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2025 Housing Report Card Finds Construction Up and New Permits Down as Affordability Challenges Continue
BOSTON, Massachusetts, Nov. 13 (TNSrpt) -- The Boston Foundation issued the following news release on Nov. 12, 2025:* * *
2025 Housing Report Card finds construction up and new permits down as affordability challenges continue
Just 1-in-7 renter households can afford a "starter home" in Greater Boston; Special topic from Boston University's Initiative on Cities explores MBTA Communities Act implementation
A new report on the current state of housing in Greater Boston presents a picture of strong construction, a concerning trend in building permits, and critical affordability challenges in ... Show Full Article BOSTON, Massachusetts, Nov. 13 (TNSrpt) -- The Boston Foundation issued the following news release on Nov. 12, 2025: * * * 2025 Housing Report Card finds construction up and new permits down as affordability challenges continue Just 1-in-7 renter households can afford a "starter home" in Greater Boston; Special topic from Boston University's Initiative on Cities explores MBTA Communities Act implementation A new report on the current state of housing in Greater Boston presents a picture of strong construction, a concerning trend in building permits, and critical affordability challenges inthe region. The mixed signals are the focus of the 2025 Greater Boston Housing Report Card, which was released at a Boston Foundation event this morning.
"This year's report data highlights some significant differences among housing construction, permits, and prices," said Luc Schuster, Executive Director of Boston Indicators, the research arm of the Boston Foundation. "While new data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a significant uptick in new home completions in recent years, the increase has not significantly helped home affordability, and a decline in the number of new housing permits statewide suggests any construction uptick could be short-lived."
"It's easy to get lost in the numbers of units, permits, and cost burdens, but we must remind ourselves that at the end of the day, we are talking about real homes, families and communities," said Lee Pelton, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. "The lack of supply and rising prices are not new, nor is the impact that our failure to build more affordable housing has on families, workers, and our overall economic competitiveness. If we want vibrant communities and a robust workforce, we need to step up and use the tools and innovations at our disposal to bring greater equity and affordability to families."
Once again this year, the research team from Boston Indicators wove together data on Greater Boston's demographics, housing prices, affordability, and housing instability in the Core Metrics section of the report. This year's report also includes research from the Boston University Initiative on Cities, a Special Topic exploration of the varying paths Greater Boston communities have taken to meet the requirements of the MBTA Communities Act.
2025 Greater Boston Housing Report Card cover
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Explore the report and data (https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/reports/2025/november/greater-boston-housing-report-card-2025)
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Through broad-based analysis of state documents and a deep dive into the implementation tactics of three suburban Boston communities -- Lexington, Needham and Wellesley -- the BU researchers highlight the differing paths the 177 cities and towns are taking to meet the law, which requires them to change their zoning and land use policies to allow for the construction of more housing.
"By requiring zoning changes but not the creation of new housing, the state both respected local control over housing policy and provided loopholes that some communities have seized on to meet the letter of the law but not its intent, which was to create thousands of new homes for Massachusetts families," said Katherine Levine Einstein, Associate Professor and co-director of the Boston University Initiative on Cities.
Data provide good, bad and ugly signs for Greater Boston housing
In the Core Metrics section, the Boston Indicators researchers found uplifting news in a new housing dataset from the U.S. Census Bureau. The new Address Count data, which tallies new postal addresses as a proxy for housing units, finds that Massachusetts has created 97,656 new units between April 2020 and July 2025, over 71,000 of them in Greater Boston.
While these units were mostly built before the clock started ticking on the Healey Administration's goal of building 222,000 new housing units over the next 10 years, it is a pace that would put Massachusetts within striking distance of meeting the goal by 2035.
However, that encouraging data is tempered by the latest permit numbers, which signal a coming slowdown. The number of building permits issued in Massachusetts has fallen sharply in the past 4 years, from a peak of nearly 20,000 permits in 2021 to just over 14,000 in 2024. And in Greater Boston, which saw 15,019 permits pulled in 2021, just under 9,000 units were permitted in 2024, and 2025's figures to date are even lower.
Just one in seven renter households can afford 'starter homes'
Despite the new units, too, Greater Boston's housing affordability crisis has only worsened since the pandemic, according to the report. The report compared the monthly mortgage payment on an "entry-level" home in 2021 to 2025, and found that while a household income of just under $98,000 would be considered enough to afford the $2520 monthly payment in 2021, a household would need an income of over $162,000 in 2025 to afford a mortgage payment of over $4200.
"The sobering reality of this combination of price increases and higher mortgage rates is that just one in seven renters in Greater Boston has the income to access a 'starter home' in our region," said Schuster. "The data show just how much work we have to do if we are to expand opportunities and unfreeze the market."
Renters are not immune: nearly half are 'cost-burdened' by housing
Similar challenges face the rental market, where rent increases have slowed in some communities in 2025, but overall, the percentage of renters defined as "cost-burdened" (spending over 30% of income on housing) or "severely cost-burdened" (spending over 50% of income on housing) remains essentially unchanged in 2025. While the percentages of cost-burdened households remain stubbornly high across races, a majority of Black and Latino renter households are considered cost-burdened, and nearly one-third of Black renter households pay more than half their monthly income on housing.
