Month: March 2025

This just in, from Recharge, a national publication dedicated to covering electric power and the electric grid:

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“A major US engineering body this week gave the nation’s grid infrastructure a damning D+ score in its quadrennial school report-style assessment, which noted that “a large portion of the system exhibits significant deterioration” with “strong risk of failure”.

There are bright spots of course – not least in New England, where a study by the grid operator found that the region could absorb power from over 9GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050 with far less investment than previously anticipated.”

Can we have a little optimism, please? Clean energy and the Massachusetts climate movement have legs younger than Donald Trump’s. We’ll be alive and kicking when he is long gone.

Catching up with the Lt. Governor

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At the Common Good Coffee and Coworking House on Moody Street, Rep. Tom Stanley and I met with Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll to discuss the upcoming state budget and Waltham’s priorities.

Sen. Barrett sits at a table with Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Rep. Tom Stanley

Boston is bustling with romance book clubs — where happy endings aren’t just possible, but required

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The Boston Globe

And now for something different: Kudos to my amazing daughters, whose entrepreneurial embrace of happy endings makes me smile on my most challenging days.

A picture of an article appearing in the print edition of the Boston Globe.

Chelmsford turns out big for the climate

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What a turnout! The Chelmsford Climate Action Team packed the room to talk state and local climate policy. The big question: How can towns make a difference? We covered everything from putting solar panels on condo roofs to making it easier to install heat pumps.

Senator Barrett speaks to the Chelmsford Climate Action Team
Senator Barrett speaks to the Chelmsford Climate Action Team

Proposed private-jet Hanscom expansion is a climate bomb in sheep’s clothing

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The Lincoln Squirrel

State Sen. Mike Barrett posited to Davey that “there is a sense in which you’re rolling out SAFs, I think, as a shield and in order to disarm us,” a point that Davey heatedly denied, referencing an SAF startup in Charlestown in his defense. To this, Barrett replied: “We have lots of startups in Massachusetts that hope someday to cure cancer, and we certainly want to encourage them to try. But none of us go out and encourage our kids to smoke cigarettes because the cure is going to come in their lifetimes.”

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