Mid Day Report: Saturday, November 15, 2025

The FAA is rolling back on flight restrictions, Former Vice President Kamala Harris brings her book tour to Medford, and conservation efforts to keep one key fish booming are working according to the latest data. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio. 

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:06):
News, sunshine and forty degrees in Boston. Hello, and thanks
for being with us on this Saturday. I'm Sherry Small.
Here's what's happening. A good news if your travel plans
include flying somewhere for the Thanksgiving holiday. The FAA rolling
back flight restrictions. We get details on that from CBS

(00:28):
News Boston's Tammy Lutasa.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Airlines only have to cut three percent of their flights,
down from the six percent which was mandated during the
longest government shut down ever. Thousands of flights were affected,
including Ann's flight to Disney last week.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
A week made a huge difference.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yes, Florida airports were actually crazy, so on Sunday we
ended up having a one hour delay. Officials say the
rollback comes as staffing levels for air traffic controllers have
improved since they missed two paychecks during the stalemate.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
There if you.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Travel coming up for me as well, and I don't
want them to get delayed, some will choose to avoid
the skies and hit the road instead. Just in case.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
I am a little concerned.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
How long will it take for the entire aviation system
to completely stabilize. That's still unclear.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
And right now flight aware reporting. So far today Logan
has seen nine flights canceled, forty flights delayed. Things also
returning to normal at the JFK Presidential Library this morning.
They reopened at ten o'clock this morning after being closed
for more than a month during the forty three day
government shutdown. Admission will be free to all visitors through
the end of November. At the JFK, Cafe will reopen

(01:41):
on Monday, and the Research Room will reopen by appointment
only on Tuesday. The library hours are ten am to
five pm, except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
The trial of the Cohazit man accused of killing and
dismembering the body of his wife begins next week for
his WBC's Brook McCart Dorothy. With an update on Brian

(02:01):
Wallah in.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
Norfolk Superior Court, Judge Diane for Neer said a doctor
found that Brian Walsh is competent after weeks of evaluation
at Bridgewater State Hospital, which means he will stand trial,
with jury selections set to start on Tuesday and opening
statements could begin as soon as December first. The defense
had also requested the trial be moved out of Norfolk
County because of extensive media coverage on Walsh's case, but

(02:24):
Judge Forner denied this motion.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
The publicity in this case peaked in January twenty twenty
three when the defendant was charged in connection with the
victim's murder, and has decreased in frequency over time time,
undermining a presumption of prejudice.

Speaker 5 (02:40):
She also said there is no reason to bring in
jurors from another county because there is a large enough
pool within Norfolk County. Walsh is accused of murdering and
dismembering his wife Anna in their cohas at home on
New Year's Day twenty twenty three. Her body has never
been found. Brooke McCarthy WBZ, Boston's news radio.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
And now the fort Da WBC A weather four K.
We're seeing a chili breeze today, sun will fade behind
some clouds. We'll see a high of forty six degrees Tonight,
cloudy and breezy, some rain developing but ending by morning
evening lows near forty, but then temperatures will rise through
the forties overnight tomorrow on Sunday, It's going to be

(03:17):
a warmer earlier highs near fifty five early, with temperatures
likely falling into the forties in the afternoon. We'll see
some wind and clouds trying to break for a little
bit of sunshine late in the day. On Monday Chili Day,
a mix of sun and clouds, but a high of
forty five with acueather real field tempts remaining mainly in

(03:39):
the thirties. It's going to be a breezy day on
Tuesday Chili with more sunshine and a high of forty seven.
Right now in Boston, it's sunny and forty degrees. It
feels closer to thirty five. At eleven oh five, former
Vice President Kamala Harris brings her book tour to Metford.
That's happening this afternoon. The twenty twenty four Democrats nominee

(04:00):
will be at the Chevalier Theater at two o'clock holding
a conversation with Kamala Harris about her memoir One hundred
and Seven Days, detailing her failed run for president last year.
Latest data shows conservation efforts to keep one key fish
species booming are working.

Speaker 6 (04:18):
Yeah, we just had a really exciting year for River
herring and the mystic The Mystic.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
River Watershed Association says river herring numbers are reaching new heights.
This year, more than eight hundred and fifteen thousand river
herring passed through the fish ladder at Mystic Lakes Dam,
the highest the population has been since volunteers started keeping
track in twenty twelve.

Speaker 6 (04:36):
So because of interventions like fish ladders at the Mystic
Lakes Dam and Center Falls Dam, we're starting to see
that population come back and come back even bigger than
ever this year.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Daria Santalani, the senior engagement manager at the association, tells
me each year the hering go from the Atlantic Ocean
up through Boston Harbor, past the Amelia Earhart Dam, up
to freshwater lakes and ponds to mate and have their babies.

Speaker 6 (04:58):
It's extremely exciting because river harring are really ecologically important.
They're a big part of both freshwater and marine food
webs because they make this migration.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
She says, all this new data is thanks to their volunteers.

Speaker 6 (05:09):
We have volunteers that go every day of the migration
from April through June, seven days a week, seven am
to seven pm, each going for an hour to count
how many herring they're seeing.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Passing the dam. I'm a freedman. W b Z, Boston's
news radio.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
The former head of Boston Public Schools bus safety facis
charges accused of accepting bribes. Fifty nine year old Michael
Muller of Millbury worked for the transportation company, which oversaw
operations and maintenance for over seven hundred Boston Public school buses.
He's charged with soliciting more than eight hundred thousand dollars

(05:45):
worth of bribes and kickbacks over a decade from vendors
who worked on those buses. A vendor from Westwood is
also accused of paying bribes to Muller. You are now
and helloop For news updates throughout the day, Listen to
WBZ New Radio on.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
The iHeart radio app.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
I'm sharing a small WBZ, Boston's news radio.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
M