SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will formally apologize for slavery and its lingering effects on Black Americans in the state under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Thursday.
The legislation was part of a package of reparations bills introduced this year that seek to offer repair for decades of policies that drove racial disparities for African Americans. Newsom also approved laws to improve protections against hair discrimination for athletes and increase oversight over the banning of books in state prisons.
“The State of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating, and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “Building on decades of work, California is now taking another important step forward in recognizing the grave injustices of the past –- and making amends for the harms caused.”
Newsom signed the bills after vetoing a proposal Wednesday that would have helped Black families reclaim or be compensated for property that was unjustly seized by the government through eminent domain. The bill by itself would not have been able to take full effect because lawmakers blocked another bill to create a reparations agency that would have reviewed claims.
California entered the union as a free state in 1850. In practice, it sanctioned slavery and approved policies and practices that thwarted Black people from owning homes and starting businesses. Black families were terrorized, their communities aggressively policed and their neighborhoods polluted, according to a report published by a first-in-the-nation state reparations task force.
Efforts to study reparations at the federal level have stalled in Congress for decades. Illinois and New York state passed laws in recent years creating reparations commissions. Local officials in Boston and New York City have voted to create task forces studying reparations. Evanston, Illinois, launched a program to provide housing assistance to Black residents to help atone for past discrimination.
California has moved further along on the issue than any other state. But state lawmakers did not introduce legislation this year to give widespread direct payments to African Americans, which frustrated some reparations advocates.
He already signed laws included in the reparations package aimed at improving outcomes for students of color in K-12 career education programs. Another proposal the Black caucus backed this year that would ban forced labor as a punishment for crime in the state constitution will be on the ballot in November.
State Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat representing Culver City, called legislation he authored to increase oversight over books banned in state prisons “a first step” to fix a “shadowy” process in which the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation decides which books to ban.
The corrections department maintains a list of disapproved publications it bans after determining the content could pose a security threat, includes obscene material or otherwise violates department rules.
The new law authorizes the Office of the Inspector General, which oversees the state prison system, to review works on the list and evaluate the department’s reasoning for banning them. It requires the agency to notify the office of any changes made to the list, and it makes the office post the list on its website.
“We need transparency in this process,” Bryan said. “We need to know what books are banned, and we need a mechanism for removing books off of that list.”
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Sophie Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna
BOSTON (AP) — The alternative rock band Jane’s Addiction has scuttled its latest tour following an onstage scuffle between lead singer Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro. Farrell later apologized for “inexcusable behavior.”
“The band have made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group. As such, they will be cancelling the remainder of the tour,” the band said in a brief statement Monday.
Videos captured Farrell lunging at Navarro at a Friday concert in Boston, bumping Navarro with his shoulder before taking a swing at the guitarist with his right arm. Navarro is seen holding his right arm out to keep Farrell away before Farrell is dragged away by others on stage. The show ended shortly after and the band apologized.
The band is known for edgy, punk-inspired hits “Jane Says,” “Been Caught Stealing” and “Just Because” in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the alternative rock and grunge music movements were growing. It has three top five hits on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart.
Farrell, in a statement given to Variety and The New York Times, said, “This weekend has been incredibly difficult and after having the time and space to reflect, it is only right that I apologize to my bandmates, especially Dave Navarro, fans, family and friends for my actions during Friday’s show. Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”
Perry’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, wrote on Instagram the day after the scuffle that her husband’s “”frustration had been mounting, night after night, he felt that the stage volume had been extremely loud and his voice was being drowned out by the band.”
She said her husband had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat and “by the end of the song, he wasn’t singing, he was screaming just to be heard.” She said her husband later broke down “and cried and cried.”
The band’s “Imminent Redemption” tour — with opening act English rock band Love and Rockets — started in early August and was to end on Oct. 16 at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles.
The North American shows marked the first time since 2010 that the original Jane’s Addiction lineup — Farrell, Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery — played an extended run of shows together.
Navarro, Perkins and Avery said in a statement posted Monday on Navarro’s Instagram of Farrell: “We hope that he will find the help he needs.”
Mike and Jesse kick off the show with breaking news: Topps has significantly expanded its Disney partnership to include Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars card rights. They break down how this move will reshape the card industry and address the troubling rise in theft within the card community (3:00). Later, they welcome Nick Andrews, also known as the Boston Card Hunter, to talk about the pros and cons of using CT scans in card collecting and the ethical issues it presents (18:00).
Hosts: Mike Gioseffi and Jesse Gibson Guest: Nick Andrews Producer: Devon Renaldo
With up to 17 rooms to clean each shift, Fatima Amahmoud’s job at the Moxy hotel in downtown Boston sometimes feels impossible.
There was the time she found three days worth of blond dog fur clinging to the curtains, the bedspread and the carpet. She knew she wouldn’t finish in the 30 minutes she is supposed to spend on each room. The dog owner had declined daily room cleaning, an option that many hotels have encouraged as environmentally friendly but is a way for them to cut labor costs and cope with worker shortages since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unionized housekeepers, however, have waged a fierce fight to restore automatic daily room cleaning at major hotel chains, saying they have been saddled with unmanageable workloads, or in many cases, fewer hours and a decline in income.
The dispute has become emblematic of the frustration over working conditions among hotel workers, who were put out of their jobs for months during pandemic shutdowns and returned to an industry grappling with chronic staffing shortages and evolving travel trends.
Union members from Local 26, representing workers in the hospitality industries of Massachusetts, picket outside the Hyatt Regency Boston, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Boston.
Charles Krupa / AP
More than 40,000 workers, represented by the UNITE HERE union, have been locked in difficult contract negotiations with major hotel chains that include Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Omni. They are seeking higher wages and a reversal of service and staffing cuts.
At least 15,000 workers have voted to authorize strikes if no agreements are reached after contracts expire at hotels in 12 cities, from Honolulu to Boston.
The first of the strikes began Sunday, when more than 4,000 workers walked off the job at hotels in Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Greenwich, Connecticut, UNITE HERE said.
“We said many times to the manager that it is too much for us,” said Amahmoud, whose hotel was among those where workers have authorized a strike but have not yet walked out.
Michael D’Angelo, Hyatt’s head of labor relations for the Americas, said the company’s hotels have contingency plans to minimize the impact of the strikes.”We are disappointed that UNITE HERE has chosen to strike while Hyatt remains willing to negotiate,” he said.
In a statement before the strikes began, Hilton said it was “committed to negotiating in good faith to reach fair and reasonable agreements.” Marriott and Omni did not return requests for comments.
