Boston Globe: One Congress, Boston’s Newest Skyscraper, Makes its Debut

When State Street Corp. signed the lease for its new headquarters in early 2019, the phrase “flight to quality” had not yet entered the real estate zeitgeist, and COVID-19 wouldn’t hit US shores until more than a year later.

Now, almost five years later, the flight to quality trend dominates after COVID transformed the way companies and their workers use offices. State Street’s famed sign, with 13-foot-high S’s (the “tate” “treet” are 11 feet each), has been moved from One Lincoln St. — its former headquarters building — to the gleaming, glassy One Congress office tower it now calls home. State Street will eventually occupy 27 floors across the 43-story skyscraper, which officially opened last week.

“One Congress reinforces our continued commitment to the city of Boston,” said Ron O’Hanley, State Street’s chairman and CEO, in a statement.

With 2,700 seats and desks for employees and another 3,000 work points — think high-top tables with plugs to charge laptops, low bench seating, huddle rooms — the financial services giant aims for its new headquarters to enable the flexible work styles of post-vaccine office life. Its move-in coincides with another new normal: Starting later this year, State Street will require North American employees to come into the office four days per week. (Previously, remote work policies were determined by individual jobs.)

Boston Globe: After Frosty Start, Mayor Wu’s Relationship with the Business Community Appears to be Warming

What a difference a year makes.

That’s how one prominent executive summed it up as the crowd dissipated following Mayor Michelle Wu’s address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

It went without saying what he meant: The Mayor Wu that Boston’s power brokers saw at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel this week was quite different from the one they watched a year ago, at the then-new mayor’s first annual chamber speech. It’s quite possible Wu saw the crowd in a different way, too.

Business leaders knew they had a friend in Marty Walsh. That was not the case with Wu. In particular, she took careful aim at reforming the city’s construction and development industry by backing increases in affordable housing requirements for new buildings, a new luxury tax on high-end real estate sales, and even caps on rent increases, among other changes. And so when she stood before the Chamber crowd a year ago, you could sense tension in the room — or, at least, wariness. The prevailing talk at the time was that Wu, who was swept into office championing a range of progressive policies, wouldn’t even take calls from corporate executives, let alone take their concerns seriously. So much for the old way of doing business with City Hall, when bigwigs had the mayor on speed dial.

Boston Globe: Sweet News for Cranberry Growers as India Slashes Tariffs on the Massachusetts-Grown Fruit

Good news for the cranberry bogs of Massachusetts came from more than 7,000 miles away last week, when India agreed to slash tariffs on several US agricultural products — including the cranberry.

The agreement, announced on Sept. 8 by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai as President Biden attended the G20 summit in New Delhi, will reduce tariffs from 30 percent to 10 percent for frozen, fresh, and dried cranberries, and from 30 percent to 5 percent for processed products, such as juice and Thanksgiving-ready canned cranberries. The cuts are expected to boost exports to the world’s most populous country, which is a growing market for the tart red fruit.

Nearly a quarter of the US cranberry crop is produced in Massachusetts, and growers here welcomed the move, said Brian Wick, executive director of the Plymouth-based trade association Massachusetts Cranberries.

“Certainly, it’s something that’s going to have that long-term impact,” said Wick, whose group represents approximately 300 growers in the state. “It will give us a better advantage in the marketplace.”

Boston Globe: Saudi Fund Sets up in Boston to Plow $1 Billion a Year into Research and Drugs to Extend Life

Saudi Arabia is bringing its gusher of investment capital to Boston, setting up shop in the nation’s biotechnology hub to bankroll scientists seeking ways to extend human life.

A new funding organization, created by decree by Saudi King Salman and chaired by the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, opened its North American headquarters this week on the 22nd floor of 200 Clarendon, formerly known as the John Hancock Tower. The group, called the Hevolution Foundation, is promising to invest as much as $1 billion a year in academic research and biotech startups that promote longevity by slowing down aging and combating age-related diseases.

Hevolution — an amalgam of health and evolution — was launched four years ago, establishing its global headquarters in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. Its chief executive, Dr. Mehmood Khan said the foundation chose Boston as its base for North America operations because of the density of life sciences companies and biology research centers.

