🚇 Finally, some good T news

Happy Hump Day, Boston.

🍻 Pop quiz! If you’ve been reading The B-Side, you’ll have no problem with this Q: Which Somerville brewery is opening a second location in Cambridge this summer? I’ll Venmo the first person to respond $10 (more than enough for a beer there).

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Break out the tank tops

• Apartment hunt news

• Spelling the tea

Up first...

GOOD NEWS

Stories to smile about

May was a rough month for Boston. The B’s and C’s choked in the playoffs, 50-plus people got salmonella from a Brighton taco spot; and the City Council’s voting map drama could have earned a slot on Bravo.

That said, there were several bright spots you may have missed this news cycle. So here are five local news stories worth smiling about:

🚇 The mini shutdowns on the T appear to be working. Early bedtimes on the Blue Line were responsible for lifting all slow zones between Bowdoin and Aquarium stations. Plus, the MBTA has lifted 66 slow zones across the entire system since April. There are still 210 to go, but a win is a win. You can see the latest slow zones here.

🦠 Two major hospitals had zero COVID patients. For the first time since 2020, Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center had zero COVID patients earlier this month. And while this moment was fleeting given that COVID numbers change day to day, it was both a major milestone and a sharp contrast to the early days sans vaccines and treatments (Tufts had 88 COVID patients at its peak in April 2020).

🌳 Mattapan’s newest park is edible. Formerly a vacant lot on River St., the Edgewater Food Forest is now filled with fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, and soon-to-be mushrooms. And unlike community gardens where you pay for a plot, anyone in the community can harvest food for free. One park steward told WBUR that “if you can pick it, you can eat it.”

❤️ A local cancer patient got birthday cards from all 50 states. Five-year-old Brittany Bliss has been fighting cancer for the last year, so to lift her spirits, her family posted on Instagram asking for anyone to send over birthday wishes to their South Hadley P.O. box. As of last Friday, Bliss had a birthday card from all 50 states. Her mother shared that the cards have brought the family some much needed joy (and happy tears). You can keep up with her cancer journey here.

🍔 A Mass. vegetarian restaurant was ranked one of the top burger spots in the U.S. Yelp released its list of top 100 restaurants to grab a burger in 2023, and Veggie Galaxy, a Central Square haunt known for its meatless bites, clocked in at 93. “Plant-based sizzles” were a trend in this year’s ranking, which is all you’ll find on Veggie Galaxy’s burger menu featuring seitan, portobello mushroom, lentil, and tempeh patties.

QUICK POLL!

🍔 Do you think Veggie Galaxy’s burgers are top 100 worthy?

TOGETHER WITH SOULCYCLE

Giveaway alert!

🚲 Heads up! We’re giving away two tickets to a Pride Month Soul Showdown at SoulCycle Back Bay on June 9. To be eligible, refer a friend below and have them accept your invite between now and Thursday, June 1. If you’ve already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below.*

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🥵 Time to break out the tank tops. National Weather Service forecasters are predicting another warmer-than-average summer in New England this year. Accuweather.com predicts Boston will see 14 to 18 90-degree days (technically fewer than the 21 we had last summer). Given the 10 warmest years ever recorded have all happened since 2010, the National Centers for Environmental Information is more than 99.5% sure that 2023 will join the top 10, and almost 93% sure it’ll rank in the top five. Goodie.

👷‍♂️ The feds say the MBTA needs to fix worker safety ASAP. They gave the MBTA’s plan to improve worker safety a thumbs down on Monday, calling it “insufficient.” The MBTA had submitted the plan after the FTA threatened to block track work over unsafe work conditions. But the feds thought the timelines for addressing immediate safety risks were a little too long (completion dates were for late 2023 and 2024). Now the T has to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new proposal with new timelines by June 5.

🏠 Still on the hunt for a 9/1 apartment? Here’s what to know. According to a recent report from Apartment Advisor, Boston’s median rent is $2,651, up 8% from April. And while it’s no surprise given that we’re the third most expensive city for renters, there have been some shifts in the market. Since August, studio apartments in JP saw a more than 40% drop in price, and one-beds in Allston and Jamaica Plain saw a 20% decline, as did three-beds in the North End. Most surprisingly, communities like Melrose saw a 22.2% jump in price year over year.

🚣‍♀️ There’s a new way to get to the airport. Enter: The Winthrop Ferry. The town launched its summer ferry service on Tuesday, adding a stop at Logan Airport to its 2023 schedule. The ride from Winthrop to Logan takes around 20-ish minutes and costs $8.50. For now, the ferry only runs on weekdays until they hire more captains. So if you live in Winthrop, Quincy, Boston, or the Seaport, this mode of transit might be the move. You can take a look at the ferry schedule here.

ONE LAST THING

Spelling the tea

The Celtics may not be champions, but a Mass. student has a chance to be.

Nine-year-old Adarsh Venkannagari from Lynn has advanced past the preliminary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and is moving on to the quarterfinals this morning. Yesterday, Adarsh correctly spelled “aioli” and correctly guessed the definition of “brethren” to move on to the next level of competition. Tanoshi Inomata, a 10-year-old from Boston, was eliminated in the prelims for incorrectly guessing the definition of “pendulous” (I don’t blame him).

If Adarsh can take the top prize out of the field of 231 spellers, he’ll become the second-ever person from Mass. to win the bee.

🤓 Thanks for reading! Fun fact: I won my third grade spelling bee with the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” But I can’t for the life of me spell “entrepreneur” correctly on the first try.

🎓 The results are in: Yesterday we asked who your dream Mass. commencement speaker is, and Amy Pohler was the clear winner with almost 49% of the vote. Ben Affleck came in dead last. Probably too much grimacing to leave graduates feeling positive.

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