Boston, MA
Boston Legend Lydia Shire Will Shake Up an Italian Kitchen in Cambridge
Lydia Shire, a local industry icon who currently runs the Liberty Hotel’s Italian restaurant Scampo, is adding another Italian hotel restaurant to her remit. As of this weekend, she’ll be permanently taking over the kitchen at Bar Enza inside the Charles Hotel, per a press release. Shire will be making menu adjustments over the next two weeks, according to a rep for the restaurant, and by the end of the month, Bar Enza’s menu will be fully hers.
This is the third head chef shakeup Bar Enza has endured since opening in 2021. The debut chef, NYC-based Del Posto alum Mark Ladner, left and returned to New York after 18 months at the helm. Tony Susi, the former chef and owner of now-closed North End favorite Sage, replaced Ladner. According to the rep, Susi left to pursue another opportunity; no word on what that is just yet.
Hit-making Peruvian team is cooking up another restaurant
Lyrik, the towering Back Bay development located at the intersection of Newbury Street and Massachusetts Avenue, just announced its most exciting restaurant tenant yet: Rosa Y Marigold. It’s a new Peruvian spot from JuanMa Calderon, Maria Rondeau, and their talented team, which is responsible for Celeste and La Royale (both essential Boston-area dining destinations). The new restaurant will serve lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch and is targeting a fall 2025 opening, according to a Lyrik rep.
A first-of-its-kind queer food festival is coming soon
Hot off the heels of a successful pop-up event last year, Big Queer Food Fest is returning to Boston in a much larger way. The team is pulling out all the stops for their first-ever week-long food festival, running from April 28 to May 4, that will celebrate LGBTQIA+ culinary talent on both a local and national level. Tickets for the main event, a grand tasting with over 20 participating restaurants at downtown Boston food hall High Street Place, are on sale now, and more events will be announced in the weeks leading up to the festival.
Boston, MA
Power outages in Massachusetts affecting tens of thousands amid stormy weather
Stormy weather caused power outages for tens of thousands of customers in Massachusetts, as well as over 200 cancellations and delays at Boston’s Logan Airport today.
According to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s outage map, about 65,000 customers were without power as of 3 p.m., down from 81,000 outages around noon. Some of the hardest hit communities were Foxboro, Wrentham, Pepperell, West Brookfield, Franklin and Holliston.
Wrentham police said drivers should expect delays as many streets are blocked by fallen trees. Police shared video of a downed wire sparking across one road.
High winds brought down trees and wires on roads across the state, according to damage reports from Skywarn weather spotters. One report said the wind blew scaffolding off a building on Heath Street in Boston.
Massachusetts Weather Radar
There was a high wind warning for much of eastern, northeastern and southeastern Massachusetts. The Blue Hill Observatory in Milton reported a wind gust of 79 mph on Friday just after noon.
Other communities reporting high wind gusts included Attleboro (65 mph), Wareham (62 mph), North Dighton (61 mph) and Wrentham (60 mph).
Heavy downpours and possible thunderstorms that could cause localized street flooding were expected to continue through mid-afternoon. The rain should move offshore by 5 p.m.
Logan Airport delays and cancellations
According to FlightAware, there were 110 total cancellations at Logan Airport, and 211 total delays. JetBlue was hit hardest, with 23 cancellations and 55 delays.
“Due to wind, Boston Logan may see delays and cancellations,” the airport’s website said. “Please check with your airline before coming to the airport.”
Boston, MA
Red Sox’s Veteran Leader Gets Alarming Projection For Upcoming Season
Somehow, in the midst of all the injuries the Boston Red Sox dealt with last season, shortstop Trevor Story stayed healthy.
Story played 163 games in his first three years as a Red Sox, then played 157 this past year. He led the team in home runs, RBIs, and stolen bases. His defense tailed off in September, but he was also leading the charge on offense by the time the Sox got to the playoffs.
Entering his age-33 season, Story has been vehemently endorsed as the starting shortstop by the Red Sox organization, specifically chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. Are the Red Sox counting too heavily on the veteran repeating his production from a year ago?
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Story coming back to earth this season?
On Thursday, MLB.com published a “snapshot” of the Red Sox’s Fangraphs projections for this season, and the No. 1 thing that stood out from the list was Story and the Boston shortstop group being projected for 2.0 WAR, which ranked 27th out of the 30 teams in baseball.
“This projection and ranking might be a bit surprising, considering that Trevor Story had a resurgent 2025 season with a .741 OPS, 25 home runs, and 31 stolen bases and finished with 3.0 WAR,18th-best among shortstops,” wrote MLB.com’s Brent Maguire.
“Projection systems, however, are notoriously conservative and are looking beyond just the previous season. Story was oft-injured and unproductive during his first three years with the Red Sox before 2025 and with him entering his age-33 season, there are still some questions about his production in 2026.”
Certainly, one projection does not mean Story is doomed to have a bad year, and if anything, he might have a better defensive season if he stays healthy, because he’ll be better conditioned for those final weeks of the year.
However, this underscores the need for the Red Sox to land another big bat, and ideally, two. The odds that Story leads the team in all of those offensive categories again feel slim, and even if he does, that likely means Boston’s offense was fairly pedestrian.
More MLB: Red Sox’s Former No. 5 Prospect Breaks Silence On ‘Surprise’ Trade
Boston, MA
Person of interest in Brown University shooting identified, sources say
Authorities have identified a person of interest in the Brown University mass shooting, three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News.
This comes after days of intense investigation and a manhunt for a gunman who opened fire inside the Barus and Holley engineering building on the Providence, Rhode Island, campus on Saturday. Two students were killed and nine other people injured.
Another person of interest was previously taken into custody, but that person was eventually released when investigators ruled them out as a suspect.
Michael Tabman, a retired FBI special agent in charge, joined NBC10 Boston on Thursday to discuss the possible connection being investigated between the shooting death of an MIT professor in Brookline, Massachusetts, and last weekend’s mass shooting on the Brown University campus.
Investigators released a series of surveillance videos and images of a person of interest, asking the public for help with the search.
The shooting has raised questions about safety and security on Brown’s campus and concerns about misinformation and AI-generated images circulated online due to the high-profile nature of the case.
Investigators are looking into whether the Brown shooting may be linked to the killing of an MIT professor at his Brookline, Massachusetts, home this week.
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
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