Another dry afternoon ahead with an Elevated Fire Risk as we continue to deal with moderate to severe drought conditions across the region.  Fall of 2024 will certainly be remembered for its lack of precipitation and the unprecedented number of brush/wildfires. 

However, we are now in uncharted waters (no pun intended) as we take the number 1 spot, thus far for driest Fall seasons in Boston with only 2.34” of H20 being recorded since September 1^st.  Take it into consideration that we normally see several inches of precipitation in September, October, and November and this period is traditionally our wettest period of the year.  Not all is lost though, there is some rain in the forecast later this week and some signs we may be going into a wetter pattern beyond, we’ll have to wait and see if that pans out.

Plenty of sunshine this afternoon as high-pressure crests over New England delivering us lighter winds and mild temperatures.  It’ll be a very dry day with dewpoints remaining in the teens and 20s, so you may need to reach for a couple extra glasses of water.  Highs reach the low to mid 60s south, 50s north.

Chilly overnight tonight with clouds on the increase as a frontal boundary approaches from the west which may kick off a rain/snow showers across the higher elevation north, a sprinkle to the south late tonight into the early Monday morning hours, but most stay dry.  Lows in the 30s and 40s.

Monday will feature some morning clouds with increasing afternoon sunshine, a stray shower/sprinkle north early.  We’ll deal with a gusty wind developing during the day as well which may help ‘fan’ any brush fires that crop up.  Highs around 60 south, 50s north. 

We remain dry with close to seasonable temperatures in the 50s both Tuesday and Wednesday.  Low pressure moves into the region from the west Wednesday night and Thursday bringing some much-needed rain and perhaps some snow across the higher elevations north and west.

Still some details to work out in the timing and intensity of the precipitation, but confidence is growing that we’ll see a widespread precipitation event.  In terms of rain, anywhere between .50” to 1.50” of rain is possible as it looks not, but still too early to hammer down who gets what.  Unsettled and cool conditions stick around Friday and Saturday with scattered rain showers and higher elevation snow showers from time to time as low pressure pulls away from New England. 

Have a great afternoon!

A student at Berklee College of Music who reconnected with his biological sex after identifying as transgender says he and Congressman Seth Moulton “poked the same beehive” after the school canceled a presentation on his lived experience.

Simon Amaya Price, a 20-year-old Bostonian set to graduate from Berklee in December, looked to share his “Born in the Right Body: Desister and Detransitioner Awareness” presentation on campus last month before officials postponed it indefinitely.

Amaya Price told the Herald that the decision came as a shock, especially after he secured funding through the school’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion and permission to use the office’s logo in advertisements.

Amaya Price, who identified as transgender from age 14 until age 17, received an email from the college’s vice president and executive director, Ron Savage, stating: “Congratulations on your upcoming event. What a tremendous leadership step in organizing this Event.”

Classmates and people from outside the school blasted Amaya Price when he made an initial post about the talk scheduled for Oct. 20, just days before. They also slammed Berklee officials for approving the presentation.

“When I talk about this topic with most people, they tell me they’ve never even heard of desisters and detransitioners,” Amaya Price wrote in his post. “As a desister myself, I find this worrying and I have decided to organize an event this Sunday to raise awareness about this community.”

A desister is “someone who previously identified as transgender but later re-identified with their biological sex before undergoing medical intervention,” while a detransitioner is “someone who was once transgender but no longer identifies as such.”

Backlash

When he woke up the next morning around 400 “overwhelmingly negative” comments greeted him on his Instagram post, “many of them threatening, many of them hateful,” Amaya Price told the Herald on Friday.

One commenter told Amaya Price that he should be “TERRIFIED” and another threatened to “throw expired groceries” at him. Dozens referenced how they felt he was “transphobic.”

A student-led online petition collected 1,998 signatures urging officials to shut down the event, which organizers claimed would “harm the mental well-being of individuals in the transgender community.”

Amaya Price and his father, Gareth Amaya Price, met with Savage on Oct. 17, with the student accepting a recommendation to postpone the Oct. 20 presentation due to safety reasons amid the turmoil.

Just days later, the student and father met with Savage again about plans to find another date and venue for the talk, but the vice president called it off “indefinitely,” Simon Amaya Price said.