Seeking family-sustaining compensation
The labor unrest serves as a reminder of the pandemic’s lingering toll on low-wage women, especially Black and Hispanic women who are overrepresented in front-facing service jobs. Although women have largely returned to the workforce since bearing the brunt of pandemic-era furloughs — or dropping out to take on caregiving responsibilities — that recovery has masked a gap in employment rates between women with college degrees and those without.
The U.S. hotel industry employs about 1.9 million people, some 196,000 fewer workers than in February 2019, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly 90% of building housekeepers are women, according to federal statistics.
It’s a workforce that relies overwhelmingly on women of color, many of them immigrants, and which skews older, according to UNITE HERE.
Union President Gwen Mills characterizes the contract negotiations as part of long-standing battle to secure family-sustaining compensation for service workers on par with more traditionally male-dominated industries.
“Hospitality work overall is undervalued, and it’s not a coincidence that it’s disproportionately women and people of color doing the work,” Mills said.
Union members from Local 26, representing workers in the hospitality industries of Massachusetts, picket outside the Hyatt Regency Boston, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Boston.
Charles Krupa / AP
The union hopes to build on its recent success in southern California, where after repeated strikes it won significant wage hikes, increased employer contributions to pensions, and fair workload guarantees in a new contract with 34 hotels. Under the contract, housekeepers at most hotels will earn $35 an hour by July 2027.
The American Hotel And Lodging Association says 80% of its member hotels report staffing shortages, and 50% cite housekeeping as their most critical hiring need.
Kevin Carey, the association’s interim president and CEO, says hotels are doing all they can to attract workers. According to the association’s surveys, 86% of hoteliers have increased wages over the past six months, and many have offered more flexibility with hours or expanded benefits. The association says wages for hotel workers have risen 26% since the pandemic.
“Now is a fantastic time to be a hotel employee,” Carey said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.
Hotel workers say the reality on the ground is more complicated.
Maria Mata, 61, a housekeeper at the W Hotel in San Francisco, said she earns $2,190 every two weeks if she gets to work full-time. But some weeks, she only gets called in one or two days, causing her to max out her credit card to pay for food and other expenses for her household, which includes her granddaughter and elderly mother.
“It’s hard to look for a new job at my age. I just have to keep the faith that we will work this out,” Mata said.
Guests at the Hilton Hawaiian Village often tell Nely Reinante they don’t need their rooms cleaned because they don’t want her to work too hard. She said she seizes every opportunity to explain that refusing her services creates more work for housekeepers.
Hospitality industry rebounds but not for workers
Since the pandemic, UNITE HERE has won back automatic daily room cleans at some hotels in Honolulu and other cities, either through contract negotiations, grievance filings or local government ordinances.
But the issue is back on the table at many hotels where contracts are expiring. Mills said UNITE HERE is striving for language to make it difficult for hotels to quietly encourage guests to opt out of daily housekeeping.
The U.S. hotel industry has rebounded from the pandemic despite average occupancy rates that remain shy of 2019 levels, largely due to higher room rates and record guest spending per room. Average revenue per available room, a key metric, is expected to reach a record high of $101.84 in 2024, according the hotel association.
David Sherwyn, the director of the Cornell University Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor & Employment Relations, said UNITE HERE is a strong union but faces a tough fight over daily room cleaning because hotels consider reducing services part of a long-term budget and staffing strategy.
“The hotels are saying the guests don’t want it, I can’t find the people and it’s a huge expense,” Sherwyn said. “That’s the battle.”
Workers bristle at what they see as moves to squeeze more out of them as they cope with erratic schedules and low pay. While unionized housekeepers tend to make higher wages, pay varies widely between cities.
Chandra Anderson, 53, makes $16.20 an hour as a housekeeper at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor, where workers have not yet voted to strike. She is hoping for a contract that will raise her hourly pay to $20 but says the company came back with a counteroffer that “felt like a slap in the face.”
Anderson, who has been her household’s sole breadwinner since her husband went on dialysis, said they had to move to a smaller house a year ago in part because she wasn’t able to get enough hours at her job. Things have improved since the hotel reinstated daily room cleaning earlier this year, but she still struggles to afford basics like groceries.
Tracy Lingo, president of UNITE HERE Local 7, said the Baltimore members are seeking pensions for the first time but the biggest priority is bringing hourly wages closer to those in other cities.
Mayor Michelle Wu is scheduled to hold a press conference Thursday to discuss Boston’s student move-in preparations.
Representatives for several city agencies, including inspectional services, streets, fire, police and neighborhood services, are also expected to speak at the 12 p.m. event.
Sept. 1 — which falls on Sunday this year — is traditionally the move-in date for Boston university and college students.
The influx of moving trucks typically causes traffic headaches across the city.
NORWOOD, Mass. (AP) — Bored and looking for something to do this summer, Danny Doherty hatched a plan to raise money for his brother’s hockey team by selling homemade ice cream.
But a few days after setting up a stand and serving up vanilla, shaved chocolate and fluffernutter to about 20 people, Danny’s family received a letter from the Norwood Board of Health ordering it shut down. Town officials had received a complaint and said that the 12-year-old’s scheme violated the Massachusetts Food Code, a state regulation.
In this Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024 photo provided by Nancy Doherty, Ben Doherty, of Braintree, Mass., left, and his cousin Danny Doherty, 12, of Norwood, Mass., right, sit at a homemade ice cream stand near Danny’s home in Norwood. (Nancy Doherty via AP)
Danny Doherty, 12, of Norwood, Mass., stands for a photograph Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in front of his home in Norwood, while holding a letter from the Town of Norwood Board of Health advising his family that they may not sell homemade ice cream at an ice cream stand near their home. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
“I was surprised and upset,” he said of the letter that came Aug. 5. “I don’t understand because there are so many lemonade stands and they don’t get shut down.”
Danny’s mom, Nancy Doherty, who had encouraged her son to start the stand as long as he donated half of the proceeds to charity, also was taken aback.
“Somebody complained. That was the most disappointing part for us was that somebody thought it necessary to complain about a child’s stand,” she said. “It seemed a little, you know, crazy if you ask me.”
Rather than give up, Danny decided to give away the ice cream and accept donations for the Boston Bear Cubs, a team featuring players with physical and developmental disabilities — including his brother, who is autistic.
That’s when the neighborhood fundraiser blew up and became the talk of Norwood, a suburban town about an hour from Boston.
The first day they gave away the ice cream, supplies ran out in 10 minutes and $1,000 was raised. Then, word began to spread about the fundraiser and Danny’s clash with the town. Local media ran stories about the stand, prompting scores of local businesses to hold their own fundraisers for the hockey team.
