September 4, 2025 • 6 mins
BPS students crack open their textbooks, classes resumed at UMass Lowell after a lockdown yesterday, and a legal win for Harvard in lawsuit against the Trump administration. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is WBZ, Boston's news radio, redefining local news.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Seventy three degrees in Boston, Clear Skies at eleven o'clock.
Good morning, I'm Nicole Davis, and here's what's happening on
Capitol Hill right now. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior
testifying before the Senate Finance Committee on Vaccines and Health Policy.
It did not take long before a protester made their voice.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Heard the committee will come to order.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
The interruption coming during his opening remarks, where Kennedy was
listing what he calls his achievements since taking over HHS. Now,
Kennedy is facing calls for his resignation after firing the
CDC director and replacing members of the Vaccine Advisory Panel
with people more aligned with his vaccine skepticism. In Wall
Street Journal lap ed today, former director Susan Manares says
(01:03):
she was fired for refusing to rubber stamp recommendations from
that panel, even though she felt they were not aligned
with proper science. At today's hearing, Secretary Kennedy called her
a liar. Right now, he is being questioned by Republican
Senator Bill Cassidy, who is a doctor much more throughout
the day right here on WBZ. Meantime, we're expected to
hear from Governor Healey later on today about the State
(01:25):
Health Department's new order on vaccines. That order, which came
down yesterday, gives the green light for pharmacists in Massachusetts
to give the COVID shot to quote all eligible persons.
It was put in place to respond to the latest
federal move on vaccines, the FDA only approving the latest
ones now for people over sixty five for those with
an underlying condition. Last week's CVS said it would stop
(01:46):
offering the vaccine in its pharmacies in several states, including Massachusetts,
citing the quote current regulatory environment. Eleven oh two Boston
Public School students back in the classroom today. Wbz's James
Rojas is in Roxbury. They had special visitors welcoming them
back to school.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Just before dropping off our own kids at school, Mayor
Michelle wou stopped by Trotter Elementary to help welcome back students.
There's nothing like the first day of school, and as
a BPS mom, I feel how exciting that is from
every angle, the sense of anticipation of what your kids are.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Going to learn this year. New ways that they're going to.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Grow and just take one step closer to becoming the
full human beings that you imagine for them and to
reach their potential. Both students and parents were also excited
about the brand new playground. Naida Haywood is the mother
of a fifth grader. It's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
My kids came out, they saw it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
They were excited. They can't wait to go on it.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
The kids will definitely be hitting up the new playground,
but not before sitting down for their school photo in Roxbury,
James Rojas wb Z Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
For the rest of the afternoon, our weather is expected
to behave quite nicely actually clear, sky's out, there are
no problems that I can see. Temperature he's in the seventies.
Nice breeze as well, not that humid. We have a
load to mid seventies for the high on the capin Islands.
Then for tonight we have some clouds moving through after dinnertime,
couple of passing showers toward daybreak and alone near sixty five.
(03:13):
Then for tomorrow we have a great day to start,
some stray showers into the mid morning, but then we
do clear out for the afternoon with a breezy afternoon
on tap We've got a high in the mid eighties,
mid to upper seventies for the capin Islands. Weekend unsettled,
to say the least. We have some showers and storms
on Saturday, a high near eighty five. Sunday much cooler,
(03:34):
cup of lingering showers and a high in the mid seventies.
Seventy two right now in peebd seeing seventy one in Acton,
sixty nine in Randolph, and in Boston at eleven oh
five it is clear and seventy three. A legal victory
now for Harvard University in Boston Federal Court. This is
over the Trump administration's move to strip the school of
billions in federal research funds.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
I'm ruling for Harvard. Federal Judge Allison Burrows says the
Trump administration is used anti se sematism as a smoke
screen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on the nation's
premier universities and pulling more than two billion dollars in
research grants. Judge Burrows says the administration ran a foul
of the First Amendment and federal law. Anti Semitism is intolerable.
