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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Here's where Salem's city-owned rideshare service is expanding next
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
Welcome to the first WBUR Today of June, aka Pride Month! In case you missed it, here are a few ways you can celebrate in Boston this month.
Let’s get rolling with today’s news:
Skipping town: Salem’s government-owned ridesharing service, the Salem Skipper, is expanding. On Thursday, city officials announced the service will begin offering rides out of town to its neighboring communities, Danvers and Beverly. Since its inception in 2020, the program has provided more than 260,000 local rides to Salem residents.
- How’s it different than the big ride-hailing apps? An average ride with the Salem Skipper costs around $2 (and just $1 for students, senior citizens and people with disabilities). Mayor Dominick Pangallo said people of all ages use the service to get to school, doctors appointments and more. “This is a really strong case study for an innovative model for a regional transportation option, that isn’t a fixed route, like a bus or a train,” Pangallo told WBUR’s Amy Sokolow. “It fills that unmet need, especially for people who may not be able to bike or walk easily.”
- How is Salem paying for it? The service expansion is funded by a $2.3 million Federal Transit Administration grant secured by U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton in 2022.
A Texas bankruptcy judge is scheduled to review Steward Health Care’s plans to sell its hospitals today as a part of the company’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Steward’s debt and rental obligations currently top $9 billion, according to the company’s attorneys.
- What’s happening today: Judge Christopher Lopez will consider how and when the hospitals — including seven in Massachusetts — might be sold. Steward has proposed a quick timeline to have its hospitals go to auction by the end of June, but Ross Martin, a professor of law at Boston College, told WBUR’s Deborah Becker he thinks the geographic diversity of the hospitals and the complicated nature of the auctions could result in delays.
- What’s next? We wait. After the hearing, “we’re going to have a much clearer idea of where this case is going,” University of Texas Law professor Jay Westbrook told Deb. “And I would be surprised if the judge doesn’t slow things down a little bit.” In the interim, Steward is seeking extra funds to keep facilities running through the bankruptcy. Deb has more on this and Lopez’s background as a well-known bankruptcy judge here.
A new time limit for families staying in the state shelter system that was originally slated to take effect as early as this past Saturday is now slated to begin in July. The state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities say families granted shelter for nine months will get the first notices sometime in early July that they have 90 days to leave. (The state previously said notices could roll out as early as June 1.) Gov. Maura Healey’s administration said it had not finalized regulations or formal guidance for the length of stay policy approved by the state legislature.
- The big picture: Lawmakers and Healey instituted the nine-month restriction to help ease strain and control spending on the family shelter system. The system has been capped at 7,500 families since last year, and hundreds of families are on a waitlist.
You can now visit the birthplace home of John F. Kennedy in Brookline. This past Saturday, the John F. Kennedy National Historic site opened its doors to the public for its first full season since 2019, following a series of renovations and updates to make the house more accessible. Visitors can swing by to learn more about JFK and his upbringing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Sunday, until October 30.
P.S. — Attention Connecticut natives living in Greater Boston: It will soon be easier to get your hands on New Haven-style charred pies. Sally’s Apizza is opening two new locations in Dorchester and Concord. We’ll wait to see if these spots are as sauce-cessful as the chain’s Woburn location. (Sorry.)
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify the state's timeline for notifying families who reached the cap on living in the state's shelter system was set to begin as early as June 1, but now will start sometime in July.
