Sonia DeMarta, co-founder of the Farmers Market in Lexington and Healthy Eating consultant at Whole Foods in Bedford, got a State House audience to dig in on the topic of healthy eating.
Military R&D at Lincoln Laboratory
The State Senate’s Commonwealth Conversations Tour stopped at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. My colleagues told me later that they were astonished by what they saw. Among other things, the translation of military R&D to non-military uses is as robust today as it was when ARPANET led to the development of the internet.
Time Capsule at the MFA
Brings you up short. Rivets the mind. Emotional, even. At the Museum of Fine Arts viewing the contents of a time capsule entombed in 1795 in a cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House. Sam Adams and Paul Revere chose these things, arranged them, reaching through time to touch people like us, future residents of a young country they had just fashioned out of passion and ideas.
With Mass. Off Track On Emissions Goal, Advocates Seek 1st State Carbon Tax
WBUR
“This is carbon pricing,” State Senator Mike Barrett said, “and the idea is to make it a little more expensive to pollute, a little more expensive to buy something that results in the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — which is the greenhouse gas that causes climate change — make it a little more expensive to do all that, but then you send the money back so that you spend it on something less polluting.”
Revisiting grad tax
Boston Herald
Massachusetts is one of only 16 states that doesn’t have a graduated tax on personal income. A bill I’ve filed would amend the state constitution to include one. Let’s balance the tax burdens of our citizens and narrow our widening disparities in income. A constituent from Chelmsford, Adithya Raajkumar, makes the case.
Talking legal aid
I heard from two high-ranking constituents on the importance of legal aid for low-income people with respect to non-criminal problems like evictions and heating shutoffs. With Boston Bar Association President Julia Huston of Weston (right) and President-elect Lisa Arrowood of Lincoln (left).
Mass. can lead on greenhouse gas reduction
Boston Globe
In the The Boston Globe, Mike Ross writes on my bill to combat climate change by pricing carbon:
“The idea of a lone state like Massachusetts getting out ahead of the rest of the country and leading a program of this magnitude might strike some as incredulous. But this is precisely what the Commonwealth has been doing on a host of issues — from marriage equality to health care. Being ahead of the curve is a good thing, especially when our future depends on it.”
Knowledge Isn’t Power
The New York Times
Food for thought: the NYT’s Paul Krugman suggests we can’t come up with good answers without asking good questions; such as, if there’s a shortage of educated workers, why haven’t the salaries of educated workers gone up?
Touring central Mass., outside the district
I joined colleagues on site visits in Worcester and Hampden counties, on another leg of the State Senate listening tour. Top: Hearing from Monson Town Administrator Evan Brassard in a new municipal building rebuilt after the original was destroyed by the tornadoes. Left: Speaking with Dan Mardirosian, Senior Operations Manager of the Worcester Tech Biomanufacturing Education & Training Center. Right: At National Grid’s NE Distribution Center.
Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for Doubtful Climate Researcher
The New York Times
Well, well. Things just got a little hotter for a recipient of funding to belittle climate change.