In this Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024 photo provided by Meghan Doherty, Ben Doherty, 12, of Braintree, Mass., left, stands with his cousin Danny Doherty, 12, of Norwood, Mass., right, near a table for donations to the Boston Bear Cubs hockey team, in Norwood. (Meghan Doherty via AP)
Among them was Furlong’s Candies, which teamed up with Boston radio station WWBX-FM to hold a fundraiser in their parking lot. They raised $3,600 on a day when lines stretched out the door.
“Danny was trying to do a good thing for his brother’s team — and it’s not just a regular hockey team,” Nancy Thrasher, the store’s co-owner said. “They need a lot more equipment … We were like this is a perfect situation for us to get involved in.”
Thrasher said she understood why the stand had to be shut down but she still felt bad.
“My heart broke for the kid. He was just trying to do good for his brother’s team,” she said.
Nancy Thrasher, co-owner of Furlong’s Candies & Ice Cream, stands near ice cream and toppings at the store, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Norwood, Mass. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
Town officials, meanwhile, said they received hate mail and death threats over the dispute, which they suggested has been badly mischaracterized in the media.
They argued the family had sold their homemade ice cream before and even promoted it on social media. The letter, officials said, was only sent after the town received several complaints and unsuccessfully tried to contact the family — something the Doherty’s dispute.
“We had to deal with staff who were upset that they were being threatened. People had gone online and found their addresses simply for sending a letter after having reached out to somebody and said, look, there’s a violation here,” said Tony Mazzucco, Norwood’s town manager. It’s the “first time in recent memory” that the town has shut down an ice cream stand, he said, adding that Massachusetts law allows for things like lemonade stands and bakes sales but not homemade ice cream.
Mazzucco also said there was a “legitimate health concern” since homemade ice cream can be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes or other bacteria.
Danny’s situation is not altogether unusual. Youth elsewhere have also seen their lemonade stands or pop-up bake sales shuttered — often for failing to have a business or health permit. Several states have responded by moving to lessen restrictions on such ventures.
Nancy Doherty said it was “distressing” to hear the town employees had received threats. She said the family had never sold ice cream before but acknowledged that Danny created an Instagram account to promote the stand.
“I’m not upset with the town for responding to a complaint,” she said. “I’m shocked someone complained. This was a tiny operation. Us serving 20 friends, family and neighbors isn’t a public health action. That is someone complaining to be a complainer.”
For Danny, all the attention has been a little unnerving. “There were so many people and then they started chanting my name,” he said of the fundraiser at Furlong’s. “I didn’t like it, so I ran away. All the attention was on me and I didn’t like it.”
In the end, about $20,000 was raised for the hockey team — more than the amount the club spends in an entire year. The infusion of funds should ensure the club will be on “sound financial footing” for the next decade or more.
Lori Talanian, right, director of corporate partnerships at Ira Cars, hugs John Quill, center, director and coach of the Boston Bear Cubs hockey team, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, after her company presented the team with a donation of $3,900, at the Doherty family home, in Norwood, Mass. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)
“The community response has overwhelmed us,” said John Quill, the director and coach of the Boston Bear Cubs, as he accepted a check from an auto group at the Dohertys’ house.
“There are a lot of good people out there,” Quill added. “Danny inspired a whole lot of people to do good and to be kind and to help us out.”
Labor Day weekend is upon us, which means lots of people will be traveling. Here’s what to do if your flight gets canceled or delayed.
Airports, highways, beaches and theme parks are expected to be packed across the U.S. this Labor Day weekend as a lot Americans mark the unofficial end of summer the same way they celebrated the season’s unofficial start: by traveling.
After what’s already been a record-breaking summer for air travel, the Transportation Security Administration predicted its agents would screen more than 17 million people during a holiday period that started Thursday and runs through next Wednesday, about 8% more than last year.
The TSA anticipates Friday being the busiest day. In a sign the summer travel season really is winding down, however, the agency said that fewer than 2 million passengers passed through airport security checkpoints one day this week — the first time that has happened since early March.
If you plan to be part of the crowds heading out of town to enjoy one last blast of summer, here is a rundown of what you need to know.
AP correspondent Julie Walker reports on Labor Day travel.
How is holiday travel going so far?
Busy, as expected, and flight delays were common.
Airlines had canceled more than 200 U.S. flights as of late afternoon on the East Coast, a modest number by current standards. However, more than 4,500 other flights were delayed, led by Southwest and American, according to tracking service FlightAware.
Plenty of people appeared to have heeded experts’ advice to get away as early as possible on Friday.
Lines of cars and passengers appeared at Los Angeles International Airport before the sun was up. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was buzzing early but slowed by midmorning, and parking spaces were still available.
Why travel over a holiday weekend?
Boston resident Dani Fleming flew across the country to visit her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. She got to the airport at 4:30 a.m. for her departing flight and was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the lines moved both there and at San Francisco International Airport.
“The flight was easy. (I) napped for a little bit, watched movies,” Fleming said. “This was a breeze.”
Benjamin Schmeiser and his wife and 16-year-old daughter planned to fly from Chicago to San Diego to attend a concert of 1970s rock bands. It was the family’s first flight together since COVID-19 hit.
“We have been looking forward to this trip for quite some time, and I’m happy that we can get the whole family in on the trip,” Schmeiser said while waiting at O’Hare International Airport. “A lot of us are huge live music fans, and we love sports. Now that travel is open, it’s much more affordable, we’re able to travel a lot more.”
Where are the potential trouble spots?
Weather is the leading cause of flight delays. Forecasts call for rain and maybe scattered thunderstorms from Texas to New England plus parts of Florida over the weekend, spreading over more of the Southeast on Monday.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was still working to restore all services after what airport officials described as a possible cyberattack last weekend. Flights have been running normally all week, but the airport told passengers to arrive extra early and to avoid checking bags, especially on smaller airlines, because of problems with the bag-sorting system.
Michael Novick got to SeaTac 30 minutes earlier than usual and checked three bags for his American Airlines flight to Dallas on Friday. “I was a little concerned about what things might look like, but it was absolutely seamless,” he said. “It was a normal day.”
The only thing out of the ordinary: gate agents checked boarding passes manually, Novick said.
What are prices like?
Motorists are getting a break on gasoline. The nationwide average Friday was $3.35 per gallon, compared to $3.83 a year ago, according to AAA.
