By Bob Katzen

“Retail giants have a responsibility to provide customers with the facts about the products they sell, including the health dangers associated with gas stove pollution and steps they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones. Our surveys have repeatedly shown that’s not happening.

Without guidance at the point of sale, customers are too often unaware of the risks and preventative steps they can take.”
—Deirdre Cummings, Consumer Program Director, MASSPIRG Education Fund, on the group’s report that some 76 percent of surveyed sales associates at the nation’s top appliance stores (Lowe’s, Home Depot and Best Buy) flatly denied or expressed ignorance about the health risks of gas stoves.

“Logan Airport should be a secure location for people to travel, not a place for the Healey administration to use as temporary migrant housing. The governor may be holding on to the wishful thinking that the migrant situation is under control, but it’s not. Legislative leaders and our governor refuse to reform the policies that make Massachusetts a migrant magnet and instead throw taxpayer money at the problem.”
—Paul Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

“Medical debt can be both a barrier to receiving necessary future care and a source of stress, both of which contribute to higher rates of disease and death. We know that the burden of medical debt falls heavily on communities of color. More than 20 percent of those with medical debt are black, compared to 13 percent who are white.”
—Ann Hwang, President of the Atrius Health Equity Foundation, on its launching of an initiative to wipe out an estimated $500 million in medical debt in Eastern Massachusetts.

“This milestone highlights the success of an extremely effective local and state partnership that has benefitted communities across the state by promoting responsible pet ownership and improving animal welfare. Thank you to the 305 cities and towns and the 74 veterinary providers and municipal partners all over Massachusetts that have worked with us to get these important resources out to our animals in need.”
— Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle announcing it has reached a milestone of helping more than 20,000 animals through its Spay/Neuter Voucher Program.

“MassDOT is proud to announce our partnership with the BU AdLab for the mass Do Not Disturb campaign. MassDOT is committed to a future without roadway deaths and raising awareness about the dangers of distracted driving is an important step towards that goal.”
— MassDOT Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt announcing a campaign urging drivers to put phones away and activate the “do not disturb” feature when driving.

“I have heard from every part of the commonwealth that people want true opportunity and choice to define and reach their own potential and promise, so that economics and life circumstance don’t determine the trajectory of a person’s life. By focusing on creating economic opportunity, strengthening public health and safety and prioritizing those who are too often left out and left behind, our plan not only lays out my vision and priorities, but uplifts the very real impact and hard work of the attorney general’s office.”
— Attorney General Andrea Campbell announcing a plan to prioritize values such as equity, accountability and dignity to advance justice and expand opportunity for all across the state.

“A lot of signage lights up, there’s bright lights that will come at you if you’re a driver at night, and there’s flashing signs — a lot of stuff to try to identify to the driver that they are going the wrong way. And then again, those signs for the people that are going the right way that they really, really need to use caution.”
— Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver announcing that MassDOT has finished implementing a pilot wrong-way driver deterrence program including 16 highway on/off ramps outfitted to detect when a driver gets on a ramp heading in the wrong direction, alert that driver that they are going the wrong way, notify a state command center of the potential for a dangerous situation and caution drivers going the correct way on the highway.