State House News: Multiple Reports Point to Brightening Economic Prospects

The Massachusetts economy keeps driving ahead and that recession out on the horizon doesn’t seem to be getting any closer.

Many businesses, economists and households have been girding for a downturn amid the Federal Reserve’s strategy of continued rate hikes to tamp down on inflation, but state and local analysts in the last week agreed that things are looking better than expected. Even with high interest rates, the Massachusetts economy grew at an annualized rate of 4 percent during the second quarter and the state’s unemployment rate sits at its historic low of 2.5 percent as of July.

Economists with MassBenchmarks, which is published by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Donahue Institute in cooperation with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said last week that real gross domestic product growth in Massachusetts is outpacing the nation, that economic improvements here are “broad based,” and that the Bay State “has become a leading state for net jobs growth.”

“The unexpectedly strong rebound in state and U.S. economic growth has come despite inflation, slowing economic growth in China, the war in Ukraine, and the lingering effects of the pandemic on production and supply chains. Heading into the latter half of 2023, GDP growth is expected to slow, and may be on course towards a soft landing, rather than an economic downturn,” the group said in a summary of its editors’ discussion.

Boston Globe: Attorney General Approves Possible Ballot Question to end MCAS Graduation Requirement

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell certified nearly three dozen potential ballot questions last week — including an effort to drop the MCAS high school graduation requirement — a critical step in a lengthy process that aims to get questions before voters next year.

The questions touch upon a wide range of issues affecting residents and workers across the Commonwealth and include: limiting increases on housing rentals, suspending state gas taxes under certain conditions, establishing ride-hailing drivers as independent contractors, allowing voters to register at the polls on election day, and beefing up state law so state Auditor Diana DiZoglio can formally audit the Legislature.

Debate over abolishing the MCAS graduation requirement, which is being pushed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest educator union, is expected to be among the most contentious and could turn into an expensive fight. It comes seven years after the overwhelming defeat of a ballot question that would have expanded charter schools, which shattered state records for ballot campaign spending at that time.

“Today’s decision by the state Attorney General’s office will allow us to make the case directly to voters at the ballot box as to why we must replace the harmful graduation requirement tied to the MCAS exams,” MTA president Max Page and vice president Deb McCarthy said in a joint statement.

Commonwealth Magazine: Augustus: No Silver Bullets in the Housing Crisis

The Massachusetts housing world is under strain from every angle, and every housing gambit is a long game.

Healey administration housing officials are facing a bleak “to-deal-with” list, hampered by the lowest rental vacancy rate in the country – just 2.8 percent – and a 200,000-unit shortage. The emergency shelter system is crushed by waves of new migrant families needing housing. Plus, the commonwealth is struggling to get a picture of the new reality of hybrid and remote work, prompting fears of an “urban doom loop,” in which a shift in work patterns leads to a hollowing out of downtown commercial space and undermines a city’s tax structure.

“I don’t think there’s any silver bullets,” Ed Augustus, who heads up the new Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, said on The Codcast.

“There’s not one obvious thing that, geez, if you just did this, this would unlock housing production. But I think it’s a series of smaller policy changes, additional funding, and new partnerships and strategies that hopefully collectively help move the needle and get us closer to that 200,000 number.”

Boston Globe: TJX is Having a Moment

At the Marshalls store in Downtown Crossing, a lone employee sweeps the floor, trying to zig zag between tightly packed racks of discounted Calvin Klein and Michael Kors shirts and pants.

But it was a cluster of irreverent T-shirts, including one with a giant head of rapper Snoop Dogg, that caught the eye of one shopper.

“At work, I’m known for my T-shirts,” she tells her companion as she grabs three of them.

A rack of $7.99 T-shirts sitting along side the biggest fashion brands in the world may seem random, confusing even.

But TJX’s time-tested formula — a blend of discounted national brands and a treasure hunt approach to in-store shopping — has been particularly effective of late. While rivals Target, Macy’s, and Foot Locker are struggling to persuade inflation-wary consumers to spend money, the Framingham-based parent of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods is enjoying strong growth across all of its businesses.

