School's Back In Session, For Some More Than Others: The HUB

The HUB is a rundown of the stories people in Boston are talking about. Patch publishes the HUB every weekday.

Good morning, Boston! Today is Monday, April 5. We're talking the Spotlight team back in action, "Saturday Night Live" taking a swipe at Boston and a historically putrid start to the Red Sox season.

But first...

It doesn't exactly feel like the first day of school, but today's the day most districts must bring all willing elementary students back to class on a full-time basis. For many kids, it'll be the first time back in class five days a week since last March — more than a year.

Boston Public Schools is one of the districts granted a waiver to delay the return of elementary students. The district will be expected to have those students back full-time by May 3.

Gov. Charlie Baker was among the governors highlighted in a New York Times piece over the weekend for their efforts to get students back in class. Baker's full-steam-ahead approach was framed as one of the most aggressive. Whether that's a good thing depends on who you ask.

"We have a chance to try to right some of this over the last part of the year,” Baker told the Times, adding, "I just think we shouldn’t miss this opportunity."

Check it out

The Boston's Globe's Spotlight team took aim at people who lead some of the city's top hospitals. The investigation revealed Boston hospital chiefs work as directors of publicly traded companies at a far greater rate than the rest of the country, raising "troubling issues of conflict of interest and hospital priorities," the report says.

"Saturday Night Live" took a shot at Boston, and it wasn't a good-natured jab at Dunkin'. Let's just go straight to the tape (start at 1:05):

They're already calling the 2021 Red Sox season a disaster. Three games in, I don't blame 'em. Boston dropped three games to the lowly Orioles, capped by Sunday's 11-3 drubbing, resulting in an 0-3 start to the season at Fenway Park for only the second time in franchise history.

What I'm reading today: There's a lot of chatter about "vaccine passes" now that people are getting inoculated by the tens of thousands. Will there even be such a thing? What would the restrictions be? Is this the new culture war? Spencer Buell at Boston Magazine answers some pressing questions about the whole thing.

Weather

The National Weather Service says: During the day — Mostly sunny, with a high near 57. Northwest wind 14 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. At night — Partly cloudy, with a low around 40. Northwest wind 7 to 13 mph.

Have a swell Monday.

You can email me at mike.carraggi@patch.com and follow me @PatchCarraggi.