“Boston is a center of excellence,” said Khan. “This was a very strategic move to where the activity is concentrated.”

WGBH: An MIT Economist Explains Congestion Pricing

Each year, Bostonians spend the equivalent of almost three weeks of work commuting. That’s 134 hours idling in a car, crammed on a train and stuck on a bus. This makes Boston the fourth worst commuting city in the world — behind London, Paris and Chicago — according to a survey from INRIX analytics company.

One potential tool to ease that problem is congestion pricing, which implements fees for people driving in a designated area during peak times.

Could congestion pricing work for a city like Boston, which has a relatively small downtown and hyper localized economic activity?

Maybe.

Jon Gruber, chair of MIT’s economic department, joined Boston Public Radio on Thursday to give an economic perspective on the costs and benefits of congestion pricing.

What is congestion pricing?

Overhead cameras at all entry points to downtown would record when vehicles enter and leave the designated area. The cameras would be unobtrusive, similar to the toll cameras on the Mass Pike, said Gruber. Drivers would pay a fee based on when they entered downtown and how long they stayed.

Boston Globe: What Will Happen if Google Loses its Antitrust Case?

It’s the most important antitrust trial for the tech industry in decades. But what are legal experts saying about the case, and what will it mean for consumers?

Google and the US Department of Justice faced off starting on Tuesday in a case that could determine how the search and advertising giant will need to run its business — and reach the masses. At issue is whether Google has used illegal means to maintain its dominant 90-percent market share in online searches.

The case reminds a lot of people of the government’s big antitrust case against Microsoft in the 1990s. And depending on how it goes, the outcome might, too — whether that means “behavioral restrictions” on the tech titan or a forced break-up.

In opening statements, lawyers for the Justice Department and state attorneys general accused Google of making unfair deals to favor its search engine, such as paying Apple more than $10 billion a year to be the default on iPhones and Macintosh computers. Consumers could have benefitted if other search services protected their privacy better or offered other innovations, they argued.

Google’s lawyer said users overwhelmingly choose to use Google search because it’s the best service, while other rivals have failed to innovate. Regulators are trying to force consumers to use inferior products, he said.

Boston Herald: Boston to Update Zoning Code for First Time Since 1964

The city’s antiquated zoning code will receive its first comprehensive update in six decades, following the release of a Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA)-commissioned report highlighting how today’s regulations hinder residential development.

The report, written by Sara Bronin, director of the National Zoning Atlas, at the direction of the Boston Planning & Development Agency, is critical of the “extreme length and inconsistencies” that make the city’s current zoning code inaccessible to most residents.

These failures make it difficult for the city to create new housing units, and impede residents from making “even small changes” to their home or business without hiring a lawyer, the BPDA stated upon the report’s release.

“One of the most impactful responsibilities of city government is to set the rules for how our neighborhoods grow,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement. “But for decades, our system in Boston has been built on a confusing and inconsistent process of handing out exceptions.

EXTERNAL: Commonwealth Magazine: Massachusetts Voters Want Rent Control Option

There is an intense debate in progressive circles (behind the scenes, for the most part) on whether to pursue a ballot initiative for the 2024 election to enable municipalities to enact policies to stabilize rents in their communities.

Some advocates and lobbyists argue against pursuing such a measure, claiming that it is unlikely to win and a loss would set the movement toward rent control back significantly, that advocacy organizations don’t have the capacity for a statewide ballot campaign, or that there is a longer-term plan that is better. Others have cited the housing crisis as an ongoing crisis, unprecedented in modern times, which requires immediate action.

Despite the arguments from the advocates and lobbyists opposed to mounting a ballot question campaign, the voters of Massachusetts unquestionably favor the measure.

