🤩 Young Bostonians are popping OFF

It’s Monday, Boston.

🏕️ Calling all runners and outdoor enthusiasts: The Boston Run Show and Boston Outdoor Expo are linking up for one epic weekend. It’s all going down March 1-2, and you can get FREE tickets with code BSIDE!

🎂 And happy b-day to Uhuru Kamau! You’re the best! We hope new running socks and trekking poles were at the top of your gift list. <3

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Trump’s border czar comes for Boston

• Boston’s missing Michelin stars

• A HOT new local celeb

Up first…

GOOD NEWS

City Hall, hoops, and hopecore

We did it, Boston. We almost made it through the most depressing time of year. So while we’re collectively counting down the days until we spring ahead, we figured you could use some good news to tide you over. 

Here are the feel-good stories you might’ve missed this month:

💒 City Hall saw dozens of V-Day “I dos.” If you’re a B-Side OG, you already know that City Hall hosts some pretty epic weddings. This Valentine’s Day, nearly 50 couples joined that list.  From out-of-towners with special Boston connections to local couples trying to keep their big day low-key, the building was overflowing with love. “It’s the day for love! And as cliché as it sounds, you know, I said it’s OK to be cliché,” said newlywed Martin Bass.

🏀 A basketball player with one arm made NCAA history. This season, Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel, a student-athlete at Cambridge’s Lesley University, became the first NCAA Division III basketball player with one arm to score in a collegiate game. Sinaman-Daniel, who previously played at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, said she had to endure years of teasing and coaches who didn’t believe in her to make it onto a college roster. Now that she’s scored, she’s setting the bar higher for the rest of the season, aiming for a double-double.

🎸 This local musician wrote the soundtrack to “hopecore.” You know, those TikTok videos set to dreamy guitar music that make you smile-cry? Well, some of the most iconic backtracks to those vids (you know the ones) are by Bostonian Evan Lo. In true hopecore fashion, the popularity of Lo’s tunes on TikTok, which he releases under the moniker Flawed Mangoes, has allowed him to quit his day job as an engineer and pursue music full-time. And yes, he made a hopecore video about it.

🍩 The DunKings made a Gloucester 11-year-old a star. If you saw Dunkin’s Super Bowl DunKings ad, you’ll recognize Vito Giacalone as the kid who says “This ain’t the DunKings. Where the hell are Matt and Tom?” Turns out, that Masshole attitude is real. Giacalone had never acted before when his mom recorded his audition on an iPhone, and a few weeks later, he was on a plane to L.A., meeting Ben Affleck and Bill Belichick and hosting a massive Super Bowl watch party to see his spot.

🏢 26-year-old Connor Schoen bought a $6.3 million building downtown. How did he do it? Easy! While attending Harvard, he founded Breaktime, a nonprofit that helps homeless young adults find employment. As the program proved successful, he received more and more grant money, impressed bigwig donors, found the headspace to dream big and … boom! The building will serve as a headquarters for Breaktime and a “one-stop shop” for young adults experiencing homelessness.

TOGETHER WITH THE 2025 ISU WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Step aside Bruins, time for some real ice skating

⛸️🥇 Watch the world’s top figure skaters take center ice — right here in Boston! From March 25-30, the ISU World Figure Skating Championships are bringing Olympic-level talent to TD Garden. So if you can’t swing a trip to Milan in 2026, it’s no problem — this is your chance to see the best of the best compete for the title of “World Champion.” Hosted by the Skating Club of Boston, this event only hits U.S. ice every eight to nine years, so you don’t want to miss it. Grab your tickets now!

QUICK QUESTION!

🥳 Do you routinely host or attend house or dinner parties? 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🥊 President Trump’s ‘border czar’ is “coming to Boston and … bringing hell with me.” Those are the words of Tom Homan, who called out Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox in a speech on Saturday, suggesting he hang up his badge. Homan already isn’t too fond of Boston’s immigration policies — specifically, a city ordinance that blocks Boston cops from participating in civil immigration enforcement, which is key in carrying out Trump’s mass deportation efforts. So when Cox doubled down on the policy recently, Homan took the opportunity to really dig in.