The company recently said sales at stores open for at least a year jumped 6 percent in the three months that ended July, and executives say they expect the good times will carry into 2024.

State House News: Report: Massachusetts Life Sciences Grew In “Toughest Times”

Massachusetts’ growing biopharma workforce is expanding beyond Cambridge’s life-sciences hub and into Suffolk and Worcester counties, according to a new industry-sponsored report.

MassBio, which represents more than 1,600 organizations in the global life sciences and health-care sectors, said in its industry snapshot that its membership has spread out from Cambridge and Boston at an unprecedented rate.

But as companies look to continue their success in Massachusetts, biopharma leaders and industry lobbyists say partnerships with state officials are crucial to remain in a “leadership position.”

“Even amidst challenging times for biotech companies, we still saw our industry’s workforce expand by nearly 7 percent,” MassBio CEO and President Kendalle Burlin O’Connell said in a statement.

“While we all know biotech experienced a period of cooling after a red-hot few years, our workforce growth, lab space expansion, large share of overall national VC investments, and strong government relationships make me hopeful for a strong 2024 and beyond.”

State assistance is needed, O’Connell said, to protect vulnerable pre-revenue biotech companies, including those working on complex drug development.

Boston Globe: How a Strip Mall in Hadley became the Center of the Modern-Day Labor Movement

Picture a sprawling suburban strip mall, and Route 9 in this Western Massachusetts town may come to mind. The busy commercial corridor is dotted with curb strips and parking lots, with neatly painted lines and weeds pushing through cracks in the asphalt. National brands fill the low-lying storefronts one after another: Home Depot, Whole Foods, Marshalls, Ulta.

But a half-mile stretch of the roadway between Amherst and Northampton is unusual for one reason: It has become a hotbed for labor activism.

Starting last year, workers at three big-box stores — Trader Joe’s, Barnes & Noble, and Michaels — formed unions in and around the Mountain Farms mall. Each became the first freestanding location in their respective national chains to organize, transforming an anonymous shopping center into a hub of the next-generation labor movement.

“A lot of people don’t expect this to happen in Hadley,” an agricultural hamlet better know for its asparagus farms and flower stands, said Jamie Edwards, president of Trader Joe’s United and a night crew member at the grocer. “I mean, why would it happen in this small town with as many cows as humans? It’s just that here, people saw what was possible.”

Gazette Net: Easthampton Launches Business Census Survey

The city recently launched a 2023 Business Census survey for business owners, innovators and entrepreneurs in the community.

The survey — in partnership with the Chamber of Greater Easthampton and Blueprint Easthampton — seeks to understand how the city can better support local businesses and entrepreneurs.

“A sustainable, local economy thrives only with our city understanding long time and diverse business needs, struggles and strengths,” said Mayor Nicole LaChapelle in a statement.

The census includes a web-based survey at https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/i7B3i6 and other efforts to speak with business owners.

“This strong collaboration between all of us is what builds the strong foundation of economic opportunity, growth and resiliency,” Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Moe Belliveau said in a statement.

Businesses that complete the survey will be entered to win a business grant of $500 or $1,000. All who own a business, whether it’s new, existing, or information, are encouraged to participate.

WBJ: Adult-Use Marijuana Establishments in Massachusetts Surpass $5 Billion in Gross Sales

Adult-use marijuana gross sales have crested $5 billion at Massachusetts establishments. Sales passed the milestone on Aug. 31, according to a press release from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission.

In January, recreational cannabis sales hit $4 billion, while total adult-use and medical sales surpassed $5 billion.

With more states in the northeast now part of the recreational sales market, some in the cannabis industry have expressed concerns that this may slow the Massachusetts market, and are coming up with new ways to adapt to changing pricing structures.

So far, that has not been the case, according to the CCC. The eight-month period between the $4 billion and $5 billion benchmarks was the shortest time to generate $1 billion in sales, according to the press release.