For electric vehicles, the average price for a kilowatt of power at an L2 commercial charging station is about 34 cents. The average is under 25 cents in Kansas and Missouri but tops 40 cents in several states, including New Hampshire, Tennessee and Kentucky. Hawaii is the costliest, at 56 cents.
Average airfares in July were down 7.1% from June and 2.8% from July 2023, according to the government’s consumer price index. Steve Hafner, CEO of the travel metasearch site Kayak, said airfares are dropping as the peak summer-vacation season ends.
When is the best time to hit the road?
Early morning or late evening. Transportation-data provider INRIX says traffic will be heaviest between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, when people head home.
When will airports be busiest?
The TSA expects to screen 2.86 million people Friday. That’s impressive, but it won’t rank among TSA’s top 15 days — 14 of which were this year. The single-day record of 3.01 million was set July 7, the Sunday after Independence Day.
TSA says it has enough screeners to keep the time it takes to get through regular lines to 30 minutes or less and to no more than 10 minutes for PreCheck lines.
American Airlines expects to operate 6,400 flights Friday, the same as Thursday, and 6,300 on Labor Day itself.
What should I do if my flight is delayed or canceled?
Check your flight’s status before leaving for the airport. It’s better to be stuck at home than stranded at the airport.
If your flight is canceled, the airline might automatically rebook you. That might not be the best option.
“Get on the phone (to the airline’s help center), get in front of an agent, reach out to the airline via social media if you have to, but find out what the other options are,” says Julian Kheel, the founder and CEO of Points Path, a browser extension that lets users compare fares with deals available using frequent-flyer points.
Kheel said agents at the airport have more leeway to help but might be overwhelmed by the number of passengers needing help. DIY rebooking on the airline website or app might be faster, he said.
Phone tip: If the airline has international help numbers, call one of those to get through more quickly.
What about refunds and reimbursement?
Airlines are required to provide refunds — including for extra fees paid — to passengers whose flights are canceled for any reason. However, they are not required to pay cash compensation, and no major U.S. airlines do. Only Alaska, Southwest and JetBlue even promise travel vouchers if the cancellation is their fault.
If you’re stuck overnight, ask the airline about paying for a hotel, meals and ground transportation. All major U.S. airlines except Frontier promise to help with all three for “controllable” disruptions, according to the Transportation Department’s airline-policy dashboard.
Keep receipts for all out-of-pocket expenses in case you can file a claim later.
A few final tips
— Leave early. Everything will take longer than you expect, including getting through airport security.
— Watch the weather. Even if skies are clear at home, there could be storms at your flight’s destination or along your road route. Have a backup route.
— Don’t check a bag. About one in every 170 checked bags was lost, damaged or stolen in May, the latest month covered by government figures.
— Be nice. “Go with the flow. You don’t need to hate on the customer-service people. They’re doing the best they can,” said Shannon Beddingfield of Texas as she prepared to board a flight to Orlando, Florida.
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Teresa Crawford in Chicago, Mat Otero in Dallas, Haven Daley in San Francisco and Jae C. Hong in Los Angeles contributed reporting.
Richard popped into the NBCUniversal Boston Media Center, home to the Boston stations of NBC and Telemundo, and shared that his first few days back in Massachusetts were spent catching up on rest — but he’s already thinking about the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“I see this bronze medal and I’m really excited,” he said, “but there’s a silver and a gold to get. I have four years to reach that next level that 100% believe I’m capable of reaching. I want to get to the gym right now.”
Stoughton native Frederick Richard, who won a bronze medal as part of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team, joined NBC10 Boston for a discussion Tuesday.
The Haitian- and Dominican-American athlete from Stoughton is headed back to Boston soon, as part of the Gold Across America Tour featuring Simone Biles and many other decorated gymnasts. The first date at TD Garden this October sold out, so a second show was added.
Here’s some of what Richard got up to on his visit.
A weekend of celebration ended in violence after five people were shot at Franklin Park in Boston after the Dominican Festival, according to authorities.
Officers were in the process of clearing out the crowds after the festival at about 8:45 p.m. Sunday, when someone fired multiple shots into the crowd, Boston police said.
Three men and two women were shot, according to police, who said one was rushed to the hospital by an officer, while the four others were taken by ambulance.
Their injuries were considered to be non-life threatening.
Police are urging witnesses to come forward and help them arrest the shooter or shooters.
“There were many, many people who witnessed this and we need the public’s support on this. If anybody has any video footage, anything of that sort, we really need the help on this because we need to hold a human responsible,” said Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox. “Whether it was an individual or individuals responsible for this heinous act, shooting into a crowd.”
The victims’ names and ages weren’t released, and no arrests were been made so far.
SCHEDULED TO OPEN IN 2026. YOU GOT TO TAKE A LOOK AT THIS VIDEO HERE. AN AMAZING SIGHT. LOOK AT THAT IN THE BOSTON HARBOR, BOATERS CAPTURING THE WHALE, BREACHING A LITTLE TOO CLOSE TO THEM. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE O
A young humpback whale continues to be spotted by boaters in Boston Harbor, with videos showing the juvenile soaring into the air as it feeds on fish.New video from Wednesday showed the young humpback whale beaching very close to a boat fishing near Spectacle Island, about 1.5 miles from Castle Island in South Boston. The presence of the whale in a corridor busy with boat traffic prompted the MBTA to share a bulletin about its ferry service. “Ferry service may experience minor delays,” the MBTA warned on Wednesday, “due to the presence of a juvenile humpback whale in Boston Harbor.”The young whale is believed to be the same one that has been hanging around since late July in the harbor, where they have been seen in the past, but typically depart after just a few days. According to NOAA, large whales can be a safety hazard for recreational boaters and fishermen because they can surface unexpectedly and are hard to detect. As whales feed at the surface and close to shore, the chances of encountering one increase.
A young humpback whale continues to be spotted by boaters in Boston Harbor, with videos showing the juvenile soaring into the air as it feeds on fish.
New video from Wednesday showed the young humpback whale beaching very close to a boat fishing near Spectacle Island, about 1.5 miles from Castle Island in South Boston.
The presence of the whale in a corridor busy with boat traffic prompted the MBTA to share a bulletin about its ferry service.
“Ferry service may experience minor delays,” the MBTA warned on Wednesday, “due to the presence of a juvenile humpback whale in Boston Harbor.”
According to NOAA, large whales can be a safety hazard for recreational boaters and fishermen because they can surface unexpectedly and are hard to detect.
As whales feed at the surface and close to shore, the chances of encountering one increase.
