New month, new T closures

Also: Steward woes raise questions about for-profit health care; how Maine struggles to handle troubled youth [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  February 1, 2024 ☁️ Cloudy, with a high near 43. Good Morning Boston, It's February! Looking for a Valentine’s gift that does more? Then [send Winston Flowers from WBUR](. These roses will not only impress your Valentine, but they also help support our journalism, including the newsletters you depend on. (It's a great twofer, in my opinion!) [Click here to learn more]( about our roses and delivery options, which are 10% off through Feb. 8. The new month also means new MBTA closures are coming around the bend, as General Manager Phil Eng and friends keep chugging along on [their plan to lift all slow zones]( by the end of the year. Here's a preview of what riders should prepare for this month: - Feb. 5-14: Red Line service between Alewife and Harvard will be suspended 10 straight days, starting this coming Monday. And at 8:45 p.m. each night, the closure will be extended all the way downtown to Park Street. The rest of the Red Line will be open, but the T says riders should prepare for waits to be about two-to-four minutes longer due to the extra time it takes to turn around trains at Harvard. - Your backup plan: Free shuttle buses will stop at [all closed stations]( and the T is also making commuter rail service free between Porter Square and North Station during the diversion. (MBTA) - Feb. 17-18: Orange Line trains will stop running all weekend between Ruggles and Forest Hills. Free shuttle buses will sub in and the commuter rail will be free that weekend between Forest Hills, Ruggles, Back Bay and South Station. - Feb. 20-March 8: A chunk of the Green Line will shut down for 18 days, starting on the Tuesday after Presidents' Day. The closure will run west from Copley: to Babcock Street on the B branch, to Cleveland Circle on the C branch and to Brookline Hills on the D branch. (That means all downtown service will be E branch trains.) - Free shuttles will run at [most of the closed stops](. It's also worth noting no fares will be collected at Copley, Babcock Street or Brookline Hills, regardless of which way you're headed. - Feb. 24-25: Shuttles will replace Red Line service between Harvard and Broadway for the full weekend. The commuter rail will also again be free between Porter Square and North Station. - On the commuter rail: This weekend, [most of the Fitchburg line]( will be replaced with shuttle buses, which will drop off passengers at Alewife to connect with the Red Line. Next weekend (Feb. 10-11), all of the Lowell line will be replaced with [two different shuttle bus options](. - No deal: The Newton teachers strike continues today, meaning students will miss their 10th straight day of school. It also means Newton school officials will look to start scheduling makeup days over April vacation, since the school year isn't allowed to go past June 30. - Newton's School Committee will vote tonight on Superintendent Anna Nolin's [plan to start scheduling school over April break]( after using all the remaining weekdays in June. Depending how many more days are canceled by the strike (or snow), they may even need to make up class over February break or on Saturdays. - Go deeper: WBUR's Carrie Jung has [more here]( on how the two-week strike is being received by the community. - On Beacon Hill: The Massachusetts Senate is slated to vote on — and in all likelihood pass — a sweeping gun reform bill today. The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Cindy Creem, told WBUR's Water Wuthmann that the proposal will further reduce gun violence in a state that already ranks among the safest in the country. (Meanwhile, the leading local gun rights group says the bill is["so convoluted"]( they've given up on proposing amendments.) - The expected passage will tee up negotiations with the House, which passed a similar — but slightly different — bill in October. You can [read more about the details and differences here](. - And then there were six: Massachusetts is about to lose two of its eight mobile sports betting platforms. WynnBet and Betr [plan to withdraw from the state]( than a year after they launched (though WynnBet's in-person Encore casino sportsbook will stay open). - By the numbers: Roughly 80% of all bets in Massachusetts in December were placed through DraftKings and FanDuel. WynnBet and Betr together accounted for less than 2%. P.S.— The [league-leading]( Celtics have their annual rivalry home game against the ([confusingly inconsistent]( Los Angeles Lakers tonight. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. (and it will cost you at least $200 to get in the door). Nik DeCosta-Klipa Editor, Newsletters [Follow](  Support the news  The Rundown [‘Shame on Us’: How Maine Struggles to Handle Troubled Youth]( Even as fewer teens are being prosecuted, the state is not providing enough intervention, rehabilitation and other help. [Read more.]