State Now Has More Jobs Than before the Pandemic

Boston Globe – Massachusetts employment set a record in March as the number of jobs surpassed the peak reached before the pandemic.

Employers added 16,300 jobs last month, according to federal data released by the Healey administration on Friday. That brought the state’s total nonfarm payrolls to 3,758,300, or 14,600 higher than in February 2020.

The jobless rate declined to 3.5 percent in March, matching the US rate, from 3.7 percent in the prior month. Unemployment was 2.8 percent in February 2020, and the all-time low of 2.7 percent was recorded in October 2000.

It took the state, which was hit earlier and harder by COVID-19 than much of the country, nearly three years to regain the 682,000 jobs that disappeared in March and April 2020. Nationally, employment exceeded the pre-COVID mark after 28 months.

Short of Workers? Bring More Women into Workforce

Commonwealth Magazine (Opinion) – This is a historic moment for women leaders in the Commonwealth. As Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll reach the milestone of 100 days in office, collectively we must address a major challenge Healey referenced in her inaugural address. She noted: “Our companies are eager to expand, but they can’t find workers with the skills they need. Communities and people are yearning to grow and thrive, but they haven’t been given the tools to do it.”

Healey stated that Massachusetts’ greatest strength is our people. However, many of these people face major barriers. Women, and particularly women of color, face the most significant barriers—in 2019, 10.3 percent of all women, and 17.6 percent of Black women, lived below the poverty line in Massachusetts.

By giving women and girls—tomorrow’s workforce—the resources they need to succeed, we can address the shortage of skilled workers soon and for years to come.

Bringing more women and girls into the workforce has a multitude of benefits. Women are key to a thriving economy; they re-invest 90 percent of their incomes in their families and communities, creating a “multiplier effect” and positive economic returns across generations. As Healey stated, “Tens of thousands of jobs in health care, transportation, and technology are going unfilled,” providing a unique opportunity to boost these critical fields and give women the chance to help build our state’s future.

Making Too Little to get Affordable Housing

Boston Globe – There are three reasons I’ve been able to keep living in Boston, and each of them is a landlord with a rare below-market apartment. Over the last decade, various roommates and I have watched from the temporary safety of these apartments as people we love have been priced out of Boston, leaving the city for distant ZIP codes where a rent or mortgage payment won’t leave a nuclear crater in your bank statement. By now, it’s well known that Boston has some of the most severe housing costs in the nation — 51 percent higher than the national average. But what’s become more apparent in recent years is how far that shockwave has traveled, and who it’s affecting.

As a mid-30s journalist and urban trail builder with civic loyalty to Boston and a modest income, I belong to one of the demographics that usually gets booted from expensive cities in the earlier waves of displacement: artists and creatives. But many others are now also concerned about staying in Boston, including city employees. Even those who own homes are increasingly vulnerable. With wage growth trailing housing costs, Boston is estimated to have lost 145,000 low- and middle-income homeowners between 2010 and 2020.

Gateway Cities Want to Help Solve the Housing Crisis. We Need to Let Them

Boston Globe – Jonathan Sites, an assistant pastor at Brockton Assembly of God, was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Avon when he got married last August. He and his wife, a health policy researcher who works from home, wanted more space, and Sites wanted to live closer to his church.

What they found was a housing market with prices that Sites, a 34-year-old Missouri native, calls “unethically high.” Apartments were in poor condition or cost more than the couple could afford. Many modern apartments were restricted to tenants with incomes lower than theirs. Downtown Brockton was populated mainly by subsidized housing and abandoned storefronts.

“We were stuck in a middle ground,” Sites said. “We didn’t qualify for any subsidies. We wanted to have a livable apartment. But nothing that was livable was affordable.”

Historically, Massachusetts housing policy has left people like Sites in the lurch. Suburbs have been allowed to block rental housing, resulting in limited supply and rising prices. The state has focused its limited housing subsidies on creating housing reserved for lower-income people.

Where Home Prices are Hot — and Not

Boston Globe – Like politics, all real estate is local.

