Boston, MA
Why is conservative criticism of Boston so loud all of a sudden? – The Boston Globe
In the past, cities such as San Francisco and Chicago attracted the ire of conservatives for their liberal policies; Boston tended to fly under the radar, until now.
“Boston is a New England liberal city, which is maybe the quintessential elite university town,” said Matthew Baum, a professor of global communications and public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “All of those things make it a natural source of antipathy for the current administration. Whatever you think about their policies, they’re directed on all the stuff that makes Boston, Boston. I think that goes a long way to explaining: Why Boston?”
The feud between the city and the White House kicked into high gear in late February, when Trump “border czar” Tom Homan declared he was “coming to Boston and I’m bringing hell with me.” Homan also criticized Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox for abiding by a Massachusetts law that dictates local police cannot keep immigrants detained for future deportation without a criminal warrant. Wu jumped in to defend Cox, saying he “has my complete confidence & support” in a post on social media. “We’re going to continue following & enforcing the laws to keep all Bostonians safe.”
Then, on March 5, Wu testified before Congress about Boston’s immigration policies. Her testimony included a fresh dig at Homan.
“Shame on him for lying about my city,” Wu said. “For having the nerve to insult our police commissioner, who has overseen the safest Boston’s been in anyone’s lifetime. Bring him here under oath, and let’s ask him some questions.”
A few weeks later on March 18, Homan kept his promise and came to Boston but did not make his presence in the city publicly known until after he left. According to federal officials, over a six-day operation across Massachusetts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 370 people. Of those arrested, 205 had “significant criminal convictions or charges,” according to ICE officials, who didn’t provide information on the other 165 people arrested. Homan, in a post on X, claimed the operation was necessary “because Massachusetts and Boston are sanctuaries that refuse to cooperate with ICE.”
Governor Maura Healey responded that Massachusetts is “not a sanctuary state, and Massachusetts law enforcement regularly partners with federal agencies and federal law enforcement to keep people safe.”
“Public safety is a major priority for me, and it should never be a partisan issue,” she added.
But political operatives on both sides of the aisle say the animosity between a progressive city such as Boston and the Republican-controlled federal government is a symptom of the country’s wider partisan divide.
“Trump is a master storyteller, and he understands intuitively that the best narratives have a good versus evil kind of setting,” said Doug Rubin, a Democratic strategist who has worked on campaigns for the likes of Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, and former Boston mayor Marty Walsh.
By calling out Boston, Trump and his allies are attempting “to pit the working class and working families against liberal elites. That’s a narrative that has worked for him successfully in both of his campaigns,” Rubin added.
Wendy Wakeman, a Massachusetts-based GOP strategist, said it was local politicians who courted Trump’s scrutiny, not the other way around. “I don’t think you can find a more radical mayor in the country than Michelle Wu,” she said. “I am not surprised that the reasonable policies of President Trump — which are enacted to protect Americans — are drawing his attention, and his administration’s attention, to Massachusetts.”
Still, Wakeman argued the Trump administration’s deportations are not politically motivated but instead are born out of practicality. “Why do bank robbers rob banks? It’s because that’s where the money is,” Wakeman said. “Why is Tom Holman coming to Massachusetts to arrest criminals from other nations living in the United States? It’s because they’re here.”
Homan has said repeatedly he targeted Boston after reading news reports about undocumented people committing crimes in the city.
The White House did not return a request for comment.
“Conservative media promotes this vision of American cities being overrun by illegal immigrants causing crimes,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant, who was communications director for current Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential bid. Outlets including Fox News, Breitbart, and Daily Wire have all recently covered immigration issues in Boston.
“Trump has always been preoccupied by the state of American cities,” Conant said. “I think Boston is a great American city that he sees as in decline, not unlike Chicago, San Francisco, New York, or D.C. And part of that is he has an image of cities filled with illegal immigrants committing crimes and he has made removing immigrants an administration priority.”
