Axios Boston

April 15, 2026
Wednesday, we've arrived.
- Gov. Maura Healey finally unveiled her proposal to limit social media use for teens, and we dive into why Pure Oasis is closing up shop.
🌧️ Today's weather: Partly sunny then chance of showers and thunderstorms, with a high of 72 and a low of 54.
Today's newsletter is 1,005 words — a 4-minute read.
1 big thing: Why Pure Oasis closed
Pure Oasis was playing catch-up on a growing pile of bills when its owners were dealt back-to-back setbacks this month, prompting them to close the store.
Why it matters: Boston's first recreational cannabis dispensary is the latest casualty in a state with rising costs, an oversaturated flower market and limited resources for cannabis business owners, one of the owners says.
Catch up quick: Pure Oasis, one of the state's few Black-owned dispensaries, closed its doors in Roxbury and downtown last week, catching customers and employees off guard.
- The company's 60 employees haven't been paid because the Department of Revenue froze its account last week due to delinquent taxes, co-owner Kobie Evans told Axios.
Driving the news: Pure Oasis owes DOR roughly $400,000, for which Evans was trying to negotiate a payment plan with help from Sen. Liz Miranda.
- A DOR spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Evans and Miranda said the agency was unwilling to consider alternatives prior to freezing the account.
Friction point: Evans said he was waiting on a $300,000 grant from the state's Social Equity Trust Fund to pay part of the tax bill, but he's didn't receive it.
- The state Executive Office of Economic Development plans to distribute the funds in the coming weeks, a spokesperson said, but it's not a blank check.
- Awardees must enter into an agreement with the office and then submit eligible payments for reimbursement, the spokesperson said.
Context: It wasn't the first time DOR froze Pure Oasis' account.
- Still, Evans said that, between that, the cannabis bill to lift license caps from three to six and Boston's approval of a downtown dispensary run by multi-state operator Curaleaf, closing felt inevitable.
- His focus now, he added, is to get his account unfrozen so his staff can get paid.
The big picture: Businesses across the state are struggling to pay their bills and taxes in this economy, Miranda says.
- Cannabis businesses, however, have even fewer resources because cannabis remains illegal federally, which shuts out business owners from most loans, grants and relief programs.
Zoom in: The bills have piled up for Pure Oasis over the past year, as it juggled two dispensaries and plans for a third in Brighton.
- The cannabis supplier Blue Fox Brands sued Pure Oasis last year over a $65,000 debt.
- They agreed on a payment plan, but Pure Oasis has a balance of more than $57,000, per a Blue Fox representative.
- Pure Oasis also faces a lawsuit from Stack Design Build over $175,000 for work done building the Brighton space.
- Pure Oasis and Pure Oasis Ventures, a separate LLC, owe nearly $2.3 million over a defaulted mortgage for a property in Dighton, Evans said.
2. 📲 Healey's take on social media restrictions
Gov. Maura Healey unveiled her own proposal to limit social media use among teens under age 16.
Why it matters: That makes three major competing bills reining in youth social media use on Beacon Hill, with just over three months to hash out a compromise.
Driving the news: Healey's supplemental spending bill includes legislation limiting teens under 16 to two hours of social media apps a day, citing mental health risks.
- The bill wouldn't ban social media for teens altogether, but it would deactivate features like "infinite scroll" and "autoplay," turn off location tracking and block notifications overnight and during school hours.
- The proposal would require parental consent to change default settings for users under age 16.
Yes, but: It's unclear how the state plans to make Meta, TikTok and other social media giants create these default settings and verify that children are old enough to use their apps.
Context: Less than a month ago, a jury in California found that Meta and YouTube harmed a 20-year-old user with addictive design features that led to anxiety and depression.
- In Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court last week let Attorney General Andrea Campbell's lawsuit against Meta over its impact on youth proceed.
3. 🔙 BTMU: Hampshire College to close
Dianna Russini, the NFL reporter recently photographed hugging and holding hands with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort, has resigned from The Athletic. (Associated Press)
- Both Russini and Vrabel have denied wrongdoing.
Hampshire College, a private liberal arts school in Western Massachusetts, is closing after years of financial hardship. (MassLive)
A Lynn man was arrested in the burglary of a seaside mansion in Beverly last month involving a masked intruder who allegedly tied up the home's caretaker and fled in a stolen Porsche. (Globe)
A former school employee who faced investigation over a TikTok video depicting him in a sexual conversation with someone posing as a 15-year-old girl was found dead in Rhode Island yesterday. (NBC Boston)
4. 🚌 World Cup by bus
World Cup fans can now take a bus from Boston to Foxborough for the games.
Why it matters: It's the latest public transit option Boston-area organizers and state officials are promoting to deter travel by car to Gillette Stadium, which will be called Boston Stadium during the tournament.
State of play: The Boston Stadium Express bus service will serve up to 10,000 per match, picking people up from Logan Airport or the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence.
The latest: Tickets went on sale yesterday for $95 a person.
5. Picking the best Greater Boston film


Our quest to crown Greater Boston's greatest contribution to cinema rolls on, after hundreds of you voted in Round 1.
The first round eliminated modern standouts like Gone Baby Gone, The Social Network (which suffered the narrowest defeat) and The Holdovers.
- Round two pits Bruiser the Chihuahua against Jaws and a team of intrepid Globe reporters against the Irish Mob.
Click here to cast your votes!
Deehan is out.
Steph felt like a happy plant basking in the sun yesterday.
This newsletter was edited by Jeff Weiner.
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