Which is just a way of pointing out that the narrative about the state’s housing market — prices rising ever higher as the number of properties for sale shrinks — can differ depending on exactly where you look.

Dig deeper and a more complicated story emerges.

Prices are climbing more slowly in some places, especially in and around Boston, and falling in others. In some towns, more homes have for-sale signs in the yard. And buyers are flocking to communities they might never have considered in the past.

Let’s start at the top: When tracked statewide, prices continue to increase.

The median price of a single-family home sold in January through March reached $510,000, up 2.2 percent from the same period last year, the Warren Group said this week. (At the median, half of all homes sold for more than that amount, while half sold for less.)

Cities Reviving Downtowns by Converting Offices to Housing

Boston Globe – On the 31st floor of what was once a towering office building in downtown Manhattan, construction workers lay down steel bracing for what will soon anchor a host of residential amenities: a catering station, lounge, fire pit and gas grills.

The building, empty since 2021, is being converted to 588 market-rate rental apartments that will house about 1,000 people. “We’re taking a vacant building and pouring life not only into this building, but this entire neighborhood,” said Joey Chilelli, managing director of real estate firm Vanbarton Group, which is doing the conversion.

Across the country, office-to-housing conversions are being pursued as a potential lifeline for struggling downtown business districts that emptied out during the pandemic and may never fully recover. The conversion push is marked by an emphasis on affordability. Multiple cities are offering serious tax breaks for developers to incentivize office-to-housing conversions — provided that a certain percentage of apartments are offered at affordable below-market prices.

In January, Pittsburgh announced it was accepting proposals to produce more affordable housing through the “conversion of fallow and underutilized office space.” Boston released a plan in October aimed at revitalizing downtown that included a push for more housing, some of which would come from office conversions. And Seattle launched a competition in April for downtown building owners and design firms to come up with conversion ideas.

David’s Bridal Warns Massachusetts Labor Officials of Layoffs

MassLive – Wedding gown and formal wear retailer David’s Bridal warned state labor officials this week of pending layoffs at its Massachusetts locations in West Springfield, Danvers, Westwood, North Attleboro, Natick and Dartmouth.

The state said Friday the layoffs may come anywhere from now until August. No number of jobs was given.

The notice was included in the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s weekly Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act report issued Friday afternoon, a report that details upcoming location closings and mass layoffs of some businesses.

Workers at the West Springfield shop, located in the Riverdale Shops, said Friday that it will not close.

But in a similar document filed this week with Connecticut, David’s Bridal told Connecticut officials that all its locations nationwide could close.

This week, the Associated Press reported that David’s Bridal filed in New Jersey for federal bankruptcy protection, its second bankruptcy in just five years.

Retailers Put Up a Fight as State Prepares to Finally Usher in Online Lottery

Boston Globe – Last year, scratch-off tickets and number games brought in more than $330 million in revenue to the stores that sell them across Massachusetts. Then there were all the other purchases — a quart of ice cream here, a half-gallon of milk there — that people picked up along with their lottery tickets. They’re tougher to tally, but probably even more important.

Add it all up, and the state lottery means megabucks for many retailers. Now, they worry this cash cow is under threat.

After years of talk on Beacon Hill, Massachusetts seems poised to move the lottery online. House leaders included legislation to do so in its latest state budget proposal, set to be debated Monday. The goal: bring in an extra $200 million a year by pursuing a younger audience, one more likely to play games on their phones than to buy scratch tickets at the corner store. That money would go toward badly needed subsidies for child care centers.

But the merchants aren’t giving in without a fight.

Biden’s Stall Tactics Won’t Ease Inflation

Boston Herald (Opinion) – If you listen to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen or President Joe Biden, it sounds like the country will implode if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling in a couple months. But Biden’s words don’t match his actions.

He says hitting the debt limit is an existential threat. But by refusing to meet and negotiate with congressional leaders to discuss it, the Biden administration comes closer to bringing about the very crisis they claim they’re trying to prevent.

