State House News: Red Line Segment Closing for 16 Days of Repairs in October

The MBTA will fully close two southern sections of the Red Line for 16 days in October, during which General Manager Phil Eng said workers will replace some of the oldest track in the T’s system.

Subway service between JFK/UMass and Ashmont Stations as well as the Mattapan Line trolley will be shuttered from Oct. 14 through Oct. 29. During the closure, the MBTA will provide free shuttle bus service for riders.

“We’re going to get it done and we’re going to get out and then give improved service to our riders,” Eng said at an MBTA Board of Directors meeting on Thursday.

The MBTA plans to replace a total 8,335 feet of rail across the two branches. Of that, 6,235 will be replaced between the five stations from JFK/UMass to Ashmont Station. An estimated 2,100 feet of track will be replaced on the Mattapan Line.

Eng said 28 speed restrictions in that stretch of tracks should be lifted by the end of the October work. His presentation suggested the work will slash about nine minutes off the northbound trip time from Ashmont to Park Street, seven minutes from the southbound side, and about a minute in each direction between Ashmont and Mattapan.

State House News: Fiandaca Departing After Short Stint As Transportation Secretary

Just three months after she finished building out her Cabinet, Gov. Maura Healey suddenly has an impending vacancy to fill.

The governor’s office announced Monday that Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca plans to step down on Sept. 11, making her the first secretary to depart since Healey began her term in January. The leadership change comes as the state is sinking hundreds of millions of new tax dollars into transportation.

Fiandaca will continue to serve in an advisory role until the end of the year. Undersecretary for Transportation Monica Tibbits-Nutt, a veteran of the field who earned rave reviews from transit advocates, will take over as acting transportation secretary.

In announcing her planned departure, neither Healey nor the secretary explained why her time in the administration, which featured a repair-related closure of the Sumner Tunnel and persistent problems with MBTA service, will come to an end less than nine months after it began.

Asked to elaborate on the circumstances of Fiandaca’s departure, a Healey spokesperson said only that “the Secretary made the decision to step down and we are grateful for her service.”

Boston Globe: Teamsters at UPS Approve New Contract

A final vote wrapped up Friday to approve a UPS-Teamsters labor agreement that averted a massive strike, clearing the way for the new contract to take effect.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ national master agreement with UPS covers some 340,000 drivers, package handlers and other workers at UPS.

Overall, the five-year UPS-Teamsters contract was ratified with a record 86.3% of votes in favor and 58.1% voter turnout, according to the union.

The new contract means higher wages, more full-time jobs and protections for UPS workers, including giving current part-time workers raises to at least $21 per hour immediately, according to the Teamsters. Full-time delivery drivers will get wage increases to an average top rate of $49 per hour.

Boston Globe: Nvidia is the AI Boom’s First Big Moneymaker

Nvidia is proving there are real dollars — billions of them — to be made in artificial intelligence.

Sales of Nvidia computer chips used to power AI-based systems have exploded, especially since ChatGPT was released to the public in November.

Everyone from giant Amazon to the smallest AI startup is fighting over the tight supply of the Silicon Valley company’s GPUs — graphics processing units — which, at least for now, are the only game in town.

On Thursday, Nvidia’s stock flirted with a record high after the company reported quarterly results that blew past Wall Street estimates. The stock, up more than 220 percent this year, is far and away the biggest gainer in the tech-focused Nasdaq 100 and the more diversified Standard & Poor’s 500.

“Nvidia is probably going to be the most important company to civilization over, we think, the next five to 10 years,” CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino told Yahoo Finance.

OK, Zino may have gotten a little carried away. But Nvidia is the bona fide first big moneymaker of the AI era.

Boston Globe: Shoe Lovers Unite: Boston Startup Aims to Give New Life to Old Pumps.

Leslie Bateman always loved shoes. Since she was a little girl, she has walked with her eyes cast downward, checking out shoes as their owners stepped along sidewalks. She scoured shoe stores, department stores, and vintage clothes shops for the perfect shoes for school, work, exercise, formal occasions, and casual gatherings.

And once she found the right shoes, she never wanted to toss them out.

Thus began Bateman’s relationship with cobblers, the craftspeople who repair, customize, and sometimes make shoes. Whenever she moved to a new city — Montreal, New York, and now Boston — she searched for cobblers to keep her shoes in good condition, a task that became harder as the number of people practicing the trade dwindled.

