Remembering A Beloved Local TV Editor: The HUB

The HUB is a daily newsletter designed for what you want — to be caught up on the most interesting, important news in 5 minutes or less. It's a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but if there's something you want more or less of, email me at mike.carraggi@patch.com.

Today is Monday, July 26. Let's get started.

I don't want to let another edition go by without remembering beloved WBZ-TV editor Jim Murphy, who died last week of a heart attack. He was 44.

Murphy won three Emmy Awards in his nearly two decades at the station, according to his obituary in the Cape Cod Times. But what stands out is the impact he had on people he worked with in local news. Anyone involved in the business had nothing but incredible things to say about him.

Murphy was "the best of the best," according to this Boston Globe story by Shannon Larson. Patriots owner Robert Kraft sent a note and custom jersey to his family after his death, WBZ said.

But most importantly, Murphy was a beloved husband and father.

Murphy will be laid to rest in Duxbury today. He will be missed.

Top stories

Provincetown is issuing a new indoor mask mandate and cleared the way for stricter capacity limits amid its surge in COVID-19 cases — and stricter limits on business could follow, according to John Hilliard and Zoe Greenberg at The Boston Globe.

Boston-area businesses are rethinking plans to bring workers back after Labor Day amid a resurgence of COVID-19 spurred on by the contagious delta variant, write Greg Ryan and Jessica Bartlett at the Boston Business Journal.

City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George will top the Boston mayoral preliminary ballot after a random draw, reports GBH's Saraya Wintersmith. Rep. Jon Santiago will be on the ballot despite withdrawing from the race. While ballot order isn't believed to significantly influence voters, one thing of note is Kim Janey being listed as city councilor, not acting mayor.

Local voices

Alexi Cohan at The Boston Herald hates to say it, but she thinks students should be wearing masks this fall. "It is the safe thing to do to protect our kids and make sure they don’t endure another year of tumultuous remote learning."

Two members of Tufts University's department of urban and environmental policy & planning go to CommonWealth to explain why Boston should pursue reparations. "The essence of the idea is that the descendants of slaves should receive a national apology for slavery as well as compensation for the unpaid slave labor that built massive US wealth for Whites."

If you have a minute

From Bryan Marquard, The Boston Globe

"The two great endeavors to which Robert Parris Moses devoted his intellect and unforgettable presence could, at first glance, seem separated by more than two decades and some 1,500 miles. He saw them as part of the same struggle.

In 1964, he helped run Freedom Summer, which drew hundreds of white college students to Mississippi, to bolster efforts to register voters during the civil rights movement. In Cambridge in the early 1980s, Mr. Moses launched the Algebra Project, which within several years became a national program that prepares students of color and low-income students to take college-prep mathematics."

A lighter touch

I know it's early but this will probably be the coolest thing you see today:

What I'm reading today: Everything about hardcore anti-vaccination culture morbidly fascinates me. This Huffington Post piece about the marriages it's ruined is quite the read.

Weather

The National Weather Service says: During the day — Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. West wind 6 to 10 mph. At night —Mostly clear, with a low around 66. West wind around 7 mph.

Have a swell weekend.

You can email me at mike.carraggi@patch.com and follow me @PatchCarraggi.