Below the placid fold:
"As climate change makes more droughts likely, state plans to issue controversial new policy that may increase water restrictions" by David Abel Globe Staff, March 18, 2021
IPSWICH — With climate change expected to increase the frequency of droughts, state officials are preparing sweeping new restrictions to prevent future shortages in what would be among the most significant changes to water management in Massachusetts in decades and result in many municipalities, big businesses, and other major water users no longer being exempt from water restrictions.
Since 1986, about 800 large water users — including the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, scores of municipalities, cranberry bogs, farms, and golf courses — have been exempt from state conservation requirements, even during extreme droughts. As a result, residents in some towns can water their lawns or wash their cars as often as they like, while communities that are subject to state permits face strict limits or bans during drought conditions.
Now we know why they declared a drought last year when there wasn't one, and we were soon afterward pummeled with rain. It's about the state taking control of water supplies in the name of the Great Re$et, and how long until restrictions turn into rations with the water shut off for whatever reasons?
Towns such as Ipswich, for example, regularly issue a range of restrictions on water use, while others that tap into the river, such as Peabody, Lynn, and Salem, don’t. An estimated 60 percent of all the water used in Massachusetts is not subject to restrictions. Those communities not required by the state to conserve water were granted exemptions in 1986, when the current system took shape, or received waivers afterward, with the state requiring only that they monitor their water use. They weren’t required to abide by state restrictions, so long as they didn’t use more water than they were allotted.
Many local officials and environmental advocates say the system is unfair and untenable, underscored by the recent succession of major droughts. Last summer’s dry spell came just four years after one of the region’s worst droughts on record.
“We know it will only get worse in the future, so this is the moment to act,” said Julia Blatt, executive director of the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance.
That means the craft breweries and pot shops need to be shut down, right?
Critics of the proposed rules say they could cause water rates to increase, burdening municipalities already coping with other expensive water-quality regulations, but state environmental officials said they are key to the state’s most recent Drought Management Plan, which anticipates the number of droughts — and their severity — will increase as the planet warms.
Underscoring the need for changes, the state’s Drought Management Task Force on March 12 took the rare step of declaring mild drought conditions in the Berkshires, at a time of year when flooding is usually the concern.
OMG!
There is no drought in the amount of lies government will shovel at you.
The proposed changes would require far more municipalities and others that use more than 100,000 gallons of water a day to abide by the same rules during droughts, though the state might still exempt those that submit their own drought management plans. The rules could take effect as soon as this year.
When the state declares a “mild” drought, the rules would limit nonessential water use — filling pools, activating sprinklers, washing cars — to one day a week between 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. During a “significant” drought, residents would be able to use water for similar purposes only with a hand-held hose or watering can. During a “critical” or “emergency” drought, all such nonessential outdoor water use would be banned.
The rules would be more flexible for golf courses, about 60 percent of which aren’t currently subject to state water restrictions. Golf courses would also be banned from watering during the day in droughts, except for hand-watering in certain locations, but they could continue to water tees and greens, until state officials declared a drought emergency — the most extreme designation — or the governor issued an emergency proclamation.
The optics of the elite on the links while you are locked down and watching on TV isn't good as we drown in the agenda-pu$hing propaganda.
Baker administration officials declined to allow environmental officials to answer questions. In a statement, they said the changes would support the state’s efforts to address climate change.
Enough has been said already, so chew on this.
The administration “is working closely with municipalities and public water suppliers to ensure the long-term water needs of Massachusetts residents are met, while supporting demand management, the conservation of water resources, and the protection of aquatic ecosystems,” said Craig Gilvarg, a spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Water suppliers say the changes aren’t necessary and would likely increase costs, as those who pay higher rates by using more water effectively subsidize those who use less.
“Water is already underfunded, and people don’t want to pay more for their water,” said Jennifer A. Pederson, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Works Association, which represents municipal and private water suppliers throughout the state. She called the state’s proposal “a one-size-fits-all approach” that fails to account for different water systems’ capacity or needs and “broadly paints a brush of restrictions” that wouldn’t apply to private well owners.