Now Bateman and her partner, Emily Watts, are launching a new service to make it easier for shoe lovers to get their shoes fixed. Their Boston-based startup, called Coblrshop, combines the latest in digital technology with a centuries-old craft, using its website and a mobile app coming next year to diagnose repairs for luxury shoes and handbags, estimate costs, and connect to cobblers.

NBC Boston: Google Reportedly Set to Open One of its First Retail Stores in Boston

Alphabet Inc. is planning to open a Google Store in Boston, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans, a move that would make the city one of the first in the world to host a retail location from the technology giant.

The company has targeted a ground-floor storefront at 149 Newbury St., a new five-story mixed-use building developed by Chicago-based L3 Capital LLC at the intersection of Newbury and Dartmouth streets, according to the sources.

Alphabet right now has only two Google retail stores, both in New York. The locations sell Google hardware like Pixel phones, tablets and computers and Nest smart devices. The first Google store opened in Chelsea Market in Manhattan in 2021, while its second store debuted last year in an L3 property in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood.

An Alphabet spokesperson declined comment, as did a Newmark broker handling retail leasing at the Newbury Street building. The company is expected to make an announcement about its Boston retail plans in coming months.

Axios: Despite Rising Home Values, Boston Homeowners Pay among Lowest Shares of Property Taxes

While the overall amount of property taxes Americans paid rose in 2022, effective property tax rates — a homeowner’s tax bill as a percentage of a property’s value — dropped slightly in large cities last year on average.

That’s according to a new report from the nonprofit Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence.

The effective property tax rate for a median-valued home in Boston was 0.49% in 2022, one of the lowest in the nation.

On paper, the property tax rate looks higher, at about $10.88 for every $1,000 of a home’s value. But home assessments haven’t kept pace with fast-rising home values.

The city’s homestead exemption also leads to lower tax bills.

Homeowners in areas like Boston where assessments have lagged will likely see bigger tax bills in the future, once assessments catch up.

Property tax is a key part of the package of costs and public services that affect a city’s competitiveness and quality of life, the report says.

It’s also Boston city government’s largest revenue source, according to last year’s financial statement.

Property taxes continue to be out of sync with soaring real estate prices in most places.

Gazette: Feds Shift Vehicle Repair Law into Gear

State and federal regulators appear to have made a breakthrough to move forward with a voter-approved vehicle-repair data law after legal battles and safety concerns stalled its implementation.

A bit more than two months after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned that a 2020 Massachusetts “right to repair” update might clash with federal law, the same agency softened its position and said the measure “may successfully be implemented” with some tweaks.

The potential compromise centers on wireless access to a vehicle’s systems under the law, which seeks to provide owners and independent repair shops with telematic repair data common in many newer cars and trucks.

Manufacturers could comply with the law by providing wireless access “from within close physical distance to the vehicle,” but not across a greater distance, using Bluetooth or another system, Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office said.

Federal regulators said Tuesday that practice would comply with the state law without triggering the same cybersecurity concerns that NHTSA previously warned could run afoul of existing federal safety requirements.

Health Care

Boston Globe: New Department of Public Health Director Wants to Rebuild Trust in Public Health

Prominently placed on Dr. Robbie Goldstein’s desk is a red-framed plaque he received his third day on the job as Massachusetts’ new public health commissioner.

“Hard things are hard,” it says.

The motto is a reminder from his mentor and former boss at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. She had a similar plaque on her desk at Massachusetts General Hospital, where the two first met a decade ago when Goldstein was honing his skills as an infectious disease specialist and Walensky was chief of the department.

“As I faced barriers and adversity, she would remind me, ‘Hard things are hard, but we do hard things,’” he said.

Goldstein arrived as commissioner last month at a challenging time, when staff is worn down from three years of a pandemic, misinformation about science has flourished, and trust in public health has seriously eroded. In his first press conference last week, Goldstein pledged to build back the department and the public’s trust — and be prepared for whatever health emergencies lie ahead.

Friends and former colleagues say he is well matched for the challenge. Lanky, and with a boyish grin, but with gray creeping in at his temples, Goldstein, 39, is described as a high-octane, even-keeled, and collaborative force of nature.

