This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
☀️Sunny day with highs in the 50s. Sunset tonight is at 7:05 p.m.
After nine months in the International Space Station, astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are going to have a lot to adjust to. Readjusting to earth’s gravity means suddenly feeling the weight of their limbs, the scratch of clothing that once floated around their skin and the sensation of water.
“When you’re in this environment, your body doesn’t have to work as hard, so your muscles weaken,” Kelly Beatty, senior editor of Sky & Telescope Magazine, told Boston Public Radio. “Your bone density goes down. And the fluid in your body migrates to your head; you feel like you have a cold all the time because your head is kind of flush. Your eyeballs actually change shape a little bit.”
The astronauts have a 45-day recovery program to help them readjust, Beatty explained. While most of the changes are reversible, things like radiation exposure and a loss of bone density can’t be undone.
Four Things to Know
Changes at the Worcester Police Department: After a Department of Justice investigation last year revealed that some police officers in Worcester had violated individuals’ constitutional rights, the city implemented new protocols. The department will review officers’ body camera footage randomly. Among the new changes: officers are no longer allowed to bring police dogs to mass gatherings, like protests. In addition, because the DOJ found that some officers engaged in sexual conduct with sex workers during undercover operations, Worcester Police will no longer be allowed to invite people into their cars while undercover. But some residents are saying they want to see more guardrails in place. “This disgusting culture has to change. Many of these officers have no empathy, no compassion, no civility for the public,” said William Gardiner, a former Worcester officer.
Environmental and Protection Agency employees rallied in downtown Boston, on Tuesday, to protest the Trump Administration’s planned cuts to their work. “I think a lot of people get lost in the bureaucracy and the acronyms but, at the end of the day, we protect human health and the environment,” said Jack Melcher, an inspector and vice president of the AFGE Local 3428 union. “If I can’t go and inspect the facilities, if there are fewer people with jobs like mine, then industry will take that as license to pollute .”
The CEOs of NPR and PBS testified yesterday in front of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE). Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had accused the organizations of bias in their coverage. They testified along with Michael Gonzalez of The Heritage Foundation, a critic of public media, and Ed Ulman of Alaska Public Media. The hearing ended with no legislation proposed or policy decisions made.
BOS Nation, we hardly knew ye: Boston’s new professional women’s soccer team is getting a new name. Instead of BOS Nation, an anagram of Bostonian, it will now be called the Boston Legacy Football Club. The team’s inaugural season is planned for 2026, but plenty of details are still uncertain, including their plan to use White Stadium in Franklin Park, which is currently facing a lawsuit from local residents opposed to it.
Tufts international graduate student taken into ICE custody
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained a Tufts University PhD. student on the street outside her apartment Tuesday night, and told university officials her visa was terminated.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen who was working toward a degree in child study and human development, had co-authored an op-ed in the student newspaper last year in response to the war in Gaza asking Tufts to disclose investment ties to Israeli companies and step away from those investments. Her name was on a website that posts information about students and other activists involved in pro-Palestinian protests.
Her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, said she has not been able to contact her.
“No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of — We hope Rumeysa will be released immediately,” Khanbabai said.
Her neighbors said they had seen cars with tinted windows in the area for two days before she was detained.
A federal judge on Tuesday night ordered ICE not to move her outside of Massachusetts without giving the court “advance notice.” Her attorney said Wednesday afternoon that Ozturk was sent to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana.
Tufts President Sunil Kumar said the university did not share information with ICE, and had no information about plans to detain Ozturk before it happened.
“We realize that tonight’s news will be distressing to some members of our community, particularly the members of our international community,” Kumar wrote.
Read more of Tori Bedford and Sarah Betancourt’s reporting here.
