Ten people are vying for the Boston City Council's four at-large seats in Tuesday's election.

• They range from a Boston-raised Republican to a Democratic councilor-turned-consultant-turned-candidate.

The big picture: The council has grappled with dysfunction and controversy — most recently, former councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson's indictment on federal kickback charges.

• It also has a growing list of challenges to tackle, including budget concerns and questions about broad-daylight drug use around Mass. and Cass.

Reality check: Having a strong-mayor government in Massachusetts means the city council can't unilaterally approve major laws.

• The council's chief role beyond providing constituent services is to work with, or against, the mayor's influential agenda.

The incumbents

Endorsements have piled up for City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Henry Santana and Erin Murphy.

• All have the backing of various labor unions.
• Murphy, often a moderate voice on the council, has widespread support from both the trades and law enforcement.

The odds: Louijeune, the first Haitian-American council president, is all but guaranteed to win reelection, with her relationship with Mayor Michelle Wu's allies and her growing influence among Boston's power players.

• Of the four incumbents, Santana reportedly faces the highest risk of being unseated, having raised the least funding.

Louijeune says she's juggled the city's large policy issues with the day-to-day work of addressing complaints about trash pickup, rodents and other constituents' concerns — and is prepared to do the same if reelected.

• 1 policy priority: Increasing affordable housing.

Mejia, now the city's longest-serving at-large city councilor, says she brings an independent voice to the council and isn't afraid to diverge from Wu on issues like the White Stadium renovation process.

• 1 policy priority: Governance, specifically increasing transparency and access to city government.

Neither Santana nor Murphy responded in time for this story.

More on the other challengers

🎓 Harvard students and faculty rallied against any potential settlement between the university and the Trump administration following a federal court victory that restored $2.7 billion in research funding. (The Harvard Crimson)

• Around 80 demonstrators urged Harvard leaders to avoid deals like those struck by Brown and Columbia universities.

🎵 The Dropkick Murphys rocked Suffolk Downs despite severe weather delays that forced evacuations and cleared many attendees from the inaugural Seisiún Irish music festival. (Boston.com)

• Thunderstorms forced a two-hour delay and turned the venue into a mudslide.
• The band blew past the curfew for fans who waited through the delays.

⚖️ A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's decision to end Temporary Protected Status for over 1 million Haitians and Venezuelans. (The Boston Globe)

• Judge Edward Chen ruled that ending TPS would send people back to dangerous areas.

🍩 Union Square Donuts announced plans to open a new location in Lynnfield, part a retail expansion in Greater Boston. (Boston Business Journal)

Reading your phone while on the toilet could potentially lead to hemorrhoids, a new study finds.

Driving the news: A study in the journal PLOS One suggests that smartphone power users were more likely to have hemorrhoids, which are swollen veins in the anus and lower rectum that can cause bleeding and discomfort.

• Researchers studied 125 adults before they had routine colonoscopy screenings.

By the numbers: 66% of the patients said they used their phones on the toilet to read the news and swipe on social media.

• Those who used their phones on the john were associated with a 46% increased risk of hemorrhoids compared to others, the study said.
• About 37% of smartphone users said they spent over five minutes on the toilet compared to about 7% of non-smartphone users, the study said.

Read the rest of this later, you know, when you're not so occupied

Monday, 9/8

📚 Climate activist Bill McKibben speaks at WBUR CitySpace about the shift toward solar power. — 6:30pm.

Tuesday, 9/9

🎤 Dua Lipa brings her Radical Optimism Tour to TD Garden — 7:30pm.

Wednesday, 9/10

📖 Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Eric Foner discusses his new book, Our Fragile Freedoms, with Randall Kennedy at the Brattle Theatre — 6pm.

🎬 The Brattle Theatre kicks off an epic screening of Twin Peaks: The Return with Parts 1 & 2 Wednesday — 8pm.

• Check the schedule for the rest of the episodes this week, including that insane eighth episode.

🎤 Dua Lipa returns for night two at TD Garden — 7:30pm.

Thursday, 9/11

🎸 Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden headlines at the House of Blues — 7pm.

📚 Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson plugs her new memoir Lovely One at the Chevalier Theatre in Medford — 7:30pm.

Friday, 9/12

🎭 My First Ex-Husband, a new comedy by Joy Behar, begins its run at Huntington Theatre — Curtain at 8pm.

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