Welcome to Friday.

• The MBTA is exploring the use of trained raptors to keep pigeons out of stations and MIT students can earn a physical education certificate in piracy.

🌧️ Today's weather: Mostly sunny then slight chance of rain showers, with a high of 78 and a low of 57.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Jeanne Hopkins, and early birthday to David Hurlburt and Anna Toenjes!

🎸 Sounds like: "1979" by The Smashing Pumpkins, who play TD Garden today.

Today's newsletter is 866 words — a 3.5 minute read.

The MBTA thinks one way to stop pigeons from pooping all over the stations is to have trained birds of prey ready to swoop in and regulate.

Why it matters: Poo-covered subway stations like Tufts Medical and JFK/UMass could get raptor bouncers to keep the pigeons in line.

• The T is asking falconry companies how raptors could help keep birds out of a system with more than 200 rapid transit and commuter rail stations.

The big picture: The agency says bird waste can spread disease, damage infrastructure and create unsanitary conditions for riders and employees.

Threat level: Potential targets include pigeons, seagulls and starlings.

• The T's current defenses against the winged rats are mostly just netting and spikes.
• A pigeon-trapping pilot is also under way at maintenance sites.

State of play: A formal request for information was posted on the state's contractor portal Aug. 19, with responses due Sept. 11.

• A T spokesperson told Streetsblog Massachusetts there has been interest and a formal request for proposals for a pilot could come next.

The T is asking raptor providers how a program would differ across four key sites — presumably the poopiest spots on the system:

• JFK/UMass, a key Dorchester Red Line station with an open-air platform.
• Tufts Medical Center, the downtown Orange and Silver Line junction with an indoor platform.
• The Southampton and Charlestown maintenance campuses.

The T wants to know how often falconers should visit stations, for how long and at what times.

• The agency is also asking how frequently nuisance birds would return once raptors are on the scene.
• There are open questions on whether existing netting and traps could endanger the raptors and how crowds, noise, scents, sharp objects and birds that get indoors could affect the work.

Between the lines: The document doesn't promise a full pilot program, but says the responses will inform whether to pursue one, and the request doesn't commit the T to anything right now.

Share this with a feathered friend.

🚨 A person sitting on a bench outside Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain was killed when a vehicle hit them and then struck the hospital's Belkin House. (Boston 25 News)

• Police said a preliminary investigation indicated the crash was not deliberate. Two people in the vehicle had minor injuries.
• The crash ruptured a gas line, and the cause remained under investigation.

🏛️ Lawmakers asked the Healey administration to explain its oversight of nursing home licensing after a Globe Spotlight report on out-of-state operators. (The Boston Globe)

• Gov. Maura Healey said she stood by Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein.

📮 USPS said it will temporarily close the Fields Corner post office at 218 Adams St. on Oct. 26 after its lease expires. (Dorchester Reporter)

• PO box service will move to the Clayton Street annex, and retail customers were directed to the Codman Square branch.

🛒 The federal share of state SNAP administrative costs dropped from 50% to 25% on Oct. 1, leaving Massachusetts with an additional $53 million to cover this fiscal year. (WBUR)

• More than 7,000 Massachusetts residents were also set to lose Medicaid coverage under the same 2025 federal law, which affects certain low-income legal immigrants.

MIT nerds can satisfy their physical education requirements by becoming recognized pirates.

Why it matters: Undergraduates who complete archery, fencing, pistol and sailing classes can claim a Pirate Certificate.

• It's an incentive to finish the four-course PE and wellness requirement for MIT students, the school says.

By the numbers: All four courses are needed for the certificate, which satisfies the four-course overall PE requirement.

• The certificate became available in 2011.

How it works: Students email the PE office with their name and MIT ID once grades post for all four pirate classes. Then they get the certificate and massive street cred as the most dangerous buccaneers in Cambridge.

• The pistol requirement can be met with an air pistol or rifle.
• Non-MIT courses and what the PE department describes as "life experience" don't count.

Between the lines: The program is tongue-in-cheek. The office says it's for entertainment purposes only and doesn't actually license piracy.

The bottom line: These kids must be so annoying every Sept. 19.

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Deehan should get an MIT certificate for how much time he put into the AC Black Flag remake.

Steph thinks the new Green Line cars look ugly.

This newsletter was edited by Jeff Weiner.