She writes, but she says she can't see how the
(04:16):
safety of Jewish students on campus would be improved by
the canceling of federal grants to research such things as
Alzheimer's heart disease and autist.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That is ABC Stephen Portnoy. We have reached out to
Harvard for comment. The Trump administration says it plans to appeal,
and classes are back underway UMass Lowell this morning. After
the evacuations on campus yesterday, the school was under a
shelter in place for much of the afternoon as after
reports came in of a man wandering around campus carrying
a gun. Ron Dickerson is the chief of UMass Lowell Police.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
We clear at no time was as an active shooter incident,
and we've received no reports of a shooting or any injuries.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Video going around social media of a man walking around
holding what appears to be a rifle right by the
Riverview Suites was confirmed to be true by police. Official
searched for hours for the suspect, but they say the
person is no longer near campus. If you have any information,
you're asked to call Lowell Police. Lots of people take
the MBTA each and every day, including the general manager
(05:14):
of the TA himself. Here's WBC's Carl Stevens.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
I was caught by surprise walking off a Green Line
train and government center right behind the head of the MBTA,
Philip Bang, who I discovered is a regular writer on
the te every day for work from Maverick Square in Easty.
It's like back in the day when Governor Dukakis would
ride the T to the State House from Brookline. That's
how you really know how the train is running. Why
is it important for somebody who works with the T
(05:39):
and you're at the very top to ride the.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
T well, I think it demonstrates the confidence that I
have and getting me to where I need to get
to reliably safely. But again, you know, the other part
is just being able to experience day in and day
out what the riots feel from a perspective of is
it reliable.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Plus at the end of workday, with cars bumper to
bumper on one A, it's not a bad way to
get to East Boston. Carl Stevens, WBZ Boston's news radio enter.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
If you dare a creepy new wrinkle has been added
to the season's Old North Church after hours tours. You
can now tour the crypt of the historic church in Boston.
But while you're down there, you can check out the
Cursed Brick. This was returned earlier this year, rather along
with a note from a couple who claimed they were
hit with nothing but bad luck after stealing it from
(06:29):
the church. I wonder why. And that's not all. By
the way, The Cursed Brick is also being blamed for
electrical issues that have been going on recently at the
Old North Church. The cryptours kicking off September eighteenth, and
they run through Halloween weekend. You are now in Maloup.
For news updates throughout the day, listen to WBZ Radio
on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Nicole Davis, w b Z
(06:51):
and Boston's news Radio
This is WBZ, Boston's news radio, redefining local news.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Seventy three degrees in Boston, Clear Skies at eleven o'clock.
Good morning, I'm Nicole Davis, and here's what's happening on
Capitol Hill right now. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior
testifying before the Senate Finance Committee on Vaccines and Health Policy.
It did not take long before a protester made their voice.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Heard the committee will come to order.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
The interruption coming during his opening remarks, where Kennedy was
listing what he calls his achievements since taking over HHS. Now,
Kennedy is facing calls for his resignation after firing the
CDC director and replacing members of the Vaccine Advisory Panel
with people more aligned with his vaccine skepticism. In Wall
Street Journal lap ed today, former director Susan Manares says
(01:03):
she was fired for refusing to rubber stamp recommendations from
that panel, even though she felt they were not aligned
with proper science. At today's hearing, Secretary Kennedy called her
a liar. Right now, he is being questioned by Republican
Senator Bill Cassidy, who is a doctor much more throughout
the day right here on WBZ. Meantime, we're expected to
hear from Governor Healey later on today about the State
(01:25):
Health Department's new order on vaccines. That order, which came
down yesterday, gives the green light for pharmacists in Massachusetts
to give the COVID shot to quote all eligible persons.
It was put in place to respond to the latest
federal move on vaccines, the FDA only approving the latest
ones now for people over sixty five for those with
an underlying condition. Last week's CVS said it would stop
(01:46):
offering the vaccine in its pharmacies in several states, including Massachusetts,
citing the quote current regulatory environment. Eleven oh two Boston
Public School students back in the classroom today. Wbz's James
Rojas is in Roxbury. They had special visitors welcoming them
back to school.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Just before dropping off our own kids at school, Mayor
Michelle wou stopped by Trotter Elementary to help welcome back students.