Politico: White House to Name First 10 Drugs for Medicare Negotiations

The Biden administration is expected to disclose early [this] week the first 10 prescription drugs selected for Medicare price negotiations, ahead of a White House event to celebrate the milestone, four people involved in the plans told POLITICO.

The announcement will mark a major step in a bid to lower drug prices through the first-ever direct negotiations between Medicare and pharmaceutical manufacturers over a set of medicines.

Democrats granted Medicare those new powers more than a year ago, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The move fulfilled a decades-long effort by party leaders to reduce Americans’ drug costs by giving the government authority to take a role in the prices that companies charge.

The White House official declined to specify when exactly the administration would release the list of drugs, and people involved in the plans — who were granted anonymity to discuss internal planning — cautioned that the timing could still change.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is required to publish up to 10 Medicare Part D drugs that it selects for negotiation by Sept. 1.

Worcester Business Journal: UMass Memorial Re-Instates Caregiver Mask Mandate amid COVID Surge

UMass Memorial Health is once again requiring all caregivers at its healthcare settings to wear masks during patient encounters.

“We have continued to see a dramatic increase in the number of COVID-19 positive employees over the past two weeks, which has led to exposures of both fellow caregivers and patients. In response to this, as a protective measure for our staff and patients, effective immediately we are requiring mandatory caregiver masking for all patient encounters in all licensed clinical areas,” said an Aug. 24 memo to UMass Memorial Staff.

UMass Memorial lifted its masking requirement in patient-facing settings in May, making them optional in all settings besides the emergency department and the oncology clinics, bone marrow transplant unit, oncology infusion center, and with transplant patients.

Masks remain optional in common areas including the cafeteria, but the memo encouraged all caregivers to resume mask wearing amid the increased spread.

Boston Globe: See How ChatGPT Helped Local Doctors make Medical Forms Easier to Understand

It’s something all future doctors learn in medical school: how to communicate informed consent to patients. Yet medical forms are littered with impenetrable jargon, making it hard for lay people to understand exactly what they’re signing up for.

Dr. Rohaid Ali, a neurosurgery resident at Brown University in Providence grew fed up with the forms and enlisted ChatGPT, a language model-based chatbot developed by OpenAI, to help translate them into regular English.

Working with colleagues at Brown, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and others, Ali collected medical consent forms from hospitals across the country, pasted them into GPT-4, the latest public version of the program, and prompted it to create simplified versions. Fellow medical professionals and medical malpractice attorneys reviewed the results to judge whether the content remained legally and medically accurate. The researchers posted their results, which are under peer review at a medical journal, to the medical preprint database MedRxiv.org.

“Our hope is that this makes it so that consent forms read less like terms and conditions statements and more like how they should read for someone who is entrusting their lives in doctors’ hands,” Ali said.

Boston Globe: ChatGPT Nearly as Good as a Recent Medical-School Graduate at Making Clinical Decisions, MGB Study Suggests

Artificial intelligence is nearly as good as a recent medical school graduate at making clinical decisions, but the technology struggles in key areas that show it won’t be replacing the doctor anytime soon, according to a new study by Mass General Brigham.

The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, found that ChatGPT was about 72 percent accurate in overall clinical decision-making for patients — from arriving at a final diagnosis to coming up with treatment plans. While there are no formal benchmarks, researchers estimate that such passing performance is on par with a new doctor, known as an intern or resident.

However, the program struggled to come up with an accurate list of initial diagnoses based on early information about a patient, critical work that informs what tests should be run, which is the bedrock of a physician’s practice.

Employment Law

WAMC: Successes Reported in Efforts to Help People Just out of Prison Overcome Barriers to Employment

A state-funded initiative is helping to break down barriers to employment facing the recently incarcerated in Massachusetts.

When research last year found nearly half of people with criminal records are still jobless a year after leaving prison and 40 percent said they did not know where to get help, the Springfield Works initiative decided to shift the burden of navigating the system of dozens of available service programs.

Social service agency staff were trained to make referrals to other providers, an online platform facilitated connections, and an employment readiness assessment tool was developed. The new approach has been a great success, said Anne Kandilis, the director of Springfield Works.

“It is way more than just skills development,” Kandilis said. “There are mental-health barriers, and access to childcare and transportation.”

Follow-ups with the participants in last year’s survey found that 94 percent said they know where to go to get help addressing barriers to employment. 100 percent of the clients reported a positive experience.

