Speaker 1: This is WBZ, Boston's news Radio Rea defining local news.
Speaker 2: Mostly cloudy and Boston. It's eleven o'clock eighty two degrees,
Speaker 2: but feels like eighty seven out there. Good morning. I'm
Speaker 2: Nicole Davis and here's what's happening. Lawmakers on Beacon Hill
Speaker 2: are done with their budget proposal and now it's on
Speaker 2: Governor Heey's desk. The budget plan boosts spending on transportation, healthcare, education,
Speaker 2: and more, all of which could be impacted by potential
Speaker 2: federal funding cuts. Governor Keilly has ten days to review
Speaker 2: the sixty one billion dollar compromise budget. It was submitted yesterday,
Speaker 2: the day before the start of the fiscal year. Now,
Speaker 2: aside from the annual budget, Governor Keey also got an
Speaker 2: interim budget to keep the government running through the start
Speaker 2: of this fiscal year while she reviews the overall plan.
Speaker 2: She signed that interim budget almost seven and a half
Speaker 2: billion dollars yesterday. From Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill. Republicans
Speaker 2: right now scrambling to make sure they have enough votes
Speaker 2: as they try to pass the sweeping budget and tax
Speaker 2: bill known as the Big Beautiful Bill. Some GOP holdouts
Speaker 2: are concerned about cuts to medicate in the bill. They
Speaker 2: say they go too far. Others think the cuts don't
Speaker 2: go far enough.
Speaker 3: The bill includes roughly four trillion dollars in tax cuts,
Speaker 3: a new funding for immigration enforcement, and fulfill some campaign
Speaker 3: pledges like no taxes on tips in overtime. It also
Speaker 3: guts Biden Air clean energy initiatives and slashes Medicaid, despite
Speaker 3: pledges by the President to not touch the program.
Speaker 4: Here's what I.
Speaker 3: Want on Medicaid.
Speaker 5: We're not touching anything.
Speaker 3: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicting the bill will result
Speaker 3: in some eleven point eight million Americans losing their health
Speaker 3: coverage over the next decade.
Speaker 2: As ABC's Rachel Scott, the bill would also extend tax
Speaker 2: cuts passed during the previous Trump administration. SENNA is nearing
Speaker 2: a final vote on this megabill. This is all coming
Speaker 2: as President Trump is in South Florida visiting the detention
Speaker 2: facility nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz. At eleven oh two. A judge
Speaker 2: today setting a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars cash
Speaker 2: bail for a Boston police officer accused of raping a child.
Speaker 2: Sergeant Paul Downey appearing in court A short time ago.
Speaker 5: The serious nature of the charges that mister Downey faces,
Speaker 5: as well as the potential penalties on all of these
Speaker 5: on the multiple accounts and his financial resources do close
Speaker 5: a risk of flight.
Speaker 2: Downey was arraigned yesterday where a not guilty plea was
Speaker 2: entered on his behalf. He was ordered held without bail
Speaker 2: until the hearing today.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Downey is accused of sexually assaulting a fourteen year old
Speaker 2: boy on two occasions at the South Bay Mall and
Speaker 2: then paying him afterwards. Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox saying
Speaker 2: the charges are very troubling. He says Downey was immediately
Speaker 2: placed on leave. We have a pretty uneven a little
Speaker 2: bit of a volatile weather day ahead of us, as
Speaker 2: we've got some strong showers and storms, some heavy downpours
Speaker 2: possible for the rest of the afternoon. Right now, it
Speaker 2: is a little bit wet out there in some spots.
Speaker 2: I'm just refreshing my radars. I'm talking with you, and
Speaker 2: I am seeing some showers out there over the Cape
Speaker 2: and also parts of southern New Hampshire and in the Berkshares.
Speaker 2: If you're listening on the iHeartRadio app, it is raining
Speaker 2: at a pretty good clip in places like Pittsfield and
Speaker 2: North Adams. So later on today, again it's very muggy
Speaker 2: out there, so that is going to fuel some downpours
Speaker 2: and thunderstorms later on today we have a high near ninety.
Speaker 2: The heat is going to help in that. For tonight,
Speaker 2: the clouds will break up. Later tonight, maybe a couple
Speaker 2: of thunderstorms, very sticky and muggy, and a lone near
Speaker 2: seventy two. Wednesday Tomorrow partly sunny with a high in
Speaker 2: the upper eighties. Then Thursday we could have a couple
Speaker 2: of gusty afternoon or evening storms. And we have a
Speaker 2: high near ninety eighty one degrees in Fitchburg eighty two
Speaker 2: as you make your way into Haverol seventy nine in Randolph,
Speaker 2: and in Boston right now at eleven oh five, mostly cloudy,
Speaker 2: but getting a little bit brighter out there, and very
Speaker 2: very muggy eighty two degrees and it feels more like
Speaker 2: eighty seven out there. A home depot in Natick has
Speaker 2: its own guardian of the garden center. Wbz's Jay Willette
Speaker 2: has more in this fine feathered friend.
Speaker 1: That's what a barred owl sounds like. But the one
Speaker 1: that remains here, burrowed up in Natick's home depot rafters
Speaker 1: is silent, watching over customers as they load up on
Speaker 1: mulch and ceramic pots.
Speaker 5: We're out here in the middle of winter and we
Speaker 5: saw it hanging out up in the roof raft I
Speaker 5: tier and next thing you know it, it was just
Speaker 5: part of my family with a for months and months
Speaker 5: and months.
Speaker 1: At first, employees thought she was a he, but after
Speaker 1: a wildlife expert came through and verified, they had to
Speaker 1: do the name change of Alie to Ellie. I've seen
Speaker 1: it taking care of some rafts. Really. That expert also
Speaker 1: determined Ellie has a safe way to come in and
Speaker 1: out and isn't bothering anyone except any sorry mouse to
Speaker 1: waltz in here. She's part of the family here. Even
Speaker 1: has her picture on the staff board in the back
Speaker 1: with her wings extended from Natick. Jaywillette, WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Trash collection has come to a halt in twenty cities
Speaker 2: in towns around Massachusetts, hundreds of sanitation workers represented by
Speaker 2: the Teamsters went on strike just after midnight. They are
Speaker 2: setting an impasse their contract negotiations with Republic Services. Teamsters
Speaker 2: leadership say the workers want better protections, benefits and wages
Speaker 2: from Republic General President Sean O'Brien, saying, quote, our members
Speaker 2: will do whatever it takes to finally get the respect
Speaker 2: they're owed, according to Republic Services. They tell WBZ News
Speaker 2: Radio the strike is disappointing and they say they're hopeful
Speaker 2: in agreement will be reached soon. And Cambridge based Maderna
Speaker 2: says its experimental flu shot is showing some positive results
Speaker 2: in a late stage trial.
Speaker 4: According to the company, the new flu vaccines efficacy was
Speaker 4: nearly twenty seven percent higher for adults fifty and older
Speaker 4: than the currently available shot. Findings from the study also
Speaker 4: show strong efficacy against each of the major influenza strains
Speaker 4: in the vaccine. Maderna said efficacy appeared consistently strong across
Speaker 4: age groups, flu vaccination status, and among people with various
Speaker 4: risk factors.
Speaker 2: I'm Tammy Trheo. You are now in MALUK. For news
Speaker 2: updates throughout the day, listen to WBZ Radio on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app. I'm Nicole Davis, w b reamed Boston's news
Speaker 2: radio