“Massachusetts continues to hit record sales even as other states have come online. In fact, our neighboring states Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut also had record sales this summer,” said CCC executive director Shawn Collins in the press release. “Demand for tested, quality cannabis products remains strong in the region, and consumers shopping in other states have not impacted Massachusetts’ success.”

WBUR: The MBTA’s New ‘Chief of Stations’ Tackles JFK/UMass Decay

A week into his new role as the MBTA’s Chief of Stations, Dennis Varley walked through one of the Red Line’s most troubled stations. He’s tackling his first task: Cleaning up the JFK/UMass stop during a 16-day October shutdown while workers fix the tracks.

He points to deteriorated concrete on the floor and flaking paint on a pillar on the station’s platform. “I mean you see peeling paint, it gives the impression that it’s not well-maintained right? We don’t want to give that impression,” Varley said. “It’s not what the people deserve.”

Varley is charged with more than aesthetics. He was hand-picked by MBTA General Manager and CEO Phil Eng after a career in New York transit for the newly created role that’s tasked with helping make Boston’s subway, commuter rail and buses safe, secure and clean for riders.

At JFK/UMass, Varley said workers will address tripping hazards on the floor of the station’s lobby, covering it with a material that’s found in gyms and is ADA-compliant. Crews will repair light fixtures and refurbish benches. They’ll fix the worn stairs and replace a water-tight covering on the roof to keep the platform dry.

And there’s more. Varley knows at other stations he’ll soon encounter across the system, there are crumbling staircases, tumbling ceiling tiles and other debris falling on passengers.

Boston Globe: MBTA Track Department Workers Missed Critical Problems, Report Says

MBTA workers responsible for checking subway infrastructure for defects either didn’t understand their responsibilities or didn’t fulfill them and, as a result, missed dangerous problems on vast swaths of the subway as recently as March, according to a new report.

The review, commissioned by the T after the agency implemented more than 100 new speed restrictions across the system earlier this year, also found that many workers in charge of inspecting the system’s tracks don’t have enough experience or training.

The new speed restrictions slowed down commutes for hundreds of thousands of people in the Boston region, deepening dissatisfaction with the state’s largest transit system. The report, together with an analysis from the T’s own safety department, offers riders a new view of the beleaguered agency’s dysfunction that has created such extra-painful commutes in recent months.

The 18-page report by Charles L. O’Reilly of Carlson Transport Consulting LLC, found the root causes of the failure were “a systemic lack of clarity” about the responsibilities of most positions in the Maintenance of Way department — responsible for track safety — and workers misunderstanding or failing to do their jobs. The 19-page MBTA safety department report found the root cause of the failure to be “employee error or organizational issue.”

Boston Globe: Boston Startups that Survived Tough Times May go Public — or Get Profitable

Local tech startups have suffered through tight funding conditions the past two years, leading to layoffs and office closings. But there are signs the market may be turning more positive.

For companies that made it through the rough times, the stock market is presenting an opportunity to go public. Late last month, Boston marketing-tech firm Klaviyo filed for an initial public offering alongside British chip designer Arm and delivery service Instacart in California. If successful, Klaviyo would mark the first major tech IPO in Boston in more than two years, and others could follow.

Klaviyo’s filing disclosed not only that the 11-year-old company is posting strong growth — revenue grew 54 percent to $321 million in the first half of the year — but also that it reached a key milestone valued by Wall Street: profitability. The company had net income of $15 million in the first half versus a loss of $25 million in the same period a year earlier.

While many tech companies have gotten squeezed by the dominance of giants like Apple and Google, Klaviyo is a beneficiary. Apple and Google have cracked down on the collection and sale of data about what consumers are doing on their smartphones. The crackdown means that e-commerce companies need to rely on data they collect about their own customers, perhaps with some AI help, which just happens to be the service Klaviyo offers.

