What’s next for Mayor Wu’s free BPS Sundays museum program

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The first (and only) scheduled presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is tonight. This link has everything you need to know about what to expect, the rules for the debate and how to watch it.

But first, let’s get to the latest local news:

Fall freebies: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is extending — and maybe expanding — the city’s free Sunday museum program for Boston Public Schools students. “BPS Sundays” has granted free Sunday admission to a half-dozen local institutions for the city’s public school students (and up to three guests) since February. Originally, it was set to end last month. But this weekend, Wu announced the program will continue through the end of the year and “we hope … even beyond that.” Wu also hinted at other changes to come.

• More locations? Currently, the program includes the Boston Children’s Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium and the Franklin Park Zoo. Wu told reporters Sunday at the zoo that they’re in talks about adding more institutions. “There’s been a lot of excitement also from performing arts organizations,” she said, noting that it “works a little differently when you only have a certain number of concert tickets.”
• More students? BPS Sundays has, somewhat controversially, not included Boston children enrolled in private or charter schools, those who are home-schooled or students in the METCO program. That won’t change for now — leading to criticism from a few city councilors. However, Wu sounded hopeful about including new categories of students. She said the city is still studying and discussing the financial costs of such an expansion with the institutions in the program. “We feel very good about the potential for an expansion in the next phases,” she said.
• By the numbers: So far, BPS Sundays has seen more than 36,000 BPS students and families participate. That includes 10,000 who have visited the Franklin Park Zoo, officials said Sunday. A spokesperson for the Boston Children’s Museum told WBUR’s Cici Yongshi Yu they’d had over 5,000 visitors from the program.

Weeded out: Massachusetts’ top cannabis official is out of a job. After a nearly yearlong legal battle, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg fired Cannabis Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien yesterday, citing “gross misconduct” in office. Goldberg suspended O’Brien (a former state treasurer herself) last September for allegedly making racially insensitive remarks and mistreating an employee. O’Brien has fought both the allegations and the closed-door disciplinary process.

• The big picture: The decision caps a period of instability at the CCC — which oversees the state’s $ 7 billion marijuana industry and has been beset by high-level suspensions, staff departures and board fights. (O’Brien’s lawyers called it a “shipwreck.”)
• What’s next: WBUR’s Walter Wuthmann and Beth Healy report that O’Brien’s lawyers have threatened further legal action if she was fired. Meanwhile, Goldberg’s office says she plans to name an acting CCC chair soon.

North of the border: New Hampshire’s presidential primary gets all the attention, but this year it’s the state primary that’s bringing the drama. Granite Staters are voting today to decide the nominees in an open governor’s race and an open congressional race. WBUR’s Anthony Brooks has an overview of the increasingly contentious races in this week’s edition of our local politics newsletter.

• In related only-in-New England news: New Hampshire’s outgoing governor, Chris Sununu, performed the Heimlich maneuver on a man who was choking during a Hampton Beach lobster roll eating contest. (And yes, there’s video of the episode.)

Last call: Brockton Beer Company, one of the state’s few Black-owned breweries, will close its taproom and kitchen at the end of the month. The company announced the decision last Friday after “exhausting all possible options,” explaining simply that their “current revenue does not cover our current and ongoing expenses.”

• Want to make one last trip? For the rest of September, the brewery says it will be open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturdays.

P.S.— Our local women’s hockey team officially has a name: the Boston Fleet. The nickname is inspired by the city’s maritime history. And while we can argue all day about how much the anchor logo looks like the old Hartford Whalers “W,” the new branding has already led to some indisputably stylish vintage Fleet sweaters.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.