Mass Save, the state energy efficiency program that’s morphed in recent years into an all-out anti-fossil fuel one, has seen its three-year budget grow from $2.8 billion ending 2021 to $5 billion in recent years, for a whopping 78 percent increase, according to the Globe. Now lawmakers are talking of reducing that increase to $3.5 billion in stages, a move the Globe and ‘advocates’ say would “effectively gut” the program. Really? Gutting a program by leaving it with $3.5 billion, 25 percent higher than it was just five years ago? Does this mean we might as well cut it down to zero dollars since the program is effectively kaput at $3.5 billion? …

Setting aside the “effectively gut” silliness, the Globe story is actually quite good, explaining how Mass Save has seen more than a little mission creep since the start of the decade — and seen skyrocketing costs as a result. … Mass Save needs to get back to its energy-efficiency roots. Look at the ISO New England power-usage chart below. Notice how total energy consumption (light blue bars) has declined since 2006, the year Mass Save started, and how peak usage has remained basically flat over the years (dark blue). Since the chart measures total New England power usage, Mass Save can’t be credited for all the recent savings – but it certainly deserves some of the credit. Bottom line: conservation in Massachusetts and across the region has worked.

Update –– 5.1.26 — The Globe’s Globe’s Renée Loth uses the word ‘gutting’ to describe reducing Mass Save’s recent funding increase from 78 percent to 25 percent. … It’s a classic example of treating existing funding levels as sacrosanct.

Regarding the ridiculously out-of-place proposal for a 26-story tower in Davis Square, I’m reminded of Mitt Romney’s long-ago quip about why he opposed the controversial Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound:

“No one would suggest that we are going to put wind turbines in the Grand Canyon, despite the fact that we have high winds there … The same thing is true in Nantucket Sound. It’s just the wrong place for this particular wind farm. But there are other places, good places in the commonwealth for wind farms.”

As it was, the ridiculously out-of-place Cape Wind plan collapsed under its own absurd financial weight – and, sure enough, “other places, good places” were later found for wind farms (and at much lower costs). … So let’s hope the same thing happens with developer Andrew Flynn’s obnoxious plans to destroy a huge swath of Davis Square – and that “other places, good places” are found for residential towers in Somerville.

Besides destroying a beloved neighborhood, my concern is that out-of-place towers like this and other “big box” residential projects are discrediting efforts to promote new housing construction. The goal is to fight NIMBYism, not intensify NIMBYism. … I’ve harped on this backlash issue before, here and here. And I’ve also noted how one city is approaching zoning reforms in a more pragmatic, common-sense way. … The Globe and B&T have more on the Davis Square fight.

— It’s not too late for a compromise: “Rent Control Vote Already Curbing Housing Loans, Rockland Trust Execs Say” (Banker & Tradesman)

— He’s finally acknowledging what we already knew: “Alan Dershowitz: Why I’m Becoming a Republican’ (WSJ)

— Fascinating: “Are Trump’s policies spurring more Mass. liberals to turn to guns?” (GBH)

— More evidence that our primary system favors the extremes: “Kennealy looks to distance himself from Baker in GOP primary race for governor” (WBUR)

— About time: “U.S. Officials Try to Get a Grip on Risks Bubbling Inside Private Credit” (WSJ)

— I was starting to think there might be something to it. No longer: “The Single Dumbest Conspiracy Theory of 2026” (The Atlantic)

— Rooting for a Groton comeback: “The Seaside Town Trying to Reclaim Its Title as ‘Submarine Capital of the World’” (WSJ)

— Ukraine once again at the cutting edge: “The Killer Robots Are Coming. The Battlefield Will Never Look the Same” (NYT)

The proposed CVC MinuteClinics and MGB affiliation was always about market share and making money – and a preliminary report from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) last week confirms that. How much money? Well, the deal, if it goes through, would drive up health-care spending by about $40 million, basically by transitioning low-cost MinuteClinic patients to high-cost primary care docs, the report says. It’s something I wrote about last year (“How does funneling patients to the most expensive care network in the state help reduce health costs?”) … The bottom line: The MGB-CVS partnership is bad deal for consumers, a good deal for CVS and MGB. … 

I’ve gone from dismissing the Vrabel-Russini story to not getting enough of it. The latest from Page Six: new photos of the love birds apparently kissing six years ago in a bar. … It’s now an official hounds-chasing-the-fox story till it fizzles out. … Beyond the humungous number of clicks the story is generating, the NY Post must love humiliating The Athletic/NYT, the Boston media, the Patriots …

From a YouTube viewer: “Page Six working like the ’92 Dream Team.” … 

Update – 4.24.26 – The hunt is temporarily off due to last night’s NFL draft. The Pats traded up last night to pick another OT? They’ll never admit it, but it’s an acknowledgement that Will Campbell, last year’s first pick, has been a major disappointment.