☕ The Mass. House is going to spill the legislative tea. The House has said it’ll follow the Senate’s lead in shining some light on its notoriously opaque operations through a series of changes. Think: Making committee votes public or posting “plain-language" summaries of bills for the public to see. According to House leader Ron Mariano, the push for transparency is motivated by avoiding their notorious summertime crush … not the recent ballot question calling for more transparency. More details and a vote should come this week.

😬 Downtown Boston is getting less safe. At least, according to some residents and City Councilors, which has prompted an “unusual” hearing about it this week. Although Boston’s overall safety is nothing to sniff at, crime in the Downtown Crossing and Boston Common area has reached a seven-year peak, which some residents have noticed. Some attribute the spike — mostly in drug-dealing, shoplifting, and petty crime — to the dispersal of the Mass. and Cass encampment. In response, the BPD has recently stepped up its patrols in the area. We’ll see what the hearing brings.

⭐ Why doesn’t Boston have any Michelin stars? Hint: It’s not about the food. It’s actually about … money. Right now, New England, along with the majority of the U.S., isn’t a part of the Michelin Guide, meaning they basically ignore us. But that could change soon. Boston’s tourism board is in discussions to bring the guide to Mass. if they determine that it’s a good financial investment. That is: Would dropping upwards of $1 million bolster the whole food scene, or just a few culinary heavy-hitters?

THINGS TO DO

Weekday plans

🍝 Spice up your date night. Fire up OpenTable because Tony & Elaine’s is offering garlic bread, an app, two pastas, and a cannoli trio for $59 TONIGHT. Grab a res ASAP!

⛈️ Delve into this year’s hottest fantasy book. “Onyx Storm” has taken the BookTok world by, well, storm. Trident is hosting a special discussion-based book club for it tonight. 

🤓 Prove your MBTA-knowledge prowess. TransitMatters and the Leventhal Center are teaming up to offer transit nerd trivia this Tuesday at the BPL’s Central Library. Fly solo or bring a team.

📚 Mingle with some local bookworms. The Literary Lounge is coming to Juliet Social Club on Wednesday. Expect an evening of quiet reading punctuated by some bookish chit chat.

🏛️ Embark on an epic journey though ancient Greece. And by that, we mean a Grecian twist on Harvard Art Museums’ free monthly nighttime event — an “Odyssey”-themed scavenger hunt this Thursday, followed by a reimagined performance of “The Odyssey.”

👠 Watch a fashion show with a “Top Model” icon. On Thursday, Nigel Barker is bringing his talents (and new line of espresso martinis) to the Liberty Hotel on Thursday for a FREE meet and greet and fashion show of local designers. 

🎥 Watch a Best Picture nominee. The Oscars are coming up, and time is running out to catch the Best Picture noms. You can tick “Anora” off your list this Friday at the MFA. 

♻️ Help clean up that dirty water. OK, this one isn’t this week, but volunteer spots at the annual Charles River and Muddy River Day Cleanup in April go quick, and registration is open now!

🧊 Crack open a cold one … in a cold one. The beer garden igloos at the Sam Adams Brewery are melting for the season soon. So snag a res (and get a bucket of six beers) before they do. B-Side members get 20% off through March 9!

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ONE LAST THING

A firefighter celeb

This month, one dose of good news just wasn’t enough for us. So here’s another: A local firefighter is going viral thanks to a sweet act of kindness. 

After helping out at the scene of a car accident during last weekend’s snow storm, firefighter David Testa stood with a mother and son while they waited for a tow truck. Testa offered his (huge) coat to the (very small) boy, and Lieutenant Jonathan McCarthy snapped a sweet photo. 

Since posting the pic to Facebook, it's garnered tons of likes, shares, and comments about Testa’s kindness … not to mention a few thirsty comments. “I need this (and by ‘this’ I mean that firefighter)” is a highlight. 

— Written by Gia Orsino

🔥 Thanks for reading! They *might* be missing the point, but, hey, shoot your shot!

📝 Correction: The Sam Adams igloos are at its JP Brewery, not the downtown Taproom.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, for supporting local journalism and bringing world-class skating to Boston. 

⚽ The results are in: 56% of B-Siders side with Mayor Wu over the White Stadium drama. One reader said: “People are being NIMBYs for no reason, and Boston needs more women's sports teams!”

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