( [‘Shame on Us’: How Maine Struggles to Handle Troubled Youth]( Even as fewer teens are being prosecuted, the state is not providing enough intervention, rehabilitation and other help. [Read more.]( [Steward's financial woes raise questions about for-profit health care]( While the fate of Steward Health Care's nine hospitals in Massachusetts remains in doubt, lawmakers and others are discussing the precarious state of the medical system. Many are pointing fingers at the role of for-profit companies, like Steward, in health care. [Read more.]( [Steward's financial woes raise questions about for-profit health care]( While the fate of Steward Health Care's nine hospitals in Massachusetts remains in doubt, lawmakers and others are discussing the precarious state of the medical system. Many are pointing fingers at the role of for-profit companies, like Steward, in health care. [Read more.]( [Healey, Boston officials tour Roxbury rec center ahead of immigrants' arrival from Logan]( About 75 people are expected to move into the facility Wednesday. Healey thanked the Roxbury community for vacating the center until the end of May, saying, "We're here today because we really don't have a choice." [Read more.]( [Healey, Boston officials tour Roxbury rec center ahead of immigrants' arrival from Logan]( About 75 people are expected to move into the facility Wednesday. Healey thanked the Roxbury community for vacating the center until the end of May, saying, "We're here today because we really don't have a choice." [Read more.]( [House passes bipartisan tax bill to expand child tax credit]( The bill includes $33 billion to expand the widely used child tax credit for three years — including the tax season currently underway, provided the bill quickly passes the Senate. [Read more.]( [House passes bipartisan tax bill to expand child tax credit]( The bill includes $33 billion to expand the widely used child tax credit for three years — including the tax season currently underway, provided the bill quickly passes the Senate. [Read more.]( [Cambridge-based Biogen plans to shut down its controversial Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm]( Biogen will stop developing its Alzheimer’s treatment Aduhelm, a drug once seen as a potential blockbuster before stumbling soon after its launch a couple of years ago. The Cambridge drugmaker said that it will end a study of the drug needed for full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and it will stop sales of Aduhelm. [Read more.]( [Cambridge-based Biogen plans to shut down its controversial Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm]( Biogen will stop developing its Alzheimer’s treatment Aduhelm, a drug once seen as a potential blockbuster before stumbling soon after its launch a couple of years ago. The Cambridge drugmaker said that it will end a study of the drug needed for full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and it will stop sales of Aduhelm. [Read more.]( Anything Else? - This weekend is your final chance to see the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum's rare Steve McQueen visit. It's also an opportunity to visit the official groundhog of Massachusetts, catch a queer comedy show in Roslindale and jam out at Aeronaut's taproom in Everett. Get all the details in [our art team's full list of things to do this weekend](. - WBUR's Arielle Gray asked fellow Black writers in Boston what books they'd recommend others read during Black History Month. [The list]( includes essay collections, memoirs and explorations of food. - It seemed like a simple question: "How is everybody doing?" However, the social media check-in from Elmo — yes, the beloved furry red Sesame Street character — has [elicited a remarkable flood of honest responses](. - The Brattle is kicking off a yearlong celebration of Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary this weekend with [an 11-film celebration of comedy star Jean Arthur](. It will highlight her most deceptively deft performances, from “The Talk of the Town” to "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."  What We're Reading 📚 - A Boston Globe columnist crossed journalistic lines. Should the Globe still have run his story? ([Poynter]( - The Rise of Technoauthoritarianism ([The Atlantic]( - The Messenger to Close After Less Than a Year ([The New](  Tell Me Something Good [Carrying a 'seed of kindness' from a stranger in Nairobi to Massachusetts]( Biar Kon tells the story of a woman's act of generosity when he was 17, which inspired him to help someone else in the U.S. five years later. [Read more.]( [Carrying a 'seed of kindness' from a stranger in Nairobi to Massachusetts]( Biar Kon tells the story of a woman's act of generosity when he was 17, which inspired him to help someone else in the U.S. five years later. [Read more.]( Listen: The Common chats with WBUR's Priyanka Dayal McCluskey to [explain what's going on with Steward Health Care]( and what the company's struggles could mean for the region. Play: [WBUR's daily mini crossword.]( Can you keep your streak going? Before you go: I'm signing [the petition](. 😎 Forward to a friend. 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