Speaker 1: This is WBZ, Boston's news radio, redefining local news.
Speaker 2: The Sun's out twenty six degrees in Boston at eleven o'clock.
Speaker 2: Good Friday morning. As always, Thanks for Tony, and I'm
Speaker 2: Sherry Small. Here's what's happening going on right now. A
Speaker 2: federal judge is hearing arguments this morning on the Trump
Speaker 2: administration's plans to slash the size of medical research grants.
Speaker 2: Attorneys for the Commonwealth and other states asking US District
Speaker 2: Court Judge Angel Kelly to extend the order blocking the cuts.
Speaker 2: The Trump administration's plan would limit the National Institutes of
Speaker 2: Health Research funding. The NIH the largest funder of biomedical
Speaker 2: research in the nation, and Massachusetts is a top recipient.
Speaker 2: It's estimated research institutes here in the Bay State could
Speaker 2: stand to lose at least five hundred and fifty million.
Speaker 2: Last week, federal judge temporarily blocked the NIH from implementing
Speaker 2: the cuts after Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, along with
Speaker 2: AG's from twenty one other states, all Democrats, sued to
Speaker 2: stop them. In other news, the man accused of murdering
Speaker 2: United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson will be back in court
Speaker 2: this afternoon is Luigi Mangioni's first appearance in a courtroom
Speaker 2: since pleading not guilty to multiple counts of murder. ABC's
Speaker 2: Trevor Alt.
Speaker 3: With mar Andngioni has garnered a massive wave of popularity
Speaker 3: this week, issuing his first statement through a website created
Speaker 3: by his defense team, saying the support has transcended political, racial,
Speaker 3: and even class divisions, and donations continue to pour into
Speaker 3: his defense fund, which has now raised more than half
Speaker 3: of million dollars.
Speaker 2: And lawyers from both sides of the case are expected
Speaker 2: to provide updates at today's hearing. A judge could even
Speaker 2: set a trial date. A JETBUU pilot is arrested in
Speaker 2: taken into custody at Logan Airport, sources telling WBCTV the
Speaker 2: pilot was arrested on a flight last night from Boston
Speaker 2: to Paris. Mass State Police say that US Customs and
Speaker 2: Border Protection was conducting its standard review of the passenger
Speaker 2: and crew list when they found an active warrant out
Speaker 2: of North Carolina for thirty three year old Jeremy Gudorf
Speaker 2: of Ohio. Mass State Police assisting in the arrest. They
Speaker 2: have not said, though, what that warrant was for Gudorf
Speaker 2: was expected to appear in East Boston court today. There
Speaker 2: is word that Pope Francis is doing a bit better.
Speaker 2: This morning, ABC's Marcus Moore has the update from Rome.
Speaker 1: Pope Francis continues to receive treatment for pneumonia at Rome's
Speaker 1: Jamelle Hospital. Sources to ABC News, the Pope is still
Speaker 1: working and seeing Vatican officials, spending his time between bed
Speaker 1: and an armchair, also reporting that he's breathing independently. Thursday night,
Speaker 1: doctors said the Pope's condition has improved and signaled that
Speaker 1: he's responding well to treatment. It's unclear how long Pope
Speaker 1: France will remain hospitalized or whether he will lead noon
Speaker 1: prayer on Sunday. Marcus Moore, ABC News.
Speaker 2: Rome Coming up, the Yankees take a page out of
Speaker 2: Boston's playbook. Now a quick look at the four day
Speaker 2: wbz ACU weather forecasts another cold day today, a mix
Speaker 2: of sun and clouds, highs bumping to thirty three degrees.
Speaker 2: Real temps are going to remain mainly in the teens,
Speaker 2: Clear and breezy tonight the lowland the city seventeen ten
Speaker 2: degrees in those inland area's low twenties on the Cape
Speaker 2: in the Islands, and then a Saturday starts a warm
Speaker 2: up trend. We see a slightly warmer day Saturday with
Speaker 2: a high of thirty seven, mostly sunny sky, Sundays high
Speaker 2: near forty, Monday highs forty two to forty six, and
Speaker 2: as we look ahead Tuesday, looking like we'll be in
Speaker 2: the mid forties as well. It's just mostly cloudy. Right
Speaker 2: now in Boston, twenty six degrees at eleven oh four. Well,
Speaker 2: the Yankees finally reverse a decades long policy governing how
Speaker 2: they're players groom themselves. We get that from WBC's Jeremy Russ.