Special Topic: Lessons from MBTA Communities Zoning
For the special topic in this year's report, Katherine Levine Einstein and Maxwell Palmer, both Associate Professors at Boston University's Initiative on Cities, explored some of the dimensions of how the requirements of the MBTA Communities Act are being met in 177 cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
Einstein and Palmer analyzed documents from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) and investigated the adoption of new zoning policies in three Massachusetts suburbs with similar demographics that took substantially different paths to MBTA-C compliance: Lexington, Needham, and Wellesley. The cases bring to light both the local nature of the MBTA Communities adoption process and the resulting mix of plans that emerged.
In their key findings, the researchers share several insights for local and state policymakers and advocates, both for implementing existing housing laws and designing new ones. Among them:
* How community engagement processes are structured may shape whose voices are heard.
* Housing opponents and municipal leaders might weaponize state policies to block new housing. In some communities, fears about the fiscal costs of new housing--especially in the schools--thwarted ambitious rezoning efforts.
* Local governments should be encouraged to zone ambitiously for housing production. While some communities zoned for growth, others complied with the law while allowing as little new housing as possible. Very few communities opted to increase the allowable housing density in single-family neighborhoods.
* State housing reform must take into account the potentially obstructionary role that local ballot referendums can play.
* Housing advocates should strive to build broad-based coalitions (ideally from both political parties), including business leaders, schools, and young people, and bring them together at key meetings.
The full report, which includes interactive charts, data tables, and updates on the status of MBTA Communities plans across the 177 affected cities and towns, can be downloaded at https://www.tbf.org/gbhrc2025.
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REPORT: https://www.tbf.org/-/media/tbf/reports-and-covers/2025/2025-gr-boston-housing-report-card-final-2025.pdf
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Original text here: https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/press-releases/2025/november/2025-housing-report-card-press-release
Reason Foundation Issues Commentary: Modernizing Addiction Regulations: How Licensing, Telehealth, and Delivery Reform Can Expand Access to Care
LOS ANGELES, California, Nov. 13 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary on Nov. 12, 2025:* * *
Modernizing addiction regulations: How licensing, telehealth, and delivery reform can expand access to care
By embracing practical, evidence-based reforms, we can strengthen the national response to the opioid epidemic.
By Layal Bou Harfouch, Drug Policy Analyst & Edward Timmons
More than 80,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2024. While this represents a 26 percent decline from the previous year, the crisis is far from over. Many of those lives could have been saved by ... Show Full Article LOS ANGELES, California, Nov. 13 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary on Nov. 12, 2025: * * * Modernizing addiction regulations: How licensing, telehealth, and delivery reform can expand access to care By embracing practical, evidence-based reforms, we can strengthen the national response to the opioid epidemic. By Layal Bou Harfouch, Drug Policy Analyst & Edward Timmons More than 80,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2024. While this represents a 26 percent decline from the previous year, the crisis is far from over. Many of those lives could have been saved byproven therapies, like medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), a treatment that combines counseling with lifesaving opioid replacement medication. MOUD is one of the most effective tools we have to reduce the risk of overdose, according to the evidence. Yet, access is still constrained by scope-of-practice and supervision laws that dictate which medications clinicians can prescribe and in which settings they may do so.
These rules are often shaped by professional and regulatory organizations like the American Medical Association, whose influence on state and medical boards, as well as legislatures, affects who is authorized to prescribe and manage MOUD care. While rural areas frequently lack clinicians due to lower population densities, these restrictions make existing shortages worse by preventing qualified providers from offering care where it is most needed.
Beyond these restrictions, outdated regulations on how and where patients can receive care, such as limits on telehealth and medication delivery, further compound access barriers. Reducing these unnecessarily restrictive occupational licensing and delivery barriers is a practical and evidence-based way to close these gaps and expand access to lifesaving care.
Nurse practitioners (NPs) are already a significant part of the solution. In 2016, Congress passed a law enabling some NPs to prescribe buprenorphine, one of three approved medications for opioid use disorder. However, in 22 states, NPs are not permitted to do so without a supervising physician. This limitation reduces access to MOUD, especially in areas where doctors are in short supply. In states that grant NPs autonomy in prescribing, the number of available MOUD prescribers roughly doubles and significantly increases local treatment access. A national analysis shows that expanding prescribing to NPs had a particularly significant impact in very rural areas, where NPs and physician assistants were responsible for 1.3 times more buprenorphine prescriptions than in urban areas.
Additionally, the study found that areas where NPs were allowed to prescribe had roughly twice as many registered NPs compared to regions where NPs are barred from prescribing. This may be due in part to the fact that the lack of prescribing authority makes NPs seem less valuable to employers, who then instead opt for physicians. Because NPs are more likely than physicians to relocate to rural communities and to remain there long term, granting them prescribing power would be a meaningful step toward closing treatment gaps where they are most severe.
Pharmacists undergo the most extensive training in pharmacology of any healthcare professional. Idaho has successfully authorized pharmacists to prescribe medications for a range of conditions. Through House Bill 191, which passed in March of 2017, the state granted the Idaho Board of Pharmacy the authority to determine when pharmacists can prescribe medications independently using clinical judgment consistent with the standard practices of healthcare providers. This applied to minor or time-sensitive conditions that did not require a new diagnosis. Within the first year, pharmacists were able to treat over 20 common ailments, and the state reported no safety complaints, showing that pharmacist-led prescribing can safely expand access to care in underserved areas.
