Baker: July 4th Events Led To COVID Uptick

Also: Lawmakers hear testimonies in favor of supervised consumption sites; a way to save $ on your next CitySpace ticket ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  [Donate [WBUR]]( [View in Browser](  [WBUR]( July 16, 2021 Good Morning Boston, 🌞 Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. Chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4 p.m. Happy Friday! I hope you're enjoying [the meme that just keeps giving](. Here's the local news we're keeping our eyes on today: - State lawmakers will hear testimony today for a controversial bill in support of supervised drug consumption sites in Massachusetts. Here's the deal: The bill would create a 10-year pilot program to give people permitted sites to use drugs under medical supervision. Why consider allowing this? Advocates say it could decrease opioid-related deaths across the state – more than 2,000 people died last year alone. Other countries like Canada already have similar programs, and earlier this month, Rhode Island legalized supervised consumption sites, too. - The Boston-based Institute for Clinical and Economic Review is not pleased with the price of Biogen's new Alzheimer's drug. It's being listed at $56,000 a year – a price tag the panel calls "unreasonable." The experts say the drug's clinical trials did not show enough benefit to patients to be worth that and instead think it should be listed as low as $3,000 per year. - PSA: [The American Red Cross]( is calling for blood donations amid a "severe shortage." You can donate regardless of vaccination status, just please just don't go if you're feeling sick! (But that should be true about going anywhere these days.) - Are scallops one of your favorite summer dishes to order or cook? It may cost you more. Fishermen across the East Coast are expected to harvest fewer this year – a harvesting trend that's been happening since the mid-1980s. - If you miss hanging with our neighbors to the north, the border between the U.S. and Canada is set to open to non-essential travel for fully vaccinated Americans in mid-August. That's some good news, eh?! P.S.– CitySpace at The Lavine Broadcast Center (WBUR's event space) will be reopening in the fall! But before it does, we want to hear your thoughts about returning to in-person events. Please help us out by [taking this two minute survey](. Need some extra motivation? If you complete it by Thursday, July 22, you'll receive 50% off your first ticket purchase when we reopen. — Meagan McGinnes [@meaganmcginnes]( newsletters@wbur.org The Rundown [1.](url)[Trump Lawyers Who Spread False Election Claims Are Now Defending Themselves In Court]( Some legal experts argue the profession needs to engage in deep soul-searching after serious abuses of ethics rules by attorneys in the Trump years. [Read more.](   #%23%23[Twitter](  #%23%23[Facebook](    2. [Baker Blames COVID Uptick On July 4th Events]( Most COVID-19 metrics remain close to record lows, but new cases and hospitalizations have started to trend upward again. The Department of Public Health counted 989 newly confirmed cases between July 8 and July 14, more in one week than it tracked in the two-week span ending July 6. [Read more.]( 3. [Democrats' Budget Plan Pushes A Shift To Clean Energy. Here's How It Would Work]( There are a lot of details that still need to be worked out, but right now it looks like utilities would be required to get 80% of their electricity from zero-emission sources by 2030, and 100% by 2035. [Read more.]( 4. [Biden Says The U.S. Would Offer Aid To Cuba If He Had Assurances About The Regime]( "I would be prepared to give significant amounts of vaccine if in fact I was assured an international organization would administer those vaccines and do it in a way that average citizens would have access to those vaccines." [Read more.]( 5. [Boston's Exam Schools Adopt A New Admissions Policy, Aiming To Build Equity]( There were relatively few voices of dissent among among the 50-plus members of the public who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting, but over the course of nearly a year of public debate, many have argued that this reform will undermine the mission of the selective schools. [Read more.]( Support the news Anything Else? - Gen Z is feeling a bit "sour" on COVID vaccines, so pop-star Olivia Rodrigo [hung out with President Biden]( earlier this week to tell young people the shots are "good 4 you." - Killing a giant spider for a grateful customer? [This guy is the MVP of Amazon delivery drivers]( IMHO. - What keeps me up at night isn’t an externally generated noise, writes Julie Wittes Schlack [in this commentary](. My tinnitus is real and a metaphor for our time. It’s hyper-vigilance, a condition generated by Twitter and Trump and made worse by the pandemic. [WBUR] Your Daily Must Listen [R]( Boston | The Big - And Small - Ways We've All Changed Because Of COVID-19]( [Listen]( ESSAYS & COMMENTARIES [How To Write A Sympathy Note In The Time Of Coronavirus]( The Pandemic Taught Me I Had A Drinking Problem. [Read more.]( In Defense Of The Quarantine 15. [Read more.]( I Know The Water Is Coming. But I Can't Bear To Sell My Family's Cottage. [Read more.]( Get thoughtful commentaries and essays sent to your inbox every Sunday. [Sign up for the Cognoscenti newsletter now.]( What We're Reading - Future of Work report part of terrible trend ([CommonWealth Magazine]( - Inside Facebook’s Data Wars ([The New York Times]( - She Drowned in Ted Kennedy's Car — and Mary Jo Kopechne's Family Says They'll 'Never Stop Looking' for Answers ([People]( Tell Me Something Good [A Pro Cyclist Rode An Unofficial, Solo Tour De France And Beat The Pack]( Lachlan Morton beat everyone to the finish in Paris by five days. Before you go: A [petition]( I can get behind. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📨 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( [WBUR]( [95289b97-66e8-43d4-a174-3bc3520a79a9.png]( [Instagram](  [Twitter]( [Facebook]( Want to change how you receive these emails? 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