Mid Day Report: Thursday, December 11, 2025

The defense did not call any witnesses in Brian Walshe's murder trial, more than 10,000 Mass. Health Connector members dropped health plans and state cannabis commission votes on social consumption regulations. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is WBZY, Boston's news radio, redefining local news. Thirty
five degrees in Boston, Fair Skies, very windy from the west,
gusting to about thirty five to forty miles an hour,
feeling more like the low twenties when you walk outside
at eleven o'clock. Good morning, I'm Nicole Davis. Here is

(00:24):
what's happening. Big developments this morning and the Brian Walsh
murder trial. The jury sent home just minutes after testimony
was set to start. Wbz's Amanda Keane tells us why.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Despite the defense suggesting that they would be bringing witnesses
to the stand in the Brian Walsh murder trial, a
bombshell in court this morning, the.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Defense pushed to call any witnesses in this case.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
We do not kid defense ress Defense bress.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
This coming after Brian Walsh started the day by telling
the judge he would not testify in his own defense
and what is your decision? I will not testify. Walsh
has maintained that he did not kill his wife Anna
on New Year's in twenty twenty three, instead panicked when
he realized.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
She had died.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Her body has never been found. Amanda Keen w b
Z Boston's.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
News radio at eleven oh one. A federal judge in
Maryland this hour now ordering immigration officials to immediately release
Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He is the man who made headlines
when he was mistakenly sent to a notorious El Salvadorian
prison by the Trump administration. Garcia is originally from El Salvador,
but was granted legal status here in the US after

(01:29):
proving if he was sent home he would be targeted
by gangs. In the order today, the judge noted that
federal immigration authorities do not have a proper removal order
for him and therefore cannot hold him the White House,
but husband trying to reapport Garcia to other countries, most
have agreed or not agreed to take him, or have
not been able to guarantee that eventually he would not
be passed on to El Salvador. Venezuelan officials calling the

(01:53):
US pirates and murderers after the Coastguard and Navy yesterday
seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast tier CBS's
Erica Brown.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
The operation began Wednesday in the early morning hours. Helicopters
approached an oil tanker called the Skipper off the coast
of Venezuela. Special Operations forces repelling onto the ship seizing control.
President Trump shared the news hours later.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
As you probably know, We've just seized a tanker on
the coast of Venezuela large tanker.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
Very large.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
The seizure comes after weeks of US led airstrikes on
alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, including one that some
members of Congress say could be a war crime. And
the owner of a bowling alley in Milford is now
accused of spending more than a million dollars in pandemic
relief money on himself instead of what it was intended
for his business. Federal prosecutors say David Breen took the
money and built a mansion in South Carolina and bought

(02:49):
luxury vehicles rather than using it for its intended purpose,
which was helping employee at the PINNs bowling Alley. If convicted,
the fraud charges carry a maximum prison sentence of ten years.
When it comes to the forecast, it's going to be
another windy day out there today. Expect to see wind
gus up to about forty, if not fifty miles an hour.
And we've got plenty of sun, but it's still not

(03:09):
going to warm us up that much. In fact, we
have chillier air moving in many of us in the
thirties if not seeing a couple of forties right now
in southeastern Mass, getting down into the upper twenties low
thirties for the rest of the afternoon, and again the
real field tempts in the teens. We could see a
couple of stray snow showers right now, only really seeing
that in parts of the Berkshars, I'd say west of

(03:30):
ninety one. For tonight, mostly clear, windy again, lonear twenty
real feels in the single digits if not close to zero.
If you are in western Mass. For tomorrow, mostly sunny,
we've got a hine year thirty five real feels in
the teens. Looking ahead to the weekend, we could be
seeing a snowstorm coming in late at night on Saturday,
continuing into Sunday. Best chance of accumulable snow about one

(03:53):
to three inches towards the south coast in Cape right
now thirty one in Natick, we're at thirty five, in
Gloucester thirty six, and Taunton in Boston right now at
eleven oh six. It is thirty five and it feels
like twenty one. The Senate now set to vote on
competing bills today that would address expiring subsidies for health
insurance market plans. Here's ABC's Ali picorin This.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Is a little bit more of a complicated solution. It's
being put forward by Senators Bill Cassany and Mike Crapo,
And without getting too deep into the weeds, what this
legislation essentially does is repeal those tax credits and instead
take the money that was being used to subsidize those
enhanced tax credits and put it into health savings accounts

(04:34):
for individuals who are purchasing their healthcare through Obamacare.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Democrats, for their part, want to extend those subsidies. Neither
plan is expected to pass now Here. In Massachusetts, we're
seeing the growing price pinch when it comes to people
using the state's Health Connector to go buy those ACA plans.
It's currently open enrollment, and now the premiums are spiking
because of those expiring subsidies. Reports say more than ten
thousand Massachusetts residents have already dropped health plans they got

(05:01):
through the Connector. The Connector's Executive director Audrey Gasteier says
that's double the amount of people dropping coverage from last year.
She says it's a sign that people are deeply concerned
about price increases on those plans. Open enrollment on Connector
plans runs through the twenty third and happening now, the
state's Cannabis Control Commission is holding a hybrid public meeting
in Worcester. This is a meeting that a lot of

(05:23):
cannabis users in Massachusetts and dispensary owners have been excited about,
as the commissioners today are expected to pass social consumption regulations.
If they're approved, that means dispensaries, yoga studios, cafes, lounges,
other venues like that can all start offering places for
people to imbibe in cannabis products. You are now in

(05:43):
the Loup. For news updates throughout the day, Listen to
WBZ Radio on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Nicole Davis wb
Z and Boston's News Radio