At the national level, the 2021 Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act (MAT Act) eliminated the requirement for clinicians to register for and receive a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder. Any clinician who can prescribe DEA Schedule III drugs, such as buprenorphine, may now prescribe them in states that recognize pharmacists as prescribers. Within the first year of implementation, pharmacist-issued prescriptions increased eightfold, rising from about 0.1 percent to 0.8 percent of all buprenorphine dispensations nationwide. The increase was most pronounced in states that had already authorized pharmacist prescribers, such as Idaho, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. Still, 90 percent of states continue to restrict pharmacists from prescribing buprenorphine independently. Where pharmacists can prescribe independently, they primarily serve rural and medically underserved areas, increasing the number of filled buprenorphine prescriptions by 5 to 10 percent in counties that previously had no such prescribers.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers a clear example of how pharmacist prescribers can operate successfully as part of a coordinated healthcare team. Veterans experience disproportionately high rates of chronic pain and opioid dependence. Overdose deaths among veterans increased by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2019, and as many as one in three service members prescribed opioids during active duty met the criteria for dependence.
Building on the flexibility established under the MAT Act, the VA authorizes clinical pharmacist practitioners (CPPs) to initiate and manage buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder under collaborative practice agreements. In 2023, the first full year after the MAT Act's passage, 110 CPPs prescribed buprenorphine to 1,090 veterans across 36 states, accounting for 4.8 percent of all veterans receiving buprenorphine in the VA system and 4.2 percent of total treatment episodes. Collectively, CPPs issued more than 5,200 prescriptions, over half delivered through telehealth, and served as the sole prescriber in 16 percent of cases.
International approaches provide additional examples, with Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom integrating pharmacists into the MOUD treatment infrastructure.
Psychologists often serve as the first and most consistent point of contact for patients with addiction due to their role in addressing underlying mental or emotional health issues, and could serve as an important access point to medication for addiction treatment. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) demonstrated as early as 1991 that psychologists can be trained to safely prescribe medications. An independent review of the program found that the prescribing psychologists trained by DoD filled critical gaps in care, reduced patient wait times for treatment, and safely managed medications with no reported adverse events linked to their prescribing.
Today, just seven states allow psychologists with specialized training to prescribe medication. However, most of these states still prohibit them from prescribing the controlled substances that form the foundation of medication-assisted addiction therapy. In Illinois, for example, psychologists are barred from prescribing Schedule II drugs, including methadone--one of three FDA-approved drugs that serve as the foundation of medication-assisted addiction treatment. Granting psychologists this authority could create a crucial new pathway to treatment, especially for individuals managing co-occurring mental health and substance use challenges.
These profession-specific reforms are a practical and low-cost way to expand access to treatment and care, but they are not the whole answer. These reforms must be paired with broader changes necessary to update America's health delivery system. America needs to maintain telehealth access for addiction treatment and remove outdated licensing and delivery barriers that restrict how and where patients can receive care.
One of the most entrenched obstacles in expanding access to addiction treatment is the federal system governing methadone delivery. The current system, designed in the 1970s and changed little since, stipulates by law that methadone for opioid use disorder can only be dispensed through opioid treatment programs (OTPs) certified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the DEA. OTP clinics operate under strict requirements, including daily observed dosing for new patients, regular drug testing, and frequent in-person counseling.
Though intended to boost safety, these requirements often have the opposite effect by limiting the number of clinics patients can access. Clinics are concentrated in urban centers, forcing rural patients to travel daily, sometimes hours away for a single dose of medication--an impossible burden for many in rural areas. In many states, methadone access is severely limited--Wyoming has no opioid treatment programs at all, while West Virginia prohibits new clinics from opening, leaving some patients to cross state lines or travel hours each day to receive care.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States implemented emergency waivers that allowed patients to take home several days' worth of methadone instead of reporting daily to a clinic in person. The change proved safe and effective, improving patient retention without sacrificing safety outcomes or diverting the medication into the illicit market.
These changes proved effective enough that SAMHSA made the COVID-19 flexibilities permanent. In its 2024 final rule, SAMHSA authorized prescribing up to 28 days of take-home methadone doses for stable patients and 14 days for less stable patients. It also permitted first-time prescribing of buprenorphine via telehealth, as well as expanded authorization for mobile medication units--mobile components of OTPs that can dispense medications at remote locations--to operate without requiring separate DEA registrations, improving access to care in rural and underserved communities.
Telehealth reform offers another opportunity to greatly increase access to care. Before COVID-19, clinicians were required to see patients in person before prescribing buprenorphine. The DEA temporarily waived this rule in March 2020, allowing treatment to begin through telehealth, including audio-only visits. A 2025 JAMA Network Open study analyzing more than 228,000 buprenorphine initiations from 2020 to 2022 found that about 10 percent occurred via telehealth, and roughly 20 percent of those would not have been possible under the DEA's proposed post-pandemic rule requiring an in-person visit before or within 30 days of tele-initiation. Patients treated through telehealth had similar or better engagement and lower overdose rates than those treated in person, echoing earlier findings from JAMA Network Open and the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Telehealth tools have enabled clinicians to reach patients in rural communities, single parents unable to travel, and others who otherwise would have gone untreated.