Pederson said the rules come at a challenging time for water suppliers, which next month will be required by the state to start regularly testing for toxic chemicals known as PFAS. The costs of those tests, and new systems that can filter out the chemicals, can cost municipalities millions of dollars.
“We, too, are concerned about water resources and supply,” she said, “but we don’t think we need a statewide policy.”
That's how the Globe drained Spring Hills.
Officials at the MWRA, which could qualify for an exemption to the proposed rules because of its massive reservoirs, declined to comment.
Blatt and other environmental advocates said they were happy to see the state draft new regulations, though they consider them “baby steps” and urged more aggressive action.
“If you wait until you’re already in a drought to start conserving water, you’ve already waited too long, and you’re playing catch-up with water supplies and river health,” Blatt said.
In Ipswich, where the river is already significantly lower than usual for this time of year, local officials are again concerned about the water supply and aquatic ecosystems.
Last summer, when the latter portions of the river disappeared, everything from sunfish to redfin pickerel was wiped out. Many other fish and reptiles died. In 2016, the town was less than three weeks away from running out of water before rains returned, said Wayne Castonguay, executive director of the Ipswich River Watershed Association.
“We shouldn’t be the only ones having to require these common-sense steps,” he said.....
That's how they plan to sell you the $u$tainable tyranny based on CVD.
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You won't be able to go Fishing in the Back Bay after they test the water at the state lab so cast your line now:
"White House faces new pleas to avert ‘tidal wave’ of water shut-offs as state bans continue to lapse" by Tony Romm, Jeff Stein and Alyssa Fowers Washington Post, March 26, 2021
Michigan residents who are behind on their water bills could see their taps start to run dry in five days, once a state shut-off ban instituted at the height of the coronavirus pandemic expires, but Monica Lewis-Patrick said she isn’t waiting around for that to happen.
The 55-year-old Detroit-based activist leaped into action last week, purchased about 68,000 water bottles and set in motion a plan to truck them to families across the state out of a fear that other government aid may not reach them in time.
“There is no policy, no safety, after March 31, from seeing massive numbers of people at risk,” said Lewis-Patrick, president of We the People of Detroit, a community advocacy organization, but the wave of potential water shut-offs in Michigan reflects a broader, national crisis potentially in the making: Utility protections enacted in the early months of the pandemic are slated to expire in some states — including Hawaii, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont — over the next few weeks.
So not only have they planned famine, they are going to wash it down with thirst.
Then you will be ready to take the Mark of the Bea$t, 'er, gene modification, 'er, vaxxeen.
The looming lapses have registered new urgent alarm among congressional lawmakers and community activists nationwide, who say the Biden administration should have acted faster, and sooner, to distribute federal aid to households at risk.
None of the roughly $1 billion in new stimulus funds allocated for water assistance has reached Americans in need, nearly three months after Congress authorized the first tranche of money. In the meantime, the Biden administration has resisted calls on Capitol Hill to instate a national moratorium on water and electricity shut-offs, a policy that might have covered people until federal assistance arrives.
No flood of money to people out of water like from the Fed to Wall $treet?
The danger is particularly acute in Michigan, which finds itself in the grips of one of the worst coronavirus resurgences in the country — an approximately 77 percent increase in cases and 50 percent increase in hospitalizations since mid-February. State lawmakers so far have not extended the utility protections, rankling those who remember all too well the water hazards that have plagued cities like Flint.
Most of the U.S. will soon look like Gaza, and the lack of sanitation will contribute to diseases which can then be diagnosed as CVD. That's why polio was eradicated, not because of some vaxxeen!
Fearing a cascade of disconnections on the horizon, US Representatives Debbie Dingell and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan said they requested a meeting with the Department of Health and Human Services about the fact that water assistance hasn’t been released. The two Democrats have also raised the matter with White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and are working to set up a meeting on the matter.
“I hope the White House works with us to make sure the water is not turned off in any state in America. We need to make sure nobody loses water,” Dingell said in an interview.
