NEW ENGLAND

We hear about Boca Tuya's residency at Adams Theater, celebrate Free Comic Books Day, and learn about the memorial celebration for Nat Graves at the Shea Theater.

We talk to BoDeans founder Kurt Neumann before his show at the HOPE Center for the Arts, get Live Music Friday with Emily Wells accompanied by a string quartet, and visit Sixteen Acres Garden Center.

New England Public Media and GBH will merge, creating a statewide Massachusetts media organization that is expected to reach 1.3 million people per week.

Today on The Rundown with Carrie Saldo, panelists discuss Baystate Health taking over Mercy Medical Center, the Mass. GOP convention earlier this week, age of consent in Massachusetts and more.

We visit Amherst Media, find out about the dance production of "Rowdies in Love" at Jacob's Pillow, and McGovern with Rep. Jim McGovern.

We visit the Smith College Museum of Art to check out the exhibit "Don't mind if I do" and talk with the Word Nerd about how we talk about herbs and spices.

UMass forester Paul Catanzaro's book, "Tending Your Forest" uses Aldo Leopold’s "cogs and wheels" concept to show family landowners how to restore ecosystem health through ecological forestry.

U.S Representative Richard Neal called Wednesday's Supreme Court decision to roll back parts of the Voting Rights Act "a step back," but said it remains to be seen how it could impact the midterm elections this fall.

We get the behind-the-scenes look at local film "Watching Mr. Pearson," speak with musician Madeline Peyroux before she visits the HOPE Center for the Arts, and talk to Mr. Universe.

As the public learned Thursday morning about the beating death of Emma MacDonald, allegedly at the hands of her husband, at a UMass Amherst hotel, organizers were setting up an annual girls empowerment conference in the same building. The juxtaposition of events was stark.