The potential for telehealth to expand access to care, however, greatly depends on clinicians' ability to practice across state lines. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many states temporarily permitted cross-state practice, allowing out-of-state healthcare providers in good standing elsewhere to deliver telehealth services when in-person visits were not possible. Those emergency measures demonstrate that interstate care can be safe and effective. Many states are making this flexibility permanent with universal recognition laws." These laws permit licensed health professionals in good standing from other states to begin practicing immediately, whether they relocate to the state or provide care remotely. Twenty-eight states and Puerto Rico have already implemented such reforms.
Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that universal recognition improves physician distribution and increases access, particularly in underserved regions. Allowing addiction psychiatrists in Boston to treat patients in Nebraska or West Virginia without redundant licensing barriers could immediately relieve provider shortages in high-need areas.
These reforms form a coherent strategy for expanding access to evidence-based addiction care. Modernizing rules on methadone delivery, protecting access to telehealth, and enabling licensed healthcare providers to care for patients across state lines would allow trained clinicians, including pharmacists, psychologists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, to put their skills to work to treat opioid use disorder.
The path forward includes:
Leveraging underused professionals: Empower pharmacists, psychologists, and advanced practitioners to prescribe within their training, building on successful state and federal models such as Idaho's pharmacist framework and the VA's clinical pharmacist program, which achieved 87 percent retention among veterans treated for opioid use disorder.
Modernizing methadone delivery: Authorize office-based prescribing and pharmacy dispensing for stable patients under appropriate monitoring, following models proven in France, the U.K., and Canada.
Making telehealth permanent: Codify pandemic-era flexibilities for initiating buprenorphine virtually and reimburse telehealth visits for addiction care at parity with in-person treatment.
Promoting license portability: Expand universal recognition laws to allow qualified clinicians to serve patients across state lines without redundant requirements.
The opioid crisis is not a single-issue problem, and it cannot be solved by one profession alone. But we can drastically reduce the toll on individuals, families, and communities. By embracing practical, evidence-based reforms, we can strengthen the national response to the opioid epidemic. When more qualified people are empowered to provide care, more people survive.
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Layal Bou Harfouch is a drug policy analyst at Reason Foundation.
Edward Timmons is the vice president of policy at Archbridge Institute.
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Original text here: https://reason.org/commentary/modernizing-addiction-regulations-how-licensing-telehealth-and-delivery-reform-can-expand-access-to-care/
Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity Partners With The Jed Foundation to Create Suicide Postvention Guide for Members, Chapters, and Alumni
BOSTON, Massachusetts, Nov. 13 -- The Jed Foundation issued the following news release:* * *
Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity Partners with The Jed Foundation (JED) to Create Suicide Postvention Guide for Members, Chapters, and Alumni
Customized resource will provide clear steps for responding to a suicide or other mental health challenge.
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The Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity (PIKE) is proud to announce its collaboration with The Jed Foundation (JED), a leading nonprofit that protects emotional health and helps prevents suicide for teens and young adults, to create Responding to a Suicide ... Show Full Article BOSTON, Massachusetts, Nov. 13 -- The Jed Foundation issued the following news release: * * * Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity Partners with The Jed Foundation (JED) to Create Suicide Postvention Guide for Members, Chapters, and Alumni Customized resource will provide clear steps for responding to a suicide or other mental health challenge. * The Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity (PIKE) is proud to announce its collaboration with The Jed Foundation (JED), a leading nonprofit that protects emotional health and helps prevents suicide for teens and young adults, to create Responding to a Suicideand Related Adverse Events: Postvention Guidance for the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. The new guide is a practical resource for PIKE brothers, chapter leaders, and alumni advisors on what to do in a mental health crisis and how to respond to various mental health situations, including the suicide of a fraternity brother or community member.
"The guide will well serve our undergraduate leaders and those who support them in moments of crisis," said Kimberly Novak, Pi Kappa Alpha's health & safety officer. "This is exactly the type of resource that the Blake Nicholas Caummisar Fund was established to support."
"Postvention" refers to the strategies implemented in a community after a suicide to support those affected, promote healing, and reduce the risk of additional suicides. PIKE's chapter leaders and advisors are trained to manage various challenges, such as organizing events, handling conflicts, and maintaining a safe living environment. However, specific guidance, training, or support on how chapter leaders and advisors should respond to a loss by suicide or a serious mental health challenge within a chapter is less common.
To address this need, the guide will provide chapter leaders and advisors with clear steps for responding to a brother's suicide or serious mental health challenge. In this guide, leaders will learn about suicide postvention, how suicide affects the entire chapter and the fraternity and sorority life community broadly, and the immediate, short, and long-term steps they can take to support members while reducing the risk of further tragedy.
"Suicide loss is a catastrophic event for loved ones, peers, and communities. Greek-letter organizations are no exception. While it's difficult to imagine losing a brother to suicide, it's critical to have a customized and comprehensive suicide postvention plan in place for fraternities," said Dr. Kurt Michael, JED's senior clinical director. "We commend PIKE for their commitment to supporting chapter members, leaders, and advisors in addressing mental health challenges, reducing the risk of further loss, and connecting those impacted with resources to process their grief. In many ways, postvention is prevention and PIKE is helping to protect both their brotherhood and the broader campus community through this vital work."