Even if it seems Biden isn’t paying attention to the debt ceiling and government borrowing, Americans should be concerned. The runaway inflation of the past few years is a natural consequence of the unchecked government spending.

Though nominal average weekly earnings are up 9% from January 2021, real earnings are down 5.1% because wages have not risen as fast as prices. The debt ceiling negotiation is an opportunity to put an end to the “inflation tax” that’s cutting into Americans’ paychecks.

For Injured Workers in Massachusetts, Care Isn’t Easy to Come By

Boston Globe – The rehabilitation specialist was taking the elevator up to her office at a North Shore health care facility in January when the bottom literally dropped out of her world.

Just as the elevator was about to reach the second floor, it stopped and plunged to the basement, sending shock waves through her body on impact. Her boss took her to the emergency room, where she got a CT scan of her back and instructions to see her primary care provider the next day. Over the next few months, she was diagnosed with compression injuries in her back, displaced ribs, soft tissue damage in her shoulder, and a concussion and vertigo from whiplash.

Because she was injured on the job, the rehab specialist — who asked to be identified by her middle name, Marie, to avoid interfering with legal action involving her accident — filed a workers’ compensation claim.

Employees injured on the job are eligible for the benefits, which must be provided by employers, that cover a portion of lost income and all medical care the workers’ comp insurer deems necessary and work-related. Standard employer-sponsored health insurance doesn’t cover work-related injuries, although it may pay for treatment denied by workers’ comp.

ChatGPT Could be Boost for Software Companies, Boston Entrepreneurs Say

Boston Globe – The rapid rise of ChatGPT and other AI-driven creative-writing apps has sparked a furious race to build new companies based on the technology. But several experienced Boston entrepreneurs say the best opportunities may lie in adding ChatGPT features to more basic software programs.

“A lot of people are building AI companies,” Brian Halligan, cofounder of HubSpot, said last week at the Imagination in Action conference held at MIT. Instead of joining that crowded field, Halligan told the audience of hundreds of students and startup founders that AI can be used to improve “any piece of enterprise software out there.”

The new AI apps, which can spit out chat answers and explanations that sound remarkably human, could help developers build an easier-to-use front end for apps, he said.

“Every piece of enterprise software is going to go through this transition similar to when the world of DOS went to Windows in the way you interact with the software,” Halligan said.

HubSpot has already built a feature dubbed ChatSpot that can help users find trends in data and build reports, he said. (Other local companies working with ChatGPT include Constant Contact, Drift, and Pegasystems.)

Steve Papa, who sold his company Endeca to Oracle for $1.1 billion in 2011, said he has seen a repeating pattern in the Boston startup ecosystem, as new software companies arise to take advantage of new technologies. “The same companies are rebuilt, they get acquired, and then a whole new generation [emerges],” he said. “For every one of them, AI is going to fuel it, accelerate it, make it more capital efficient, make it grow faster.”

Boston’s Millionaire Count Has Jumped 50% in 10 Years

Boston Business Journal – The number of millionaires in Boston has risen 50% in the last decade to more than 40,000, according to the newest annual report by the firm Henley & Partners.

That count places Boston seventh nationally by number of millionaires and 26th worldwide. Boston has 104 ​​”centimillionaires”, or those with a net worth of at least $100 million, and eight billionaires. The count includes only those living in each city.

Healey names Patrick Lavin New MassDOT Safety Chief

Boston Globe – Governor Maura Healey on Monday named Patrick Lavin, a consultant who worked on a scathing 2019 report about the MBTA’s safety procedures, to be MassDOT’s chief safety officer.

Lavin, who also formerly served as safety chief for the transit system in Washington, D.C., and a safety director for New York City Transit, fills a newly created role at the beleaguered agency.

He will report to T general manager Phillip Eng, a veteran transit executive who Healey appointed last month, and Secretary of Transportation Gina Fiandaca. MBTA Chief Safety Officer Ron Ester will now report to Lavin, Healey spokesperson Karissa Hand said.

The announcement follows the Friday news that Healey would replace three members of the MBTA’s board of directors with her own appointments.