MARLBOROUGH, Mass., August 9, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Atlas Meetings & Incentives, a division of Atlas Travel that provides meeting, incentive, convention and event (MICE) services to clients of all sizes and industries, has promoted Jennifer Murphy from Director to Vice President, Atlas Meetings & Incentives.
Murphy has been in the industry for 28 years and with Atlas Travel for 17 years, where she has played a crucial role in driving the growth and success of the Meetings & Incentives team. Her dedication and expertise have been instrumental in developing high-profile programs and strengthening client relationships, especially through the challenges posed by the pandemic.
“Jennifer’s promotion reflects our utmost confidence in her innovative leadership,” said Lea Cahill, President of Atlas Travel & Technology Group, the parent company of Atlas Travel. “We are thrilled to see her continue to elevate client service standards and spearhead initiatives that will propel our company forward.”
Murphy has also led the Rewards & Recognition services within the Atlas Meetings & Incentives division, where she has helped introduce tailored strategic program designs, promotional campaigns and client rewards through the Great Escape program.
“I’m excited to continue servicing our existing clients, procure new prospects and develop more operational efficiencies with my incredible team of event planners that are dedicated to providing top-notch MICE strategic services,” Murphy said. “The pandemic taught me to think differently about how we service our clients and was also an opportunity for me to wear multiple hats and sit on the frontline with both Rewards & Recognition and meeting planning. I look forward to investing this new knowledge into growing the team’s resources, skills and client portfolio.”
Murphy’s promotion exemplifies Atlas Travel’s ongoing dedication to enhancing company leadership and fostering future growth and innovation in the MICE industry.
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About Atlas Meetings & Incentives
Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, Atlas Meetings & Incentives provides top-of-the-line meeting and event services as well as rich company reward and recognition programs to clients of various sizes and industries. Our highly knowledgeable team of expert meeting planners takes the stress out of event production and delivers personalized care every step of the way. Atlas Travel is proud to be a certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and a Certified B Corporation. For more information on Atlas Meetings & Incentives, please visit meetings.atlastravel.com.
An inmate has been sentenced for his role in the deadly bludgeoning of infamous Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger in a West Virginia federal prison in 2018. The inmate, Paul J. DeCologero, was sentenced to more than four years imprisonment after pleading guilty to an assault charge. DeCologero faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors initially had said DeCologero and inmate Fotios “Freddy” Geas used a lock attached to a belt to repeatedly hit the 89-year-old Bulger in the head hours after he arrived at troubled USP Hazelton from another lockup in Florida, while another man, Sean McKinnon, served as a lookout. But on Thursday, they said that DeCologero had only served as a lookout and had not physically assaulted Bulger.
Geas faces a hearing on Sept. 6. He has been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which carries up to a life sentence. Last year the Justice Department said it would not seek the death sentence for the pair.
This June 23, 2011, file booking photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows James “Whitey” Bulger.
U.S. Marshals Service via AP, File
McKinnon was sentenced only to time served after pleading guilty in June to a charge of lying to federal agents about his role in the murder. McKinnon got credit for spending 22 months in custody after his 2022 indictment, was given no additional prison time and was returned to Florida to finish his supervised release.
Unlike DeCologero, a Massachusetts gangster, and Geas, a onetime Mafia hitman, McKinnon was not incarcerated at the time of Bulger’s killing. He had been on federal supervised release after previously serving prison time for stealing guns from a firearms dealer when he was arrested again on charges related to Bulger’s death.
All three men were originally charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted, with DeColgero and Geas facing additional murder charges and McKinnon facing the extra count for allegedly making false statements to an FBI agent. Plea deals for the three of them were disclosed May 13.
Geas and DeCologero were identified as suspects shortly after Bulger’s death, but they remained uncharged for years as the investigation dragged on. The three men were indicted in 2022 on criminal charges linked to the murder.
According to court records, inmates found out ahead of time that Bulger would be arriving. DeCologero and Geas spent about seven minutes in Bulger’s cell during the attack. After Bulger’s death, DeCologero told a witness, who was another inmate in the prison, that Bulger was a “snitch” and said that they intended to kill him when he arrived at their unit, prosecutors said. DeCologero was also the one who said, in conversation with another inmate witness, that he and Geas had used a belt with a lock attached to it to beat Bulger to death.
After the killing, experts criticized Bulger’s transfer to Hazelton, where workers had already been sounding the alarm about violence and understaffing, and his placement in the general population instead of more protective housing.
A Justice Department inspector general investigation found in 2022 that the killing was the result of multiple layers of management failures, widespread incompetence and flawed policies at the federal Bureau of Prisons. The inspector general found no evidence of “malicious intent” by any bureau employees but said a series of bureaucratic blunders left Bulger at the mercy of rival gangsters.
In July, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to overhaul oversight and bring greater transparency to the Bureau of Prisons following reporting from The Associated Press that exposed systemic corruption in the federal prison system and increased congressional scrutiny.
Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ’80s, was also an FBI informant who provided the agency with information on the main rival to his gang.
He became one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives after fleeing Boston in 1994, thanks to a tip from his FBI handler that he was about to be indicted. He was captured at age 81 after more than 16 years on the run.
Bulger was convicted in 2013 in a string of 11 killings and dozens of other gangland crimes, many of them committed while he was said to be an FBI informant.
DeCologero, who was in a gang led by his uncle, was convicted of buying heroin that was used to try to kill a teenage girl because his uncle feared she would betray the crew to police. After the heroin did not kill her, another man broke her neck, dismembered her body and buried her remains in the woods, court records say. DeCologero was sentenced in 2006 to 25 years in prison.
Geas was a close associate of the Mafia and acted as an enforcer but was not an official “made” member because he is Greek, not Italian. He and his brother were sentenced to life in 2011 for their roles in several violent crimes, including the 2003 killing of Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, a Genovese crime family boss in Springfield, Massachusetts. Another mobster ordered Bruno’s killing because he was upset that he had talked to the FBI, prosecutors said.
BOSTON — U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan is urging federal authorities to investigate Stewart Health Care System’s plans to sell its Massachusetts hospitals after the bankrupt company announced plans to close two of the facilities.
In a letter to the heads of U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Health and Human Services, Trahan said Steward’s decision to sell two hospitals — Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, will “have a long-lasting impact on accessible healthcare” in those communities.
The Westford Democrat, whose district includes Ayer, called on the agencies to probe the closures and “closely monitor” the sale of Steward’s six other hospitals in Massachusetts, including Holy Family’s locations in Methuen and Haverhill.
“It is crucial to ensure that healthcare services remain accessible and affordable for patients as these hospitals transition to new ownership,” Trahan wrote.