Some of the guidance contained in this newly developed guide resource was adapted from or aligned with already-established frameworks, including the 2014 Higher Education Mental Health Alliance (HEMHA) publication POSTVENTION: A Guide for Response to Suicide on College Campuses and the recently published Responding to a Suicide: Postvention Guidance for Student Housing Managers (JED, 2024).
Learn more about JED's customizable suicide postvention consulting services for addressing the immediate needs of schools, campuses, and Greek-letter organizations.
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The Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity was founded at the University of Virginia in 1868 and has grown to an international brotherhood composed of more than 300,000 members, 200 chapters and 150 alumni associations. Pi Kappa Alpha has maintained the largest average chapter size of any inter/national fraternity for most of the past 20 years, and through its members has donated millions of hours and dollars to philanthropic causes and community organizations across North America.
About The Jed Foundation (JED)
JED is a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation's teens and young adults. We're partnering with high schools, colleges, school districts, and youth-serving community-based organizations to strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs and systems. We're equipping teens and young adults with the skills and knowledge to help themselves and each other. We're encouraging community awareness, understanding, and action for young adult mental health.
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Original text here: https://jedfoundation.org/pi-kappa-alpha-fraternity-partners-with-the-jed-foundation-jed-to-create-suicide-postvention-guide-for-members-chapters-and-alumni/
Mellon Awards $6.5M to Institutions Advancing Jazz Scholarship and Storytelling
NEW YORK, Nov. 13 -- The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation issued the following news on Nov. 12, 2025:* * *
Mellon Awards $6.5M to Institutions Advancing Jazz Scholarship and Storytelling
The Mellon Foundation today announced over $6.5 million in grants dedicated to expanding jazz scholarship and strengthening its cultural infrastructure as part of the Foundation's $35M commitment to preserving America's first original art form.
At the center of this latest round of funding for Mellon's jazz initiative is a $5.8 million grant to support the work the Jazz Study Group (JSG)--an interdisciplinary collective ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, Nov. 13 -- The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation issued the following news on Nov. 12, 2025: * * * Mellon Awards $6.5M to Institutions Advancing Jazz Scholarship and Storytelling The Mellon Foundation today announced over $6.5 million in grants dedicated to expanding jazz scholarship and strengthening its cultural infrastructure as part of the Foundation's $35M commitment to preserving America's first original art form. At the center of this latest round of funding for Mellon's jazz initiative is a $5.8 million grant to support the work the Jazz Study Group (JSG)--an interdisciplinary collectiveof scholars, artists, and musicians that has transformed jazz scholarship over three decades. Mellon is also announcing additional support for three community-based institutions that play vital roles in sustaining jazz artistry, education, and community engagement nationwide--the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and Jazz Institute of Chicago, and The World Stage in Los Angeles.
"This suite of grants builds on decades of focused and groundbreaking work by artists, scholars, and generational leaders rooted deeply in our jazz traditions," said Mellon President Elizabeth Alexander. "We honor the essential histories and legacies they will continue to illuminate, spurring further innovation and exploration of this quintessentially American art form."
Founded in 1995 by distinguished jazz scholar Robert G. O'Meally, JSG is a collective comprising more than 30 US-based and international members who convene annually to explore interdisciplinary approaches to studying jazz. JSG's community has included prolific jazz musicians, thinkers and scholars such as Amiri Baraka (writer and scholar), Albert Murray (literary critic and novelist), Max Roach (drummer and composer), Abbey Lincoln (vocalist and songwriter), Randy Weston (pianist and composer), and Geri Allen (pianist and composer) among others.
Over three decades, JSG has served as an incubator for seminal jazz biographies, oral histories, cultural criticism, and compositions, resulting in more than 25 publications and compositions created in collaboration with a host of renowned artists and scholars. Select titles born of this collective include: Epistrophies: Jazz and the Literary Imagination (Brent Hayes Edwards); Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins (Aidan Levy); Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (John Szwed); Jammin' at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema (Krin Gabbard); and Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever (Farah J. Griffin and Salim Washington); among many others.
With Mellon's support and fiscal sponsorship from the Jazz Foundation of America, the Jazz Study Group will launch the Jazz Generations Initiative, co-designed by O'Meally in New York and pianist/composer, Courtney Bryan in New Orleans, to foster intergenerational dialogue and preserve jazz heritage - partially through oral history interviews conducted with celebrated jazz elders. The initiative will produce JSG's second anthology of essays and jazz historiography - Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies, Vol. 2 (a follow up to the 2004 volume); work to make its rich collection of archival materials publicly accessible; and also establish Bamboula: Jazz Studies in Motion - a residency program to be based in New Orleans. Across both New York and New Orleans, the initiative will also partner with artist-run nonprofits and institutions through the Jazz Community Initiative, centering jazz artistry and scholarship within the communities that sustain the music.
