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6 new plans Healey announced during her State of the Commonwealth speech
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Gov. Maura Healey says the state of our commonwealth is — you guessed it — strong. But that doesn't mean it couldn't use a couple of tweaks. In a speech last night that largely focused on affordability and President Trump, Healey unveiled a number of concrete changes she plans to pursue in the near future. Here are six to know:
- Medical debt: Healey announced she will soon file regulations that would ban medical debt from being reported to credit agencies. Fifteen states across the country have similar rules on the books. "It’s bad enough to get a huge bill, when you’re dealing with an illness. It shouldn’t wreck your credit too, so we’re not going to let that happen," the governor said during last night's speech.
- Housing: Healey announced that the state will invest $25 million to expand a program that offers up to $25,000 in down-payment help (in the form of a low-interest loan) to first-time homebuyers. Her office estimated it will help an additional 1,000 households buy a home. Healey also said her administration will commit "additional resources" to lower the mortgage rates the state's MassHousing agency offers to certain first-time homebuyers by 0.55%.
- Social media: Healey said she will file a bill in the coming weeks that would set guardrails on social media for kids. She said it would mandate platforms have age verification rules, require parental consent and limit addictive features for users under 18. Healey's office said it will be similar to the bill Attorney General Andrea Campbell proposed last year. And while the proposal will need approval from the State House, it reportedly got a warm reception from Senate President Karen Spilka.
- Subscriptions: As part of her upcoming budget proposal, Healey said she will include language requiring companies make canceling subscriptions "just as easy as signing up for it." Massachusetts already has junk fee regulations with a similar rule thanks to Campbell, but Healey's plan would make it law.
- Energy costs: We told you about this yesterday, but Healey reiterated her plan to spend $180 million to give Massachusetts residents a little discount on their winter utility bills this February and March. "Middle-class families need breathing room – and they're going to get it," she said.
- A bridge for Bob: Last but not least, Healey announced that her office is working with the city of Worcester to rename a bridge after Celtics legend Bob Cousy.
You watch Healey's full speech and read the transcript of her remarks here.
Bundle up: While all eyes are on what could be Boston's biggest snowstorm in years on Sunday, the polar vortex is first delivering frigid air to the region this week. Actual temperatures are expected to drop into the single digits tonight, with the "feels like" wind chill values as low as 15 to 20 below zero in parts of Massachusetts. And as WBUR's Kevin Vu reports, Boston-area shelters are mobilizing to make sure people experiencing homelessness have a respite from the dangerous cold.
- The Pine Street Inn has four overnight shelters capable of housing more than 600 people, combined. April Stevens, the nonprofit's deputy director, said they will also have an outreach team urging people to shelter inside and offering transport and winter clothing. " Sometimes people are underdressed, they're exposed to the elements," Stevens said. "We worry that if people aren't well covered that they'll get frostbite. So we just want to make sure we're able to keep people as safe as possible."
- The latest: The National Weather Service now says it's likely (a 70% to 80% chance) that most of Massachusetts will get at least a foot of snow Sunday into Monday.
Heads up: Due to the cold, this weekend's scheduled partial Blue Line closure will be a bit bigger than originally planned. Service will now be suspended from Bowdoin to Orient Heights (rather than Airport station), the MBTA announced yesterday. The closure is due to tunnel inspections and the T says extending it allows crews to "better manage switch infrastructure during extremely cold temperatures."
- Free shuttle buses will make stops at Orient Heights, Wood Island, Airport, Maverick and then Haymarket station to connect riders to the Green and Orange lines. That means there'll be no shuttle service to or from the Blue Line's closed Bowdoin, Government Center, State or Aquarium stations.
- The East Boston ferry will also make a special winter cameo to give riders another option across the harbor. It will also be free. (Cold, but free.)
In other T news: The first pilot car of the Green Line's bigger and more modernized "Type 10" trolleys is set to arrive this spring, the agency announced yesterday. It will begin in testing, so you likely won't be able to actually ride any until 2027. The MBTA expects all 102 of the so-called supercars to be delivered by 2031. (Knock on wood that there's no delays.)
- Step inside: The T gave us a sneak peek at the Type 10 trolleys (or at least four-sevenths of one) at Boston City Hall in 2024. Here's what they look like.
Bar rescue: Time Out Market will live to see another day. Samuels & Associates, the real estate developer that originally recruited the food hall to Fenway, announced yesterday that it had reached a deal to take over operations and keep it open. The agreement was unveiled just a day before what was slated to be Time Out's final day today.
- FYI: Though the Time Out Group, the international company that ran the food hall for the last five years, will no longer be involved, Time Out Market's name will remain the same under a licensing deal between the two sides.
Music to our ears: Remember the Massachusetts cello prodigy we introduced you to at the end of yesterday's newsletter? Sofia Hernandez-Williams, a 12-year-old from Holden, is advancing in the national Sphinx Competition in Detroit. She was the youngest of nine youth semifinalists yesterday and one of the three chosen to advance to the finals today. You can listen to her play in the WBUR studios here.
P.S.— What guardrails does Rep. Katherine Clark want to be included in a Homeland Security funding bill? Take our Boston News Quiz and test your knowledge of the stories we covered this week.