“For events on campus, our first priority is always safety,” a college spokesperson told the Herald on Saturday. “The event you reference was postponed due to safety and other logistical concerns shared by both the student responsible for planning the event and the institution.”

New avenue

Through networking and advocacy, Amaya Price will be hosting his presentation, which he said is a project for a “Songwriting and Social Change” course, at MIT on Nov. 24.

He said he worked with MIT Open Discourse Society, an independent group, and received support from Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender in getting it moved and rescheduled.

“Talking to a lot of people who will engage with me in good faith,” Amaya Price said, “their issue is with the existence and legitimacy of desisters and detransitioners.”

“My experience at Berklee is not the exception,” he added. “At our elite institutions, people with dissenting views are really afraid to speak up. … We can do better as a society and we should do better. This is a real problem.”

Amaya Price said he “completely” supports Massachusetts Democrat Seth Moulton’s post-election comments that Dems were “out of touch with the American people,” especially on transgender issues, which drew a sharp rebuke from critics.

Moulton, telling the New York Times that he doesn’t want his daughters getting “run over on the playing field by a male or formerly male athlete,” has blamed his party for the Republican red wave and Donald Trump’s victory.

“This gender ideology is right in our schools. It should not be compulsory in the way that it is,” Amaya Price said. “We should embrace diversity of thought.”

His father, who identified himself as a Democrat, also agreed with Moulton’s comments, saying that he worries about the party’s future if it continues to reject differing viewpoints.

“What surprised me is that the administration would just fold in the face of this pressure,” he said. “That they would show no backbone, no support for alternate points of view and diversity of opinion that is already present at this school.”

Slides on Amaya Price’s initial post about his presentation stated: “What happens when you realize you were wrong about being trans?” and “Minors can’t consent to a tattoo but can consent to elective, life-altering surgeries.”

Commenters called the student out for spreading “misinformation.”

Per Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, minors have the right to “access gender-affirming health care” with permission from a parent or legal guardian.

In some instances, though, parental consent is unnecessary if a “doctor believes you are mature enough to give informed consent to the treatment, and it is in your best interest not to notify your parents,” Campbell’s office states.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a national nonprofit that defends free speech, has advocated for Amaya Price. Earlier this month, the organization wrote a letter to Berklee Interim President David Bogen urging him to rescind the postponement.

“Critics of the event argue that offensive speech should be silenced because it could, ironically, undermine their own voices,” FIRE wrote in a blog post. “However, in doing so, they fail to recognize what true silencing looks like.”

Amaya Price, who lives with his parents in Boston, said he was diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” in high school while he felt “out of touch” with his body and started questioning whether he was truly transgender or not.

After a year at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, a liberal arts school in Great Barrington, where he met “lots of other transgenders,” Amaya Price said he withdrew because he felt he didn’t in well.

That’s also when he said he started to detransition. Over the past few years, he admitted he’s grown comfortable with himself.

“We’re failing a lot of young people who suffer from gender dysphoria medically right now because they are not getting the help that they need,” Amaya Price said, “and the help that we’re often giving them is exactly the opposite of what would be good for them.

BOSTON – Ted Williams’s 1946 MVP award was auctioned for a record-breaking $528,750, the highest price ever received for a Major League Baseball MVP award.

Williams’s personal collection auctioned

The MVP Award, which Williams received in 1946, the year he had a .342 batting average and 38 home runs, was part of Williams’s personal collection, which had been retained by his daughter Claudia Williams, who died in July at 52.

The Award, along with other items, was offered by Hunt Auctions at the 21st Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory live auction on Saturday. Its estimated price was $150,000-$300,000.

Williams’s personal collection included items such as limited-edition autograph items and awards. Other items in the sale included his 1958 American League Batting Title silver bat, which he won with a .328 batting average. The award sold for $270,250. Williams Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented by George H.W. Bush, sold for $141,000, and a series of limited edition Ted Williams autographs sold for $105,750.

Part of Boston sports history

Williams played 19 seasons for the Red Sox, hitting .344 with 521 home runs. He won six American League batting crowns and was the last Major Leaguer to bat over .400 for the season when he hit .406 in 1941. Williams also served during World War II and the Korean War.  

He also was part of WBZ-TV’s famous interview, in which Bob Lobel interviewed Williams, Bobby Orr and Larry Bird in 1992.

Previous items from Ted Williams’s collection were auctioned at Fenway Park in 2012.