On the evening of August 2, I got a call from state Rep. Mike Connolly of Cambridge who explained the situation. A coalition of advocacy and labor groups (whom I will call “the coalition”) had gone through an exploration process and announced on July 31 they would not be pursuing a rent control ballot initiative. Rep. Connolly, who has been a legislative leader on housing issues since he and former Rep. Nika Elugardo joined with housing justice leaders to draft the Tenant Protection Act nearly five years ago, started getting calls from elected officials, housing justice advocates, and community leaders expressing their shock that the coalition had decided against putting a rent control proposal on the ballot.

Boston Globe Incomes Grew in Greater Boston Last Year, but Not as Fast as Inflation

Even as Greater Boston bucked troubling national trends on poverty last year, household income grew at just half the rate of inflation, and far slower than most other major metro areas, according to census data released Thursday.

The new figures, based on an annual survey, peg the median household income here at $104,299 in 2022, up from $100,750 the year prior. That still ranks Greater Boston among the most affluent places in the country. But the annual increase of 3.5 percent was outpaced by all but two of the nation’s 40 largest cities, including regions mostly in the Sun Belt and Florida that saw double-digit income gains. Statewide, the median income increased by 5.4 percent to $94,488.

Economist and Boston College professor Brian Bethune said Massachusetts likely saw slow growth in income last year because much of the state’s labor force works in higher-paying industries.

Early in the pandemic, the economies of less-affluent states were battered by the loss of service workers, including servers, hotel employees, and baggage handlers. But an uptick in spending on travel and leisure later bolstered demand for those jobs, and a tight labor market increased what employers had to pay to fill them. Massachusetts, by contrast, saw less of a dip in lower-wage work — and now, less of an increase in income at large.

Dorchester Reporter: $5 Billion Project Gets Green Light

The board of the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) signed off on plans for the $5 billion transformation of several Columbia Point parcels known as “Dorchester Bay City.”

The massive project spans 36.26 acres, bounded by public property, including a shoreline owned by the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), property owned by the State Police, and Morrissey Boulevard. The UMass Building Authority owns a significant chunk of the parcels, having bought and razed the former Bayside Expo Center. Much of the area is now surface parking lots.

The project also includes 2 Morrissey Boulevard, where Santander Bank has offices, and 180 Mt. Vernon Street, which is owned by an affiliate of the Boston Teachers Union.

According to staff memo to the BPDA board, the project is set to create thousands of jobs during the build-out, and between 13,000 and 17,000 permanent jobs in a “variety of industry sectors and at varying skill and education levels.”

The approval was for the project’s master plan, and the developers will seek sign-offs for individual buildings. Once built, it could send more than $78 million in net new tax revenues into city coffers.

Health Care

 Boston 25 News: Cambridge Health Alliance Reinstates Mask Mandate for Patients, Staff and Visitors

Cambridge Health Alliance has reinstated its mask mandate for patients, staff and visitors in all patient- care areas.

The move was made ”with COVID-19 cases increasing locally and across Massachusetts,” the health-care organization said in a patient alert.

“As of Monday, September 18, masks are required in all patient care areas at CHA,” the healthcare organization said. “This means you must wear a mask anywhere that direct patient care is delivered – such as your doctor’s office, lab, radiology, the emergency department, and all inpatient care areas.”

“We feel strongly that masking during viral respiratory season (Flu, RSV, COVID) is an important step to protect our patients and employees from illness, especially those who are at highest risk,” the healthcare organization said.

Masks will be available in the main lobbies of Cambridge Health Alliance’s three campuses and its community care center locations.

In August, UMass Memorial Health in central Massachusetts reinstated its mask mandate as a “protective measure for our staff and patients.”

Boston Globe: Dana-Farber will Build New Cancer Center with Beth Israel

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have announced plans to build a new free-standing inpatient hospital for adult cancer care in Boston, severing the cancer hospital’s almost 30-year relationship with Brigham and Women’s in a move executives said will reshape oncology care in the region.

The new hospital, to be located on Beth Israel’s Longwood Medical Area campus, will be operated under the Dana-Farber license, with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and its affiliated physician group, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians, providing surgical oncology care and medical subspecialty expertise.

“This is the biggest shakeup in health care since the creation of Partners,” said Ellen Lutch Bender, a health care consultant with the firm Bender Strategies, referring to the original merger of Brigham and Women’s with Massachusetts General Hospital, a joint entity now known as Mass General Brigham. “This is a major loss to Mass General Brigham.”