The Department of Justice and other agencies recently launched an investigation into the impact of “greed” at Steward and other health care systems. As part of the investigation, the agencies plan to review the impact of private equity firms on patient health, worker safety and the quality of care for patients.
The Texas-based company is also the target of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, which is probing allegations that include fraud and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The federal law prohibits U.S. companies or citizens from engaging in bribery and corruption overseas.
Trahan’s request would expand the scope of that investigation to include “domestic crimes” as well as “the consumer harms patients have faced because of the company’s actions.”
Trahan cited the role of the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in Steward’s finances in Massachusetts and other states. She said acquisitions and sale-leaseback deals enriched Cerberus and Steward’s executives, including CEO Ralph de la Torre.
Last week, the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions voted to initiate the investigation and issue a rare congressional subpoena for Steward’s CEO Ralph de la Torre to testify on Capitol Hill before the panel at a September hearing.
Steward plans to put its 31 U.S. hospitals up for sale to pay down $9 billion in outstanding liabilities owed to creditors as part of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protections in May.
Bids on Steward’s Massachusetts hospitals and other states were due last week= but the company hasn’t disclosed prospective buyers. The company’s attorneys have asked a federal bankruptcy judge on Monday to postpone a court hearing on the hospital sales until Aug. 13 as it finalizes lease terms and other details.
Meanwhile, the Healey administration’s plans to provide about $30 million in repurposed state-Medicaid funding to keep the hospitals running as they transition to new ownership is facing opposition from a committee representing creditors during the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.
In a court filing late Monday, the committee said it has “significant concerns” that the $30 million pledged by the state may provide near-term (and important) assistance in transitioning the hospital to new owners, “it will do so at the expense of the rest of debtors, their estates and their creditors.”
Gov. Maura Healey has pledged that “not a dime” of the $30 million will go to Steward and will instead help ensure a smooth transition to new hospital ownership. But she noted that her administration has little or no authority to block the hospital closures.
“It’s Steward’s decision to close these hospitals, there’s nothing that the state can do, that I can do, that I have the power to do, to keep that from happening,” Healey told reporters on Monday. “We are in this situation … because of the greed of one individual, Ralph de la Torre, and the management team at Steward.”
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com
BOSTON — U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan is urging federal authorities to investigate Stewart Health Care System’s plans to sell its Massachusetts hospitals after the bankrupt company announced plans to close two of the facilities.
In a letter to the heads of U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Health and Human Services, Trahan said Steward’s decision to sell two hospitals – Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer – will “have a long-lasting impact on accessible health care” in those communities.
The Westford Democrat, whose district includes Ayer, called on the agencies to probe the closures and “closely monitor” the sale of Steward’s six other hospitals in Massachusetts, including Holy Family’s locations in Methuen and Haverhill.
“It is crucial to ensure that healthcare services remain accessible and affordable for patients as these hospitals transition to new ownership,” Trahan wrote.
The Department of Justice and other agencies recently launched an investigation into the impact of “greed” at Steward and other health care systems. As part of the investigation, the agencies plan to review the impact of private equity firms on patient health, worker safety and the quality of care for patients.
The Texas-based company is also the target of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, which is probing allegations that include fraud and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The federal law prohibits U.S. companies or citizens from engaging in bribery and corruption overseas.
Trahan’s request would expand the scope of that investigation to include “domestic crimes” as well as “the consumer harms patients have faced because of the company’s actions.”
Trahan cited the role of the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in Steward’s finances in Massachusetts and other states. She said acquisitions and sale-leaseback deals enriched Cerberus and Steward’s executives, including CEO Ralph de la Torre.
Last week, the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions voted to initiate the investigation and issue a rare congressional subpoena for Steward’s CEO Ralph de la Torre to testify on Capitol Hill before the panel at a September hearing.
Steward plans to put its 31 U.S. hospitals up for sale to pay down $9 billion in outstanding liabilities owed to creditors as part of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protections in May.
Bids on Steward’s Massachusetts hospitals and other states were due last week= but the company hasn’t disclosed prospective buyers. The company’s attorneys have asked a federal bankruptcy judge on Monday to postpone a court hearing on the hospital sales until Aug. 13 as it finalizes lease terms and other details.
Meanwhile, the Healey administration’s plans to provide about $30 million in repurposed state Medicaid funding to keep the hospitals running as they transition to new ownership is facing opposition from a committee representing creditors during the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.
In a court filing late Monday, the committee said it has “significant concerns” that the $30 million pledged by the state may provide near-term (and important) assistance in transitioning the hospital to new owners, “it will do so at the expense of the rest of debtors, their estates and their creditors.”
Gov. Maura Healey has pledged that “not a dime” of the $30 million will go to Steward and will instead help ensure a smooth transition to new hospital ownership. But she noted that her administration has little or no authority to block the hospital closures.
“It’s Steward’s decision to close these hospitals, there’s nothing that the state can do, that I can do, that I have the power to do, to keep that from happening,” Healey told reporters on Monday. “We are in this situation … because of the greed of one individual, Ralph de la Torre, and the management team at Steward.”
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
CONCORD, Mass. (AP) — Nearly 250 years ago, hundreds of militiamen lined a hillside in Massachusetts and started firing a barrage of musket balls toward retreating British troops, marking the first major battle in the Revolutionary War.
The latest evidence of that firefight is five musket balls dug up last year near the North Bridge site in the Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord. Early analysis of the balls — gray with sizes ranging from a pea to a marble — indicates colonial militia members fired them at British forces on April 19, 1775.
“As soon as they pulled one of them out of the ground, there was kind of a ‘look what I have,’” said Minute Man park ranger and historic weapons specialist Jarrad Fuoss, who was there the day the musket balls were discovered.
“And of course, everybody goes flocking to them like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ We’re looking at them, and then the excitement continued to grow because it wasn’t just one,” he continued. “And the fact that we found five of them, which is incredible all these years later.”
Musket balls were previously found in the historic park of about a thousand acres outside Boston, which marks a series of opening battles of the American Revolution. About a decade ago, about 30 musket balls were found at the site known as Parker’s Revenge, where the Lexington militia company led by Capt. John Parker ambushed British troops. In the early 19th century, Henry David Thoreau was walking in the area and found a few musket balls from what is believed to be the North Bridge fight.
The latest discoveries are the most ever found from that fight when militia leaders ordered their men to fire on government troops. The event led to the conflict escalating and was later dubbed the “shot heard round the world” by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 1837 “Concord Hymn.”
