The Fast Forward e-mail newsletter has the news that you need to launch your day. Sign up here.
Here’s a rundown of what’s coming up today.
What’s it like outside? Sleety — watch out for freezing rain if you’re driving. You’ll get either snow, rain, or a mix, depending on where you live. Kind of messy for the Patriots parade and in the mid-30s, alas. Meteorologist Dave Epstein says to bundle up and bring an umbrella.
Commuter alert: Streets on the parade route — Boylston, Tremont, and Cambridge — will close at 9 a.m. Government Center T Station will be closed from 9:30 a.m. until the Pats parade is over. If you take the train, leave early; the T and commuter rail will be très crowded.
While you were sleeping: The advocate general of the European Union’s highest court issued an opinion that Belgium must grant a visa to a Syrian family on humanitarian grounds because they could suffer “grave consequences” without it. Belgium had argued the family had no strong ties in the country ... And Rodrigo Duterte, the violent, vulgar president of the Philippines who’s killing thousands of suspected drug dealers without trial, now is turning his wrath on his police force. After giving them free rein to kill with impunity, he’s angry that some of them killed a South Korean businessman last year and others are corrupt. So today he announced that he’s sending many of them to Basilan, a southern island controlled by ISIS militants Abu Sayyaf, notorious for beheading their captives.
Hey, sport: The Celtics and Bruins are both off. Why try to compete with The Team?
The lieutenant governor of Texas sicced the Texas Rangers on the trail of whoever stole Tom Brady’s game jersey out of his bag in the Patriots locker room after the Super Bowl ... ICYMI, back in September Brady taped an alternative ending to his Shields MRI ad — the one where he removes his four Super Bowl rings from his fingers and stores them in a locker. Well, the new ad — aired right after the game — has the nurse again asking him, “Is that all?” and instead of saying, “For now,” he pulls a fifth ring out of his pocket and replies, “Actually, no — I forgot this one. It’s kind of new.” She says, as she does in the original commercial, “We’re going to have to get you a bigger locker,” to which Brady says, “Roger that!” Has Goodell seen it? We can only hope.
Today’s the big federal court hearing on President Trump’s controversial executive order banning permanent US residents and visa holders from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from everywhere from entering the country. A panel of judges for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments at 6 p.m. ET on whether to restore the order, which was put on hold temporarily by a federal judge in Seattle. It will be livestreamed here.
At issue is whether the president’s broad authority to control the borders outweighs the harm opponents claim the ban would do to companies, universities, and others. There’s also the issue of religious preference; the executive order says minority religions in the named countries — in other words, non-Muslims — would get preferred entry when the ban is lifted, which could violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Not sure if it will matter to the court, but the size of the support for overturning the ban is notable: 10 former high-ranking diplomatic and national security officials; nearly 100 Silicon Valley tech companies; more than 280 law professors; a coalition of 16 state or district attorneys general, including those from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia; and a host of civil liberties and other organizations, have formally supported the legal bid to block the order.
We live in interesting times. But do we want to?
Senate Democrats have been giving speeches to hold the floor for the past 20 hours or so to delay the vote on Betsy DeVos, hoping against hope that one more GOP senator or a grizzly will flip and vote against her, killing her nomination for Education secretary.
DeVos isn’t the only one lobbying senators to vote for her; Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is turning on the charm, making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week. According to Politico, yesterday he met with Montana Senator Jon Tester, a moderate who is up for reelection in the fall; California Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee; and about a dozen other Democrats. Today he’s scheduled to sit down with GOP senators Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Mike Crapo of Idaho. More tomorrow.
Congressional Republicans continue their assault on Obama regulations today. Today the House will vote to toss out three rules that:
■ Increase transparency and public input when the Bureau of Land Management prepares resource management plans
■ Provide more accountability through the Every Student Succeeds Act
■ Make teacher training programs more effective by setting up methods to collect and share data.
The Senate is also striking down regulations, voting after the House to eliminate each rule before it is sent to the president.
Trump’s choice to head the FCC, Ajit Pai, wants to get rid of net neutrality rules enacted under the Obama administration that guarantee equal access to content on the Internet. The point is to stop the companies that control Internet access, such as Comcast, which owns NBC Universal, New England Cable News, and others, from deliberately slowing down, or “throttling,” content from rivals. Today at 11:15 a.m. in D.C., several Democratic US senators — including Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — hold a press conference to protest. Watch a livestream here.
Finally, this day in 1964 changed the lives of many Baby Boomers forever. Not to be too dramatic about it, but the arrival of the Beatles on these shores for the first time meant that we didn’t listen to music, or view hair, the same way ever again.
Thanks for reading. I write this newsletter with love From Me to You, so please, Love Me Do. Send questions, comments, or news tips to teresa.hanafin@globe.com, or follow me on Twitter @BostonTeresa. See you tomorrow.
Fast Forward this to your friends or tell them to stop sponging off you and sign up for their own copy.