelle Wu has said that she
Speaker 5: will run for a second term, but we're still waiting
Speaker 5: on her formal announcement. Sherry Small WZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Voters in Massachusetts last year kicked the standardized mcast exam
Speaker 2: to the curb, so this means homework for local school
Speaker 2: districts because they have to come up with a replacement
Speaker 2: on the local level, and mathuan just did. The Eagle
Speaker 2: Tribune says in lou of passing the MCAST, Mathouin seniors
Speaker 2: this year will have the option to earn their diploma
Speaker 2: based on their performance in a few core classes. Similar
Speaker 2: requirements have also been formalized in Lowell. Some school districts
Speaker 2: have complained that there hasn't been enough guidance from state
Speaker 2: ed officials on the next best steps here now that
Speaker 2: the MCAST is gone. So Governor Healy just created a
Speaker 2: new statewide graduation Council. They're going to come up with
Speaker 2: a new vision for setting high school graduates up for success. Stakeholders, students, parents, educators,
Speaker 2: lawmakers are all on this council. By the way, you
Speaker 2: can still take the MCASS and if you do really well,
Speaker 2: it does count. It's just not mandatory in terms of
Speaker 2: getting your diploma. And this story now out of Newton,
Speaker 2: where they have just passed a Generational Tobacco Band dobli
Speaker 2: bzh will Lett is more.
Speaker 6: The generational band to keep tobacco and e cigarette products
Speaker 6: out of the hands of Newton's younger crowd passes nineteen
Speaker 6: to four Council, where Susan Albright voted in favor.
Speaker 4: Tobacco is not like ice cream or vegetable soup for
Speaker 4: taking away a product that kills when you says directed.
Speaker 6: With this, those born on or after March first, two
Speaker 6: thousand and four cannot go to a store in Newton
Speaker 6: and make that purchase. Council, where Stephen Farrell voices his
Speaker 6: opposition that the ordinance of effectively splits up the rights
Speaker 6: of adults decades down the line.
Speaker 1: What this ordinance does is create a special class of
Speaker 1: adults over the age of twenty one will not be
Speaker 1: able to make a personal legal decision for themselves.
Speaker 6: Newton joins Brookline and Needham to make up more than
Speaker 6: a dozen Massachusetts communities that have passed a generational ban
Speaker 6: on tobacco. J Willett WBZ, Boston's news radio