Morning Report: Wednesday, November 19, 2025

One Boston restaurant earns a Michelin star, the Jeffery Epstein file is one step closer to being public, and Karen Read sues key investigators and witnesses. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is WBZ Boston's news radio. We defining local news.
Good morning, six o'clock, chipping away at the old work week.
Here it is Wednesday in Boston and we're waking up
under cloudy skies. It's thirty five degrees. The News at
six is brought to us by You're a New England

(00:21):
Toyota dealer, your hybrid all wheel drive headquarters. Thanks for
being here with us today. I'm Jeff Brown. You know
I kind of missed the wind. A drive at Churley
day today with cloud and some sun this morning and
plenty of sunshine this afternoon or high well into the forty.
That is WBZ Actiweather meteorologist Joe Lundberg. Yeah, no wind today.
Next rain is expected on Friday. For the first time

(00:42):
this season, the Celtics have a winning record. There's Brown,
Scott Williams on his ship Rises stores the call on
NBC Sports Boston as the Celtics top the Nets in Brooklyn.
The Celtics will host the Nets on Friday night at
the Garden. The Lakers Lebron James becomes a record breaking
or begins a record breaking twin third NBA season as
he makes his injury delayed debut in Los Angeles, and

(01:04):
the Bruins are out West as well. Late night hockey
against the Ducks in Anaheim coming up tonight. For the
first time, a Boston restaurant gets its Michelin Star three
one one. Omakazi on Tremont Street gets the honor following
several secret visits by restaurant critics. The hard to find
hideout is small seats for about ten The average bill

(01:25):
is two hundred and fifty bucks. It's been next to
impossible to get a seat since it opened a couple
of years ago. Several other local restaurants get their first
Micheline rankings, but fall short of the coveted star. It
is a high bar to keep hitting, as Michelin reviewers
will continue to show up at all of these restaurants,
where one bad meal or experience can strip them of

(01:47):
the prestige. Saying bottoms up could impact your bottom line.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
A new bill proposed on Beacon Hill calls for an
optional two percent excise tax on the sale of booze
in bars, restaurants, in liquor stores dincipalities across the state
to be rechanneled into addiction and recovery program for participating
towns and cities.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I don't think we need to be taxed anymore than
we know we already are. Seems to always be the
answer and answer.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
This taxpayer from Foxborough supports okay with that tax and
you think it's a good idea as far as helping
others out. Absolutely, she's inclined to agree, but on her own.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Terms, it should be a choice.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
Shouldn't be forced to have to donate money.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Would it make you think twice about getting a drink
at a restaurant? Yeah, definitely, yeah, Chris Vahma WBZ Boston's
news radio.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
And a new study claims to find the key to
keep you from bellying up to the bar. WBC Strew
m'holland is here. Tell me more.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Andrew smoking pot Jeffrey cuts back on drinking alcohol. Kind
of makes sense. I think I've seen this with the
old Drew High tests, but the research from Brown University
makes it formal. The work involves more than one hundred
and fifty students. They were told to smoke joints, then
we're taken to a makeshift open bar. Scientists say the
students then drank about one third less when compared to

(03:01):
a study in which the joints were placebos. The experts
say more and more young people are turning to the
THHC these days instead of alcohol. Where were these studies
when I was in.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
School, Yeah, exactly, and every got a lot of students
would tell you that that was the case, and now
it's actually proven by researchers. Here you go about sunrise
in Boston on this Wednesday morning, and we're getting started
under cloudy skies. It is thirty five degrees here in
the city, so still it's a little bit of a
chill in the air this morning. We should be substantially
warmer than this for this time of year. Daytime highs

(03:31):
will normally get into the lower fifties and it'll be
a struggle again today. Mid to upper forties is the
best will do. But here's the thing. Today there's no wind.
The wind has finally died down, and these clouds will
give way to sunshine later on today, clear early tonight
before clouding up later on. Low's in the twenties and thirties,
and then a mix of sun and clouds tomorrow. Once
again we're in the forties. We should get back to

(03:53):
where we need to be this time of year in
the lower fifties on Friday afternoon. The only other thing
is is that it's going to feat clouds and our
next chance of rain moving in in the afternoon. Right
now in Boston, it is thirty five degrees and grace, guys,
coming up on sunrise here in the city six oh
five this Wednesday morning. A formality of a presidential signature
is really the only thing that stands in the way

(04:15):
of the release of all of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Will pass the bill nearly unanimously. The years are four
hundred and twenty seven. The nays are one. Only one
lawmaker voted no, Republican Clay Higgins, who voiced concern about
the privacy of the victims and people mentioned in the
files who have not been criminally implicated. Higgins' writing, if
enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal

(04:38):
of criminal investigative files released to a rabid media will
absolutely result in innocent people being hurt. The Senate that
approving the measure almost instantly.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
ABC's Lionel moees now the text of the bill that
was approved by consent in the Senate will arrive in
that chamber this morning and then off to the President's desk.
Critics continue to watch for the possibility that the Justice
Department they ultimately blocked the release on grounds the documents
have become part of a federal investigation. Well, you know
what they say about payback. As Karen Reid launches her

(05:09):
revenge tour, the Mansfield woman accused and acquitted of murder
charges now turns the tables on key investigators and witnesses
during her murder trials in her continuing effort to prove
that she was framed for the killing of Boston Police
officer John O'Keefe in the winter of twenty twenty two.
Fired Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Procter, along with his colleagues,

(05:29):
as well as the local Albert and McCabe families, are
among those listed in the lawsuit in Bristol Superior Court
unspecified damages, by the way, but with a call for
law enforcement to stop trampling on the innocent. In an
effort to protect their own, lawyers for Suffolk County Sheriff
Stephen Tompkins make a push to dismiss federal extortion charges
on claims his activity with a local cannabis company was

(05:52):
nothing more than politics and not a crime. Sixty eight
year old Tompkins has pleaded not guilty after prosecutors say
he built a marijuana company over which he had licensing
power out of his original investment when the terms of
that deal went sour. Tompkins has since stepped away from
his job while his case plays out. A fire at
Foxwood's Face forces evacuations and ignites a large scale response.

(06:15):
A blaze breaks out inside the David Burke Prime Steakhouse
in the Grand Tower. Three firefighters taken to the hospital.
No word and a cause of that blaze. You are
now in the loop for news updates throughout the day.
Listen to WBZ News Radio on the iHeartRadio app. I'm
Jeff Brown, WBZ, Boston's news radio