Tlaib added: “Dingell and I are requesting a meeting as soon as possible so we can understand the barrier and challenge in getting this out. It’s been three months. … On March 31, my families are going to be cut off from water — so we want them to move quickly.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. HHS, meanwhile, said in a statement it is working as quickly as it can to stand up an entirely new program under a tight time frame.
“In the United States, many are used to water running freely from taps and faucets, but this water is not free, and water costs are on the rise,” Lanikque Howard, director of the agency’s Office of Community Services, wrote in a blog post earlier this week. “For many low-income households in America, water affordability has reached a level of crisis.”
Bonnifer Ballard, the executive director of the American Water Works Association’s Michigan Section, said her organization’s data suggests that the number of people falling behind on their bills is “not nearly as high as we expected it to be.” She said there is unlikely to be a raft of shut-offs on April 1, as water providers first send delinquency notices and try to strike payment arrangements with those in debt, but Ballard agreed with lawmakers and advocates that the federal government should provide stimulus aid more promptly, aiming to help not only Americans in need but utilities that similarly find themselves strained for cash. “We want the best of both worlds,” she said. “We want everyone to have access to water, but we also want to pay the bills.”
The urgent calls for new federal protections illustrate the lingering economic consequences of a public health crisis that has lapsed into its second year. Even as the stock market is improving, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits has decreased and new vaccines are reaching those in need, the country’s recovery hasn’t been equal — and some of the families and communities hit hardest by the coronavirus are at risk of falling even further behind.
I can't believe the web version left the water running!
Related:
After he and his insulted them so?
He really is demented!
Also see:
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The lack of it really sticks in some craws:
"Maura Healey attacks Charlie Baker for contracts with McKinsey in wake of opioid settlement: ‘It’s outrageous’" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, March 25, 2021
Attorney General Maura Healey directly attacked Governor Charlie Baker’s decision to tap McKinsey & Co. to handle a $1.6 million state study into the “future of work,” seizing on growing criticism of the state’s contracts with the consulting giant while it pays out settlement money to Massachusetts and dozens of other states.
The Baker administration’s announcement it had picked McKinsey came after state’s health secretary, Marylou Sudders, told lawmakers she would weigh whether the health and human services department would continue its contracts with the firm, having paid it more than $18.6 million since the start of 2020, according to state records.
Liz Warren never said a word about them wetting their lips at the $tate trough.
Healey’s office in February announced McKinsey reached a $573 million settlement with 47 states after it was accused of helping “turbocharge” sales for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma amid the opioid pandemic. Healey has said Massachusetts will receive more than $13 million in the agreement.
She said Thursday that for Baker to continue to give the firm work is “outrageous.”
“After what they did to families here, why would we reward them [with] more state contracts?” the Charlestown Democrat wrote on Twitter.
“Our settlement with McKinsey will bring $13 million to Massachusetts for treatment, prevention, and recovery services. This is money our communities need,” she added. “The Administration should not be enriching a company that has profited from the devastation of our communities.”
She is proud of the chump change kickback after LIVES were RUINED and LOST?
Healey is largely viewed as a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2022, while Baker, a Republican, must decide whether to seek an unprecedented third consecutive term in office. She has repeatedly stoked speculation about her political plans with a series of escalating critiques of Baker, including some made while visiting COVID vaccination sites in February.
This week, Healey made a string of public appearances in Worcester, including to visit nurses striking outside St. Vincent Hospital.
Aides to Baker did not directly respond to Healey’s comments Thursday. Sarah Finlaw, a Baker spokeswoman, pointed to Baker’s record of responding to the opioid epidemic, including a proposal he’s repeatedly made to tax opioid manufacturers.....
That's when I OD'd on the piece.
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After others weigh in, it is time to get back to the office:
"Does WeWork still work after the pandemic? A $1.3b deal says yes; The coworking giant, one of the biggest operators of office space in downtown Boston, will go public" by Tim Logan Globe Staff,March 26, 2021
Remember WeWork?
I do, but it was a different time then.
Some major investors do, and that could be a good sign for Boston’s struggling office market.
The coworking giant, which two years ago was gobbling up space in downtown towers, said Friday that it will go public in a deal that provides $1.3 billion in cash to help WeWork emerge from its own troubles and a public health crisis that has crushed demand for the densely-packed downtown offices that are WeWork’s stock in trade.
