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News, sixty five degrees and Sonny in Boston at four o'clock good Saturday afternoon. I'm Madison Rogers, and let's go to the polls. Today is day one. Massachusetts voters are the first day rather that base staid voters are able to cast their ballots in person ahead of the presidential election, and there is more and more attention on those five ballot questions. WBZ Sherry Small has a rundown.
The state auditor ensures that state agencies follow existing laws and regulations. Question one on the ballot asks whether the auditor should be allowed to investigate the state legislature and oversee and evaluate at least some of its activities. Question two, if past, would eliminate the state's requirement to pass the MCAST exam in order to graduate. Question three a union for rideshare drivers. Under current law, uber and lyft drivers
here in Massachusetts cannot readily form unions. A yes on three would change that. Legalizing psychedelic drugs, A yes on four would allow the use of naturally occurring psychedelic drugs found in plants, things like psilocybin, mescaline, DMT and others, allowing them to be grown, shared, used at home, and offered by licensed professionals for medicinal use. And Question five
minimum wage for tipped workers. Waitstaff, bartenders, and others who rely heavily on tips are currently guaranteed minimum wage in Massachusetts fifteen dollars an hour, but employees can pay as little as six seventy five an hour if tips make up the difference. A yes on five would require employees to pay the full minimum wage. It would also allow restaurants to pool and share tips with cooks, bookkeepers, and others who don't interact with customers. Sherry Small WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Early voting goes through Friday, November first. It's also the first day of early voting in Detroit, and Vice President Kamala Harris spend some time getting out the vote there this after noon. Political analysts are placing a lot of weight on Michigan and Wisconsin.
If she can't put away the Upper Midwest, Wisconsin, Michigan, the whole rest of the map just gets so much harder for her. And you also just think about the issues. You know, there's a lot of money being spent in that area from oil and gas companies trying to push back against her campaign. She has to contend with that, but look, this is the industrial hub the Midwest, a
sort of manufacturing hub of the country. So it's really a test to see whether her economic message about building an economy of the future is breaking through.
This evening, the Vice president has a rally in Atlanta, Georgia. Former President Trump will be in Leatro, Pennsylvania. Meantime, Democrats in Congress also just put out a report accusing mister Trump of overcharging secret service agents for hotel rooms. This is back when he was in office.
This is a report compiled by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. They accused the Trump organization of consistently jacking up the price of hotel rooms for Secret Service agents in Trump's then DC hotel. Example they give is when the agency approved a waiver for a room that was allegedly priced up above three hundred percent above the standard
government right. The Trump organization denies all of this, and they have said they don't profit on hotel room sales or any kind of sales to government employees staying at their property.
That's ABC's j O'Brien looking at the four day forecast. Now, it's a mainly clear night ahead with a lower round forty nine in Boston, cooler inland. Tomorrow is even warmer in the afternoon, seventy one to seventy five for the high and staying mostly sunny. Tomorrow night, it's mainly clear. We have more sunshine and warm temps for Monday, a higher around seventy seven degrees, not as warm, but still sunny. Tuesday, we're looking at a high in the mid upper sixties.
Right now, it is seventy in newbury Port. It's sixty eight in Attleborough. Here in Boston sixty five degrees with a blue sky overhead. At four oh five. It was the home opener for the Boston College men's hockey team last night. The teams and fans took a moment to.
More, a powerful moment of silence and stillness inside Conti Forum Friday, remembering the immeasurable losses of three hockey heroes. BC legends Tony Voss and brothers Johnny and Matthew Goudreau died tragically this summer.
Three stellar players that played up here that were class acts.
I'm great Gentlemen.
That report from WBZTVS Julie MacDonald. This season, the Eagles are donning special patches on their jerseys with the initials the Foss and the Goodrose. The Eagles won the game five zero over Aic. Some encouraging news from federal health officials. Drug overdose deats have now been falling for six months straight. CBS's Michael Tuscano reports there are some questions as to what's driving the change.
Preliminary numbers from the CDC say drug overdose deaths fell twelve point seven percent in the twelve months ending in May. While welcome, the drop is puzzling to the public health experts who have been working for years to stop the increase in opioid depths, driven primarily by fentanyl overdose reduction strategies like the increased availability of narcon, the rescue medication that can reverse opioid overdoses, or in use long before
the abrupt decrease. Michael Toscano, CBS News Washington.
You're now in the loop for news updates throughout the day. Listen to WBZ News Radio on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Madison Rogers, WBZ Boston's news radio