The deal will move Dana-Farber’s inpatient oncology care away from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which has provided it since the mid-1990s, after Globe health columnist Betsy Lehman died of an overdose of chemotherapy drugs while undergoing treatment at Dana-Farber. Until then, Dana-Farber had provided inpatient oncology care within its own hospital.

Boston Globe: Americans Support Medicare Drug Negotiations, but Biden Sees Little Political Boost

President Joe Biden is trumpeting Medicare’s new powers to negotiate directly with drugmakers on the cost of prescription medications — but a new poll shows that any immediate political boost that Biden gets for enacting the overwhelmingly popular policy may be limited.

Three-quarters of Americans, or 76%, favor allowing the federal health care program for the elderly to negotiate prices for certain prescription drugs. That includes strong majorities of Democrats (86%) and Republicans (66%), according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About one in five Americans are neutral on the issue, while 6% outright oppose it.

But the same poll shows Biden’s approval rating, at 40%, is about where it’s been for the last year. Americans are split on how Biden is handling the issue of prescription drug prices — 48% approve, making it a relative strong point for Biden, but 50% disapprove.

Seven in 10 Democrats approve of how Biden is handling the issue of prescription drug prices, compared to about a third of independents and about a quarter of Republicans. Even so, Republicans are still much more likely to approve of how Biden is handling prescription drug prices than they are to approve of his job efforts overall (8%).

Boston Globe: Planned Parenthood Hoped to Meet the Post-Roe Moment, but Layoffs Shake its Staff

As news of a restructure and layoffs spread at Planned Parenthood Federation of America earlier this year, the tension and uncertainty was palpable throughout the organization.

Less than two weeks before the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s repeal of a landmark abortion rights decision, more than 100 employees on Planned Parenthood’s national staff received notice they would lose their jobs, even after a year in which they saw donations rise in response to the decision.

The reason for the cuts, leadership explained, was to funnel more “direct investment” to its 49 affiliates, the constellation of Planned Parenthood-accredited clinics that do on-the-ground work, including providing abortions. They assured them it wasn’t financial issues, but a focus shift to better serve those on the front lines in the fight for abortion access.

The layoffs hit staff that already spent much of its time regularly helping out affiliate counterparts. They also hit staff who worked on a much-touted equity program Planned Parenthood included as part of its post-restructure vision. Not only that, funding for a critical program — called the Emergency Access Funds, meant to help patients access abortion — was reduced, at a time when they needed more help than ever to get reproductive health care to people in need.

Budget and Taxation

Mass Gov: Governor Healey Files $2.15 Billion Supplemental Budget to Close Fiscal Year 2023

Governor Maura Healey filed a supplemental budget that will enable Massachusetts to close out Fiscal Year 2023 in balance, pay for new collective bargaining agreements and continue to provide safe shelter and support services for thousands of families experiencing homelessness.

The budget allocates $2.15 billion gross / $833.3 million net to cover spending deficiencies and continue with a MassHealth payment strategy that has enabled Massachusetts to spread the impact of the loss of enhanced COVID-19 reimbursements across fiscal years. In total, $2.11 billion gross / $798.8 million net will be dedicated to MassHealth.

“Massachusetts remains in a strong financial position to make these investments and continue to pursue priorities such as meaningful tax relief that will make Massachusetts more affordable, equitable and competitive,” said Governor Healey. “This bill will allow us to turn the page on Fiscal Year 2023, begin to implement the new fiscal year budget we secured in partnership with the Legislature, and continue to make critical investments in our people and institutions.”

In addition to funds necessary to cover Fiscal Year 2023 spending, Governor Healey is proposing to use $250 million in one-time resources from the Transitional Escrow Fund to cover the ongoing cost of providing safe, temporary shelter to thousands of families in need.

Governor Healey earlier this summer declared a state of emergency due to rapidly rising numbers of families arriving in Massachusetts in need of shelter and services and a severe lack of shelter availability in the state. The state’s Emergency Assistance program is for families with children or pregnant women who are experiencing homelessness, including newly arrived families and local families.