And all you got was $1400 chump change check.
The deal, a merger with a special acquisition company called BowX, values WeWork at $9 billion and is expected to close later this year. That’s a far cry from the $47 billion valuation the company received in September 2019, before it launched a disastrous stock offering that led to the ouster of eccentric founder Adam Neumann, and before COVID-19 shuttered offices across the globe, but company executives said Friday that WeWork is a far more stable company.
They’ve ended Neumann’s various side projects, such as the WeGrow elementary school the company launched in New York City, and shuttered 106 of its roughly 950 locations worldwide. They’ve renegotiated about 100 other leases with landlords, to save $4 billion in future rent, and eliminated about two-thirds of the jobs the company had at its peak in 2019.
What’s left is a more straightforward operation that takes long-term leases in big towers and offers shorter-term leases to companies that want flexibility, and someone else to manage the day-to-day operations of running an office.
“WeWork has spent the past year transforming the business and refocusing its core,” said new CEO Sandeep Mathrani. “As a result, WeWork has emerged as the global leader in flexible space with a value proposition that is stronger than ever,” and it’s still big in Boston.....
That is the Thred running through the Globe bu$ine$$ $ection:
"ThredUp, the online marketplace for secondhand clothing, climbed 43 percent in its trading debut after a $168 million initial public offering. “More millennial and generation Z consumers are driving the shift to secondhand each year,” the company said in its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Younger customers are more conscious with sustainability and therefore more likely to shop for secondhand goods, it said. ThredUp said it had a net loss of $48 million on $186 million in revenue in 2020, compared with a $38 million loss on $164 million the previous year. The company’s backers include Trinity Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Park West Ventures, and Upfront Ventures, according to ThredUp’s filing. Holders of the Class A stock sold in the IPO will get one vote per share, while owners of Class B shares will get 10 votes for each share and will continue to control the company, according to the filings. The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley. ThredUp is trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol TDUP....."
You realize it is a drop in your standard of living to buy hand-me-downs, right?
For the greater good of the Great Re$et, of cour$e.
Now eat your shit gruel.
"The Massachusetts job market cooled in February as the state struggled with its COVID-19 vaccination campaign and many restrictions on businesses remained in place. Job growth slowed and the labor force shrank, the Baker administration said on Friday, citing US Labor Department data. The unemployment rate fell 0.7 percentage points to 7.1 percent, but the decline was caused in part by nearly 28,000 people no longer being counted as part of the work force because they stopped looking for a job. Economists expect the job market to gain strength throughout the year as widespread vaccinations allow states to ease up on social-distancing requirements and the federal government’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan juices growth. Still, at the average monthly pace of job creation since the lowest point in April , it will take Massachusetts another nine months to get payrolls back to pre-pandemic levels. The local leisure and hospitality sector accounted for most of the new jobs last month, mirroring the national trend. Employment data at the state level are often subject to significant revisions. Massachusetts is scheduled to release March numbers on April 16. The state was one of the first to shut down when the coronavirus pandemic hit in the winter of 2020, and it has been slower than most in reopening. While that has kept unemployment here relatively high, the Massachusetts rate is lower than New York’s (8.9 percent) and Connecticut’s (8.5 percent)....."
At least U.S. stocks burst to their best day in three weeks on Friday, helping Wall Street return to record heights and avoid what could have been a second straight weekly loss and financial stocks got a boost after the Federal Reserve said it will soon allow banks to resume buying back their own stock and to send bigger dividend payments to shareholders after this past week where everything from President Joe Biden doubling his goal for COVID-19 vaccinations to a skyscraper-sized ship blocking one of the world's most important canals sent markets swinging.
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That is where I got stuck:
"Piracy fears mount as ships take long way around Africa to avoid blocked Suez Canal" by Sudarsan Raghavan and Antonia Noori Farzan Washington Post, March 26, 2021
CAIRO — Brand-new Kia automobiles, cases of Heineken beer, live animals, and billions of dollars of crude oil and other commodities remained stranded Friday in the Suez Canal as tugboats and dredgers tried to free a grounded container ship that has come to symbolize the perils of a global economy that relies on being able to send goods around the world in larger and larger vessels.
