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Boston's Morning Newsletter
'Do not wait': The REAL ID deadline is less than 6 months away
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery is officially out. Less than two years removed from setting records, Montgomery was fired yesterday due to the team’s bleh start 20 games into this season. The Bruins will turn over the reins to assistant coach (and pride of Medford High) Joe Sacco.
Now to the news:
REAL ID gets real: You have less than six months until the REAL ID deadline finally takes effect. Following repeated delays, the feds are sticking to that May 7, 2025 cutoff date. And if you haven’t already upgraded, state officials say you should get moving now. “Do not wait,” Colleen Ogilvie, head of the RMV, said last week. The RMV even has a countdown clock on the homepage of its website.
- Why it matters: When that May 7 deadline hits, you’ll need a REAL ID to fly on domestic airplanes (and to enter certain federal buildings), unless you plan to carry around your passport.
- Why are they nagging us about this now? You need to make an in-person appointment to get a REAL ID. And the RMV expects the demand to surge next year. Currently, just 55% of state IDs in Massachusetts are REAL ID compliant, meaning there’s well over 2 million people in the state who have yet to upgrade.
- If your ID is expiring soon: You can renew your driver’s license or ID up to one year in advance of its expiration date. State officials recommend doing it “at least three weeks before” the expiration date so there’s time to mail it to you.
- If you recently renewed an ID: You can still upgrade whenever to a REAL ID; you’ll just have to pay a $25 fee.
- Pro-tip: You might not need to go to the RMV. If you’re a AAA member, go to one of their branches for REAL ID services. Otherwise, head to the RMV’s website to make an appointment before that clock hits zero.
- Don’t forget: You need to bring along a number of different documents to your appointment to show you’re a legal Massachusetts resident. Read the full document checklist here. (Though Massachusetts recently began allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses, they aren't eligible for REAL IDs.)
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Seriously parched: After three months with nearly no rainfall, drought conditions have now reached “critical” status in almost all of Massachusetts. State officials declared yesterday that every region — except for the Cape and Islands — is now experiencing a “Level 3” drought (one below the most severe “Level 4” emergency drought).
- What does that mean for you? Residents and businesses in Level 3 drought regions are asked to “aggressively” reduce indoor water use, via simple steps like taking shorter showers, fixing leaks, and running dishwashers and washing machines only on full loads. “That water really adds up,” Vandana Rao, the state’s head of water policy, told WBUR’s John Bender. “And it can help to provide enough water for firefighting, as well as make sure that our water supply is sustained through the course of this drought.” (The state is also asking cities and towns to enforce outdoor water use restrictions with “increasingly stringent penalties.”)
- The big picture: Massachusetts hasn’t seen such a dry stretch in over 25 years. While rain tomorrow will help a little, Rao says the drought conditions are not likely to change in the next month.
So much for that: Despite yesterday’s optimism that the teachers strike in Gloucester would be resolved by now, all three North Shore strikes will continue today. School is canceled for the eighth day in Gloucester and Beverly, and the seventh day in Marblehead.
- The latest: Striking educators rallied yesterday on Beacon Hill, even as Gov. Maura Healey called the strikes “unacceptable.”
- No picket lines here: Revere teachers are set to vote on a new contract today. The city said yesterday it reached a tentative deal on a new, four-year contract to raise wages for all teachers, add paid parental leave and take steps to increase school safety.
New trend on campus: Brandeis University is matching UMass’s free tuition program with an offer of their own. Beginning next fall, the Waltham university will offer full rides to students whose families earn $75,000 or less a year. Students from families making up to $200,000 will also pay no more than half-tuition.
- Like UMass, Brandeis says they’re trying to simplify their messaging around the need-based financial aid they mostly already provide. “A lot of the goal here was to try to figure out how to make what we are offering in financial assistance digestible for folks,” Jennifer Walker, the school’s dean of admissions, said.
P.S.— Some good trouble is happening tonight at CitySpace. David Greenberg, the author of the first definitive biography of Civil Rights icon John Lewis, will be in the building to discuss his book and the little-known story of Lewis’ political ascent in the post-Civil Rights movement years. Secure your seat here.
