Since the Healey administration imposed state hiring restrictions in early April, the state’s payroll has grown by 1,300. Compared to hiring trends last year during the same time period, it’s actually less, officials say.  … So it does and doesn’t add up.

 A reader writes in:

“The WSJ has a story today – some main points:

“- As already speculated, WaPo’s 3rd Newsroom is some form of digital news/social media entity.

“- New CEO Matt Lewis launched such an entity four years ago, The News Movement. (According to TNM webpage, Amazon is a partner.)

“- Per WSJ, ‘One goal of the Post’s “third newsroom”—the first is the core news operation and the second is the opinion section—would be to reach and generate revenue from audiences who are unlikely to pay for subscriptions but will engage with the news outlet’s content on social-media platforms, people familiar with the Post’s plans said.’

“- There are different perspectives offered on this plan forward including:

“One risk of doubling down on social-media distribution is that it gives publishers less control over the exposure their work gets. ‘Any effort to build audience on TikTok or other platforms must be undertaken with eyes wide open since it represents a dependence on other companies’ platforms rather than direct customer access,’ Friedlich said. … 

“‘The Washington Post and all other news brands need to go where the young people are,’ said digital-media consultant Matthew Goldstein. “

Interesting. But the TNM website sure looks gimmicky to me, the creation of a MSM outlet’s desperate attempt to be social-media hip. But what do I know? I’m just a Boomer.

Btw: The Associated Press is an apparent TNM partner too. …

 And I still don’t understand why the Post can’t focus on hard-hitting national news, the obvious attraction for most of its current 2.5 million paid subscribers, while experimenting with its side “third newsroom.” It’s not as if 2.5 million paid subscribers are insignificant. 

Massachusetts’s emergency-phone system crashed yesterday, its second outage in three months. And it’s happening elsewhere across the U.S., leaving officials increasingly nervous about the aging systems’ vulnerabilities.

Not necessarily. But it is interesting that McDonald’s has nixed tests of AI ordering systems at more than 100 of its drive-thru windows across the U.S. It seems AI is having trouble recognizing some accents and clearly hearing customers’ orders amid various background noises, according to CNN. … And this technology is supposed to take over the world? … Gary Marcus thinks there’s a “great AI entrenchment” underway, though he doesn’t link it to McDonald’s drive-thru woes. 

Dynasties matter. So I’m not going to say this year’s Boston Celtics, the new NBA champs, are the best team ever based on one season’s awesome performance. But are they the best single-season team in NBA history? Based on their season and playoff records, they’re up there. 

And I do wonder if they’re the best single-season Celts team ever. Image the current Tatum-Brown going up against the Big Three, or Bird/McHale/Parish, or Havlicek-Cowens, or Russell-Cousy. They can drive people nuts with weird bouts of stink-the-joint-out play, but today’s Celts are so intense when they’re on a roll. I’d stack the current Celts up with the best of the past best, the ’86 Celts, definitely.

Fyi: ESPN’s Zach Lowe and The Athletic’s Steve Buckley heap praise on the current team.

Reading this NYT piece on Jeff Bezos’s struggling Washington Post, I get the distinct impression Bezos’s vision for the paper is fundamentally different from traditional journalism.

All the talk of a mysterious new “third newsroom.” The hints about “how The Post could turn its stories into products that could serve users” and how the paper might focus on “reaching new readers, particularly those in the middle of the country.” And, oh, he reportedly has said that he “believes The Post could reach 100 million paying subscribers,” up from its current 2.5 million paid subscribers and more than 10 times the NYT’s current paid online readership.

Bottom line: he ain’t going to achieve this lofty goal via a “go local” or hard-hitting national news strategy. Sounds like he envisions a further integration of the Post into the vast maw of Amazon Prime

Btw: At least the Washington Post can still publish tough stories, even if it’s sort of following the NYT’s own tough reporting on Washington Post chief executive Will Lewis, who hired incoming editor Robert Winnett, the subject of the Post piece.

Too much preening, not enough pragmatism. Nicholas Kristof explains why West Coast liberalism isn’t performing so well these days.

The Atlantic’s Mark Leibovich thinks Logan International Airport should be re-named after Celtics legend Bill Russell. No objections here.

I have a hard time figuring out how much to believe in this interview with U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, the populist conservative from Yale. His explanations for his changing views are too perfect, too in sync with what needs to be said to survive in today’s GOP … Other quick thoughts: 1.) He’s right about working people getting screwed over the past 40 years (without mentioning the era started with Reagan’s supply-side economics) 2.) He has an out for most everything he says. 3.) He dances around the 2020 election and Jan. 6, shifting the debate and blame every which way. 4.) He’s eyeing the White House, not the Naval Observatory (see second sentence and points 1-3).

Aha! Does this mean chocolate-chip ice cream is good for you? Probably not. But Tufts University’s Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and other medical experts tell the NYT that research shows dairy fats aren’t as harmful as previously thought and they may actually be good for you, particularly yogurt and cheese. …