Speaker 4: Alex Verdugo, Kevin Yuclas, and perhaps the one that hurt
Speaker 4: the most, Damon hit in the air to.
Speaker 1: Right field, check fields back in the corner the wall.
Speaker 4: Grand swam Johnny Damon among the players who had to
Speaker 4: share their glorious beards after joining the New York Yankees.
Speaker 4: For decades has been one of the Evil Empire's most
Speaker 4: infamous commandments, nou shalt not have hair on thy face?
Speaker 3: May I thought I told you to trim those sideburns.
Speaker 2: Go home.
Speaker 1: You're off the.
Speaker 2: Team for good.
Speaker 4: Thank you, mister burns. But now the policy is no longer.
Speaker 4: The New York Yankees have announced they'll finally let their
Speaker 4: players keep their beards this season, as long as they're
Speaker 4: well groomed. Taking a page out of the Red Sox playbook.
Speaker 4: Are we who can forget the fear of the Beard's
Speaker 4: campaign of twenty thirteen? That sucks checkers? Let's see if
Speaker 4: the lucky Locks can bring the Yankees the same fortune
Speaker 4: In twenty twenty five. Jeremy Russ WBZ, Boston's news radio,
Speaker 4: all right, we.
Speaker 2: Won't soon forget the four nations face off, two nations
Speaker 2: coming together on Causeway Street, WBC's Drumaholland telling us it
Speaker 2: was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 5: You know what a thing this blossomed into. First the
Speaker 5: business team Canada wins it in overtime, their captain light
Speaker 5: in the lamps, Grant Patrick stars. What's come three to
Speaker 5: the final seaw McDonough on the call for ESPN. But
Speaker 5: the real winners hockey, the city of Boston. And how
Speaker 5: about the kids. How you looking Boston so far?
Speaker 6: My man? Yeah, just the sights in the great hockey.
Speaker 5: That's played here, Canadian after Canadian young and old, just
Speaker 5: blushing above Boston.
Speaker 4: We are enjoying the city very much. You know what,
Speaker 4: We've really enjoyed our time here so far. Been here
Speaker 4: a couple of days and it's been a great city.
Speaker 5: Seems like new life into the sport a little bit.
Speaker 3: Been pretty cool, right.
Speaker 4: Oh, it's fascinating hockey, isn't it.
Speaker 6: Everybody's loving Boston though so far.
Speaker 4: Amazing, awesome place.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, Boston makes you feel good, doesn't it. Drew
Speaker 5: o'holland WZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Lower utility bills are on the horizon. Companies like National Grid,
Speaker 2: ever Source and others have been ordered by the Massachusetts
Speaker 2: Department of Public Utilities to lower prices for customers by
Speaker 2: at least five percent for March and April. The DPU,
Speaker 2: citing a combination of increased supply costs, unusually high delivery charges,
Speaker 2: and a cold winter for what it's calling unsustainable high prices.
Speaker 2: DPU says it will investigate also whether it makes sense
Speaker 2: to permanently shift gas costs to off peak season all right.
Speaker 2: National Grid, ever Source, unit to Liberty, and the Berkshire
Speaker 2: Gas Company have until Monday five pm to file their
Speaker 2: proposed fee adjustments. A friend of One Direction star Liam Payne,
Speaker 2: has now been cleared of all charges in the singer's death.
Speaker 2: Prosecutors originally accused Rogelio Nores of abandoning Pain in his
Speaker 2: final hours. Here's ABC's Eve a pilgrim with the Tail.
Speaker 6: The longtime front of the Star was with Pain just
Speaker 6: hours before his fatal fall from a third floor balcony
Speaker 6: in Argentina late last year.
Speaker 5: I couldn't have known what was going on in hotel,
Speaker 5: like I only left for like forty minutes, like a
Speaker 5: for an hour, and this happened.
Speaker 6: The court ruling that Noras did not play a role
Speaker 6: in getting Pain alcohol or drugs in Argentina, deciding that
Speaker 6: Noras was not responsible for the singer's death.
Speaker 2: And two other people also cleared of charges. But meanwhile,
Speaker 2: an employee at the hotel where Pain died and a
Speaker 2: waiter at a local restaurant remain in pre trial detention.
Speaker 2: You are now in the loop for news updates throughout
Speaker 2: the day. Listen to WBZ News Radio on the iHeart
Speaker 2: Radio app. I'm Sherry Small, WBZ Boston's news radio