“We created this position to ensure we had a senior official coordinating efforts across all modes of transportation and driving strategies across the system to improve safety for riders and workers,” Healey said in a statement. “I’m confident he will work closely with [Transportation] Secretary [Gina] Fiandaca and General Manager Eng to deliver the service that the people of Massachusetts deserve.”

Markey, Pressley Highlight Equity Issues In Latest Fare-Free Transit Push

State House News – Members of the state’s Congressional delegation relaunched a push Monday to roll out $25 billion in federal dollars to implement fare-free public transit options across the country.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and U.S. Sen. Edward Markey once again introduced legislation that would put taxpayer money on the table to help transit agencies run services free of charge to commuters, a strategy that some areas are embracing as a way to attract more riders in the wake of COVID-19.

Their “Freedom to Move Act,” which is also cosponsored by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, would create a five-year, $25 billion competitive grant program aimed at helping states and municipalities interested in fare-free transit. It would also steer money toward improving safety and quality of transit systems, especially in historically underserved and lower-income areas, according to a summary from Markey’s office.

“Our country’s public transit system must be made accessible and affordable so that everyone can get to work, school, the grocery store, and other critical services in their day-to-day lives,” Markey said in a statement.

“When we support state and local efforts to embed economic and climate justice into our transit system with fare-free service, we ensure that the transit needs of low-income workers and families, people of color, seniors, and people with disabilities are met.”

“Public transportation is meant to provide folks with the mobility and freedom to access critical services, but as the past few years have shown us, far too many people in the Massachusetts 7th [District] and across the country lack the safe, reliable, and affordable transit service that they deserve,” added Pressley, who represents much of Boston.

Some fare-free options have taken hold in Massachusetts in recent years, and Pressley said the bill would “build on the success” of those options. The MBTA has been running buses on the routes 23, 28 and 29 in Boston free of charge in a program funded by the city, and some regional transit authorities including those in Worcester and the Merrimack Valley for years have operated their services without any fares. Their bill was previously unsuccessful in Congress, and efforts at the state level to secure funding for fare-free transit have gained little traction in the Legislature.

House Democrats Vote To Exempt Surtax Hauls From State Tax Cap

State House News – Massachusetts representatives voted Monday to prevent new surtax revenues from counting toward an annual limit on the state’s tax collections, rejecting a Republican push to leave untouched the voter-approved tax cap law.

Kicking off what will be several days of deliberations on its $56.2 billion fiscal 2024 state budget plan, the House’s Democrat supermajority shot down an amendment from Minority Leader Brad Jones, 25-130, that would have prevented any proposed changes to the yearly calculation of how much state government is allowed to collect in taxes.

The FY24 budget that top House Democrats rolled out (H 3900) would omit all surtax revenue – projected to be $1 billion next year – from pushing the state’s tax haul closer to the threshold that automatically triggers mandatory taxpayer rebates under a law known as Chapter 62F.

Rep. Kimberly Ferguson, a Holden Republican, argued that preventing the new and sizable revenue stream from counting toward the annual tax collection limit would “upend” the will of the voters, who in 1986 approved a ballot question creating the tax cap law.

“The proposed exclusion follows no justification as all other taxes, including taxes constitutionally designated toward specific uses like the gas tax, are included in the current calculations,” Ferguson said on the House floor.

Revenue Committee Co-chair Rep. Mark Cusack replied that the move would “protect” revenue from the 4 percent surtax on household income above $1 million, which itself was enacted by voters in November and is designed to go toward education and transportation investments. He also said lawmakers stepping in to adjust ballot question laws after their passage is a common occurrence.

“I appreciate my friend from Holden’s comments about protecting the will of the voters and respecting their will,” the Braintree Democrat said.

“As chair of [the] Marijuana Policy [Committee] in 2017, I heard no such urgency and complaints around changing the will of the voters when we rewrote the entire Question 4 law.”

