Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm Joe Catalano with an AM Quincy news update for Monday, April 28. The Marina Bay Ferry begins seasonal service today from Squantum Point park in Quincy. Expanded service this year will double the number of weekday trips direct Quincy to Boston service and weekday trip enhancements by about 30 minutes. Stops will include the Seaport, Logan Airport and the New England Aquarium. And then beginning on May 24, weekend service will begin to coincide with the Memorial Day weekend. A one way trip is $6.50 and parking is free at Squantum Point Park.
[00:00:43] Congressman Stephen lynch celebrated Community Development Week in Quincy last week with a celebration at the Ford River Clubhouse on Nevada Road in Quincy point. The over 100-year-old clubhouse has undergone substantial renovations with help from a $500,000 federal grant. Lynch said future federal grants are now in question given the budget cutting in Washington. The city allocated $125,000 to the clubhouse and the state kicked in 75,000. However, the clubhouse still needs additional renovations.
[00:01:19] Congressman Stephen lynch says President Trump's tariff war is concerning and having an adverse effect on the construction industry in his district, but that he believes the White House is beginning to reconsider its approach. Lynch is hitting out at the Trump administration, criticizing the president for his tariff war that he said is having an adverse effect. Still, Lynch, a former steel worker, he remains very concerned about the uncertainty created by the tariff policies. Lynch is also critical of the administration's policies toward foreign students who engage in political activity here. Comparing the recent arrest of a 25 year old Tufts University graduate students who had co authored an op ed article in the student newspaper critical of Israeli military action in Gaza to the actions of the Nazis during World War II.
[00:02:19] Congressman lynch says that his rally for the working class has been rescheduled to this coming Saturday, May 3, 10am on the Hancock Adams Common in Quincy Center. The rally was rescheduled due to rain. Lynch says it will be held to show support for veterans, educators, Social Security, pensions and unions. Participants are encouraged to bring their own signs.
[00:02:46] The annual Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day ceremony was held last Thursday at the Vietnam Memorial Clock Tower at Marina Bay in Quincy. Veterans groups, city officials and residents gathered to hear keynote speaker retired Navy Captain Fred Purrington from Dartmouth speak about being shot down in 1966 and held as a POW for seven years in an infamous North Vietnamese prison with another Quincy native, the late Captain Richard Stratton. Purrington also credited fellow inmate Doug Hegdahl, who would routinely sabotage the North Vietnamese troops. National Vietnam War Memorial Day is recognized on March 29, marking the day the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam, 1973.
[00:03:37] Uncertainty caused by President Trump's tariffs are forcing the MBTA to change the way it does business. General Manager Phil Eng says that this agency is now including new specifications about tariff impacts or other price fluctuations in contract requirements. He says the new specifications would apply to high quantity components of large projects. Meantime, Eng also acknowledged concern about a long standing contract with Chinese rail car maker CRRC to deliver new vehicles for the Orange and Red Lines. Shells for the new train cars are made in China and shipped to Massachusetts, where they're completed at a factory in Springfield. The company won the contract to produce a total of 284 new rail cars in 2014. While the company is the world's largest rail manufacturer, it was the company's first U.S. contract and required it to establish the facility in Springfield last year. Citing the pandemic and tariffs of the time, the T amended the contract with the company. The change brought the total price of the deal to more than a billion dollars. By the end of this year, the company is scheduled to have delivered third 38 married pairs for the red line and all 76 pairs for the Orange Line. That would allow the retirement of the Type 1 cars, the oldest currently used by the MBTA, by the middle of next year.
[00:05:11] Bertucci's has closed four restaurants in Massachusetts as it files for bankruptcy for the third time since 2018. The Northborough based Italian chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida. In court documents, the company says its assets and liabilities range between 10 and $50 million. Bertucci's previously filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and 2022. Bertucci's website now only lists 10 Massachusetts locations. The the closed restaurants are in Braintree, Mansfield, North Andover and Norwood. The locations still listed as open on Bertucci's website are in Boston, Chelmsford, Chestnut Hill, Framingham, Hingham, Medford, Newton, Reading, Waltham and Westboro. There are also a handful of Bertucci's locations left in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, Virginia. Bertucci's opened its first restaurant in Somerville in 1981 and had 80 locations as recently as 2018. As more of its traditional restaurants close, Bertucci's just opened a new fast casual spin off restaurant in Boston. Bertucci's Pronto on Tremont street has a 34 seat dining room but is catering to diners on the go with pizza available by the slice as well as salads and sandwiches.
[00:06:48] A check of Business News this morning. Stocks are higher. The dow is up 20 points. The Nasdaq rose 216. The S&P is up 40, Asian stocks inching higher in cautious trading as investors watched to see what may come of negotiations over President Trump's tariffs. The dollar rose. The euro is down. Oil at $63 a barrel. Sports Celtics beat the Magic 107 to 98, take a three games to one lead in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Game five is back. Boston tomorrow night at 8:30, the Red Sox beat the Guardians and Cleveland 13 to three. They'll be back in action tomorrow night at 7:00 in Toronto against the Blue Jays.
[00:07:43] The National Weather Service forecast for today, mainly sunny and a high of 73 degrees. For tonight, partly cloudy and a low 37. Tomorrow, partly sunny, windy and warm. The high tomorrow 79 degrees. Sunny in the mid 70s on Wednesday. Thursday, partly sunny at a high 66 for the boater, waves a couple of feet. The wind northwest at 10 to 15, becomes northeasterly 5 to 10 knots and a high tide at 12:29pm sunrise 5:43 and sets at 7:40. I'm Joe Catalano with an AEM Quincy news update for Monday, April 28th.
