Advertisement
Boston's Morning Newsletter
Baker shares his big takeaway from the midterms on CNN
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
There may now be 8 billion people on Earth, but you all are my favorites for reading this newsletter every morning.
Here’s what we’re following, including more of the interesting insights from the latest United Nations report on the world’s population. But first:
Let’s start locally, shall we? Massachusetts is getting pretty independent (and not like the Kelly Clarkson song). More than 60% of the electorate across the state is now unenrolled. Gov. Charlie Baker was on CNN last night to talk about the midterm elections. He said Democrats and Republicans both are frustrated with political extremism, and it’s pushing millions of voters to leave the parties every year and register as independents.
- “I think in the midterms one of the big lessons that the Republican party nationally needs to take away from it is that voters want collaborative elected officials,” Baker added.
We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sales — or rather, the terms of contract. That’s what the parent company of Commonwealth Wind, the developer behind the state’s largest planned offshore wind farm, wants to do. The company is saying that inflation and other issues are making the project more expensive and, because of that, the contract with utility companies is no longer viable. Its hope is to raise rates and push back the project timeline, according to reporting from WBUR’s newscast team.
- Utility providers response? It’s a hard no. They’ve already told state officials they’re not interested in renegotiating their deals.
Google is about to pay Massachusetts $9 million. It’s part of a nearly $400 million multi-state settlement with the tech giant over some of its privacy policies. Mainly, location tracking.
- What happened: Attorneys general in 40 states argued that Google was tracking users’ location history even when they had asked the company not to do so. This behavior spurred Connecticut Attorney General William Tong to lead the investigation. Google’s response? We changed the policies years ago.
The Boston Globe is making — not just writing — historic headlines. The paper named Nancy Barnes as its next editor on Monday. She is the first woman to take on the role in the newspaper’s 150-year history.
- If you recognize the name, that’s because Barnes was previously the chief news executive at NPR. She announced in September that she was leaving our mothership and we wish her all the best!
Zooming way out: As promised, here are some of the highlights from the UN’s word population report. The main trends: people are living longer and having fewer children.
- Digging deeper: The average life expectancy is projected to rise from 72.98 in 2019 to 77.2 in 2050. (Woo!) With more available birth control and education, we’re not expected to reach a population of 9 billion for another 15 years. That may seem pretty fast, but compared to the last billion person jump in 2011, it’s actually a slower pace by a few years. You can read all the takeaways here.
Your hard news palate cleanser: It was one of the best Mondays in a while at WBUR’s studios. That’s because Radio Boston and celebrity chef Tiffani Faison hosted a Friendsgiving potluck yesterday with a bunch of local prominent chefs. And, yes, there were samples of the dishes (and yes, I did eat mac and cheese at 11 a.m.). You can watch the celebration here.
P.S.— Do you have a favorite Friendsgiving recipe that means something to you or wows your guests? Share by replying to this email, and we’ll pass it along to the Radio Boston team.