The vote broke down along party lines, with all House Republicans in support of their leader’s amendment and Democrats opposed. Independent Rep. Susannah Whipps of Athol joined Democrats in voting no. Democrat Reps. Marjorie Decker of Cambridge, Patrick Kearney of Scituate and Tommy Vitolo of Brookline did not cast a vote during the roll call.

Health Care

Central Massachusetts Developers Seek to Lure Life-Science Companies Westward

Worcester Business Journal – The interior of 200 Donald Lynch Boulevard in Marlborough buzzes with construction workers installing new wall studs and HVAC equipment, as a large part of the building undergoes a transformation from office space to lab space.

The shift follows post-COVID market demand after workers got used to working from home and the bottom dropped out of the office market. Building owner Minardi LP of Worcester was looking for a tenant for 200 Donald Lynch, which once housed software company SanDisk.

Sartorius AG, a German life science giant was looking for more space to expand beyond its facility down the road at 450 Donald Lynch, once home to WaterSep BioSeparations, which Sartorius acquired in 2020. So, the company agreed to lease more than 50,000 square feet of space in the office building at 200 Donald Lynch and invest $20-$40 million in converting it to lab space.

Health Insurers Say They’ll Stop Providing Free At-Home COVID Tests

WBUR – The state’s biggest health insurers have decided to stop providing free over-the-counter COVID tests next month, a move that could force many people to pay out of pocket in order to help detect and stop the spread of COVID-19.

Federal officials will end the COVID public health emergency on May 11 — and along with it, the requirement for health insurers to cover the costs of eight rapid antigen tests per member per month, regardless of whether a person has symptoms or a known exposure to COVID.

Individual insurers can choose to continue providing the tests for free. But Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care told WBUR they have decided to end this benefit.

Beginning May 12, the insurers will cover only the costs of COVID tests ordered by clinicians. This is similar to how the companies cover other kinds of medical tests.

Combined, Blue Cross, Tufts and Harvard Pilgrim cover nearly 4 million people in Massachusetts.

Abortion Emerging as Single Most Important Issue of 2024

Boston Globe – While presidential elections tend to be about many issues, it’s become increasingly clear that the 2024 campaign could be dominated by a single one: abortion.

In the most contested legal case in the nation right now, the Supreme Court on Friday temporarily allowed the drug mifepristone, which is used in terminating many pregnancies, broadly available, overturning restrictions imposed by a judge overseeing a lawsuit in Texas. The challenge to the drug itself was set after the high court’s ruling last year that overturned Roe v. Wade, reversing 50 years of precedent. That latter ruling, known as the Dobbs decision, effectively made abortion rights the biggest driving factor in American politics.

The issue before the court on Friday involved a lawsuit to invalidate federal approval of a medication that induces abortions, even in states where they are legal.

Dominated by social conservatives, the Republican Party has long vowed to overturn Roe, the 1973 decision that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. In his one term as president, Donald Trump put three new justices on the high court and tipped the balance to the conservatives, who overturned the landmark ruling and returned the question of abortion access to the states.

The backlash to that decision has been swift and far-reaching.

Founder Develops Platform to Match Expecting Parents with Doulas

Boston Globe – Melissa Bowley is the founder and CEO of Flourish Care, a Newport-based platform that she says empowers expecting and new families with wellness programs and insurance-reimbursed care, including doulas, from pregnancy through postpartum.

Q: How does Flourish Care work for patients?

Expecting and new families take a quick pregnancy wellness quiz and choose a support package. Flourish Care checks the patient’s insurance coverage and then matches them with local experts, such as doulas, through the app. The patient will receive a wellness toolkit and can make their first appointment to connect with a local, dedicated team via telehealth or in person. Families get support through their Flourish Care team: monthly education to prepare for birth, help with emotional and physical support during birth, and help adjusting to early parenthood.

How did you come up with the idea?

After the birth of my first child, I realized I needed support that went beyond my doctors. I struggled as a new mom and had little guidance on how to take care of myself, my postpartum body, and new baby. I soon realized other families were struggling too, whether it was with sleep deprivation, postpartum depression and anxiety, breastfeeding challenges, or recovering from birth. I was shocked by the statistics surrounding maternity care and outcomes in the United States.