Representative Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who represents parts of California’s Bay Area and has frequently parried Trump’s jabs at his district, recommends Boston officials simply do not back down: “Shrinking is the worst thing you can do because then he’ll know that he owns you, and he’ll just keep coming back to get more. That’s the only language a bully understands, is strength.”
Baum, the Harvard professor, argued that immigration policy alone isn’t what’s driving the wedge between Boston and the White House.
“It seems like the core economic engines of this region are under aggressive assault right now,” he said, referencing the administration’s efforts to cut biomedical research funding and demands on elite universities. The former, he said, is being targeted because “post-COVID, there’s been a notable decline in trust in science and medicine, disproportionately among Republicans.” Meanwhile, universities are being sanctioned because of “the perceived overreach of progressives on hot-button cultural issues, with the epicenter being elite colleges,” he said.
For the Trump administration, the likely strategy behind cracking down on Boston “is to shoot a warning shot across the bow at other cities,” Baum said.
Among those interviewed for this story, though, there was consensus the tension is unlikely to abate any time soon.
Wakeman expects Massachusetts will remain in conservative crosshairs because so many of the state’s elected officials have “signaled that they’re at war with Donald Trump.” Plus, any blowback will have little practical effect on Trump executing his agenda.
“If the state of Massachusetts had some juice — in other words, a congressman or a senator who was important for future votes — then perhaps somebody might be able to run interference,” she said.
Conant shared a similar assessment that “this is a fight with few political consequences” for the president since “there’s not a lot of Trump voters in Boston.”
Tal Kopan of Globe staff contributed reporting to this story.
Julian E.J. Sorapuru can be reached at julian.sorapuru@globe.com. Follow him on X @JulianSorapuru.
Boston, MA
‘This is really just the start of it all’: Mojo Boston makes splashy debut at City Hall Plaza – The Boston Globe
Mojo, a music brand and concert organizer, was founded in 2021 by Charley Blacker, Alex Parker, and Emily Donovan while they were students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The trio of friends decided to create Mojo out of their shared love for music and house shows.
“We saw there were so many local musicians that were so talented, but they didn’t have the platform we thought they really deserved,” Blacker told the Globe during Saturday’s festivities. “So we thought if we could do the behind-the-scenes work of organizing photographers and [provide] a social media platform, we could give these musicians the platform they deserve.”
Five years later, the team behind Mojo is sticking to their mission, tackling their biggest venue yet with this weekend’s event at City Hall Plaza, which previously served as the original location for Boston Calling before it moved to the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston. Boston Calling announced last year that it is taking a one-year hiatus in 2026, with plans to return in 2027.
In addition to getting the chance to work on such a big event with his best friends, Blacker hopes Mojo Boston can help “lead to a lot more opportunities for local music.”
There was a wide range of genres represented at Saturday’s event, from the pop-rock stylings of The Bends to house and garage music from DJ AC Slater. Prior to the Boston debut, Mojo brought a festival to Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley in April and returned to Amherst later that month to host another event.
Mojo Boston attendees and former UMass Amherst students Emily Bowler and Max Debeau have been familiar with Mojo since its inception, watching the organization go from hosting basement shows to full scale music festivals. Debeau noted how many of the acts at Saturday’s event have worked with Mojo in the past, performing at UMass and other shows around the Bay State.
“To see it all come together has been great,” Debeau said. “This is the stage that they all deserve.”
“It’s crazy how quickly they were able to erect something so amazing,” Bowler added.
Formed in New Bedford, the band Autumn Drive was one of 18 acts that performed at Mojo Boston, and they are no strangers to a Mojo show.
“We’ve done, I think, every single Mojo that there is, so we’re very tight with them,” said guitarist and singer Charlie Gamache. “When we found out they were doing a big festival [in Boston], I was like, ‘We want in no matter what.’”
The band emphasized how much their relationship with Mojo has meant to them over the years, with Autumn Drive drummer Joe Gauvin praising the organization for “always putting us in front of a crowd that’s there to see music and hear us.”
