Morning Report: Monday, November 17, 2025

TSA officers at Logan Airport get a bonus check for working through a shutdown, the Powerball is getting up there, and a change of heart on the Epstein files. 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 news. Hello, Monday,
six o'clock on a Monday morning, and we're getting started
under mainly clear skies. It is a very chilly thirty
four here in Boston and colder in some of our suburbs.

(00:21):
The News at six brought to us by your New
England Toyota Dealer, your hybrid all wheel drive headquarters. Welcome
aboard this morning. I'm Jeff Brown, and the Gales of
November come more or less right on time. Windy and
quite chilly today with sunshines, some clouds, and highs the
mid forties. It'll stay in the forties through Thursday. Is
WBZ achi weather meteorologist Joe Lundberg. Real field temperatures are

(00:42):
largely in the twenties this morning. By the hair on
their chinny chin jins. The Celtics hang on for a
close victory over the LA Clippers. Celtics will be in
New Jersey tomorrow night. The surprising Bruins remain in first
place in the Atlantic Division of the NHL. They host
the Hurricanes to the Garden tonight. The Eagles top the
Lions on Sunday Night Football, and Monday Night football will

(01:02):
wrap up Week eleven in the NFL, Dallas visits the
Las Vegas Raiders Tonight, One Down, One to Go. Tonight's
Powerball jackpot is the only show in town with a
five hundred and seventy million dollar estimated jackpot. Someone hit
for all the nearly one billion dollar marbles in Georgia
this weekend in Mega Millions, The Mega Million's jackpot starts

(01:24):
all over again tomorrow night at a mere fifty million dollars.
America's airports are once again full steam ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
We're officially back on track on paper with flight schedules
today after the longest government shutdown in US history, the
FAA saying they no longer have to condense flight traffic.
Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noan was in Boston handing out
ten thousand dollars bonus checks to TSA workers at Logan
Airport that stayed on the job despite the forty three
days shutdown. She was in town for the Secretary's Cup

(01:52):
at Fenaway, just after announcing that TSA officers nationwide would
be getting that bonus. Over two hundred and seventy Boston
TSA officers had perfect attendance during the shutdown, Jay Willett WBZ,
Boston's news radio, and.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
As of this morning at six o'clock, zero cancelations are
on the board at Logan Airport this morning. No days
off for con artists. Boston Police say scammers are at
it in full force this holiday season, and a hot
topic this year is pet scams. Officials are out with
a warning with the Better Business Bureau that eighty percent
of sponsored pet adoption sites and ads are fake and

(02:28):
advise if your family will consider making itself a forever
home this year, see the pets in person and check prices.
Eighty percent of sponsored pet adoption ads are phony, and
the officials say, remember if it sounds too good to
be true, it probably is. Even a government shutdown is
not enough to stop mother Nature. Officials with Washington's National

(02:49):
Zoo say while the lights were out for a record
setting forty three days, a cheetah needs just two days
to give birth to a litter of cubs. A five
year old cat is a proud mom of four babies
born in October seventeenth and eighteenth. Mom and babies are
said to be doing well. Fewer than seven thousand cheetahs
remain in the wild This birth prompts Zoo officials to

(03:10):
announce it's perfect news. We are currently sitting at thirty
four degrees, which is one of the warmest spots on
the map. We're seeing several readings in the twenties this morning,
and the in fact, the Aki weather real field temperatures
are hovering in the twenties pretty much everywhere today. This
is going to be windy conditions throughout the day as well.

(03:31):
We're already seeing gusts about thirty miles per hour, so
high temperatures will be in the mid forties today, but
it won't feel anywhere near that later on overnight. Tonight,
clear breezy blows right around, freezing in Boston, colder elsewhere. Tomorrow,
another chilly day with a mixture of some sun and
clouds continued breezy highs will be in the mid forties.
Same story for Wednesday and Thursday as well. You see

(03:53):
the theme here attempts mainly in the forties as we
get started on this final full week before Thanksgiving. Right
now in Boston, let's call it mainly clear skies coming
up on sunrise. It's thirty four here in the sitting
six oh five on this Monday morning. In a late
weekend one to eighty from the White House, President Trump
is now urging Republicans in the House to vote for

(04:14):
the release of all of the Jeffrey Epstein file.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massey, the lead Republican co sponsor of
the bill, says he expects strong GOP support, saying lawmakers
must choose between the political protection of the president and
the expectations of their constituents.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
You will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don't
vote to release these files.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
If this vote passes in the House, it would still
need to clear the Senate, and Trump is unlikely to
sign it. Congressman Massi says he's hoping to get a
veto proof majority on the legislation when the House votes.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
ABC's Allison Kosik Patting your Pockets requires an Act of Congress.
Some clarification this morning from the White House, which says
President Trump's promise to send Americans two thousand dollars from
tariff proceeds will not happen without a bill passed on
Capitol Hill. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson tells Fox News this
weekend the promise runs head on into an obstacle. It

(05:11):
has not been made clear who exactly would be eligible
for the Stalking Stuffer, but a suggestion is it would
be intended for low and middle income families. College campuses
look a lot different this fall, as foreign enrollment takes
the big hits and.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
It plummets down some seventeen percent, according to a report
by the Institute for International Education, which adds this is
a direct result to President Trump's immigration policies. Over All,
the groups says the number of international students who remain
on college campuses is nearly steady, with a modest one
percent decline over the last academic year. Experts say the
current downturns could represent steeper decreases in the coming years.

(05:48):
Drew Mahall and WBZ Boston's News Radio.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
New England is well represented by some of the best
and the brightest. Fourteen students have become Rhodes Scholars this year,
including two from MIIT, matching last year's total from the
Cambridge School, headed off to the University of Oxford for
up to three years of graduate work. More than one
hundred students in all get the call. Half a dozen
colleges and universities in New England are part of this

(06:11):
year's cohort, including representatives from Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, Harvard and
Colby College as well. First the newspaper column, then the movies.
Now Bridget Jones gets her own statue.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
I'm Vicky Barker in London.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
Right, Everyone kiss's Bridget.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
Twenty five years after the first Bridget Jones movie, a
bronze statue to the character played by Renee Zellweger is
being unveiled in London's Leicester Square. Helen Fielding wrote the
columns the films were based on.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
She's just an emotionally honest, authentic, slightly messy, normal person
with a great sense of humor.

Speaker 5 (06:47):
And I think that's very British. Fielding and Zellwegger attending
the unveiling. Vicky Barker CBS News London.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
You are now in the loop for news updates throughout
the day. Listen to WBZ News Radio on the iHeartRadio.
I'm Jeff Brown, WBZ, Boston's news radio. Mm hmm