Mid Day Report: Monday, December 8, 2025

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley will meet with local officials and employees of the Allston Car Wash, some Massachusetts residents have apparently been thinking about moving out, and average rent in Boston has gone down since 2021. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio.

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Twenty five degrees in Boston at eleven o'clock. It feels
more like twelve outside. Very windy out there too, under
a sunny sky. We'll get the forecast coming up in
just a few minutes. I'm Nicole Davis. Here is what's happening.
Later today, around four o'clock, Congresswoman Iana Presley says she'll
be spending a bit of time in Allston meeting with
local officials and formerly detained employees of the Alston car Wash.

(00:32):
That car wash was the site of a recent ice
ray that's made national headlines. Advocates for the employees say
they were taken by IS despite having more clearances, and
a Boston University student has claimed to be the one
who called ice on them multiple times, and most of
the employees are out on bond. The congresswoman says today's
event is a quote solidarity roundtable, with immigration advocacy groups

(00:53):
also in attendance. At eleven oh one. More pressure today
on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to put out the full
video of air strikes on a suspected drug boat in
the Caribbean the attacking question included a second strike that
killed survivors of the first. It's a move the White
House has defended, but critics call a war crime. So far,
Hegseth has not publicly said if he will support that release.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Democrats who have seen the video demanding it be made public.
A source who has reviewed the footage tells ABC News
that after the initial strike, the video shows the survivors
clinging for their lives to the wreckage of the overturned boat,
appearing incapacitated and waving to something overhead. Another source says,
roughly forty minutes after that first attack, the military struck again,

(01:37):
killing those survivors.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Not is ABC's Mary Bruce. We're getting some developing news
this hour, as President Trump is reportedly planning a new
twelve billion dollar aid package for American farmers, who lately
have struggled to sell their crops, largely due to terrace
on China. A White House official now says the new
plan will be unbuiled at some point this afternoon. Overall,
farmers have backed the president politically, but his rest of

(02:00):
trade policies and changing teriff rates have caused some to
question his tactics and his motives being Tom on Capitol
Hill later on this week. Democrats will get the vote
they were promised on Affordable Care Act to tax credits.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Tax credits were the key issue that led to the
longest government shutdown in US history, which ended after Republican
Senate Majority Leader John Thunne promised Democrats would get a
vote on the issue. Since then, Republicans admit they've been
struggling to craft legislation that would get enough votes to
fix the core issue of rising medical costs. A vote
in the Senate's expected on Thursday. It's unlikely a proposal

(02:34):
from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will get enough Republican support,
but it will force an uncomfortable vote for the Senators.
I'm Scott Carr in Washington.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
And Massachusetts residents apparently have eyes elsewhere. A new survey
from The Globe in Suffolk University shows one out of
every three residents of Massachusetts surveyed have at least considered
packing up and taking off leaving the state over the
past year. Major reason here, they say it's just too
expensive to pay for housing and pay the bills, especially utilities.

(03:04):
Many polled also say they expect their financial situation to
either stay in bad shape or get worse over the
next year. We've reached out to the Governor's office for comment.
Lots of sun out there today, but we are looking
at a very chilly afternoon in the forecast, many of
us seeing a high of only about twenty five or so.
But we've got the winds right now blowing from the
northwest at just about fifteen twenty miles an hour, gusting

(03:27):
to about thirty plus. So you put the math together
with that, and you've got real field tempts in the
single digits and low teens. Mostly seeing those single digit
real fields if you're i'd say west of four ninety
five and into southern New Hampshire and Vermont. But still
one of those days, even though it looks really nice outside,
it got a bundle up. We have a load tonight
about sixteen clear skies, not as windy, and we could

(03:50):
get down to about the upper single digits if you're
outside four ninety five. For tomorrow, sun giving way to clouds.
We have a high in the low, timid thirties and
then warmer still on Wednesday, I could see a bit
of rain in the evening hours and a high in
the mid forties right now temperature wise twenty two in Southbridge,
where twenty eight at the Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich,
north of Boston, twenty four in Denvers. In Boston right

(04:12):
now at eleven o five partly cloudy, twenty five degrees
and it feels more like twelve. You could call it
a holiday miracle here. But a new report is finding
the average rent in Boston it's actually going down for
the first time since twenty twenty one.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
When I asked folks in Alston whether they think their
rent is reasonable or not, I noticed a common theme
for Boston. I don't know, it's probably average, I think
relative to the rest of the city.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
I've got a bargain.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
I would say it's average with what the area considers
to be average.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
So even a good deal doesn't really feel like one.
The average rent in Boston, according to a Bloomberg report,
is just over three thousand dollars, but it's actually gone
down for the first time since twenty twenty one. Many units,
particularly in neighborhoods like Austin, are sitting vacant at rates
not seen since the pandemic. I think it's a step
in the right direction. Hopefully it can get lower because
it's still really high.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
As a student, your cost of living is very important,
and the fact that's gone down signals good things.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
From Austin Kyle Bray, WBZ, Boston's News Radio.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Just about two weeks from now, people here in the
Northern Hemisphere will experience the shortest day and therefore the
longest night of the year. The wintertimes, increasing darkness and
decreasing tempts can have a big influence on your mood.

Speaker 5 (05:20):
The American Psychiatric Association estimates that nearly forty percent of
US experienced seasonal effective disorder, with its difficulty.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Sleeping, losing interest in the things that they normally enjoy
doing DT's energy.

Speaker 5 (05:33):
Doctor kowshil Natavodi, Assistant Dean of Wellness at Upstate University
Hospital in New York, recommends vitamin D to people suffering
seasonal depression.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Because it affects energy, mood, muscle, aches and pains.

Speaker 5 (05:45):
And exposure to very bright light in the morning can
trick your body into thinking the sun is up long
before it rises. Jim Ryan abcos.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
You are now in the loop. For news updates throughout
the day, listen to WBZ Means Radio on the iHeartRadio
I'm Nicole Davis w b Z, and Boston's news radio

Speaker 1 (06:05):
MHM.