Afternoon Report: Wednesday, July 8, 2026

From walking the hospital halls to walking the picket lines. President Trump is not happy with Iran as the the US prepares for another night of strikes. The US is out of the World Cup, but European politicians want FIFA  to investigate after the red card controversy involving the Americans. Stay in "the loop" with WBZ newsradio.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Seventy five degrees in Boston at four o'clock. Good afternoon.
I'm Ben Parker. Here's what's happening. From walking the halls
of the hospital to walking the picket lines mass General.
Brigham nurses are off the job today, demanding better wages
and benefits, more for ability disease James Rojas.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hundreds, if not thousands, of nurses and many of their
supporters have taken over Francis Street outside Brigham and Women's Hospital,
mostly sticking to the sidewalk, but making their voices be heard.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
If the nurses are outside, then something is wrong inside.

Speaker 4 (00:31):
Everyone out here.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
We work hard.

Speaker 5 (00:32):
We work hard every day, we help our patients, and
we deserve fairness.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Mary, a former nurse, came out to show her support.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm out here for my daughter in law, for all
of these mothers, all of these fathers who are working.

Speaker 6 (00:47):
Very hot, day in day out to take care the
sickest of sick.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Nurses have been very vocal and creative with their homemade signs,
some that take a more humorous approach to others that
are a bit more blunts about their concerns. And Brigham
and Women's Jeans throhas WBZ Boston's news radio.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
President Trump's not happy with Iran, and as the US
prepares for another night of strikes, the President says the
military could go after Iranian infrastructure, things like bridges and
electrical plants.

Speaker 6 (01:16):
They have desalinization plants. We'll take them out, and we
have to hate to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's probably the one I would like not to do.

Speaker 6 (01:23):
Lison. We attacked carg Island last night.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
We knocked out a piece.

Speaker 6 (01:28):
I said, don't touch the ul because maybe we'll take
over carg Island.

Speaker 5 (01:33):
We may take over Cargoland. There's not a thing they
can do about it.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
The President making his remarks on the sidelines at the
NATO summit in Turkey, and says the strikes are continued
retaligation for Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait
of Hormuz. President Trump also says the US will license
its Patriot air defense systems to be made overseas for Ukraine.
This is a significant boost for Ukraine, which has been
in a prolonged conflict with Russia. The President making the

(01:58):
announcement during a meeting with Ukrainian President Voladimir Zelensky. President
Trump's still hoping the courts will step in to prevent
him from having to pay some five million dollars in
damages to a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her
decades ago.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
The five million dollar defamation award to writer E. Gen
Carroll stemmed from what President Trump said about an earlier
case Carol brought in which Trump was found liable for
sexual assault. The President denied he committed any offense, and
even after the nation's highest court rejected his final appeal
in the defamation case last week, he's now filed another
notice of an appeal of this latest order to pay.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
That is ABC. Stephen Portnoy the Massachusetts Department of Public
Utilities launching a new grant program. It will help communities
participate in energy infrastructure decisions. The program provides financial assistance
to eligible community groups along with municipalities and other qualifying entities.
DPU says by reducing financial barriers to participation, the program

(02:54):
will increase the diversity of voices and viewpoints able to
engage in certain proceedings, and the program allows grantees to
cover costs for things like attorneys, expert witnesses, community experts,
and other eligible expenses. Pretty decent day, and we'll have
a pretty decent night coming up as well. Temperatures will
be about seventy downtown, sixty four in some of the suburbs,
and mainly clear skies, and the humidity stays on the

(03:17):
lower side, but that will start to change tomorrow. Times
of clouds and sun we're going to make a run
toward ninety degrees, and the humidity, especially in the afternoon,
we'll start to creep higher. So we'll have that sticky
feel as we head into Tomorrow night with temperatures in
the low seventies, partly to mostly cloudy skies and perhaps
a passing shower, and then on Friday, intervals of clouds
and sunshine, still very warm, very humid, temperatures upper eighties.

(03:40):
We could hit ninety in a couple of the hottest spots.
We also may have to watch out for a shower
a thunderstorm late in the day on Friday before we
get less humid air in here on Saturday, with temperatures
close to eighty degrees with sunshine. Right now seventy five
in Boston. As America continues to celebrate two undred and
fifty years since declaring independence, fragments of freedom are on

(04:01):
display in Massachusetts, wbz's Jay Will lect with details.

Speaker 5 (04:04):
The State Library on Beacon Hill hosts a pop up
archive made up of over fifteen institutions, including Northeastern University,
where Molly Brown works.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Their special Collections are comprised of records that document neighborhood activism,
neighborhood infrastructure, and growth and change in Boston.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
Lis appears in his processing archivist at the State Library.
The theme here is Fragments of Freedom, tied together by
America to fifty, but inspired with the fragments of freedom
that followed civil rights and women's suffrage.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
This is my personal favorite collection that we have. It
is the Colonel Alfred Steedman Hartwell Collection. One of his
jobs was to investigate the inequitable recruiting and pay practices
that were happening for black troops who enlisted.

Speaker 5 (04:44):
Everything from letters to JFK about the Birmingham bombings to
the original seventeen seventy six newspaper clippings of the Declaration
of Independence. Jay Will let WBZ Boston's News.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Radio, the US is out of the World Cup now,
but European politicians wat to investigate after that red card
controversy involving the Americans at.

Speaker 6 (05:03):
Least thirty five European lawmakers are calling for an investigation
in FIFA President Gianni Infantino over concerns about his involvement
in the suspension of a red card against US striker
Fuller and Valligan. FIFA lifted his suspension for Monday's US
Belgium match after President Donald Trump intervened, although the US
lost four to one. Anyway, I related just that fhit.
I didn't tell him what to do.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
I can't tell him what to do, but and I
don't believe he made the decision.

Speaker 6 (05:29):
I think it was a committee that made the decision.
In a statement, European Parliament lawmakers Barry Andrews, Laura Walters
and others said the decision to change the rules mid
tournament is a disgrace and a perversion of justice. They're
asking EU national football associations to press FIFA's ethics committee
to find out more. FIFA has said it was the
decision of a disciplinary committee. I'm Jennifer King.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
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