Boston Herald: Residents Still Losing Home Equity under State Foreclosure Law

Week after week, Massachusetts residents are still having their home equity taken under absolute title, according to advocates and lawyers working to have the practice stopped immediately and bolstered by a recent Supreme Court decision.

In May, the nation’s highest court ruled in Tyler v. Hennepin County that a municipality in Minnesota had violated the Constitution’s takings clause when it sold a foreclosed property and kept proceeds beyond what the property owner owed in taxes.

As a consequence, and according to Attorney General’s office testimony to the Legislature shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling, a provision of Massachusetts law allowing cities and towns to foreclose on properties, sell them, and keep the entire proceeds of the sale is also unconstitutional.

The practice of “home equity theft” by municipalities or third-party companies acting on their behalf continues to occur in Massachusetts, according to attorney Chris Perry, while the legislature, courts, governor’s office and attorney general sit idly by.

He said the Supreme Court decision provided a constitutional right, “and to realize the ability to obtain that right, no action needs to be taken,” he told the Herald. “Despite that, it’s status quo, nothing has changed.”

Health Care

Politico: ‘Life and Death Situations’: Lawmakers Battle Wall Street over Health Care

A wall of debt is coming due for private equity-owned hospitals and nursing homes and that wave threatens to undermine care for some of the most vulnerable Americans. That’s triggering alarms in Washington.

Cheap and flexible financing that helped big Wall Street buyout firms snap up health centers, long-term care facilities and provider networks in recent years has evaporated. Higher borrowing costs are chipping away at margins. And bankruptcies at private equity-owned businesses are on track to reach decade highs, which could result in job cutbacks.

Bipartisan efforts have been underway in Congress to force the often opaque private equity firms to disclose more information about their ownership structures and the debt they’re piling onto the health care businesses — setting the stage for a fight between the powerful industry and lawmakers.

Worcester Business Journal: DPH Rejects UMass Memorial Plan, Delays Closure of Leominster Maternity Ward

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health rejected UMass Memorial Health’s proposed plan on how to provide essential maternity service in North Central Massachusetts following its planned closure of the Leominster maternity ward.

Due to the deficiencies in the proposed plan, the hospital is not permitted to close the ward on the planned date of Sept. 23.

UMass Memorial has a 10-day window to respond to the DPH concerns, as well as propose a later date for intended closure should a subsequent plan be deemed adequate.

The plan was rejected on the basis of insufficient evidence that the closure would not interrupt care for individuals who would otherwise give birth at the hospital. The Worcester-based hospital system was required to provide a plan to ensure continued access to care after the closure when DPH deemed it an essential service.

Budget and Taxation

Commonwealth Magazine: Healey Pleads for Federal Help in Addressing Shelter Crisis

Gov. Maura Healey formally asked the Biden administration to make it easier for migrants and refugees to legally find work, saying the state of emergency that currently exists in Massachusetts and other states could represent an opportunity to fill record levels of job vacancies.

In a letter dated Thursday but released on Friday, Healey said a significant influx of migrants into Massachusetts “shows no sign of abating.” A separate press release said more than 6,200 families with children and pregnant women – “many of whom are migrants” — are currently residing in emergency shelters.

Healey asked Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to take one of two steps – allow migrants and refugees to obtain temporary work authorization as soon as they request asylum or treat receipt of work authorization documents as provisional approval to accept a job. Healey’s letter indicated current rules prohibit any action by the federal government on work authorization within the first 150 days of a person’s arrival.

The governor also asked for a series of other regulatory changes to speed up and lessen the cost of the work authorization process and sought additional federal funding for states struggling to provide shelter to migrants and refugees.

Energy and Environment

Boston Herald: Thousands Remain without Power Days After Storm

Thousands of Massachusetts residents remain without power following a storm that ravaged the Bay State on Friday evening.

National Grid officials announced that power was restored to more than 60,000 residents throughout the state as of Sunday morning. By Sunday evening, approximately 12,000 customers remained without power. The majority of those were in Andover and North Andover, according to an outage map maintained by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

The North Andover Town’s online announcement page included an update Sunday, saying they are working with National Grid and that the area outages were expected to be resolved Sunday. Officials also mentioned the Red Cross shelter at the North Andover Senior Center remains open for those in need.