The administration continues to work with its state and federal partners to find families permanent housing, expedite access to work permits, request federal funding and identify other potential solutions. However, the growing demand for shelter continues to put pressure on the system’s capacity to meet the needs of families seeking assistance, as well as municipalities that have welcomed students to their classrooms.

Fall River Reporter: Tax Package Tops Fall Agenda, Massachusetts Govern Healey Says

Gov. Maura Healey said Thursday that she is “absolutely” pushing legislators to complete a tax relief package that was promised over a year ago in the two months remaining in the formal lawmaking season of 2023.

Asked what is on her agenda to complete before formal legislative sessions end in November, the governor replied, “The tax package.”

“Our job is not done until that tax package is done,” Healey said.

In a statement, House Speaker Ron Mariano hinted that differences over business-friendly tax cuts may be holding up the negotiations between the House and Senate.

Mariano was not made available to speak with the News Service at an unrelated event in Quincy on Thursday, but his office replied to a question on the hold up of the tax package, which has been in conference committee negotiations since June.

“While the conferees continue to work through the differences between the House and Senate tax proposals, the House remains committed to providing the Commonwealth’s residents and businesses with meaningful financial relief, a balance that is a central focus of the House’s plan,” the statement said.

The House included tax cuts that are popular with the business community in its version of a package that would cost the state $654 million next year and eventually rise to a $1.1 billion impact on state coffers.

Boston Herald: Attorney General’s Office Offers Grants for Immigrant Legal Services

The state’s Attorney General announced Thursday she will set aside $750,000 to help cover legal costs faced by newly arrived immigrants.

The money will be issued as grants to non-profit legal service organizations and their community partners that are working to assist immigrants navigating the immigration system or hoping to work.

“Legal services organizations play a crucial role in helping new arrivals navigate complex immigration systems and secure basic needs, such as work authorization,” Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. “I am immensely proud to announce the Immigrant Legal Services Grant Program and continue to expand the diligent work of our office in ensuring that migrants to Massachusetts receive the basic support, protections, and opportunities they need to support their families and contribute to our economy.”

According to Campbell’s office, the extra money to help cover legal costs isn’t the first effort the AG has made at making life easier for the many thousands of migrants arriving in Massachusetts.

“This August, AG Campbell led a coalition of 18 attorneys general in urging the Department of Homeland Security to take immediate action to expedite work permits for eligible immigrants to help meet the state’s workforce needs, conserve safety net resources, and provide new arrivals the opportunity to contribute to the country in which they have sought refuge,” the AG’s office said.

Newburyport News: Healey’s Housing Veto Stirs Calls for Override

The creation of hundreds of affordable housing units meant to support people with complicated physical and mental health needs could be jeopardized as a result of Gov. Maura Healey’s decision to slash funding for a program in the new state budget, housing providers say.

The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, a non-profit and advocacy organization, has been urging lawmakers to override Healey’s veto that cut $2.5 million to the Home and Healthy for Good program, CEO Joyce Tavon told the News Service last week. The alliance describes itself as the lead project planner and leasing manager for projects in Lynn, Chelsea and Everett.

“We’re in a housing crisis,” Tavon said, as she asked rhetorically why the Healey administration chose to cut funding for what’s viewed as a successful program like HHG. “We know that, overall as a state, it’s been defined as we need over 200,000 units by the end of the decade, and we have shown that within that, we need really 10,000 of those units to be supportive housing for all of these vulnerable populations who have experienced long-term homelessness and disabling conditions.”

Compounding the governor’s veto, the alliance is concerned by a surge of homeless encampments cropping up around the state, including in Worcester, Plymouth and Norfolk counties, Tavon said. The housing crunch is also exacerbated by the surge of immigrants who are coming into Massachusetts and straining the state’s emergency shelter system.

In a veto document, Healey said she was striking budget language that “earmarks funding not necessary for the operation of the program” and reducing HHG funding “to the amount projected to be necessary.” Her veto left about $6.4 million for the program.