A friend sent me a link to University of Texas historian Steven Mintz’s response to the NYT’s new series titled ‘How to Be Cultured.’ There was a part of me who thought he was joking about the Times series, but, sure enough, there it was. No, the series is not a self-parody of NYT pomposity. It’s the real deal NYT pomposity, complete with CliffNotes-like suggestions on the minimum you need to know so you too can be cultured (and come across as cultured), from operas to films to cheeses etc. The Times series even provides a test to see if you’re cultured. (You’ll be surprised to learn: I flunked.) 

… While clicking through the series, I kept thinking of The Talented Mr. Ripley. … I also kept wondering over and over again if this was some sort of NYT joke. But apparently it’s not.

Update — 4.23.26 — As a friend pointed out to me last evening, Jay Gatsby was another social-climber who studied hard to appear cultured. … Now that’s a truly cultured observation!

Update II – 4.23.26 – Speaking of weird news media products, check out WBUR’s ‘The Midnight Rebellion,’ described by the station as an “interactive climate fiction podcast.”  Scott Van Voorhis describes it as just plain “bizarre.” And it is. … I know it’s only a podcast, but WBUR does describe itself as a “trusted and beloved news source” and a “public media leader committed to exceptional journalism.” I guess fiction now counts as journalism at the station.

Update III — 4.24.26 – From the first reader mentioned above, re this cultured post: “(It’s) a blunter way of saying what Prof Mintz implied – for NYT ‘culture’ oscillates somewhere between loyalty oaths and fashion statements, or as the memes say ‘The Current Thing.‘”

Re last night’s disappointing Celts loss due mostly to horrendous shooting (by some), from Dan Shaughnessey: 

This is the state of the NBA in the spring of 2026. It’s a make-or-miss league. The old standards of stingy defense, fast-break offenses, 50-50 balls, pick-and-rolls, and protecting the rim no longer apply.

I was recently poking around Prime’s menu of available movies when I stumbled upon ‘Mr. Jones,’ about British journalist Gareth Jones’s groundbreaking reporting on the man-made Ukrainian famine under Stalin during the early ’30s – and his journalistic showdown at the time with NYT Moscow bureau chief Walter Duranty, a loathsome Stalin apologist. … Though the 2019 film has its flaws, I liked it a lot, as did the NYT’s reviewer and many other critics. I now rank ‘Mr. Jones’ up there with my all-time favorite movies about journalism, after All the President’s Men, Spotlight, His Girl Friday and The Post, among others. … And, yes, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of ‘Mr. Jones’ till this past weekend. Glad I found it.

Re the planned closure of the 50-year-old Clarke’s at Faneuil Hall, I got a kick out of this comment at Universal Hub:

You are not a true Bostonian if you do not have at least one or even a dozen stories of debauchery that started or ended at Clarke’s in the 80’s or 90’s. I wish I could recall them all.

I wouldn’t call them stories of debauchery, but I do recall often meeting friends for after-work drinks at Clarke’s. … I see the Salty Dog is still around at Faneuil Hall. I used to briefly wash dishes there.

Fyi: Before the Clarke’s announcement, the Globe’s Jon Chesto and Shirley Leung, in their excellent debut Power Play newsletter, reported why reviving Faneuil Hall Marketplace isn’t going to be easy.

Update — 4.21.26 — From an old friend and HB reader: “Thanks for memories on Clarke’s. I do remember a couple of 1980s debauchery-free hangouts with you and company.  Those were the days.” … Re the above Globe piece on Faneuil Hall, he writes: 

I think Faneuil Hall presents challenges around identity. It has a dated tourist appeal associated with how the rest of the country sees us (chowdah, lobstah, Harvard/MIT sweatshirts, all set to the tune of the Dropkick Murphys). Do we lean into that image and sharpen it up, as seems to work for cafes/pubs/shops in many parts of old Europe even if you don’t see people strolling about in robes and lederhosen? Or do we ‘reimagine and re-envision’ what Boston means, which Mayor Wu deftly does on her Logan Airport welcome-to-Boston (greetings) – and if you do that, is it truly inclusive and celebratory and not scoldy and woke?

All these years later and people are still fascinated with the long ago behind-the-scenes power struggles at Boston’s secretive Fidelity Investments – Abby Johnson’s showdown with her CEO father Ned, boardroom coup attempts, sale rumors, running battles between Abby and then top Fidelity executive Bob Reynolds. It’s all here, courtesy of a WSJ adaptation from Justin Baer’s upcoming book on Fidelity. … The Fidelity infighting two decades ago certainly wasn’t as brutal as the fictional Roy family feuds on HBO’s ‘Succession.’ But it’s still an intriguing tale about the rise, fall and rise of Abby Johnson, that’s for sure. … Is it too early to start speculating about Abby’s own succession plans? She is 64, after all