The Town of Andover advised residents that The Robb Center, used for a cooling and charging location, remained open for residents to use until 10 p.m. and will reopen Monday at 9 a.m. About  35% of Andover residents remained without power as of Sunday afternoon, according to the MEMA map.

Gazette Net: Experts Explore the Role Solar Will Play in State Meeting Climate Goals

Massachusetts has 15 to 18 times the amount of solar potential it needs to support decarbonization requirements, presenting the state with an opportunity to balance solar installation with natural- resource and land protection. But that doesn’t mean achieving that goal will come without challenges.

That was one of the findings to emerge when a panel of experts gathered last Tuesday to discuss the current state of solar development in Massachusetts and across the country, including opportunities, initiatives, challenges and goals. The discussion, the first of a four-part Western Massachusetts Solar Forum series taking place in September, provided an overview of where the state stands in terms of solar development and set the stage for the rest of the series taking place every Tuesday this month.

The forums are organized by UMass Clean Energy Extension, Sen. Jo Comerford, Rep. Mindy Domb, and others.

Commonwealth Magazine: Unjamming the Heating-Oil Industry’s Road to Carbon Neutrality

At a renewable fuels conference in January, Kevin Beckett, CEO and president of oil burner manufacturer R.W. Beckett Corp., announced that after years of research and development, the company’s much-anticipated B100 residential burner was finally entering production.

About the size of a home office printer, this 100-percent biofuel compatible burner is poised to unjam the heating oil industry’s road to carbon neutrality, enabling fuel oil customers to eliminate fossil fuels from their homes for $700 on average without a single rebate from the state.

“We believe we have the fastest carbon-reduction solution for the Northeast while providing safe, reliable and affordable heat,” Beckett said.

When competitor Carlin Combustion Technologies reveals its B100 model next year, two of the three leading burner manufacturers will have brought to market a technology that, for roughly 650,000 oil-heated homes in Massachusetts, can deliver greater carbon reductions on a faster timeline – and for far less money – compared to electric heat pumps (rebate and all).

In fact, for a single $10,000 heat pump rebate, which is unlikely to cover even half the cost of a whole house conversion, the state could retrofit 14 oil-heated homes with a piece of equipment that can be installed in a matter of hours and transition the heating systems to run entirely on Biodiesel, or B100 Bioheat® fuel, while adding no additional load to the power grid.

Spectrum News: Healey Administration Announces First Round of Farm Relief

Gov. Maura Healey, Rep. Jim McGovern and the United Way announced last week the first round of funding from the Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund.

The money will go to farms that were damaged by a series of floods over the summer, primarily in the western part of the state.

Since July, the fund has received more than $3 million in donations from more than 600 people and businesses – enough to finance two rounds of checks for eligible farmers. Phase one began last week, with money awarded to 214 applicants.

Healey, McGovern and others have spent the past month hearing directly from farmers like Jim Lattanzi of Hollis Hills Farm in Fitchburg about the struggles they’ve experienced.

“This is our tenth year farming here, and probably the most challenging,” Lattanzi said. “As a farmer, you have to be resilient, and I tell you, it takes the wind out of your sails when you work so hard and have it wash away. To know that we have the support of the governor, of our legislators, of our business partners to come out of nowhere and say, ‘Hey, we’re here to help,’ it blows a little wind back in your sails.”

As of August, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources estimates at least 148 farms were impacted by flooding this summer, with more than 2700 acres in crop losses totaling a minimum of $15 million.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Boston Herald: Boston to Mark 50^th Anniversary of School Busing

With the 50th anniversary of the start of Boston Public School busing and desegregation movement rolling in, community leaders and figures present for the period announced a series of forums and events marking the consequential chapter of the city’s history.