From a makeshift stage out of wooden pallets in his basement to Boston’s City Hall Plaza, Blacker is is proud of Mojo’s success and is already looking ahead at what’s to come.
“This is really just the start of it all,” said Blacker. “We have very lofty ambitions and goals, and we have nothing but confidence in our ability to accomplish everything we set out to do.”
Gitana Savage can be reached at gitana.savage@globe.com. Follow her on X @gitana_savage.
(KBTX) – Texas A&M shortstop Boston Kellner suffered a fractured orbital bone after he was hit in the face with a fastball in Friday night’s series opener at Ole Miss, according to a team spokesperson.
He did not sustain a concussion, and there was no damage to his eye, a team spokesperson said.
The extent of the injury was first reported on the SEC Network+ broadcast.
The true freshman has been a starter for the Aggies since the beginning of the season, slashing .248/.432/.418. He has five home runs and 27 RBIs, typically batting at the bottom of the order. Defensively, he has a .928 fielding percentage.
Ben Royo entered in his place and was a key contributor early Saturday. The senior blasted a pair of home runs against Ole Miss on his first two hits of the season. He entered Saturday’s first game with four at-bats this season.
A&M has struggled with injuries as of late. Chris Hacopian, who also could have been an option to fill in at shortstop, has been relegated to the designated-hitter role as he recovers from a leg injury suffered during the Florida series. Third baseman Nico Partida remains out with a pulled hamstring he sustained against Auburn.
Copyright 2026 KBTX. All rights reserved.
Boston, MA
What we know about wrong-way driver killed in head-on collision with state trooper in Lynnfield – The Boston Globe
Court records show that Marrero was the father of three children, the oldest of whom is 17. The youngest two children, twins, are 13 years old; Marrero’s death came days before their 14th birthday.
Records in Middlesex Probate and Family Court also suggest that Marrero faced financial difficulties and personal troubles, stemming in part from a work injury that family members said caused a bout of depression and deteriorating behavior in his personal life.
For nearly a decade, Marrero worked at Dewberry, a Boston engineering consulting firm, court records show, obtaining a job as an architectural design apprentice in 2005. He left the company in 2014, according to a company spokesperson.
Throughout that time, he doubled as a bartender on the side, working at Mexican restaurants in Boston and Waltham, court records show.
A knee injury ended Marrero’s career at Dewberry, court records show, and he left the company shortly thereafter.
That injury, according to court documents, was the catalyst for what his wife described as a “major depressive episode,” which she said contributed to the strain in their marriage. The couple, who had been married for more than 20 years, separated in 2022.
Records also show that Marrero struggled with debts to family members and credit card companies. During his divorce proceedings, it was unclear how much money he was taking home in income.
Marrero briefly owned and operated a contracting business, 109 Construction, but the corporation was administratively dissolved in 2024, according to state filings.
Marrero had lived in US since at least 2001, holding legal status. He became a naturalized citizen in March 2021, court records show.
Social media posts suggest he was active in the tight-knit Venezuelan community in Massachusetts. Photos show him cheering on Venezuela at a World Baseball Classic watch party in Brighton earlier this year.
Court records appear to show Marrero’s interest in art and music, owning a Venezuelan guitar, conga drums, and several Venezuelan paintings, as well as homemade winemaking setup.
Marrero’s family could not be reached for comment. A close friend reached by the Globe declined to comment.
Trainor had just completed his shift at about 2 a.m. on Wednesday and was driving home when he responded to a report for a Jeep traveling south in the northbound lanes of Route 1, near the Lynnfield overpass.
Raised in Salem, Trainor began his public safety career as an Essex County correction officer before graduating from the State Police academy in 2023, State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble said.
Trainor’s fiancée, Jessica D. Ostrowski, of Georgetown, posted an emotional message to social media Thursday, describing the late trooper as “my absolute best friend.”
“I am beyond proud for the amount of love you have been given by those who loved and cared about you,” she wrote.
Travis Andersen and Jeremiah Manion of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Material from previous Globe coverage was used.
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.
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