Meet Robin, UMass Memorial’s New Pediatric Robot

NBC Boston – On a recent Tuesday, a four-foot tall, armless robot with a screen for a face rolled into a child’s hospital room and introduced itself.

“Hello, new friend,” it said. “I’m Robin.”

The robot then asked the child his name, favorite color, and favorite animal. The boy’s face instantly lit up.

“A cat,” he responded. Robin’s screen, which formerly showed eyes and a smile, switched to videos of kittens walking around and playing.

Robin then asked the 9-year-old if he wanted to play. The robot’s screen gave him three options for games. The boy chose one in which he had to guess which cup had a ball hidden under it after they were swapped around. As they played, Robin congratulated his correct choices.

Standing in a blue hospital gown and purple gloves, I overheard his mother say how it was nice to see her child smile.

Robin is a robot that lives in the pediatric unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. The hospital brought in Robin back in October as a way to provide moral support to pediatric patients — especially those in isolation. On Tuesday, the hospital staff invited me to come “meet” the robot in person.

State’s Second-Largest Health Insurer Suffers Cybersecurity Attack

Boston Globe – The state’s second-largest insurer suffered large technical outages due to a cybersecurity ransomware incident.

Point32Health, the parent company for Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, said in a memo on its website that it identified a ransomware incident on Monday, affecting the systems it uses to service members, accounts, brokers and providers. A spokesman for the insurer said the outages were mainly affecting members covered under Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s commercial plans and New Hampshire Medicare plans, though it was not impacting those on the Tufts Health Plan.

“After detecting the unauthorized party, and out of an abundance of caution, we proactively took certain systems offline to contain the threat,” the insurer said in the statement. “We have notified law enforcement and regulators and are working with third-party cybersecurity experts to conduct a thorough investigation into this incident and remediate the situation.”

The insurer’s website was down for a time. Some members who tried calling their insurer said they also experienced technical difficulties.

The insurer said it was working around the clock to restore impacted systems quickly and urged members with urgent needs to call the member services number on their ID cards.

Budget and Taxation

Lawmakers Seek to Load up Budget with Earmarks

Eagle Tribune – Downtowns, schools, food pantries and nonprofits are among the myriad interests angling for a piece of the state’s $56 billion budget.

State lawmakers have loaded the spending package for next fiscal year with requests for money for local projects and programs and changes in public policy ahead a debate on the bill in the House of Representatives this week.

The fate of many of those requests will be decided upon in closed-door meetings with House Democratic leaders before the final budget comes up for a vote.

Many of the local earmarks seek to divert more state money to local governments, schools, cash-strapped community groups and nonprofit organizations.

That includes an amendment filed by state Reps. Sally Kearns, D-Danvers, and Kristin Kassner, D-Hamilton, asking for $100,000 for the Topsfield Historical Society for the installation of an American Disability Act compliant parking lot and access ramps.

Rep. Manny Cruz, D-Salem, is seeking $125,000 to upgrade the Salem High School fields and $50,000 for the Salem Food Pantry, among other requests.

Other proposed earmarks, filed by Rep. Jerald Parisella, D-Beverly, seek $200,000 for the park renovations in the city’s downtown and $250,000 for road and sidewalk upgrades.

Rent-Control Battle Looms; It’s Never Been Easy to Pass Tenant Protections on Beacon Hill

Boston Globe – Four years ago, a letter changed Betty Lewis’s life.

It informed her that the new owner of the apartment complex in Mattapan where Lewis had lived for more than three decades was raising her rent by $450 a month.

And there wasn’t much she could do about it. Fibromyalgia has kept Lewis from working for nearly two decades, so she scrapes by on a small pension and Social Security payments.

Feeling trapped, she refused to pay the increase. Somehow, she hasn’t been evicted, but knows she’s teetering on the edge. Her landlord sends her a letter each month detailing how much back rent she owes. The amount recently eclipsed $10,000.

