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For the first time since 2021, the Red Sox are back in the MLB playoffs (and they clinched their spot in style over the weekend). The team’s first game of three in the Wild Card Series kicks off tomorrow night in New York against our familiar foes, the New York Yankees.
today, let’s get to the news:
Closing time: Many locals who don’t run on Dunkin’ are experiencing a disruption to their coffee routine this week. At least 20 Starbucks locations in the Boston area abruptly shut down for good this weekend, as part of widespread closures announced by the chain last Thursday. The final day for all of the affected stores was Saturday.
- Zoom in: The list of local casualties included some notable spots: the iconic Steaming Kettle location in downtown Boston. Starbucks at Brookline’s Coolidge Corner, Somerville’s Davis Square, Cambridge’s Harvard Square, Tufts University campus, the Comm. Ave. store by Boston University and Southie’s Broadway station. MassLive has a full list of the closures here.
- Zoom out: Across the U.S. and Canada, roughly 200 stores are expected to close. Starbucks is also laying off 900 corporate workers (in addition to the 1,100 jobs the company cut in February).
- Go deeper: Starbuck’s CEO Brian Nichols — who started the job a year ago amid declining sales — said cost cutting is necessary to reinvest money in speeding up service and upgrading the ambiance at their remaining stores. NPR has more on the logic of the larger turnaround plan here.
- On the other hand: Starbucks Workers United, the union that has organized workers at hundreds of the chain’s stores, said cafe workers had “zero input” on the closures. “Fixing what’s broken at Starbucks isn’t possible without centering the people who engage with the company’s customers day in and day out,” the union said in a statement, blasting Niccol for cutting costs while still collecting $98 million for his own compensation last year. (Starbucks said it used a consistent set of criteria to determine which stores to close and that union representation wasn’t a factor.)
All eyes on D.C.: Local government workers are bracing for the potential downstream impacts of a federal government shutdown this week. During the last government shutdown in 2019, about 8,000 federal workers in Massachusetts were furloughed or had to work without pay. And state officials are preparing for the potential disruption of federally funded programs like MassHealth. Late last week, the state Comptroller’s Office sent out a memo directing executive branch leaders to lay out plans to protect residents in the event of a shutdown. (It specifically asked agencies to identify areas where the state may have to pick up the tab.)
Road renovations: Boston’s 60-year-old Bowker Overpass is getting an upgrade. MassDOT is going to start restoring the deteriorating bridge, which carries people and cars over the Mass Pike, and reconstruct the intersection between the overpass and Boylston Street.
- Green light: Critics of the current deteriorating structure have said it cuts off the green spaces between Back Bay Fens and the Esplanade. But under the first phase of the restoration, which runs through 2029, the parks would be connected, and add new sidewalks and dedicated bike lanes. “It’s going to be wonderful when people will be able to walk safely to all parts of the Emerald Necklace and eventually the Esplanade,” Karen Mauney-Brodek, president of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, told WBUR.
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