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.
Massachusetts might not have any Michelins, but the state could add a few more James Beard awards this spring. The James Beard Foundation released the list of finalists Wednesday for its annual awards for the nation’s best restaurants and chefs.
In case you want to make a reservation before the word gets out, here’s a look at the places and people from the Boston area (and New England) that made the final cut:
In Massachusetts:
Over the border: Here are the other national James Beard award finalists from New England.
- Outstanding Restaurateur: Allison Gibson and Cara Tobin, for their Mediterranean restaurants Honey Road and The Grey Jay in Burlington, Vermont.
- Outstanding Restaurant: Oberlin, an Italian restaurant in Providence.
- Emerging Chef: Nikhil Naiker, for NIMKI, his “New England tropical” food program at the Courtland Club restaurant in Providence.
- Outstanding Bakery: Super Secret Ice Cream, a female-owned, small-batch ice cream shop in Bethlehem, New Hampshire that makes its own waffle cones. (Fun fact: the business began in an old ski tuning shed.) Here’s your obligatory Instagram link.
- Outstanding Bar: Wolf Tree, a small craft cocktail bar in Vermont’s White River Junction featuring locally sourced meat and cheese boards.
What’s next: The winners will be announced June 16 in Chicago.
Wu’s big win: A state judge paved the way yesterday for Boston to continue its White Stadium renovation project, ruling the Franklin Park property is not parkland protected under state law and therefore does not need approval from the Legislature. It’s a big legal and political victory for Mayor Michelle Wu and the recently renamed Boston Legacy, as the two sides sprint to finish the $200 million public-private project before the new professional women’s soccer team’s first season next spring.
- What’s next: Opponents are now turning their attention to scrutinizing the project’s final costs, with construction bids due in July. “We hope there is a limit to how much the city is willing to spend to prop up Boston Unity’s private investors,” Melissa Hamel, a Jamaica Plain resident and plaintiff in the case, said in a statement. (Wu’s office has said the rising cost estimates are primarily due to upgraded amenities for Boston Public Schools athletics.)
Federal funding frets: This week, the Trump administration put the entire staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services — a small federal agency that awards grant funding to museums and libraries — on leave. And as my WBUR colleagues report, the action has left institutions across Massachusetts worried about being forced to cut services and programs as a result of disrupted funding.
- Museums: Maddie Browning reports museums from Salem to Nantucket to western Massachusetts have been awarded grants through the IMLS ranging from roughly $20,000 to $500,000.
- Libraries: Chloe Jad and Anna Rubenstein report that while local libraries are primarily funded by municipal property taxes, they depend on federal dollars to pay for statewide services and networks that connect every library. If the flow of federal funding doesn’t resume, services like interlibrary loans, e-books and access to databases could be at risk.
On campus: Harvard is putting a pro-Palestinian student group on probation and banning it from hosting public activities through the rest of the school year, following an on campus rally this Tuesday. School officials say Harvard Undergraduate Palestinian Solidarity Committee violated campus rules, including using amplified sound and blocking building entrances and exits, as The Harvard Crimson reports.
- The group was previously suspended last spring for violating rules about campus demonstrations, but it was reinstated last September.
P.S.— Want to witness one of the world’s most awe-inspiring events? Today’s your last chance to win a 13-day trip for two to experience the wildlife of Tanzania — including a migration considered the largest movement of wildlife on earth — when you make a donation to support WBUR’s journalism. Make a donation by 7p.m. to enter.