"Jazz has always been about connection--between disciplines, between generations, between communities," said Robert O'Meally, founder of the Jazz Study Group. "With the Jazz Generations Initiative, co-led by composer Courtney Bryan and myself in partnership with the Mellon Foundation, we are creating a bridge between New York and New Orleans--a living network where artists and scholars can listen, learn, and carry forward the transformative stories and sounds of this music."
In addition to supporting work of JSG, Mellon is also announcing nearly $1M in support for essential regional organizations, including:
* Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (Chicago) - A renowned collective of composers and musicians that has nurtured generations of creative voices. This funding will bolster AACM's capacity to continue building community and providing vital platforms for experimentation and innovation in jazz.
* Jazz Institute of Chicago (Chicago) - A cornerstone of jazz education and cultural programming, connecting students and the public to the music's rich legacy. This funding will strengthen the Institute's role in cultivating the next generation of jazz artists and audiences and increasing access to jazz in communities.
* The World Stage (Los Angeles) - A vital cultural hub in South LA founded to preserve and advance African American music, literature, and oral traditions. This funding will help sustain the World Stage's role as home for consistent, high art jazz performance, education, and community on the West Coast.
By investing in research, storytelling, and operating support for key regional hubs, this initiative preserves the histories of jazz while sustaining the communities and traditions that keep the art form thriving for future generations.
To stay informed about additional funding within Mellon's Jazz Initiative, subscribe to the Mellon Foundation newsletter at mellon.org/newsletter.
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About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation's largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.
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Original text here: https://www.mellon.org/news/mellon-awards-institutions-advancing-jazz-scholarship-storytelling
CLF Reaches Settlement With Patriot Beverages to Protect Local Waters
BOSTON, Massachusetts, Nov. 13 -- The Conservation Law Foundation issued the following news release on Nov. 12, 2025:* * *
CLF Reaches Settlement with Patriot Beverages to Protect Local Waters
Funds from beverage manufacturer will lead to $485,000 to fund water quality monitoring in community
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Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and Patriot Beverages, a beverage manufacturing and bottling company, have settled a lawsuit over violations of the Clean Water Act. Patriot Beverages primarily manufactures and bottles flavored waters and teas, like Propel Water, Gatorade, and Pure Leaf Tea. Wastewater ... Show Full Article BOSTON, Massachusetts, Nov. 13 -- The Conservation Law Foundation issued the following news release on Nov. 12, 2025: * * * CLF Reaches Settlement with Patriot Beverages to Protect Local Waters Funds from beverage manufacturer will lead to $485,000 to fund water quality monitoring in community * Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and Patriot Beverages, a beverage manufacturing and bottling company, have settled a lawsuit over violations of the Clean Water Act. Patriot Beverages primarily manufactures and bottles flavored waters and teas, like Propel Water, Gatorade, and Pure Leaf Tea. Wastewaterand stormwater discharges from the company's Littleton facility were polluting Reedy Meadow Brook and Mill Pond with toxic chemicals and heavy metals like aluminum and phosphorus.
"This resolution sends a clear message that companies must take responsibility for the pollution they cause," said Ameya Gehi, staff attorney at CLF. "By holding Patriot Beverages accountable and ensuring they implement meaningful reforms, we're protecting the communities and ecosystems that rely on clean water."
The settlement stipulates that Patriot Beverages must upgrade equipment to maximize removal of pollutants from its discharges and improve water sample testing. In addition, the company will pay $385,000 to OARS and $100,000 to the Nashobah Praying Indians to fund a water quality and nutrient monitoring project.
"This funding allows OARS 3 Rivers to launch a science-based monitoring effort in a region of the watershed that urgently needs attention," said Matt Brown, executive director of OARS. "We're excited to expand our work into new communities, engage local volunteers in the science, and provide the kind of data and outreach that lead to real, lasting solutions. We're deeply grateful to CLF for recognizing the importance of this work."
Added Sagamore Strong Medicine Bear of the Nashobah Praying Indians: "As descendants of the original stewards of these lands, we are honored to collaborate with OARS in protecting and preserving our waterways -- a vital resource that sustains all life on Earth. We are deeply grateful to CLF for connecting us with OARS and for emphasizing the shared responsibility we all have in ensuring access to clean water, promoting environmental preservation, and educating our communities about sustainable water management."
The company's wastewater and stormwater discharges also include dangerously high pH levels and high temperatures. The toxic pollutants that flow from the company's site directly into nearby waterbodies cause poor water quality and harm natural ecosystems and wildlife.
The settlement can be read here (https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CLF-v-Patriot-Beverages-ECF-No.-32-2025-11-10.pdf).
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Original text here: https://www.clf.org/newsroom/clf-reaches-settlement-with-patriot-beverages-to-protect-local-waters/
Alen Expands Portfolio of Certified Air Purifiers With Asthma & Allergy Friendly BreatheSmart 25i
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 -- The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America issued the following news release on Nov. 12, 2025:* * *
Alen Expands Portfolio of Certified Air Purifiers with Asthma & Allergy Friendly BreatheSmart 25i
Independent Certification Confirms the Product's Proven Ability to Reduce Allergens and Support Healthier Indoor Environments
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The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) and Allergy Standards Limited (ASL) announce that the Alen BreatheSmart 25i air purifier earned the Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) Certification.