About 800 British soldiers had started the day marching from Boston to Concord to destroy military supplies they believed that colony rebels had gathered. It ended with an eight-hour battle that stretched to the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston — covering 16 miles (26 kilometers) and leaving 273 British troops and 96 militiamen dead and wounded.
“This is where everything kind of changes in an instant because that moment is treason. There is no turning back,” Fuoss said. “To be able to pull that out of the ground and know that we’re the first ones to touch that since somebody else was ramming it down the muzzle of their gun 250 years ago is one of those things that sends shivers all over your body.”
Joel Bohy, who was also on the dig site and is researching bullet strikes and bullet-struck objects from that day for a book, said the discovery helps “validate the historical record, as well as the types of arms that the provincial minute and militia companies carried that day.”
“Based upon the caliber of the balls and studying them, the general location, as well as the context of the site, it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck,” Bohy said, adding that he had “been fascinated with April 19 and the material culture since I was a 7-year-old — 51 years ago. So for me, it was a great day.”
The war continued for seven years after those first shots were fired, even past the July 4, 1776, adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Nikki Walsh, the museum curator at the park, also said there was plenty to learn from the lead-cast musket balls that ranged in size from .40-caliber to .70-caliber. Given their various sizes, Walsh said, archeologists concluded they were from the militia. Those men brought their own weapons and ammunition to the fight, with some being imported, and others captured or purchased by the town or province from British or Dutch merchants, according to the National Park Service. On the other hand, the British had standardized all their ammunition.
And the fact that the musket balls were intact indicates fighters likely missed their mark.
“Since that lead is so malleable, you can see marks on them that indicate whether they’ve been fired, whether they were unfired and dropped,” she said. “If they had been fired and hit something, they would have likely smushed like a pancake.”
The musket balls have attracted intense interest from history buffs and tourists, with about 800 journeying to the park’s visitor center over the weekend to get a first glimpse. The interest has also prompted the National Park Service to keep the exact location of the find under wraps, hoping to dissuade treasure hunters with metal detectors from showing up in search of more artifacts.
They are willing to disclose the general area of the find, a field just over a wooden bridge of the Concord River and just beyond two monuments — a 25-foot stone obelisk marking the 50th anniversary of the North Bridge fight and the Minute Man statue built to commemorate its 100th anniversary. Nearby, a smaller marker with British flags indicates where the first two British soldiers died in that battle.
Among those recently checking out the site was Jennifer Ayvaz, who came to the park with her husband, Tim, and their two children after her father heard about the discovery of the musket balls. As they passed Walsh, she offered to show the family the musket balls. Opening a tiny box, the family snapped photos and moved closer for a better look at the balls lined up in a row.
“It’s incredible,” said Jennifer Ayvaz, who came from Castle Rock, Colorado, adding that her father would love to see the musket balls. “I wish he could be here with us. It’s very neat. He is a huge history buff, and he is kind of living vicariously through us.”
Complaints have been piling up about mopeds blocking traffic and driving erratically in Back Bay.
“Take them all off the road,” Boston resident Shiella Radel said earlier this month. “Dangerous to pedestrians, dangerous to drivers, and dangerous to people who ride these things. Take them off.”
“They just kind of pick and choose whatever rules they want to follow, so it can get pretty annoying,” added Gretchen Siewert of Boston. “They’ll be on the sidewalks, like, I’ve seen them just going down the sidewalk, swerving in and out of pedestrians. Luckily, haven’t seen anyone get hit yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”
BOSTON — Backers of retail energy suppliers are touting a new poll suggesting that the state’s consumers support the expansion of the competitive market and oppose efforts to shut down the industry.
The poll released by NRG Home, a retail energy supplier, found 62% of voters oppose eliminating the competitive supply market “when they learn the big utilities would be the only option for buying electricity” while 27% favor eliminating the market.
At least 82% of current and former customers gave “positive ratings” to their experience with retail electricity suppliers, pollsters said.
“Voters have been consistent on this issue,” said Chris Anderson, president of Beacon Research, Inc., which conducted the poll of 756 voters. “They clearly support maintaining competition in the electricity market, and those views only strengthen as they learn more about the issue.”
Anderson said the poll results show that “voters want to ensure they maintain the ability to choose more affordable, innovative, or renewable options and prevent monopoly control by the utilities.”
The energy group also released a series of “testimonials” along with the poll results featuring Massachusetts consumers talking about the benefits of switching to the competitive market.
The survey comes amid increasing scrutiny of the competitive electric supply industry on Beacon Hill, where state lawmakers are considering a proposal that would effectively shut it down.
The Senate approved a bill last month that would ban retail energy suppliers from signing up new customers, among other proposed changes.
Critics say the companies use high-pressure tactics and deceptive door-to-door marketing to dupe largely poor and elderly consumers into switching to a new supplier, which ends up charging them more for electricity or natural gas.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell is among those pushing to ban or restrict the retail energy market, arguing that many of the companies are scamming consumers.
A recent report released by Campbell’s office said between 2015 and 2021 roughly 430,000 residential customers who purchased electricity from retail suppliers, other than regional or local utilities, paid an average of $231 more a year than they would have paid if they had kept their old service.
Industry groups have criticized the AG’s report, saying it fails to consider “value-added aspects” of retail energy plans, such as renewable energy, flat-rate bills, and free products with enrollment such as electric vehicle chargers and smart home thermostats.
Retail energy suppliers started popping up in the late 1990s after the state deregulated the electricity market.
Independent suppliers say deregulation gives consumers more choices in an energy market dominated by regional utilities like National Grid and Eversource, which have increased their rates in recent years.
Statewide, an estimated 500,000 residents buy electricity in the competitive market from an estimated 200 suppliers operating in the state, according to industry data.
Many other companies are seeking to enter the competitive retail electricity market with requests pending before state regulators.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
BOSTON (AP) — Subway riders in Boston are playing their own game of “Where’s Waldo?” But instead of searching for a cartoon character with a red and white striped top, they’re on the lookout for subway trains with googly eye decals attached to the front.
The head of transit service said the whimsical decals are attached to a handful of trains and meant to bring a smile to riders’ faces.
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng said a small group of what he described as transit enthusiasts approached the agency with the unusual request to install the eyes on trains. The group even dropped off a package of plastic googly eyes at the MBTA’s headquarters in Boston.
“When I saw it it made me laugh,” Eng said. “I thought we could do something like that to have some fun.”
The MBTA, which oversees the nation’s oldest subway system as well as commuter rail, bus and ferry service, has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for a series of safety issues that led to a federal review and orders to fix the problem.