Energy and Environment

Boston Herald: Biden Approves Emergency Declaration for Massachusetts Flooding Response

After months of seemingly endless rain, and following unanticipated downpours in Leominster and elsewhere last week, the Biden Administration has declared that a state of emergency exists in Massachusetts.

Gov. Maura Healey, on Monday, announced she would declare a state of emergency existed statewide after she toured rain-damaged parts of the Commonwealth. Healey explained the declaration would allow federal funds to be freed up for disaster response. Over the weekend, Biden’s team announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would intervene in the Bay State.

“The President’s action authorizes FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population and to provide appropriate assistance to save lives, to protect property, public health and safety and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe,” the agency said in a release.

Assistance will be made available for all 14 Massachusetts counties, according to FEMA.

After a storm parked itself over Leominster for hours Monday evening and drenched the small city in almost a foot of rain, Healey said an emergency declaration would “expedite our efforts to deliver relief to impacted communities and bolster our ability to access federal resources.”

Three days later, the governor would activate 50 members of the Massachusetts National Guard and declare a second state of emergency in anticipation of Hurricane Lee’s potential impacts. In doing so, Healey requested FEME issue a Pre-Disaster Emergency Declaration.

Commonwealth Magazine: Affirmative-Action Ruling May Raise Issues for State Programs

At the end of this past year’s term, the US Supreme Court issued a decision finding that affirmative action programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Reasoning that college admissions are zero-sum and consideration of race necessitates “employ[ing] race in a negative manner” as to some applicants, the court rejected any continued use of race in considering college applications.

In the wake of this decision, the Commonwealth must carefully consider whether its laws, programs, and activities that explicitly take race into account may continue to operate.  Some of the environmental justice provisions of An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Climate Policy, signed into law in March 2021 (the “2021 Climate Act”), explicitly take race into account.  Depending on how those provisions are used and applied by the state, there could be significant risk of a successful legal challenge, requiring the state to rework its environmental justice framework.

Importantly, much of the 2021 Climate Act’s reference to environmental justice is race-neutral.  The Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs is required to consider “environmental justice principles” and direct her agencies to consider those principles in making certain policies and decisions.

The law defines these principles as ones “that support protection from environmental pollution and the ability to live in and enjoy a clean and healthy environment, regardless of race” or membership in other protected classes, including “(i) the meaningful involvement of all people with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies, including climate change policies; and (ii) the equitable distribution of energy and environmental benefits and environmental burdens.”

The Supreme Court’s decision does not call into question these race-neutral principles or their application to policy-making.

Boston Herald: Massachusetts Will Be First State to Stop Buying Plastic

Massachusetts will no longer buy single-use plastic products, the governor announced to start the week.

Speaking Monday in New York at an early morning session of the Clinton Global Initiative, Gov. Maura Healey used her brief time at the podium to announce she will issue two executive orders in the coming days, one of which would call on the Commonwealth’s procurement officers to stop buying so-called disposable plastics.

“I will sign an executive order that bans the purchase of single-use plastics by state agencies in Massachusetts,” the Bay State’s 73rd Governor said to open a session titled “Turning tides: how to accelerate sustainable practices for ocean conservation.”

According to Healey, her order will make Massachusetts the first of the 50 states governments to officially stop purchasing single use plastic bottles. The order will be effective immediately upon issue, the governor said.

“We know that plastic waste, plastic production are among the leading threats to our oceans, our climate and environmental justice. In government we have an obligation, we also have an opportunity to not only stop contributing to this damage but to chart a better path forward,” she said.

WGBH: America has a Unique Obsession with Ice, and It All Started in Boston

How did we move from suffering in the heat with room-temperature drinks to ice-harvesting capitalists and fanatical ice consumers?

America’s journey to ice obsession started right here in Boston with the enterprising Frederic Tudor, who envisioned something seemingly preposterous: bringing ice to the tropics.

The Tudors were one of the wealthiest families in Massachusetts. The family had servants who harvested large blocks of ice out of the lake on their estate, and an ice house to store that ice underground, where it could stay cool year-round.

