By Bob Katzen

“The MCAS results released today are anything but surprising. Massachusetts students are showing the cumulative impact of trauma, given a pandemic that has brought staggering losses to families and communities—including the deaths of loved ones.”
—MTA President Max Page on the disappointing results of the MCAS tests.

“It is concerning that our sales are decreasing, especially given the type and quality of products we’re putting out in the market. But I will say that this is a trend that the entire country is seeing with the lottery. I think everyone is aware of what’s going on in the world financially with inflation and stuff, and so we’re going to be looking at some ways to see if we can make some changes to adjust to the current market structure.”
— Interim Lottery Executive Director Mark William Bracken noting that Lottery sales in August were down $35.9 million or 6.4 percent compared to August 2021,

“All of us, Democrats and Republicans, started talking about the consequences here in the Northeast over the summer and wrote to the Biden administration, met with the Biden administration and gave them a variety of things that we thought they could do that would help us on both price and reliability for our residents this winter. There are some things we’re hoping the feds will do to help us.”
—Gov. Baker urging the federal government to step up to help New Englanders likely to be hurt by high electric and heating bills this winter.

“This settlement is a significant result in our work to protect taxpayer dollars and the integrity of our MassHealth program. We are pleased to secure these funds to help control Medicaid costs and ensure that state resources are directed to the best possible uses in our health care system.”
—Attorney General Maura Healey on a $14 million settlement with the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care insurer to resolve claims that it overcharged the state Medicaid program, MassHealth, millions of dollars for pharmacy benefits and services provided by subsidiary companies.