“What else am I supposed to do?” said Lewis, 71, who has become a regular presence at rent control rallies in the city. “I’ve lived here 30 years; this is my home. And lord knows there’s nowhere else in Boston I could afford. This is my only choice.”

The owner of Lewis’s building, development firm DSF Group, did not return a request for comment.

It’s a story that resonates in every corner of Boston. Residents of Lewis’s building who had long enjoyed below-market rents were forced out by the increases, and other pockets of the city that had been affordable, such as East Boston, are now hotbeds of displacement. Housing court is again filled with renters fighting evictions.

Energy and Environment

Maine Jury Clears the Way for Mass.-Critical Transmission Project

State House News – A Maine jury ruled unanimously Thursday that an electric corridor project once dubbed key to Massachusetts climate goals can proceed a year and a half after voters sought to halt the effort.

Jurors voted 9-0 to clear the way for Central Maine Power, a subsidiary of Avangrid, to resume work on a massive transmission project that will carry hydroelectric power from Quebec to Massachusetts, according to news outlet Maine Public.

“The jury’s unanimous verdict affirms the prior rulings of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) project may lawfully proceed,” Avangrid Senior Vice President and General Counsel Scott Mahoney said in a statement. “Even after repeated delays and the costs caused by the change in law, the NECEC project remains the best way to bring low-cost renewable energy to Maine and New England while removing millions of metric tons of carbon from our atmosphere each year.”

The transmission lines would fulfill part of a 2016 Massachusetts clean energy law, which directed Bay State utilities to procure about 1,200 megawatts of hydroelectric power as part of an effort to green the grid.

Maine voters in November 2021 approved a ballot question retroactively banning construction of hogh-impact electric transmission lines in the Upper Kennebec Region, casting serious doubt over the project’s fate.

In a lengthy legal fight that led to Thursday’s jury decision, developers argued that they should be allowed to proceed because they had already spent roughly $450 million on the work — which had been fully approved by Maine regulators — before the ballot question’s passage.

Boston’s First Law to Expand Tree Canopy in the Works

Boston Globe – The Boston City Council moved closer last week to creating a law that would promote the growth of tree canopy to protect neighborhoods that are most vulnerable to the negative effects of summer heat.

An ordinance that was filed in January to regulate the removal of trees on public and private property has been in working sessions to determine specifics such as what situations allow for the removal of trees, replacements for removed trees, and the creation of an advisory committee. An updated version was posted in early March, according to City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, and after a working session on Thursday a new version of the ordinance was close to completion.

“A handful [of cities] have created their own sort of enhanced measures that go beyond the state in terms of the protection of trees, ”said Arroyo, who is a co-sponsor of the ordinance, in a phone interview on Wednesday. “The City of Boston has not done that to date, and so this would be the first tree [ordinance] that we create citywide.”

The ordinance, which is also sponsored by Councilors Liz Breadon and Kendra Lara, comes after Mayor Michelle Wu released the city’s new Urban Forest Plan in September, and announced a new forestry division in December, both of which aim to expand the city’s tree canopy.

New Massachusetts Climate-Change Program to Help Municipalities

The Center Square – Climate resiliency is the focus of a new program in Massachusetts.

The Climate Resiliency Program that was launched Wednesday, Gov. Maura Healey said, will allow cities and towns to update and put their climate resiliency plans in place. The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program provides municipalities with the funding and support to identify climate hazards, design strategies for resiliency, and implement risks to climate change.

“The climate crisis is one of our greatest challenges, but there is enormous opportunity in our response,” the rookie Democratic governor said in a statement. “We have the science, data, tools, and commitment to help communities understand how climate change impacts them and take action to advance resiliency and preparedness. With the next phase of the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program, we will harness the incredible resources at our disposal and bring people together to protect our environment, grow our economy and build a more resilient future.”

The program, according to a release, will give guidance to those communities whose residents are most impacted by climate change while at the same time providing innovative training on best practices, equity, and environmental justice.

New State Climate Chief, to Meet with Western Massachusetts Activists

MassLive – Massachusetts’ first-ever climate chief, who is tasked with defining the nascent role as the state shoots for bold emissions goals this decade, will meet with Western Massachusetts environmentalists next week for a virtual presentation, discussion, and question and answer session.

