Massachusetts residents’ gas bills could increase by nearly 10% if a petition from the National Grid is approved.

On Jan. 16, the National Grid filed a petition to increase its gas distribution rates so that it can generate $342 million in additional revenues. 

The request comes as affordability is a major issue in the state, with energy prices being one of the main drivers: in November, 21% of Massachusetts voters said that utilities were the single biggest strain on their household budget in a Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll. At the State of the Commonwealth in January, Gov. Maura Healey announced that the state would temporarily lower electricity and gas bills in February and March.

But if the National Grid’s request is approved by the state Department of Public Utilities, customers will see monthly bill increases in December.

Spring may not have come yet, but Massachusetts is set to experience a warm-up over the next week that could melt some of the lingering snow.

From Friday through Monday, mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid 30s to low 40s are predicted across the state, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures are expected to warm even further from Tuesday through Thursday next week, with daily highs reaching the upper 30s to mid 40s.

Overnight low temperatures are predicted to drop into the low 20s on the Cape and Islands and into the teens across the rest of the state Thursday night, according to the weather service. Lows in the mid teens to mid 20s are expected throughout Massachusetts Friday and Saturday night.

A few passing flurries or brief snow showers are possible late Friday night into early Saturday, but they will be “moisture-starved,” meaning that they should not have much impact or leave more than a dusting, according to the weather service.

Forecasters have been monitoring a winter storm that looked like it might reach Massachusetts Sunday night, but weather models now indicate its track will be too far offshore to impact Southern New England, the weather service said.

Overnight low temperatures are also predicted to be warmer next week, according to the weather service. After Sunday night, when temperatures are expected to drop into the 20s, overnight lows are predicted to dip only as low as the upper 20s and low 30s through Wednesday night.

A growing number of Democratic lawmakers – including several in Massachusetts – are following the Nancy Pelosi school of get-rich-quick schemes, a sure-fire way of seeing your family wealth skyrocket while serving in Congress.

Ayanna Pressley, Elizabeth Warren, Katherine Clark, Ilhan Omar have all become richer – some astonishingly so – after stepping in the cash-lined halls of the Capitol, whether it’s from their husband’s businesses, their stock portfolios or their book deals.

Far left “Squad” member Pressley’s rise from nearly zero to up to $8 million in net worth, fattened by her and her husband’s four rental properties in Mattapan, Boston, Fort Lauderdale and Martha’s Vineyard, is drawing increasing scrutiny, as she bristles at questions about her newly-acquired wealth. Pressley and hubby Conan Harris sold the half-million-dollar Florida pad for a $67,000 profit in 2024.

“I wish you people would stop reporting fake news,” a heated Pressley, surrounded by a team of security in black SUVs, said in Washington when confronted by a reporter recently. “You don’t know anything about me and my life. I was raised in a single-parent home. Every single thing my family and I have we have earned. And you are reporting fake news. Do your homework.”

Pressley, who makes $174,000 a year and like Warren has railed against tax breaks for the wealthy, also told Fox News “there’s nothing to see here” about her financial rise.

“Sir, I submit a financial disclosure, just like everybody else,” she said.

Squad member Omar and her husband, Tim Mynett, who owns several businesses, had almost nothing when she was first elected, but her net worth reportedly exploded in just a few years to $25 million.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is now investigating Omar’s mysterious rise to wealth, which comes amid a federal social services fraud probe in her home district in Minnesota.

“We’re going to get answers, whether it’s through the Ethics Committee or the Oversight Committee, one of the two, “ Oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told the New York Post. “There are a lot of questions as to how her husband accumulated so much wealth over the past two years. It’s not possible. It’s not. I’m a money guy, it’s not possible.”

Warren’s net worth has risen to a reported $10 million from book deals and her Senate salary. Known for her rants against billionaires and standing up for the little guy, she holds mutual funds worth an estimated $1.76 million. The Cambridge Democrat and her husband, Bruce Mann, reported earning more than $912,000 in 2024, according to their tax forms.

Clark and her husband, Rodney Dowell, are worth more than $14 million, making a cool $458,000 in the stock market last year before stopping trading, according to reports.

She was estimated to be worth $6.8 million in 2018, before her rise to Democratic House Whip, which is second in command to the House Minority Leader.

The STOCK Act, signed into law by Barack Obama in April 2012, prohibits members of Congress from using private information given to them because of their positions for personal gain, such as stock trades.

Former House Speaker Pelosi, 85, and her husband Paul have an estimated net worth of more than $278 million, making her one of the richest members of Congress. Her investment moves in the stock market while serving in Congress have added millions to her net worth.

While it appears that most of the lawmakers have not broken laws, their spectacular rise in wealth and refusal to answer questions about it raises questions about accountability and hypocrisy.

They should be forced to stand before the press and explain exactly how they made such money while serving in the public sector. And have they had any influence over their husband’s financial successes?