Afternoon Report: Wednesday, July 30, 2025

President Trump is pushing Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. The City of Revere has sworn in its first-ever female Police Chief. An end may be coming to the Massachusetts public defenders strike. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ News Radio. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is WBZ, Boston's news radio, redefining local news.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
It's four o'clock right now in Boston. Eighty six degrees
feels more like ninety two. Good afternoon. I'm Nicole Davis,
and here's what's happening. President Trump has been pushing FED
Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, even on social
media today claiming there's quote no inflation now. The Fed
earlier made their latest move on this or black thereof.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Unlike prior decisions, the vote to keep the federal funds
rate at four and a quarter to four and a
half percent was not unanimous, with Fed members Michelle Bowman
and Christopher Waller each voting to lower rates by a
quarter point. The decision to hold the study was expected,
and the Fed backed up the decision by pointing out
a low unemployment rate and inflation remaining somewhat elevated. President

(00:52):
Trump criticized the decision, saying, hi interest rates are hurting
people trying to buy houses.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Now is CBS's Jason Brooks, three governor were at the
Fed dissented with the decision. We'll have much more coming
up in Bloomberg Business at four oh eight. The immediate
threat of last night's tsunami has passed, but local officials
in California, Alaska, and Hawaii are urging people to be
careful along the coast, at least for the time being.
That tsunami was triggered by one of the biggest earthquakes

(01:19):
on record. Last night's earthquake a magnitude eight to eight
off the coast of eastern Russia.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
The Great kit near Kamchatka, injuring several people and the
remote Russian peninsula. Japan initially ordered the evacuation of many residents.
Waves of up to three meters is till possible for
coast to Chile, Costa Rica and other islands in the Pacific.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
That is the BBC SIU Montgomery Now. Damage appeared to
be limited Stateside. A few docks washed away and damaged
in California, some parking lots flooded in Hawaii. At four two,
the city of Revere has sworn in its first ever
female police chief, Maria Avita, is also the first female
chief in all of Suffolk County Now. She's been serving
as interim chief since June, when former chief David Callahan retired.

(02:06):
LaVita is a native of Revere. She's been at the
Department for more than thirty years. Mayor Patrick Keith says
her qualifications were a cut above the rest, and her
swearing in is a proud moment for all of us.
Two months since public defenders stopped taking cases, there's movement
on Beacon Hill.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
It's become a constitutional crisis in Massachusetts court rooms as
bar advocates demand better pay. Scores of criminal defendants have
been released, their cases dismissed, with no one to represent them. Now,
state lawmakers have announced a proposal to increase those long
stagnant salaries in district court bar advocates would go from
making sixty five to eighty five dollars per hour. That

(02:45):
still falls far short of the rate in other New
England states and short of the one hundred dollars per
hour advocates have been calling for. Lawmakers also want to
bring on more state hired public defenders and prevent future
disruptions by putting new contractual requirements in place. The workstop
it cheers among private bar advocates who do currently take
the vast majority of cases in the state where defendants

(03:07):
can afford to hire a lawyer. Madison Rogers WBZ Boston's
News radio.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
We have a heat advisory up until eight o'clock tonight
except for the Capan Islands, and it's another hot and
steamy day out there. Many of us still in the
nineties and will be for the next few hours as
we continue to warm up. Now keep this in mind
as we start to make our way here into the
late afternoon and the evening, there is a chance we
could see some storms. We could see scattered severe to

(03:34):
our strong to severe storms as part of this. But
right now I'm looking at the radar and I don't
see anything popping up here in Massachusetts just yet. There
is some activity in parts of New Hampshire, in Vermonton
in Connecticut, but right now again here in the Boston area,
so far we're good. But later on tonight all this
will move through. We have a lone year seventy two,
much cooler out there tomorrow, really big change in the

(03:56):
weather here for the next couple of days. We will
have rain at times tomorrow, especially south of Boston hen
you're seventy five in the city, but temperatures will fall
into the sixties throughout the afternoon. Periods of heavy rain
Tomorrow night alone near sixty, then cloudy and rainy at times.
On Friday high only sixty five ninety two in Attleborough.
We're at ninety five in Gardener north of Boston, ninety

(04:20):
two in Haveril in Boston. Right now at four six,
it's eighty eight degrees. If you've ever wanted to eat
Guinness with a spoon, well now you can. You's wbz's
Jared Brosnan.

Speaker 5 (04:30):
If I ask if you want a pint of Guinness,
you'd probably assume I'm talking about the beer. But at
Van Lewin, I'm talking about a pint of ice cream.

Speaker 6 (04:36):
They're like, what gin, that's the beer. If they're any
alcohol in there, I say, no, whoa, you can have
it right now.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
If they get a couple of pints of the ice
cream versus the pints of the beer, they're not going
to be getting.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Tipsy if they drink.

Speaker 6 (04:47):
No, no, no, no, you can have it all day long,
No worry, no partment.

Speaker 5 (04:51):
That Tan works at the Newberry Street location and says,
the lovely day for a Guinness flavor is a hit.

Speaker 6 (04:56):
Come get it's applied last because it's not gonna last
so long, selling at least like thirty pints a day.

Speaker 5 (05:03):
I grabbed one for myself, and I gotta say it
does taste like guinness, just with some chocolate chunks mixed in.
You can't get a taste test since it's already packaged,
but you can't pick up a pint at any of
the Van Lewin locations for about twelve dollars from Newberry Street.
I'm jere Brosnan WBZ, Boston's news radio.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
State gambling regulator is not happy with Draft Kings, slapping
the Boston based company with a big fine over credit
card wagers. The Globe reports Draft Kings was fined four
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Regulators say the company broke
the law for almost a year by letting people wager
with credit cards. You can't do that here in Massachusetts. This,
by the way, the largest fine the state has imposed

(05:39):
so far since sports betting was legalized. Along with paying
that fine, the company has been ordered to return all
customer money that was wagered on credit cards. In a
statement to WBZ, Draft Kings says it is quote dedicated
to upholding the regulatory standards set by each state and
jurisdiction in which we operate and dine out Boston's almost back.

Speaker 7 (05:59):
Dine Out Boston is a two week celebration of the
city's restaurants from August third through August sixteenth. You might
know it by its old name Boston Restaurant Week. It
happens twice a year in Boston. Tourism officials say more
than one hundred and seventy five eateries of participating. This
time around, they'll be offering special, prefixed menus and an
attempt to drum up new business. This comes at a
poignant time in Boston's culinary scene. Earlier this year, The

(06:21):
Michelin Guide announced the city would join its Northeast Cities
edition this November. Jeremy Rusk WBZ, Boston's.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
News Radio, You are now in the league. For news
updates throughout the day. Listen to WBZ News Radio on
the iHeartRadio app. I'm Nicole Davis wb Z and Boston's
News Radio