Afternoon Report: Tuesday, November 18, 2025

The Senate could vote soon on a House-passed bill to release the Epstein files. Brian Walshe pleads guilty to two lesser charges in the death of his wife, Ana. A book binder in Charlestown bucks the trend. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is WBZ, Boston's news radio. We defining local news
forty seven degrees in Boston at four o'clock. Good afternoon,
I'm Ben Parker. Here's what's happening in Washington. The US
House overwhelmingly passing a bill that forces the Justice Department
to release its files on the late convicted sex offender

(00:23):
Jeffrey Epstein. The CBS's Allison Keys tells us the vote
just one short of unanimous.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
House Speaker Mike Johnson tried repeatedly to keep the bill
from coming to the floor and told the Chamber.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
We want the bill to be amended so it doesn't
in at the same time violate victim privacy create new victims.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
But the committee's top Democrat, Jamie Raskin, roared that President
Trump could have already released the files.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
You don't need anybody calling for the Senate to slow
things down for more.

Speaker 5 (00:48):
Weeks and more months.

Speaker 6 (00:50):
The American people.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Have had it.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Allison Keys, CBS News warships.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
That bill does now head to the Senate, where Majority
Leader John Thune says the Chamber will act swiftly on it.
Tragedy bought a Cape Caud work site one worker's dead
to others injured after a trench collapses in Yarmouth on
South Shore Drive. This happened in front of a restaurant
where sewer constructions underway. The conditions of the injured workers

(01:13):
so far not released. Today the first day of jury
selection and a surprise at the Brian Walsh murder trial.
Before the start of efforts to see the jury, Walsh
admitted to two charges and the death of his wife Anna,
but not to her murder. CBS News Boston's Penny Commits
at the Deadam Courthouse.

Speaker 5 (01:28):
As part of.

Speaker 7 (01:29):
These now guilty please, Brian Walsh essentially had to admit
that his wife Anna Walsh is dead. This was a
huge development. This has been something that's been up in
the air. As you'll remember on a Walsh's body has
never been found. Now the big question for the trial
is going to be less of if she died and
how she died. With Walsh still maintaining his not guilty

(01:53):
plead to her murder, Walsh did plead guilty to misleading
a police investigation and improper.

Speaker 5 (01:58):
Conveyance of a dead Walsh.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
He is accused of murdering his wife early on New
Year's Day in twenty twenty three. It's a long standing
tradition in Boston, and today the tradition continues.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
So forty five foot white spruce arrived on Boston Common
on a flatbed trailer. Santa Claus and Mayor Michelle Wou
on hand for its arrival.

Speaker 6 (02:18):
We remember our friends. We're going to stand together and
support each other, and we've had each other's back for
over a century.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
It was one hundred and eight years ago, to be exact,
when Boston sent a train filled with medical aid to
Halifax after a ship explosion in Halifax Harbor killed more
than seventeen hundred people.

Speaker 6 (02:34):
Nova Scotia never forgot, and these bonds will continue to
persist no matter what's happening in every other part of
the world. This is a gift that lights up are
common and lights up our hearts, honoring our partnership and friendship.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
Woo drawing some criticism for traveling with her family to
Nova Scotia at city expense to cut the tree. The
mayor un apologetic as the tree arrived, saying her trip
helped cement Boston's connection to Halifax. On Boston Common. Mike
maclum WBZ, Boston's news radio.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
They were down and out and now they're up and back.
A widely used internet infrastructure company says it resolved an
issue that led to outages impacting users of everything from chat,
GPT and online gaming to the new Jersey transit system
this morning. Cloud Flair says it is continuing to monitor
for errors and insure all services are back to normal.
Other platforms that experienced outages include Shopify, dropbox x, and

(03:26):
Moody's credit ratings service. In France, National Railway Company SNCF's
website was affected. The company warned customers some information and
schedules might not be available or up to date. Few
clouds in the air, but we've been overall mostly clear
today and will be overall mostly clear as we head
into the evening. A few more clouds will get themselves

(03:46):
involved later tonight. It's none of their business, really, but
they want to get involved. Thirty four in the city,
twenties in the suburbs, and then sunshine and clouds tomorrow,
forty seven for the high clear to partly cloudy thirty
four in Boston again tomorrow and I in mid to
upper ties again in the inland suburbs. Some clouds and
a few breaks of sunshine. Thursday, high of forty five
and then mostly cloudy, a little breezy, a little warmer too.

(04:09):
On Friday we get into the low fifties with a
couple of showers, especially afternoon and evening. Right now forty
seven degrees in Boston. An old fashioned career still alive
and well tucked away in a corner of Charlestown. Wz'
s Hyles Schaffel has the tales in.

Speaker 8 (04:22):
Age of ebooks and smartphones, bookbinding is kind of a
niche profession.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
It has shrunk a lot.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
I've seen a lot of change over the years.

Speaker 8 (04:30):
But this one is still going strong for one hundred
and twenty five years. Harcourt Bindery sits on the sixth
floor of an old industrial building in Charlestown. They fix
and make books here by hand. Frank is one of
the workers here and says there's a charm to really
holding a book instead of scrolling.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
And some people even write in the in the margins,
which I don't do. You know, It's something that you
can interact with in a very tactile way.

Speaker 8 (04:52):
The company says this is the oldest still operating hand
bookbinder in the country. The manager Robert has been in
the game for fifty one years. I asked him which
book sticks.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Out the notebook between Thomas Edison and his assistant, we
reproduced a duplicate.

Speaker 8 (05:09):
It was too rare to leave the original on display.
Kyle Shaffle to BBZ, Boston's News.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Radio, get ready for some good food in Boston. All right,
maybe there already is some good food in Boston, but
tonight the world will know for sure. Wbz's Matt Shearer explains.

Speaker 5 (05:23):
Finally a place at the table. It's time to shine
for restaurants in Boston, as for the first time ever,
they will be a part of this year's Michelin Guide.
The big reveal for those making the prestigious dining list
takes place tonight in Philly. You can watch the ceremony
on a YouTube live stream beginning at seven fifteen. The
top score is three Michelin Stars, very rarely handed out
only a handful across the country. Some of the Boston

(05:45):
restaurants in the running for at least one star include
La Padrona, Pammy's, and night Shade Noodle Bar. Matt Shearer,
WBZ Boston's News Radio. Apparently, dancing with wolves is a thing.
But wandering too close to wolves that's not a thing.
It can beangerous and one wildlife photographer witness demand get
way too close.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Shocking video from Yellowstone National Park shows a man getting
dangerously close to a pack of black wolves.

Speaker 6 (06:10):
This could end.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Very badly for that guy.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Bystanders watching in horror as the man moves towards them.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
He kept approaching, kept approaching, and we're like, oh my word,
this is crazy.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
The wolves eventually retreat and the man walks away. Previously,
the park is seen troubling close encounters with bison, but
people getting too close to wildlife is a trend that
extends far beyond Yellowstones Borders and his.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
ABC is Sophie Flay. You are now in the loop.
For news updates throughout the day. Listen to WBZ News
Radio on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Ben Parker, WBZ, Boston's
news radio