Vaccine Passports, Mandates Hound Lawmakers: 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 alex.newman@patch.com.

Today is Thursday, August 5. Let's get started.

Acting Mayor Kim Janey says Boston will not take a page out of New York City's playbook in requiring proof of a COVID vaccine at many indoor businesses and venues.

Janey landed in hot water with her fellow lawmakers – and challengers for City Hall – when she likened vaccine passports to slavery and birtherism.

"There’s a long history in this country of people needing to show their papers whether we’re talking about this from the standpoint of, you know as a way to, after, during slavery, post slavery," she said during a public appearance Tuesday. "As recent as, you know, what the immigrant population has to go through here. We heard Trump with the birth certificate nonsense."

Janey believes vaccine requirements would disproportionately impact communities of color, and says she would rather educate and work with trusted community partners to make people more comfortable getting vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Baker will require all staff of nursing homes and long-term care facilities to be vaccinated by Oct. 10, breaking from his initial reluctance to impose vaccine mandates on public employees.

"COVID-19 presents increased risk of severe illness, complications, and death to older adults and particularly those with chronic conditions," acting public health commissioner Margret Cooke wrote in the order. "Immunization is the most effective method for preventing and mitigating infection from COVID-19, including possible hospitalization or death."

Top Stories

Boston Superintendent Brenda Cassellius says a misunderstanding over shifting deadlines during the pandemic led to her license expiring. She is believed to be the only unlicensed superintendent across the state's 400 school districts, but is scheduled to take the exam Aug. 14. (Boston Globe)

Red Sox icon Jerry Remy announced he is stepping away from the NESN broadcast to undergo treatment for lung cancer. The 68-year-old former ballplayer and longtime color commentator has battled cancer four times, most recently in 2018.

"As I've done before and will continue to do, I will battle this with everything I have," Remy said.

Plans to use a hotel on Methadone Mile for "transitional" housing have been scrapped following pushback from community advocates. Victory Programs proposed moving 14-35 people living on the streets into the hotel before stabilizing and moving them out of the area. Opponents of the plan said it ran counter to the long-term goal of decentralizing services on the Mile. (Boston Herald)

Local Voices

The postponed Boston Marathon lands on Columbus Day in Massachusetts – or Indigenous Peoples Day in Brookline, where Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby lives. But during a Select Board meeting, the marathon's ho-hum permit process and the "grievance industry" collided, Jacoby writes.

A Lighter Touch

Two Scituate teens, one a first-time tuna fisherman, reeled in a monstrous 455-pound tuna this week. Prices range from $5 to $20 a pound, meaning the 15-year-olds could be looking at a $9,000 haul, the Boston Herald's Rick Sobey reports.

What I'm reading today: It's a couple months old, but one could argue Boston's "Be a Man" guy is timeless. Boston Magazine charts the meteoric rise of the 62-year-old North Shore resident, known only as "Harmon," on Tik Tok.

Weather:

The National Weather Service says showers, mainly before 10am. The rain could be heavy at times. Patchy fog. High near 72. North wind of 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

A chance of showers Thursday night, mainly between 8pm and 9pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65. Light and variable wind, becoming west around 5 mph in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.