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Summer Swelter: National group urges Massachusetts to ban power shutoffs during hottest months

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Summer Swelter: National group urges Massachusetts to ban power shutoffs during hottest months


Some like it hot, but nobody likes a high bill.

While New England utility customers are accustomed to high winter heating costs, high cooling costs in the summer are becoming more common as the hottest months of the year seem to begin earlier and linger longer.

“For electricity, I’d say I average about $200 a month right now,” Christian Cullen told Boston 25 News as he walked through the Boston Common amid this weekend’s hot temperatures. “It’s pretty solid in the Spring and Fall, but Winter and Summer are where you really see your extremes.”

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) predicts the summertime extremes will continue to drive energy bills in the Northeast higher in the years ahead.

“Families think about June, July, and August,” says Mark Wolfe, Executive Director of NEADA. “But the cooling season is getting longer in New England, maybe through September… So the cost of summer cooling is becoming a more important part of the family’s budget than ever before.”

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NEADA is urging Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and 26 other states to adopt laws that would prohibit utilities from shutting off power during the hottest months of the year if a customer is behind on their bill.

New England states already have similar regulations in place for the winter months.

“These periods of extreme heat are relatively new,” Wolfe says. “In the past, Massachusetts might have a day or two of extreme heat, but not a week. So what we’re saying to states… is to think through how you set the rules to help protect families during periods when temperatures are really high.”

NEADA is also pushing for additional funding at the state and federal levels to help offset energy costs for income-qualified families. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is one such program.

But Wolfe says more is needed. Last week, his organization sent a letter to FEMA asking for extreme heat events to be declared major disasters. Doing so would free up federal funds for affected regions, just like after hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and wildfires. Wolfe says those funds could be used to offset energy costs.

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“FEMA has an important role to play to help lower-income and middle-income families get through these difficult periods,” Wolfe says. “These are not one-offs. This is the long-term.”

A spokesperson for Eversource says energy usage increases by about 40% during the summer months as air conditioners and fans work overtime to keep homes cool.  As of August 1, Eversource has adjusted its basic service rate. The utility says customers should see both savings and more stable bills between the summer and winter months as a result.

For customers looking for more immediate savings, National Grid suggests starting with your thermostat. By raising your air conditioner’s temperature from 75° to 78°, the utility says customers can save around 18% on their bill.

Additional savings can be achieved by changing out dirty air filters, keeping blinds and curtains closed during the day, and limiting the use of heat-generating appliances, such as a stove top or oven.

Most utilities also offer budget payment plans, which can provide customers with a stable and predictable monthly payment for up to a year, taking some of the surprise out of those high summer and winter bills.

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Obituary for Peter J. Grudzien at Daniel T. Morrill Funeral Home

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Obituary for Peter J. Grudzien at Daniel T. Morrill Funeral Home


North Brookfield / Sturbridge Peter J. Grudzien, 85, formerly a longtime resident of Sturbridge, passed away on Friday, Sept. 19th, in the UMass Memorial Health Harrington, Southbridge, after a long illness. He leaves his wife of 66 years, Willa A. Power Grudzien his son, Bill Grudzien and his wife Denise



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N.H. leads 25 states in seeking Supreme Court review of ‘unconstitutional’ Mass. gun law

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N.H. leads 25 states in seeking Supreme Court review of ‘unconstitutional’ Mass. gun law


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The effort calls into question whether or not Massachusetts’ firearm regulations for out-of-state visitors are unconstitutional.

The attorneys general of 25 Republican-led states say that Massachusetts’ gun regulations pose a constitutional problem. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

New Hampshire is leading an effort from 25 states to challenge a Massachusetts gun law, and this month, they’re taking it to the Supreme Court.

The centerpiece of the argument is the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, N.H., which reaches across state lines into Tyngsborough. If shoppers park on the south side of the mall’s parking lot, they might end up crossing state lines during a visit.

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The attorneys general of New Hampshire and 24 other Republican-led states say this poses a potential problem for firearm holders. A New Hampshire resident who is legally carrying a firearm on their home state’s side of the parking lot may inadvertently be breaking the law when they cross the lot into Massachusetts, where it is illegal to carry without a permit.

Joining New Hampshire are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming, who are calling the arrangement unconstitutional. The states have rallied behind Phillip Marquis of Rochester, N.H., to ask the Supreme Court to protect out-of-state residents from Massachusetts’ firearms regulations.

“The geography of the mall is such that a New Hampshire resident might find themselves in Massachusetts if she parks on the south side of the parking lot or visits Buffalo Wild Wings,” reads a brief from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to the Supreme Court. “If that person is carrying a firearm without a Massachusetts license — which would be constitutionally protected activity in most of the mall—that person risks being charged as a felon and facing mandatory incarceration in Massachusetts.”

The trouble began for Marquis in 2022 when he was in a car accident in Massachusetts, according to the brief. When police arrived, he informed them that he had a pistol on him and was subsequently charged with carrying a firearm without a license.

Marquis previously sued the Commonwealth for the burdens that Massachusetts’ firearms permit law creates on out-of-state visitors, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied his claims. They ruled in March that the state’s nonresident firearms licensing laws were constitutional, according to court documents.

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Claiming that the Massachusetts court denied him his Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights, Marquis has petitioned the Supreme Court to federally overrule that court’s decision. In his petition, Marquis invoked New York State Rifle & Police Association, Inc. v. Bruen, where the court established that state firearms restrictions must be covered by the Second Amendment or adhere to historical firearms regulations.

Using Bruen, Marquis and the Republican attorneys general supporting him are aiming to prove that there is no justification for applying Massachusetts’ firearms restrictions to out-of-state residents and that to do so would be unconstitutional. However, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court found the law constitutional even under Bruen because it intends to prevent dangerous people from obtaining firearms, just as historical regulations have done.

“To the extent that the Commonwealth restricts the ability of law-abiding citizens to carry firearms within its borders, the justification for so doing is credible, individualized evidence that the person in question would pose a danger if armed,” the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision read. “Both case law and the historical record unequivocally indicate that this justification is consistent with ‘the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’”

It’s not immediately clear if the Supreme Court will respond to Marquis’ appeal or when it will make any kind of decision, but lower courts are at something of a crossroads with how and when to apply Bruen to gun possession cases. As such, they are looking to the Supreme Court for a more definitive answer.

Since the proof of historical context that Bruen requires has led to some uncertainty, any ruling that these lower courts make is likely to amount to a partisan decision. However, if the Supreme Court provides more substantive clarity in a response to Marquis, these lower courts just might find the answer they are seeking.

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Mass. State Lottery winner: 2 $100,000 Mass Cash prizes won Friday

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Mass. State Lottery winner: 2 0,000 Mass Cash prizes won Friday


Massachusetts State Lottery players won two $100,000 prizes Friday from the day’s “Mass Cash” drawings.

The winning tickets were sold at the Roslindale Food Mart on Washington Street and McSheffrey’s of the South End convenience store (with Mobil gas) on Main Street in Woburn.

Mass Cash drawings happen twice daily, at 2 p.m. and at 9 p.m. It costs just $1 to play.

Overall, at least 625 prizes worth $600 or more were won or claimed in Massachusetts on Monday, including 6 in Springfield, 22 in Worcester and 14 in Boston.

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The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of winning tickets every day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600.

The two largest lottery prizes won so far in 2025 were each worth $15 million. One of the prizes was from a winning “Diamond Deluxe” scratch ticket sold in Holyoke, and the other was from a “300X” scratch ticket sold on Cape Cod.

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