Budget and Taxation

Boston Globe: State Budget Includes Millions for Merrimack Valley

Merrimack Valley cities and towns will receive nearly $2.5 million in earmarks from the Massachusetts state budget during the upcoming fiscal year, with historic levels of support in key areas like education, public works and public safety.

The record-breaking $56.2 billion budget signed by Gov. Maura Healey for the 2024 fiscal year cleared the Senate unanimously and the House 156-2, on Aug. 9, with major investments in schools, child care, workforce development, public transit, housing and climate resiliency.

“(The budget) can address critical needs like housing, college affordability and hunger while also remaining fiscally responsible,” said Matthew Gorzkowicz, administration and finance secretary. “This spending plan is both affordable and necessary to meet the array of needs confronting our families, business and municipalities.”

Local legislators secured $970,000 in direct support for public and nonprofit projects and programs in Lawrence; $755,000 for Haverhill; $360,000 for Methuen; $200,000 for Andover, and $180,000 for North Andover.

The Merrimack Valley Food Bank, at 735 Broadway St. in Lowell, is designated for $50,000 in funding.

Lynn Journal: Healey-Driscoll Administration Announces Expansion of Electric-Vehicle Rebate Program

The Healey-Driscoll Administration has announced substantial changes to the Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles Program (MOR-EV Program), which provides rebates for the purchase or lease of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles (EVs). These changes aim to support greater adoption of EVs in Massachusetts, including new rebate programs for income-qualifying Massachusetts residents.

“This significant expansion of the MOR-EV Program will make electric vehicles more affordable and accessible for residents of all income levels,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Residents will now be able to get their rebates the day they buy their car, instead of waiting for the funds to come in. And income-eligible folks will now be able to get additional rebates, including for used vehicles. This is a great development in our efforts toward an equitable clean energy transition.”

“Our administration is committed to reducing transportation emissions, and these important changes to MOR-EV will help provide cleaner air in our communities,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “Far more residents will now be eligible for rebates, and we look forward to seeing the number of electric vehicles on the road across Massachusetts grow exponentially in the coming years.”

In addition to the existing $3,500 rebates for EVs, the new MOR-EV program elements include:

• The launch of rebates at the point-of-sale with participating dealers;
• $3500 rebate for used EVs for income-qualifying residents;
• $1,500 rebate adder for income-qualifying residents called MOR-EV+ that is in addition to the standard rebate for new or used electric vehicles; and
• Increased rebates for certain light-duty pickup trucks.

WCVB: Boston’s Logan Airport Biggest Beneficiary of $121 Million in Federal Funding for Runway Safety

In the wake of several high-profile incidents, Boston Logan International Airport will be the biggest beneficiary of a new round of federal funding aimed at improving runway safety, according to an announcement from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA said Wednesday that $121 million in funding from grants and a 2021 infrastructure law will be distributed to eight of the nation’s airports. The latest outlay comes about three months after a previous announcement that $100 million would be distributed to other airports for related projects.

Logan will receive $44.9 million from the latest round of funding “to simplify (the) airfield layout.”

Other recipients of this round of FAA funding are:

• Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport: $39.8 million
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport: $5 million
• Willow Run Airport, Detroit, Michigan: $12.8 million
• Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport, Ohio: $4.6 million
• Richmond International Airport, Virginia: $5.6 million
• Jackson Hole Airport, Wyoming: $2.6 million
• Naples International Airport, Florida: $3.5 million

Specifically, the plans for Boston include removing parts of two taxiways, rehabilitating pavement on three others and redoing 10,083 feet of the existing Runway 15R/33L.

Gazette: Gov. Healey’s Budget Cut puts Region’s Anti-Poverty Services in Jeopardy

Community Action Pioneer Valley is looking at scaling back a host of programs that support low-income residents throughout the Valley after Gov. Maura Healey this month vetoed significant funding for the state’s 23 community action agencies.

The agencies successfully pressed for about a decade to secure more dedicated funding from the state, pitching their work as a crucial way to help vulnerable Bay Staters navigate anything from job training to housing insecurity.

Leaders of those organizations are now sounding the alarm that they will need to rein in antipoverty services thanks to Healey’s veto of the latest $7.7 million tranche of funding from the fiscal 2024 state budget.