Melissa Hoffer leads the new Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience, a Cabinet-level post created by Gov. Maura Healey in her first executive order after taking office in January.

Before that, Hoffer was the principal deputy general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency.

She is now in the initial months of her new job in Healey’s administration, helping the state develop environmental legislation and craft policy that can significantly curb carbon emissions.

On Monday, Hoffer will speak with Climate Action Now Western Massachusetts, whose membership includes environmental activists from across the region. She will deliver a presentation and take questions in a virtual event held over Zoom.

“As a leading climate organization, we want to build a relationship with [Hoffer], said Russ Vernon-Jones, an Amherst resident and Climate Action Now member. “We’re very excited that this position has been created and that she’s the person in it.”

UMass Cranberry Station Opens $8 Million Expansion

The Week Today – The University of Massachusetts Amherst opened an $8 million expansion to its Cranberry Research Station in East Wareham on Friday, April 21.

The station is a place for research and outreach to assist the Massachusetts cranberry industry.

The expansion, which received funding from the state in 2020, includes four new laboratories, four new faculty offices, a new public entrance and a new meeting room named after the A.D. Makepeace Company. Along with these new features, the expansion made infrastructure improvements to the entire facility.

“This building is going to be a game changer for us,” said Cranberry Station Director Hilary Sandler. “It’s going to allow us to hire and attract great scientists to come and tackle some of the issues and challenges for the Cranberry Station. It’s invigorated everyone… from the growers to the people who work here.”

Politicians such as State Representative William Straus, who also serves as co-chair of the Cranberry Station Oversight Board, joined cranberry executives and university representatives in opening the building.

Education

Too Many Children are Hungry. So, Let’s Make Free School Meals Permanent

MetroWest Daily News (Opinion) – On March 26, Gov. Maura Healey tweeted: “Free school meals mean full stomachs, more time in the morning and more money back in the pockets of parents…” Healey’s 2023-24 budget includes funding for free school meals for all students, but the future of free school meals remains precarious.

This is merely a Band-Aid fix; it extends the program for one year without any further commitment. And previous efforts to make this program permanent have been unsuccessful.

We can’t pretend that child hunger only occurred during COVID-19, and that the problem will now magically go away. In Massachusetts, 1 in 4 children are hungry.

An Act Relative to Universal School Meals aims to make permanent a policy that began in the COVID-19 era — providing free school meals to all Massachusetts children, no matter their family’s income. The bill was proposed in the last legislative session and never passed; we can’t allow partisan politics to let this happen again.

Providing food for children should not be controversial. From all perspectives, it’s a good thing. For administrators, it means less work processing paperwork to assess which students qualify for free or reduced-price meals and chasing down overdue charges. For teachers, healthy, well-fed students have better classroom behavior and make for a more productive learning environment. And for parents, free school meals help families save, on average, $1,200 a year.

Gloucester Schools Request $3.4 Million More

Gloucester Times – Increasing costs of staffing, special education, transportation and the need for program improvements are behind a proposed $3.4 million increase in the Gloucester Public Schools fiscal 2024 operating budget, according to Superintendent Ben Lummis

The schools are proposing a $50.398 million operating budget for the 2023-2024 academic year, which amounts to a 7.25% increase above the $46.988 million budget for this school year.

By way of comparison, the present school year’s budget rang in at just under a 3% increase from fiscal 2022.

Lummis told the School Committee last week it’s one of the larger increases in recent years for a number of reasons. He cited the effects of post-COVID-19 disruptions on transportation costs and staff hiring, the state’s Chapter 70 State Aid formula which is providing additional money to the seaport’s schools but is also asking for an increased contribution locally, and increases in out-of-district special education placements and tuition.

This has resulted in an overall increase of $5.365 million, Lummis said.

However, this number has been offset by $1.69 million in Circuit Breaker special education aid from the state, salary savings, staff reduction and other offsets.