NightSide News Update 7/17/25

NightSide’s last hour of the week we like to keep it light and fun. A favorite, Brushes With Celebrity returns. 

According to Allstate's 2025 Best Driver Report, Boston ranked worst in the nation for the 10th consecutive year! The report found that Boston drivers are 244-percent more likely to get into a collision than the national average. Do you think Boston drivers are really that bad? What are your experiences driving on the roads in the Greater Boston area? What makes us so bad and what can we do, if anything, to turn that around?

Despite the controversy over the Italian flag road lines down Adams Street, the St. Mary of Carmen Society Annual Festival has kicked off this week in the Nonantum neighborhood of Newton and will continue through the weekend. Were the Italian flag road lines repainted before the festival? If so, how? Where? Has there been any fallout or any response from the City of Newton? Vice President of the St. Mary of Carmen Society Festival, Carl Pasquarosa along with other Newton residents joined in conversation to discuss the festival!*Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller has an open invitation to join the conversation on NightSide*

We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!From Lobster Rolls to Cheap Eats, The Boston Globe Unveils 2025 Best of the Best List Highlighting best places to eat, things to do, etc. With Annalisa Quinn - Globe Magazine interim editor.The largest piece of Mars was found in the Sahara Desert and sold at auction for $5.3 million! How does it end up in the Sahara desert? Talia Sepersky - Program Manager and Planetarium Educator at the Museum of Science Center for Space Sciences explained.Top funeral trends in 2025 – Traditions are changing and the ways people are handling death now… Paul Fried - expert on end of life planning – founder of I Made The Arrangements a website that helps people plan their own funerals joined Dan.A New Medicare Dementia Program Now Available in Massachusetts – Called The GUIDE program that offers new, no-cost support to dementia caregivers. Rosaleen Doherty – Owner of Right at Home Boston (a company that provides in Home Care and Assistance) checked in.

A newly proposed bill in Massachusetts proposes a ban on tobacco and certain nicotine products for people born after 2006. Do you think this is a good idea for the state or do you believe in a free market where individuals and businesses make their own economic decisions?

A devastating fire broke out at The Gabriel House, an assisted living facility in Fall River, last Sunday, killing now 10 people as another person has succumbed to injuries because of the fire. Was this a preventable tragedy and if so, how? Was the assisted living facility up to code? Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire but have said it is not considered suspicious. However, there is speculation over whether higher firefighting staffing levels would have saved more lives. This fire has shone a light on what has been a long simmering dispute over fire department staffing. Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters and Lt. Jay Burns with the Fall River Fire Department joined us to discuss.

A newly proposed bill in Massachusetts proposes a ban on tobacco and certain nicotine products for people born after 2006. Do you think this is a good idea for the state or do you believe in a free market where individuals and businesses make their own economic decisions?

We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!The Molly Bish Cold Case – 25th Anniversary and Emily Sweeney – Boston Globe Cold Case Files Reporter checked in.What Causes Obesity? A major new study is upending common wisdom…Gretchen Reynolds – WaPo health columnist focusing on exercise science and fitness stopped by.Zoo New England’s Blanding’s Turtle Conservation Reaches Generational Milestone. Headstarted Blanding’s Turtle Lays Eggs 15 Years After Release! Emilie Wilder, Zoo New England's Associate Director of Conservation Engagement joined Dan.A Bronx Tale: The One Man Show Starring Chazz Palminteri - Fri Jul 18th - 8:00PM at the Chevalier Theatre. Chazz discussed it with Dan.

While on vacation, Dan noted the one year mark from President Trump's shooting. After all this time, not much is known about the shooter, and Dan wants to know why, since we knew quite a bit about Lee Harvey Oswald fairly quickly. 

It was a scary moment for roughly 500 MBTA riders Tuesday afternoon when a Blue Line train traveling from Maverick Station to the Aquarium station shut down leaving passengers stuck underground without air conditioning. It took Boston firefighters about an hour to evacuate the passengers through the subway tunnels to safety. According to the MBTA, a 50-year-old broken cable was the cause of the disabled train. In addition, a recent report shows operational costs at the MBTA have risen. Brian Kane, the Executive Director of the MBTA Advisory Board, joined us to discuss these points of interest and more!