There's nothing like the first day of school, and as
a BPS mom, I feel how exciting that is from
every angle, the sense of anticipation of what your kids are.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Going to learn this year. New ways that they're going to.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Grow and just take one step closer to becoming the
full human beings that you imagine for them and to
reach their potential. Both students and parents were also excited
about the brand new playground. Naida Haywood is the mother
of a fifth grader. It's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
My kids came out, they saw it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
They were excited. They can't wait to go on it.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
The kids will definitely be hitting up the new playground,
but not before sitting down for their school photo in Roxbury,
James Rojas wb Z Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
For the rest of the afternoon, our weather is expected
to behave quite nicely actually clear, sky's out, there are
no problems that I can see. Temperature he's in the seventies.
Nice breeze as well, not that humid. We have a
load to mid seventies for the high on the capin Islands.
Then for tonight we have some clouds moving through after dinnertime,
couple of passing showers toward daybreak and alone near sixty five.
(03:13):
Then for tomorrow we have a great day to start,
some stray showers into the mid morning, but then we
do clear out for the afternoon with a breezy afternoon
on tap We've got a high in the mid eighties,
mid to upper seventies for the capin Islands. Weekend unsettled,
to say the least. We have some showers and storms
on Saturday, a high near eighty five. Sunday much cooler,
(03:34):
cup of lingering showers and a high in the mid seventies.
Seventy two right now in peebd seeing seventy one in Acton,
sixty nine in Randolph, and in Boston at eleven oh
five it is clear and seventy three. A legal victory
now for Harvard University in Boston Federal Court. This is
over the Trump administration's move to strip the school of
billions in federal research funds.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
I'm ruling for Harvard. Federal Judge Allison Burrows says the
Trump administration is used anti se sematism as a smoke
screen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on the nation's
premier universities and pulling more than two billion dollars in
research grants. Judge Burrows says the administration ran a foul
of the First Amendment and federal law. Anti Semitism is intolerable.
She writes, but she says she can't see how the
(04:16):
safety of Jewish students on campus would be improved by
the canceling of federal grants to research such things as
Alzheimer's heart disease and autist.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That is ABC Stephen Portnoy. We have reached out to
Harvard for comment. The Trump administration says it plans to appeal,
and classes are back underway UMass Lowell this morning. After
the evacuations on campus yesterday, the school was under a
shelter in place for much of the afternoon as after
reports came in of a man wandering around campus carrying
a gun. Ron Dickerson is the chief of UMass Lowell Police.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
We clear at no time was as an active shooter incident,
and we've received no reports of a shooting or any injuries.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Video going around social media of a man walking around
holding what appears to be a rifle right by the
Riverview Suites was confirmed to be true by police. Official
searched for hours for the suspect, but they say the
person is no longer near campus. If you have any information,
you're asked to call Lowell Police. Lots of people take
the MBTA each and every day, including the general manager
(05:14):
of the TA himself. Here's WBC's Carl Stevens.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
I was caught by surprise walking off a Green Line
train and government center right behind the head of the MBTA,
Philip Bang, who I discovered is a regular writer on
the te every day for work from Maverick Square in Easty.
It's like back in the day when Governor Dukakis would
ride the T to the State House from Brookline. That's
how you really know how the train is running. Why
is it important for somebody who works with the T
(05:39):
and you're at the very top to ride the.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
T well, I think it demonstrates the confidence that I
have and getting me to where I need to get
to reliably safely. But again, you know, the other part
is just being able to experience day in and day
out what the riots feel from a perspective of is
it reliable.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Plus at the end of workday, with cars bumper to
bumper on one A, it's not a bad way to
get to East Boston. Carl Stevens, WBZ Boston's news radio enter.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
If you dare a creepy new wrinkle has been added
to the season's Old North Church after hours tours. You
can now tour the crypt of the historic church in Boston.
But while you're down there, you can check out the
Cursed Brick. This was returned earlier this year, rather along
with a note from a couple who claimed they were
hit with nothing but bad luck after stealing it from
(06:29):
the church. I wonder why. And that's not all. By
the way, The Cursed Brick is also being blamed for
electrical issues that have been going on recently at the
Old North Church. The cryptours kicking off September eighteenth, and
they run through Halloween weekend. You are now in Maloup.
For news updates throughout the day, listen to WBZ Radio
on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Nicole Davis, w b Z
(06:51):
and Boston's news Radio
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