This achievement recognizes the product's proven ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 -- The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America issued the following news release on Nov. 12, 2025: * * * Alen Expands Portfolio of Certified Air Purifiers with Asthma & Allergy Friendly BreatheSmart 25i Independent Certification Confirms the Product's Proven Ability to Reduce Allergens and Support Healthier Indoor Environments * The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) and Allergy Standards Limited (ASL) announce that the Alen BreatheSmart 25i air purifier earned the Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) Certification. This achievement recognizes the product's provenability to effectively reduce allergens and improve indoor air quality. The BreatheSmart 25i joins Alen's expanding portfolio of Certified Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) air purifiers.
The Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) Certification Program, a collaborative initiative between AAFA and ASL, helps consumers identify products that contribute to a healthier indoor environment. Products undergo rigorous independent testing to meet scientific standards established by the program. By meeting the strict standards for the Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) Certification, products demonstrate greater suitability for individuals with asthma and allergies.
The comprehensive testing is designed to evaluate real-world effectiveness in improving indoor air quality. Scientific criteria assess the product's ability to reduce exposure to airborne allergens while maintaining reliable and efficient operation.
For smaller portable air cleaners such as the BreatheSmart 25i, the Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) certification requirements include:
* Reduce airborne allergen levels by more than 75%, demonstrable for at least one allergen tested, compared to a controlled environment where the air cleaner is turned off.
* Demonstrate recovery of more than 50% of the allergen reduction within the air cleaner itself, confirming effective capture and retention.
* Verify that ozone emissions remain below 50 ppb, ensuring the air cleaner does not contribute to indoor air pollutants.
* Align its certified room size with its Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) -- certification applies only to the room size appropriate to the product's measured CADR, as stated on its certificate.
Optimized for smaller spaces such as bedrooms, nurseries, and home offices, the BreatheSmart 25i reflects Alen's adaptive and customer-focused approach, delivering high-performance air purification designed for today's modern living environments.
"We are proud to earn the Asthma and Allergy Friendly Certification for our BreatheSmart 25i purifier," said Warburg Lee, CEO of Alen. "This certification validates the science and performance behind our technology and confirms that the 25i effectively reduces airborne allergens and irritants that impact people with asthma and allergies. The BreatheSmart 25i was created to deliver quiet, intelligent, and precise air purification that supports healthier living, learning, and working environments. For anyone managing asthma or allergies, this certification provides trusted third-party proof that Alen delivers cleaner air and a higher standard of wellness in every space."
"We appreciate Alen's work to ensure the BreatheSmart 25i meets our Asthma & Allergy Friendly standards and to provide people with asthma and allergies a trusted option backed by science," said Kenneth Mendez, president and CEO of AAFA. "The Certification mark gives consumers confidence that the product they purchase will help reduce exposure to allergens and airway irritants."
"This certification reflects how product innovation can adapt to real life," said Dr. John McKeon, CEO of Allergy Standards Ltd. "The Alen BreatheSmart 25i shows that air purification technology can be both high-performing and personal--designed for bedrooms, nurseries, and home offices where people spend the most time. Alen's focus on scientific validation ensures that these everyday environments benefit from proven allergen reduction and improved indoor air quality."
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About the Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) Certification Program
The Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) Certification Program is a unique, groundbreaking collaboration between the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) and Allergy Standards Limited (ASL). The program tests and certifies products against strict standards to prove their suitability for people with asthma and allergies. Products passing these tests earn the Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) Certification Mark. The Certification Program works with retailers and manufacturers to offer consumers products for a healthier home.
Certified products include air cleaners, air filters, paints, bedding, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, cleaning products and more. Visit aafa.org/certified for more information.
About Alen
Alen is an Austin-based innovator of high-performance air purifiers, committed to creating healthier indoor environments through advanced, scientifically validated technology. Alen's purifiers use True HEPA filters and are independently certified by Quiet Mark, the Asthma & Allergy Friendly(R) Certification Program, SleepScore Labs, and ENERGY STAR(R) for delivering best-in-class air purification, energy efficiency, ultra-quiet operation and improved sleep quality. Alen's mission to enhance quality of life in homes, workplaces, and shared spaces is driven by the belief that wellness begins with pure air. Alen empowers individuals and families to lead healthier lives with cleaner, safer air and greater peace of mind through proprietary features like airID smart sensor technology and a commitment to lifetime reliability. Visit Alen for more information.
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Original text here: https://aafa.org/alen-expands-portfolio-of-certified-air-purifiers-with-asthma-allergy-friendly-breathesmart-25i/
Eternal Sunshine of the Changing Time
DETROIT, Michigan, Nov. 12 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following news:* * *
Eternal Sunshine of the Changing Time
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Debates over daylight saving rage on.
The debate about Daylight Saving Time (DST) has reignited in both Europe and the United States. Spain's Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez is lobbying the EU to put an end to the bi-annual clock change, although he hasn't stated whether he favors permanent summer (DST) or winter time (also referred to as Standard Time/ST)which means more light in the evening or morning, respectively. It is a rare point of agreement ... Show Full Article DETROIT, Michigan, Nov. 12 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following news: * * * Eternal Sunshine of the Changing Time * Debates over daylight saving rage on. The debate about Daylight Saving Time (DST) has reignited in both Europe and the United States. Spain's Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez is lobbying the EU to put an end to the bi-annual clock change, although he hasn't stated whether he favors permanent summer (DST) or winter time (also referred to as Standard Time/ST)which means more light in the evening or morning, respectively. It is a rare point of agreementbetween the Spanish premier and Donald Trump, who also wants to scrap the clock change, in his case to make summer time permanent.