Locally, Community Action Pioneer Valley will lose approximately $277,000 in funding for its upcoming fiscal year, which begins in October. Executive Director Clare Higgins said the funding, which has steadily increased in recent years, typically goes to several aspects of the agency, including its food pantry, information and referral services and other programs supporting low-income residents.

“We use it to meet the needs of people living on low incomes,” Higgins said, adding this funding often allows the agency to adapt to any situation. “The great thing about a community agency is we can respond in the moment if we have this flexible money. Right now, our flexibility is gone.”

Commonwealth Magazine: Boston, Harvard, BU pledge $300 Million for I-90 Allston project

The City of Boston, Harvard, and Boston University are pledging $300 million toward the development of the $1.9 billion I-90 Allston multimodal project, which would pave the way for development of a major new neighborhood and a new MBTA station called West Station on land owned largely by Harvard.

Highway Commissioner Jonathan Gulliver, at a virtual briefing for stakeholders, described the $300 million as the largest amount of third-party funding a state transportation project has ever received. The funding pledge is contained in an application the state filed on Monday for $200 million in so-called Mega federal grant funding.

Chris Osgood, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s senior advisor for infrastructure, said the city has pledged $100 million in direct funding for the project and agreed to provide another $100 million through a “value capture” initiative in participation with Harvard. Osgood said the city’s direct investment of $100 million would cover the cost of the street network in the new neighborhood. Value capture attempts to recapture some of the cost of public infrastructure from private sector beneficiaries, in this case Harvard.

Harvard released an August 21 letter written by Meredith Weenick, the school’s executive vice president, to US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in support of the overall project and outlining Harvard’s role.

Energy and Environment

State House News Service: Utilities Regulators Approve Offshore Wind Contract Termination

State regulators have consented to a developer backing off its contracts for a 1,200-megawatt offshore wind installation, and introduced a procurement plan that weighs bidders’ past failures to complete projects without outright barring them from participation.

The Department of Public Utilities on Wednesday approved Commonwealth Wind’s proposal to pay $48 million in penalties and spike previously crafted power purchase agreements with utility companies, bringing to a close a months-long saga and slashing by more than a third the amount of approved wind energy capacity in the state’s pipeline.

All three DPU commissioners — James Van Nostrand, Cecile Fraser and Staci Rubin — signed the “stamp approval” on the termination agreements Commonwealth Wind reached with Eversource, National Grid and Unitil. The regulators did not offer commentary explaining their decision.

Commonwealth Magazine first reported Wednesday about DPU’s decision.

The developer, a subsidiary of energy giant Avangrid, will pay $25.9 million to Eversource, $21.6 million to National Grid and $480,000 to back out of its contracts for the proposed offshore wind installation selected in 2021. Utilities plan to credit that money to their customers.

Boston Herald: Officials Tout Clean Energy Future in Dorchester

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday visited a Dorchester housing complex slated to make the switch to cleaner energy to highlight it as one example in the “national story” of how the United States is preparing to deal with effects of a changing climate.

Gov. Maura Healey, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and others joined EPA Administrator Michael Regan in Dorchester, where they showed off the community-based climate project. Markey said the projects at Franklin Field will “leverage public dollars to install energy-efficient appliances, cut energy bills, improve quality of life for residents,” and represents “a new era of climate opportunity.”

“We are here today because we are taking local and state stories, and we’re telling a national story. We are facing a climate crisis, it will take all of us,” Regan said. He added, “This administration is trying to create a rising tide that doesn’t leave anyone behind. So, we’re here in Boston today — yes, because of you, because of your advocacy, because of your leadership — but we’re really here to mine this story and export it to the rest of the nation and the rest of the world.”

The centerpiece of Wednesday’s event was the EPA’s $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, an idea that was long championed by Markey and was enacted through the federal Inflation Reduction Act. It is intended as a national financing network that could activate private capital for clean technology projects, creating jobs and lowering energy costs for American families along the way. The fund is especially focused on low-income and disadvantaged communities, which often bear the brunt of harmful pollution and see higher levels of related health detriments.

New Bedford Light: Developers Touted Local Jobs in Offshore Energy — Are They Delivering?

Even as stacked-up wind turbine blades and towering cranes preside over New Bedford’s harbor, a key question about the offshore wind industry remains. How many jobs will it provide in New Bedford and Southeastern Massachusetts?