The Ever Given, one of the largest container ships ever built, has been stuck in the canal since Tuesday, creating an increasingly expensive traffic jam on both sides of the waterway that connects Asia to Europe. Some tankers have already opted to change course and travel around the southern tip of Africa instead, adding weeks to their journeys and raising fears that the valuable cargo could be an appealing target in a region known for piracy.
“It just shows you how vulnerable our supply-chain lines are,” said Guy Platten, secretary general for the UK-based International Chamber of Shipping.
Meanwhile, with some experts predicting that freeing the ship could take weeks, some global shipping companies on Friday began seeking alternative routes for their cargo.
That will add to the costs as well as delays, and CUI BONO?
“We’re now beginning to see even vessels that had entered the Mediterranean hang a U-turn,” Lars Jensen, the CEO of Denmark-based SeaIntelligence Consulting, told The Washington Post. “That’s an indication that they don’t believe this is going to be solved in the short term.”
At least seven tankers carrying liquefied natural gas were diverted, including three steered toward the longer route to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. Another nine tankers were expected to be diverted if the blockage continues into the weekend, an analyst for data intelligence firm Kpler told the Guardian newspaper.
At least four long-range oil tankers with the capacity to haul 75,000 tons of oil were also possibly headed around the Cape of Good Hope, London-based ship brokering firm Braemar ACM told Reuters.
With more ships potentially being diverted to the Cape of Good Hope, piracy could increase. Pirates have long preyed on ships moving in the waters off the Horn of Africa, and the seas off oil-rich West Africa are now considered among the world’s most dangerous for shipping.....
How can there be pirates anymore with satellites watching everything?
Not only does this stink of an intentional act for the obviou$ rea$ons, it also allows for greater military presence to guard the compromised shipping lanes.
CUI BONO, even if the shipping industry ends up dead in the water?
Maybe they can airdrop the supplies like Germany in 1942?
"FAA study finds noise from airplanes, helicopters far more annoying than other sources" by Lori Aratani, Bloomberg News | March 26, 2021
The first Federal Aviation Administration noise survey in nearly 30 years found more people are bothered by aircraft noise than before, even as planes have gotten quieter.
Good thing hardly any are flying, 'eh?
So who did they survey, people who live next to airports?
According to the FAA’s Neighborhood Environmental Survey, nearly two-thirds of people reported being “highly annoyed” by aircraft noise — about five times higher than the 12.4 percent who reported the same level of annoyance during a 1992 review. Those surveyed considered noise from aircraft far more annoying than that from other sources, including cars, trucks and their neighbors.
I will say for the record I miss the din of everyday life during lockdown.
The agency noted that the findings come as far fewer people live with “significant” exposure to noise from airplanes, the result of quieter aircraft and efforts to reduce populations in areas with excessive aircraft noise, but there is significantly more air traffic than when the previous study was conducted.
“The FAA’s Neighborhood Environmental Survey tells us what we already knew loud and clear — our communities are ravaged by aircraft noise,” said Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.), a vice chair of the Quiet Skies Caucus.
Say again?
The survey of more than 10,000 people who live near one of 20 U.S. airports found “a substantial increase in the percentage of people who are highly annoyed by aircraft noise over the entire range of aircraft noise levels considered, including at lower noise levels,” while nearly two-thirds of those who responded said they were “highly annoyed” by noise at levels the government considers actionable, 42 percent reported being bothered by aviation noise at any level.
I only asked it as a joke!
Is there anything that isn't rigged in my pre$$?
The survey’s findings will be used to guide the agency as it moves forward on efforts to understand the effects of aircraft noise in neighborhoods and potentially develop strategies for mitigating it. Individuals were asked questions about various noises or disturbances they might experience at home, including from cars, trucks and their neighbors, but researchers found that respondents overwhelmingly identified airplane noise as the most annoying.
The FAA is inviting the public to comment on its findings through April 14.....
The groan you heard was from the massage and I will be going silent for the rest of the day.