Both leaders seem to have the public on their side. In a 2018 survey of 4.6 million European citizens, 84% favored abolishing the twice-yearly time changes (in Spain, that figure rose to 93%). A recent poll in the US found that just 12% are in favor of retaining the status quo; 47% are opposed to DST (including 27% who are "strongly opposed"), while 40% are neutral. Legislation passed in 1966 enabled individual states to choose whether or not to implement the practice; today, the only states that don't are Arizona and Hawaii.
Benjamin Franklin is usually credited with being the first to suggest DSTalthough he didn't propose clock-tweaking. In a satirical article written in 1784 for The Journal of Paris, when Franklin was the American envoy to France, he recommended that Parisians go to bed and rise earlier to reduce candle usageand that cannons be fired at dawn to wake the city's sleepiest residents. The first suggestion to change the clocks every spring came in 1895 from a New Zealander entomologist named George Hudson, who wanted more light in which to study insects. Franklin, one assumes, would have told Hudson to do his bug-work at sunrise.
It was not until the First World War that DST was implemented (in 1916 by Germany and 1918 by the US), as a way of conserving fuel for lamps and coal for heating. It was scrapped by many countries after the conflict ended, but reinstated by most during the Second World War and oil crises of the 1970s. Today, fewer than 40% of the world's countries observe DST. Nations that have abolished the custom in the last decade include Jordan, Russia, Turkey, Syria, and Uruguay. Ukraine's parliament passed a bill abolishing the bi-annual clock changes last summer, but it remains unsigned by president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Spain seeks to join the growing list of countries that don't switch back and forward every few months. A few days before Europeans traveled back in time an hour on October 26, Sanchez said in a post on X that he "no longer [saw] the point in it." He claimed that there is "plenty of scientific evidence that shows [the annual switch to DST in March and back to ST in October] barely helps to save energy and has a negative impact on people's health and lives."
The Spanish premier has restarted a conversation that Europe last had in 2018, when Jean-Claude Juncker, then president of the EU Commission, promised to scrap clock changes by the end of the following year. His proposal stalled, partly due to lack of consensus on whether Europe should adopt permanent DST or ST instead.
Sanchez has a strong case. Studies in the US and Europe have shown that the energy saved by DST is negligible. In the 1970s, the US Department of Transportation found that changing the clocks reduced the nation's electricity consumption by just 1%. A report on Slovakia's energy usage between 2010 and 2017 put that figure at 0.8%. In Indiana, which switched to DST in 2006, researchers found that the practice led to a 1% increase in consumption, as households used more power for air conditioning on summer evenings and heating on late fall and early spring mornings.
Studies have also linked clock-changing to an increased risk of mood disorders, heart attacks, strokes, and traffic accidentsall a result of the disruption caused to our internal circadian rhythms. "Left to themselves," says David Ray, a professor of endocrinology at Oxford University, "[these] naturally align with the light-dark cycle, so the only problem comes when you start arbitrarily defining time based on a clock." A new study by scientists at Stanford University has found that adopting permanent ST, or winter time, would be the best way for us to align with the sun's cycle, preventing 300,000 strokes a year and resulting in 2.6 million fewer people with obesity.
Trump, meanwhile, has flagged the economic case against bi-annual clock changes. In April, he wrote on Truth Social that the idea of switching to permanent summer time is "Very popular and, most importantly, [there would be] no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!"
Trump referred to what economists call the "opportunity cost" of clock-changing. This is calculated on the basis of the average hourly wage and the assumption that each person spends ten minutes adjusting their timepieces. The estimated annual cost to the US economy is $2 billion. In calling for permanent DST, Trump is backed by the retail and golf sectors, both of which see their profits on longer evenings. Foiled robberiesresulting from a smaller window of evening darknessare also thought to save $60 million in social costs every year.
Europe also wastes time and money on the twice-yearly clock switch. An expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science has claimed that abolishing the practice could lead to "welfare gains equivalent to an income gain of roughly EUR754 per capita per year."
Trump has recently backed another attempt to pass the so-called Sunshine Protection Act, which would make DST permanent. Approved by the Senate in March 2022, it subsequently failed in the House of Representatives. Last month, another effort to pass the Act by unanimous consent was blocked by Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who claimed that it would "make winter a dark and dismal time for millions of Americans." Permanent DST, said Cotton, "would be especially harmful for school children and working Americans." A Stanford study suggests that he might be correct in claiming that longer evenings don't equate to a happier, healthier population.
Though there is consensus in both the EU and US that clock-changing is a damaging and outdated practice, the debate about whether to adopt ST or DST permanently continues. Perhaps Franklin had the right answer two-and-a-half centuries ago: go to bed when it's dark and rise with the sun, regardless of the arbitrarily-assigned hour. All governments have to do is supply the cannons needed to encourage this.
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Original text here: https://fee.org/articles/eternal-sunshine-of-the-changing-time/