The phrase “thousands of jobs” is oft-repeated, but largely unquestioned, as developers, media, and politicians have heralded the green technology. Offshore wind is projected to produce more than half of Massachusetts’s energy by 2050, and it’s essential to meeting the state’s carbon reduction goals.

“One day we will power our lives with wind energy,” said Gov. Maura Healey when she visited New Bedford in March. The expansive wind farms, Healey said, will be more than a solution to the climate crisis: they could transform New Bedford into “the global capital of the offshore wind industry,” she said.

But the exact job numbers have been fuzzy. One developer, SouthCoast Wind — which has since asked to terminate its contract — claimed on its website that its 2,400 megawatts project would produce 27,000 jobs. On a different subpage was a lower number by almost half: 14,000 jobs.

Boston Globe: Once Seen as Opponents to Climate Action, Utilities and the Business Community are Making Changes

As state officials and climate advocates have tried to push forward with major climate initiatives, powerful forces, including gas utilities and prominent business organizations, have for years worked to delay or undermine them.

Now, in a boon for climate action, that appears to be changing.

As business opportunities in a burgeoning clean economy grow, two influential lobbying groups now have leaders with strong environmental credentials. Meanwhile, a prominent business group parted ways with an executive who had represented gas interests, and the state’s two largest utilities have made moves that advocates believe could lead them to deemphasize their fossil fuel based operations.

For those who’ve been pushing the state to more aggressively pursue climate action, these moves suggest, at minimum, less opposition ahead.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

 Boston Herald: Asante-Muhammad & Collins: We Still Have a Dream

It’s now been 60 years since the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom — and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

At the rally, Dr. King famously proclaimed that all people, Black as well as white, have a “promissory note” from their government guaranteeing “the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He lamented that “America has defaulted on this promissory note” to Black citizens.

Six decades later, despite incremental progress on some fronts, the check has still come back marked “insufficient funds.” But with enough political will, we can clear it quickly. That’s the conclusion of our new report, Still a Dream: Over 500 Years to Black Economic Equality.

There are important signs of progress to mark. The unthinkably high rate of Black poverty has diminished since King’s time, falling from 51% in 1963 to 20% by 2021. But with one in five Black Americans still living in poverty — and one in 12 whites — it’s hardly a moment to pop the champagne bottle.

Other positive indicators include a sharp increase in Black high school attainment over the last 60 years and a significant decline in Black unemployment. For many important economic indicators, however, the pace of progress has been so incremental that it would still take centuries for Black Americans to reach parity with whites.

Education

Mass Live: School Officials: Universal Free Lunch Lessens Stigma around Food Insecurity

As Massachusetts becomes the eighth state in the country to make free meals permanently available to all students, local school districts hope for full participation among students.

The statewide program benefits students not only with hunger but with the stigma attached to getting free meals as well, said Laura Amedeo, the supervisor of school cafeterias in West Springfield.

“There are still many families who struggle with food insecurity. However, students can now enjoy nutritious meals without worrying about debt or feeling ashamed for receiving reduced or free meals,” said Amedeo.

On Aug. 8, Gov. Maura Healey signed a $56 billion budget, which included $172 million for the permanent universal lunch program for public school students in kindergarten through grade 12.

NBC Boston: Healey Launches Free Community College for Massachusetts Residents Age 25 and Older

Gov. Maura Healey held a news conference on Thursday to announce the launch of MassReconnect, her administration’s program to provide free community college for Massachusetts residents age 25 and older.

“Backing these folks is the most important investment we can make for our workforce, for our economy” and for making the Bay State more affordable and equitable, Healey said at a news conference at MassBay Community College’s Wellesley Hills Campus.

About 8,000 people are expected to take advantage of MassReconnect in its first year, Healey said — two of them teared up at the news conference as they spoke about what it means to them.

One woman said she felt like the program was heaven-sent — Danita Mends had to take a break from getting an interior design degree at MassBay, following her passion, when she had a child, and now it will be covered. After graduating Needham Public Schools, the Roxbury resident, now 38, couldn’t finish college over the cost, then found in the corporate world that she wasn’t able to take advantage of opportunities because of a lack of a degree.

“I got called and was told that I was eligible for this program, which is going to be life-changing for me,” Mends said.