It has also been plagued by slow zones, the delayed delivery of new vehicles and understaffing, although T officials say the slow zones are gradually being lifted.
Instead of plastic googly eyes, which Eng feared could come loose and fly off, injuring riders, the MBTA went with decals, giving a jaunty facial expression to the trains.
The agency has affixed them to just five trains — four on the MBTA’s Green Line and one commuter rail line.
“When we chatted about it, it would be like finding Waldo,” he said. “It gave us all a chance to have a laugh and for the people who use our service to have some fun.”
His basketball card belongs in the Louvre, posted up between the Mona Lisa and “The Wedding Feast at Cana.”
You could hang Chauncey Billups’ resume in the Salle des Etats, elbows jostling with “La Bella Nani,” a work of hoops art on par with “Titian’s Man with a Glove.”
On June 20th (incidentally, the eve of the chanteuse’s birthday), Lana Del Rey belatedly took the stage at Fenway Park for what would mark her first stadium performance. Of all the cities Del Rey could have chosen for such an auspicious event, Boston might seem like a rather random choice. But then one must remember that this Del Rey, the self-styled “Queen of Americana” (or “American Queen” as it is phrased on an American flag in her recent “Tough” video). Thus, Boston, with its history rooted in the founding of the United States as we know it, thanks to its association with being “the birthplace of the American Revolution, was a very pointed and perhaps even calculated decision on Del Rey’s part.
Alas, because celebrities and artists (sometimes one and the same, sometimes not) have a tendency to ignore reality, Del Rey didn’t seem to account for potential weather issues within the lens of climate change irascibility. Thus, the thunderstorm (accompanied by the dangerous element of lightning) that ensued at the same time she was to have gotten her ass out onstage (even though she rarely shows up on time anyway) came as a seeming surprise to her. Taking to Instagram to talk to her fans that came to the show, Del Rey explained, “I’m down here at the bottom of Fenway, everyone here they just cleared the stage. Um, so every time the lightning strikes, we have to wait twenty minutes, and, uh, it just keeps striking. What we were hoping for was to fill the room back up, um, by ten o’clock and at least do an hour-long show. Um, that’s what we’re hoping for, bare minimum. Worse case scenario, we reschedule for Saturday, so, I don’t know, I’m crossing my fingers.”
That, indeed, seems to be the only way that most Americans are functioning right now as opposed to taking much in the way of action to ensure their fate and the fates of future generations won’t be total shit. But maybe that’s because they’ve seen how little their attempts to take action have resulted in any meaningful change (for example, going out in the streets and/or universities to protest the genocide in Gaza). What’s more, with so many reliant on the lazy gesture of “social media activism” (another twenty-first century oxymoron), it seems that less and less physical grunt work is done to spark something like a grassroots movement.
And so, as Del Rey “crossed her fingers” as a means of “invoking” “actionable change” (to the weather, in this instance), fans were corralled into the concourse of Fenway Park, packed in like sardines as is usually the way with hoi polloi. And with the lowest ticket price tier being above one hundred dollars, it’s unlikely that fans were going to be sated with a mere one-hour performance. Yet, because so many fans had traveled from far and wide to see the show (with the anti-eco-conscious “concert tourism” trend taking off in the wake Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour), upon polling her followers on Instagram about rescheduling or not, around sixty-two percent said they would prefer that she just go ahead and play for one hour, rather than having to shell out more cash for lodging/travel the following weekend. And therein lies the very real danger of concert tourism: you never know what might go wrong in this increasingly unreliable world.
So it was that Del Rey finally took the stage around 10:30 p.m. Her abridged set list included “Without You,” “West Coast,” “Summertime Sadness” (during which Del Rey still somewhat cruelly had foil reflectors [that old school prop for tanning] wielded despite the weather being the antithesis of “sunny”), “Cherry,” “Pretty When You Cry,” “Blue Over You” with Mason Ramsey, “Ride,” “Born to Die,” “Chemtrails Over the Country Club,” “The Grants,” “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” “Until I Found You” with Stephen Sanchez, “Tough” with Quavo and “Video Games.” This making for a paltry fourteen songs, some more rushed through than others, and many of which would hardly be considered to everyone as “hits” (with “Young and Beautiful” also being foolishly excluded from the setlist in terms of appealing to such a massive audience). Not that that’s ever really been Del Rey’s “thing.” And lately, it hasn’t been America’s either, with the country steadily repulsing as many residents and non-resident alike with its political landscape.
Nonetheless, Del Rey showing up out of obligation in her sparkly red Dolce and Gabbana dress (of which she has a few different colors as we’ve seen over the last few months) with a triangle cutout above the stomach. The hue was a nod to both the Red Sox and America itself, so rooted in red with its flag colors—and the fact that a fuck-ton of blood has spilled in its name. Going through the motions of the show, Del Rey “did what she could” with the limited tools at her disposal—a curfew (though she could have paid the fee to defy it) and unpredictable weather. This, of course, ended up turning the whole thing into a shitshow still posing as a “glossy” affair. A phrase that increasingly sums up the United States in every way.
As for the fans who did want Del Rey to reschedule in order to enjoy the concert as it was meant to be seen, one person commented to Boston.com, “It was hell on earth. We were evacuated to the concourse, and there was no room to move. It was so hot in there I actually ended up at the emergency room and missed her finally going on. My daughter is devastated. They knew days before it there would be a heat advisory and dangerous temps they should have postponed.” Another added, “We got there at four and ended up leaving before she came out. It was frightening inside with people pushing and shoving. An altercation broke out near us, and no security came. You couldn’t text them either—not working. I got shoved into a railing and bruised.” Many others complained of limited reception in order to weigh in on what they wanted to happen: postponement or “the show must go on.”
And yet, like the impending presidential election, it was always going to be the latter choice, with better planning and potential alternatives simply not an option for this moneymaking juggernaut. While fans at the LDR concert were “lucky” to get out relatively unscathed despite not getting their money’s worth, the residents of the U.S. in general aren’t likely to be as lucky come the end of 2024. Which, to some, might very well be the true end of America. Or, as Del Rey once asked when Trump first took office, “Is it the end of America?” Foolishly (and in typical American fashion), she answered her own question with, “No, oh/It’s only the beginning/If we hold on to hope/We’ll have a happy ending.” Yeah, just like her concertgoers held on to hope only to get a shoddy ending. Though they still consoled themselves through the denied pain by being so kind as to deliver a rendition of “Happy Birthday” to Del Rey, who turned thirty-nine at the stroke of midnight.