“For about four centuries or so, the planet Earth was a lot colder than it is now … lakes and rivers froze much deeper than they do now. So, people could carve large blocks of ice out of those bodies of water for use in their everyday lives, such as cooking or medicine, what have you,” Amy Brady, author of the book “Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks — A Cool History of a Hot Commodity,” explained on GBH’s Under the Radar.

WWLP: Massachusetts Seventh among States in Clean-Energy Jobs

Massachusetts had the seventh most clean-energy jobs among states in 2022, according to a report released Thursday by a national business group.

There were 118,165 clean energy jobs in Massachusetts last year, an increase of about 5,000 jobs over 2021 and of about 10,000 jobs since 2020, the report from E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) said. Most of those jobs (about 81,000) were in the energy efficiency field, followed by 21,600 renewable energy jobs, 7,700 clean vehicle positions related to plug-in hybrid vehicles, all-electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles, 6,800 storage and grid jobs, and 740 biofuels jobs.

In all, the clean energy sector now accounts for more than 3 percent of all employment in Massachusetts, the report said.

Ahead of Massachusetts are California and Texas, which have more than 500,000 and 250,000 clean energy jobs respectively, followed by New York, Florida, Michigan and Illinois. Following Massachusetts and rounding out the list of nine states with at least 100,000 clean energy jobs are Ohio and North Carolina.

WWLP: Healey Faces Decision over Open Spot in Fossil-Fuel Pilot

What do Boston, Somerville, Salem and Northampton have in common?

They all want to significantly limit the future use of fossil-fuel infrastructure such as oil and gas hookups in buildings, and they all need state permission to do so. But as it currently stands, only one of those four — or any other communities that could still jump into the pool of applicants — can win the green light from the Healey administration.

The state is gearing up to begin a pilot program in which 10 cities and towns will be authorized to require that new construction and major renovation projects within their borders eschew natural gas, oil and other fossil fuel energy in favor of cleaner electric options, a novel bid to slash the sector’s significant contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.

Nine of the slots in the program are effectively filled, but one slot opened up earlier this month after its previous holder withdrew. Now, Gov. Maura Healey and her deputies face a tricky choice over which municipality should secure the last spot, which could dramatically alter the program’s scope and may serve as a test of the new governor’s commitment to cutting emissions.

Should it be Boston, the state’s largest city and a place where Mayor Michelle Wu has made climate policy a staple of her tenure? How about Somerville, a dense urban center that’s home to significant development, or Salem, where Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll spent 17 years as mayor? Or perhaps Northampton, which would add a western Massachusetts perspective to a roster currently dominated by the eastern metropolitan core?

Reining in emissions from building infrastructure looms as a crucial piece of the state’s work to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Buildings contributed about 35 percent of the state’s emissions in 2020, the second-largest of any sector behind transportation with 37 percent, according to state data.

Education

Boston Herald: Universal Free School Meals Keep Students Awake during Class

Less than a month into the school year, hundreds of thousands of students across Massachusetts are taking advantage of universal free breakfasts and lunches, keeping them more attentive throughout the day, officials say.

This is the first year the state Legislature is providing universal free meals to Bay State schools permanently, a program officials say is a major relief from what they describe as a “broken system.”

Waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture brought flexibility to districts during the pandemic, allowing them to provide students with meals at no cost. But federal breakfast and lunch programs resumed last year for the first time since pre-pandemic.

Massachusetts families, however, don’t need to worry about spending money on school meals this year, as the state budget includes about $172 million in permanent funding to provide universal free breakfasts and lunches for public school students in kindergarten through high school.

The Quincy school district has seen a 25% increase in breakfasts and lunches provided to students so far, according to Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, who joined Gov. Maura Healey, Speaker Ron Mariano and other officials to tout the state’s commitment at Snug Harbor Elementary School.

“This monumental change has given us the opportunity to end child hunger right here in our own community which is amazing,” Mulvey said. “The additional state funds will help us improve the overall quality and freshness of our meals which is extremely important, and it allows us to focus on buying locally and procure sustainable food and paper products.”Top of Form