“September 12, 1974 — I want people to understand, we were really children,” said Leola Hampton, a Boston-native who was bused from Roxbury to South Boston as a student in the era. “I’d actually just turned 14. My birthday was September 10. And what I remember most are the sounds, the explosive impact of rocks and bricks smashing through the windows of the school bus.”

Hampton, among others connected to the chapter, briefly spoke to her experience with the desegregation movement — witnessing “unconscionable” things as a child trying to go to school — during a press conference at the State House on Thursday morning.Top of Form

Bottom of FormThe conference was held by The Desegregation and Busing Initiative Committee, a collection of 40 local leaders, teachers and others launching a campaign to raise awareness around the anniversary of historical moment.

The 50th anniversary of the federal court decision in Morgan v. Hennigan, which ordered BPS to desegregate schools using busing, will occur in June. The case was filed in 1972 on behalf of 15 Black parents and 43 children, and the decision withstood violent public protest and 22 appeals.

Education

Boston Globe: Student Loan Payments Re-Start Next Month

More than $275,000 in student loan debt has been looming over Salem Black’s career as a social worker.

Black, who has two master’s degrees, worked with children on welfare and people in prison earlier in his career and recently opened his own private practice. He feels like he just found stable footing after years of working multiple jobs, but is rethinking whether he can afford to live and work in Newton when student loan payments restart next month.

“I am already nervous. I think what my life looks like today is going to have to be dramatically different,” he said.

Black is one of millions of Americans bracing for student loan payments to restart on Oct. 1 after a 3½-year pause that started during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resumption comes after the Supreme Court this summer struck down the Biden administration’s student-loan forgiveness program, which would have canceled about $400 billion in loans. Black does not yet know how much his monthly payments will be, but expects them to range from $800 to $1,700 per month.

Borrowers are feeling “anxious, overwhelmed, and concerned as they think about readjusting their budgets as payments resume,” said Amanda Hahnel, vice president and head of student debt retirement at Fidelity Investments. About 60 percent of federal student loan borrowers took advantage of the student loan payment pause, Hahnel added.

WGBH: Massachusetts Schools Brace for Rise in Students Mental-Health Needs

As students return to classrooms across Massachusetts, school districts are boosting mental health supports to keep ahead of the demand for care.

Methuen Public Schools said they have renewed their partnership with Care Solace this year, a mental health care coordination service that works with schools, students and parents. Cambridge and other districts are offering teletherapy sessions for students.

Boston Public Schools said they hired nine “safe and welcoming school specialists,” to help returning students this fall.

“The pandemic has shown us that there is a mental health crisis in young people across the country,” said Jillian Kelton, Boston’s chief of student support. “The environmental factors of when we were doing remote learning sort of fanned a flame of mental health needs.”

The efforts comes amid ongoing health advisories from the U.S. Surgeon General warning about the critical and often unmet mental health needs of young people. It’s been three years since the pandemic changed everything, forcing students to learn from their bedrooms, isolated from friends and teachers, some losing family members to the COVID-19 virus.

Boston Globe: How Hot is it in Classrooms without Air Conditioning?

It was the first day of school for Boston Public Schools students, but it sure didn’t feel like fall.

Temperatures in the Boston area Thursday were forecast to soar into the 90s, prompting some districts around Massachusetts to cancel school or send students home early due to lack of air conditioning in school buildings. But how hot is it inside classrooms, really?

BPS last year launched an indoor air quality monitoring system in classrooms across the city that collects real-time data about temperature, humidity, particle pollution, and more. On hot days like Thursday, the data ― which are publicly available in the form of a dashboard ― show temperatures and humidity levels inside classrooms without air conditioning.

The vast majority of BPS schools are air conditioned, according to city officials. But there are 13 among the district’s 134 school buildings without A/C. Among those schools, 11 had an average room temperature of above 80 degrees as of 11 a.m. At one school, Mel King Prep, the average temperature reading was 86.7 degrees. Two rooms at that school showed room temperatures breaking into the 90s.