The best news we heard this April (2025)

The B-Side

Plus: 🏅 The fastest Bostonians

By Gia Orsino, The B-Side and Emily Schario, The B-Side

April 29, 2025 | 9:39 AM

6 minutes to read

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

🌷Alexa, play “Boston springtime sounds.”OK, she can’t do that,but we can! We bundled up Boston’s best, most goosebump-inducing springtime sounds (think: Marathon cheering, “Sweet Caroline scream-singing”) into one package.Take a listen.

👀What’s on tap today:

• An MBTA ferry break-up
• Our AG is booked and BUSY
• The fastest Bostonians

Up first…

GOOD NEWS

Sub-20 races, sexy seniors, and a small biz

Images: Courtesy of B.A.A. and Marilia Lima, Boston Globe Staff. Illustration: Gia Orsino.

Fun fact:April was absolutelyburstingwith good news. And lucky for you, “good news messengers” is basically our job description, so consider us employees of the year.

Here are the feel-good stories you might’ve missed this month:

🤰The B.A.A. 5K’s most impressive finisher was running for two.Meet Reilly Kiernan, the Bostonian-slash-superhuman who crossed the finish line in under 20 minutes …whileeight monthspregnant! For all of you non-running nerds, that’s 3.1 miles at a 6-minute and 18-second mile pace. Mind-boggling speed aside, for Kiernan, the sub-20 effort was a “fun,” third-trimester-appropriate alternative to the marathon itself, which, BTW, she runs at a similar blistering pace.This race day pic of heris iconic.

👵🏼A local group of sexy seniors made their daytime TV debut.Rememberthis group of Revere seniorswhose tastefully-nude 2025 calendar (which youcan still buy) raised tons of money for their tenants association? Well … they were juston “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”Twelve of the ladies traveled to NYC for the interview, which they called “the event of a lifetime.” You canwatch the adorable segment here.

🎥The community rallied behind a small biz in trouble.TheBrattle Theatre, Harvard Square’s beloved indie movie theatre, was forced to close on one of a big-ticket weekend due to a “plumbing emergency.” So when the community heard the company could suffer big financial losses from the damage (think: $20,000 in earnings),donations poured in, making up 100% of the lost cash within days.

✊🏾826 Bostonstood up to anti-DEI sentiments.When the local nonprofit’s application for $250,000 in federal funding was flagged for including words like “diversity, equity, and DEI,” it was forced to choose between its mission and its budget. The boardmade the gutsy choice to stay true to its mission, unanimously voting to forgo the cash, which they’d been relying on annually for over a decade. Now, they’ll be stepping up their fundraising efforts to fill the gap.

🏀Game day fashion is for the girls.Around 20 years ago, the phrase “women’s sport’s merch” in TD Garden was basically a non-starter. But Lauma Cerlins, director of retail for TD’s ProShop, knew there was a gap in the market. So shemade it her mission to fill it. Since then, Cerlins has brought two local businesses specializing in women’s merch to TD Garden’s ProShop,BROdenimandMel the Clothing, and every year, women’s merch makes up a larger portion of its sales.

TOGETHER WITH TOAST

Marathon Monday: The Sequel

🏃🍝The race may be over, but the real victory lap starts now.Catch up on everything you missed while you were busy cheering on the runners last week. We teamed up withToastto spotlight the restaurants that powered the city through Marathon Monday. ​​From behind-the-scenes kitchen moments to amapped-out guideof the best spots to eat along the marathon route, this is your chance to revisit the excitement of race day… now with significantly fewer crowds.Dive in and dig in!

QUICK QUESTION!

👀What would make you want to become a B-Side member?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

Image: Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe

⛴️ It’s officially ferry season, y’all!This week marked the return of weekday service on the new and improvedWinthropANDQuincyMBTA ferry routes (formerly the Winthrop/Quincy route). Thanks to the addition ofa few new boats, the agency was able to split the OG route into two, providing speedier, more frequent (hourly-ish) service to Logan Airport, Seaport, and the Aquarium. Meanwhile, the Lynn ferry isstill on its modified schedulethrough May 5 to protect the right whales. Findall the ferry schedules here.

😮‍💨Trump has kept AG Andrea Campbell booked and BUSY.In the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency, Mass.’ Attorney Generalhas filed 14 lawsuits against his administration, putting her on pace to beat former AG Maura Healey’s impressive 96 lawsuits during Trump’s first term. While Campbell expected to be busy when Trump took office, the sheer volume of work so far has surprised her: She’s sued against actions related to citizenship, DEI, federal funding, and more, and she’s not planning to slow down. “Bring it on,” shesaid.

🤑Turns out, theMillionaire’sTax *isn’t* driving away millionaires.ICYMI: The now two-year-old law adds a 4% tax on incomes over $1 million, and reinvests the cash in education and transit (you have it to thank for free community college). Opponents feared it would drive rich folks away when it was first introduced, butit appears that’s not happening. One think tank found that the number of ultra-wealthy residents has actually grown since the law’s inception,according toWBUR, from 1,954 in 2022 to 2,642 in 2024.

🧑‍⚖️ “What? Like it’s hard?” —probably Mass.’s law school applicants.Apps to the state’s law schoolsare shooting up after years of decline. Across eight schools, there have been over 38,000 applications to date this year, a 26% increase overall. And some schools, like BU Law, saw up to 30%. Experts attribute the boost to post-grads seeking stable, high-paying jobs amid economic instability and as the Trump administration cuts government positions.Students saythose factors make less conventional career paths feel like a bigger gamble than they used to.

B-SIDE EVENT

Join us for a B-Side cycling class!

Join B-Side and Rev’d for an awesome Saturday afternoon! Train in a45-minute indoor cycling sessionat the Rev’d Copley studio, followed by refreshments from Culture Pop and Mother Juice and a chance to get to know other B-Siders IRL.Become a B-Side memberfor $10 off your entry and a B-Side sweat towel to take home!

ONE LAST THING

The fastest Bostonians

Image: Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe. Illustration: Gia Orsino.

Now these folks aredefinitelyfaster than the Green Line.Enter:This year’s Fastest Bostonians, the annual awards given to the fastest Boston residents to cross the Boston Marathon finish line in each major category, awarded by Mayor Michelle Wu.

This year’s winners:Erik Linden, of Beacon Hill, ran his first-ever Boston in 2:21:25 for the men; Jacqueline Gaughan, also of Beacon Hill, finished in 2:32:07 for the women; and Allston’s Danielle Bishop ran their eighth Boston in 3:42:14 in the non-binary category.

Last, but certainly not least, for the first time ever, we have a winner in the men’s wheelchair category: Jason Fowler, of Southie, who crossed the finish line for the 21st (omg) time in 2:00:43.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🐢Thanks for reading!OK, we’re done humbling ourselves. For now.

💜Special shoutout to today’s sponsor,Toast, for supporting local journalism and helping local restaurants run smoothly on Boston’s busiest day.

🏀The results are in:33% of readers say the big four men’s team they’re most likely to watch and follow is the Celtics. One reader said: “The only reason I have the Red Sox schedule printed out is so I can know if I’m going to be *even more miserable* on the T on my commute home.” Same.

💃Keep up with us @BostonBSideonIG,TikTok, andTwitter. Send comments and suggestions to[emailprotected]or[emailprotected].