😅 Let’s start with the good news …

It’s Monday, Boston.

🥳 It’s also National Boston Cream Pie Day. This morsel of goodness first appeared on a plate at the Omni Parker House hotel in downtown Boston over 150 years ago. To celebrate, here’s a list of some of the best Boston Cream Pies around the city.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• The Pats snap out of it

• An El Niño winter

• A Brookline chateau

Up first...

GOOD NEWS

Big tip energy

Whether we’re talking worldwide or close to home, the news this month has been heavy. But it hasn’t all been doom and gloom.

Here are five good news stories to close out October:

🥁 UMass Amherst’s marching band is heading to the Big Apple. Make sure to turn on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in 2024 because the Minuteman Marching Band will be there. The band was one of 10 selected to play at the parade out of over 100 collegiate and high school bands. To make it even sweeter, the news was announced during a school football game, coincidently coming on the band’s 150th anniversary year. The video of the announcement is quite wholesome.

🥞 Think tipping culture is out of control? This local breakfast group sure doesn’t. After being inspired by a $100 tip his brother left at a restaurant, Richard Brooks created the $1,000 breakfast club, a group who goes out to breakfast together at local IHOPs with the purpose of giving their servers giant tips. Each of the 10ish members bring a $100 bill, and their tips have helped servers pay their bills, give their families essential medical supplies, and more.

🐋 Mass. still cares about saving the whales. Gov. Healey’s admin has withdrawn its proposal to take humpback whales off the state’s endangered species list, a move that was celebrated by local conservationists who believe there is more to learn about their endangerment. The news is especially poignant considering the whales were taken off the federal endangered species list in 2016, and, conversationalists say, it’s a sign that the state is taking them seriously.

📚 Bostonian philanthropists are banding together against banned books. Local philanthropists have joined forces to create BannedBooksUSA.org, an initiative that helps Floridians get their hands on banned books — from To Kill a Mockingbird to Colleen Hoover novels — for only the price of shipping. Florida faces the vast majority of the country’s book bans, which tend to target Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ authors.

🥾 These newlyweds are on top of the world … or at least, a mountain. Alicia and Crystal Blakely, newlyweds who met 10 years ago at Dean College as roommates, got married at the top of Camel’s Hump mountain in Huntington, Vermont. But to get there, they hiked up to the 4,083-foot summit in their wedding gowns, causing a ripple effect of joy up and down the mountain. Big shoutout to their photographer for being down for whatever and capturing these dreamy pics.

— Written by Gia Orsino

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🏈 The Pats FINALLY snapped their losing streak. And nearly gave every New Englander an aneurysm while doing it. With only 12 seconds left, QB Mac Jones connected with tight end Mike Gesicki for the game-winning touchdown, upsetting the Buffalo Bills 29-25. But this wasn’t the only news worth celebrating: It was also Bill Belichick’s 300th regular-season win, making him just the third head coach in NFL history to reach this milestone. But he definitely won’t let it get to his head; we’re playing the top-seeded Miami Dolphins next week.

🏛️ The days of awkwardly asking HR for the salary range may be numbered. The Mass. Senate recently passed a bill that would require companies with over 25 employees to add pay ranges to their job postings in efforts to work toward closing the pay gap. The bill also requires larger companies to submit equal employment data to the Mass. state secretary. The house recently passed a similar version of the bill, potentially making the next step of consolidating the two faster.

🚸 “Speed humps, my lovely city humps.” — probably the City of Boston. Thanks to a budget surplus and state funding, over 500 speed humps (not bumps) will be installed in neighborhoods across Boston over the next three years to slow down traffic and create safer neighborhoods. That said, the humps will only be built on smaller side streets and won’t impede plowing, street parking, or street sweeping. Check to see if the humps are coming to your street here.

❄️ Goodbye, rainy summer. Hello, El Niño winter. A new season is here, but as always, New England weather remains. Despite expert predictions for warmer temps this winter, the presence of El Niño, the climate phenomenon that brings warm water to the equatorial Pacific Ocean and adds moisture to the air, means we could see several big snowstorms this winter. Typically, an El Niño winter could see two to three big snowstorms, but every event is different.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

POP QUIZ

⛄ How much snow did Boston get in the winter of 2015 (the last “snowmageddon”)?

THINGS TO DO

Weekday checklist

🧠 Stupefy (your trivia opponents)! Thirsty Scholar is hosting Harry Potter-themed trivia this Tuesday, with wizards — oops, winners — taking home a $50 gift card and runners-up taking home a $25 gift card.

🌼 Let your creativity blossom. Is your apartment missing some fall florals? Join Soluna Garden Farm on Thursday at Boston Public Market for their Halloween-themed flower arranging workshop.

👟 Hold off on that new sneaker purchase. Instead, dust off the pair you got bored of last year and upcycle them at Night Shift in Everett on Wednesday at their Custom Sneaker Paint Night.

🍸 Brush up on your mixology. For your shaking and stirring pleasure: Citrus & Salt’s Halloween Cocktail Class tonight and Koy KBBQ’s Hocus Pocus Halloween Cocktail Class on Friday.

🎤 Make it a midweek concert kind of week. As it happens, we have the perfect show for a Tuesday: Indie artist Del Water Gap at Royale. He’s already sold out at Royale on Monday, so act fast!

— Written by Claire Nicholas

🎉 Want more things to do recommendations? Refer five friends to unlock four bonus items. For those who already have, enjoy below.

ONE LAST THING

A Brookline chateau

Thinking about buying a chateau, but can’t be bothered to learn French? Oh have we got a deal for you.

Instead of moving across the Atlantic, this chateau only requires you to move across town lines to Brookline, where for $6.8 million, this slice of Paris could be yours. Described as a “French Renaissance château-style” home, it has eight bedrooms and six bathrooms.

The house is equipped with a two-car garage, a brand-new HVAC system, and its own carriage house, which itself has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen.

It’s truly straight out of a Bridgerton set.

— Written by Gia Orsino

🏡 Thanks for reading! Can anyone loan me $6.7999 million? I swear it’s for a good cause.

🚣 The results are in: We shouldn’t have doubted you. 88% of readers knew that a “coxswain” is the person who doesn’t row, including two coxswains who actually competed at HOCR this weekend.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected].

Correction: And earlier version of this newsletter incorrectly stated the UMass Amherst marching band will be in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They will be performing in the 2024 parade.