😌 News that’ll lower your blood pressure

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

📲 AT&T users: If your cell service went out last week, expect a $5 apology. Apparently, affected customers will get a $5 credit to their AT&T account within two billing cycles. And in the meantime, here’s how to prep for the next cellular doomsday.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• The Steward drama continues

• Yelp elites have spoken

• New England’s toothflation

Up first…

GOOD NEWS

Stories that’ll make you smile

January may be the worst month of the year, but February ain’t far behind. And the bad news just kept piling on this month with irritating T closures, a Pats icon saying goodbye, and a snowstorm bust. 

But as your informed pals, it’s our job to put things into perspective. So here’s the good news you may have missed this month: 

🎤 Tracy Chapman’s Grammy performance took Massholes down memory lane. ICYMI: Chapman momentarily healed our country’s divisions during her performance of “Fast Car” at the Grammys with Luke Combs. And Massholes took it as the chance to remind everyone that Chapman’s music career actually got its start in the Bay State. Before hitting it big, Chapman was a Tufts student playing local gigs (even busking in Harvard Square!). An old neighbor recalled her rehearsing songs on the porch, saying "I knew then that she was going somewhere." We’re so proud. 

🥹 The Celtics gave Marcus Smart the sweetest homecoming. Smart returned to TD Garden this month with his new team, the Memphis Grizzlies, for the first time since the C’s traded him. Knowing the impact he had on the team, the C’s played an emotional tribute video for the whole arena, which basically translated to, “We love you, Marcus.” He was also honored as the “Hero Among Us” during the game for his charitable contributions to the Boston community. Everyone from the crowd to Jayson Tatum gave Smart a standing O, and it looked like Smart got a little emo himself.

🏃🏿 A Boston Marathon hero is coming back to the course. Back in 2014, Meb Keflezighi became the first American man to win the Boston Marathon in over 30 years, which was even more significant given his win came the year after the Boston Marathon bombings (this video of him crossing the finish line might make you cry). 10 years after his historic victory, Keflezighi announced his plans to run the Boston Marathon again this year, only this time, he’ll be running for charity for the Meb Foundation.

🥕 The BPL is nourishing more than just our minds. Thanks to a grant from anonymous donors, the BPL is set to launch their chef-in-residence program based at their Roxbury Nutrition Lab. Food entrepreneur and advocate Glorya Fernandez will serve as the inaugural chef in the position, which aims to increase nutritional literacy and cooking skills for community members through free programming. And thanks to the donation, the program is funded for the next three years. 

⚽ This program gives young refugees in Boston a taste of home. This winter, Boston Health Care for the Homeless and Soccer Without Borders have teamed up to provide a familiar outlet to homeless refugees waiting to be granted asylum: A soccer club in East Boston. The club is meant to give the migrants an outlet for mental and physical energy, as well as a social network in the city. And, in the words of some of the players, it’s become quite a special space. 

TOGETHER WITH FLEXCAR

The car math is mathing 

🚗 Regular math: A down payment + loans + insurance + maintenance = car ownership. Flexcar math: one monthly fee = car freedom. With plans that give you everything you need to hit the road (including insurance, 24/7 roadside assistance, maintenance, etc.), Flexcar simplifies the process of getting a car by removing multi-year contracts from the equation. Just pick a model you like online (you can even swap it out later), get qualified, and free up a chunk of your budget each year. Use code BSIDE200 for 200 free miles (that’s basically $100 in car math) and let Flexcar be your ultimate budgeting hack.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

👋 Gov. Maura Healey is showing Steward Health Care the door. Steward once again failed to comply with state deadlines for releasing financial documents after finding themselves in serious financial trouble — enough to jeopardize operations of their nine Mass. hospitals — earlier this year. And despite Gov. Healey’s strong words for the company last week (basically, give us your info and get out), the governor’s office reported no movement on Steward’s end. "What Steward must do from this point forward is clear — complete an orderly transition out of Massachusetts,” a spokesperson said. 

🗳️ Mail-in ballot numbers are looking promising. More than 700,000 Mass. voters have requested mail-in ballots ahead of the March 5 presidential primary, with almost 250,000 of them already returned, according to the Boston Herald. Officials seemed relatively encouraged by these numbers, given that each party’s races are more or less decided, which often puts a damper on turnout. So if you want to join the bandwagon, today is the last day to request a mail-in ballot!

🎫 Turns out, giving parking tickets doesn’t feel great either. Literally. Two particularly vicious attacks on parking enforcement officers earlier this month have prompted the city to rethink the way it protects its parking and code enforcement officers. Nearly all of Boston’s parking enforcement officers report being repeatedly physically or verbally harassed on the job, according to a recent survey. A City Council hearing on the subject heard calls for a public education campaign, but for now, it’s unclear what their next steps will be. 

🍕 The Yelp elites have spoken. Six Greater Boston establishments were ranked among their 100 fave spots in the country to grab a pizza. Surprisingly, the two highest ranked spots are places that don’t primarily focus on pizza, with Cambridge’s Russell House Tavern coming in at No. 33, which has offerings ranging from a raw bar to burgers, followed by The Salty Pig at No. 42, which also offers pasta and charcuterie boards. Check out all of the winners here.

QUICK QUESTION

🧚 Wait! Before you read on: On average, how much money do you think the tooth fairy pays per tooth in the Northeast?

ONE LAST THING

New England’s toothflation 

If you live in New England, you already know that things have a tendency to be pricey: Groceries, rent, student loans, and now … baby teeth?

Yep, according to Delta Dental, not even the tooth fairy herself is immune from inflation. Despite the fact that the prices for baby teeth have dropped countrywide for the first time in five years, here in the Northeast, they’ve actually risen 12% this year to an average of $6.87 per tooth. 

However, Massholes aren’t necessarily to blame for toothflation. With a statewide average of just $2.48 per tooth, we’re actually one of the cheapest states to live in tooth-wise, especially compared to the likes of Rhode Island, where the tooth fairy shells out an average of $6.12. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🦷 Thanks for reading! That means after losing all 20 baby teeth, the average New England kid ends up with a whopping $137. Now that’s wild.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Flexcar, for supporting local journalism and making transportation more affordable and accessible in Boston. 

☕ The results are in: B-Siders were loud and clear about the North End restaurant tea: 82% voted that Jen Royle is in the wrong, and a lot of you had many thoughts, which we loved reading, especially this one: “Set high fees expect high drama.”

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