The red sash that bisected Massachusetts from Essex County to the Berkshires on the U.S. Drought Monitor’s map for much of 2016 — indicating areas of extreme drought — has receded into a red belt buckle covering the greater Springfield area.
The Drought Monitor on Thursday reported that just 8.59 percent of the state’s area is still experiencing an extreme drought — down from 36.12 percent last week and the lowest level since early August. That extreme swath covers most of Hampden County, and parts of Hampshire and Berkshire counties.
At the height of the drought, in September, more than 52 percent of the state was in the extreme drought classification.
The parts of Franklin, Worcester, Middlesex and Essex counties that had been categorized as under an extreme drought were this week downgraded to the severe drought category, which now encompasses 60.54 percent of the state. Cape Cod, much of southeastern Massachusetts and the northwest corner of the state — totaling 28.96 percent — are classified as experiencing a “moderate drought.”
Gov. Charlie Baker, despite his background in health care, will most likely not be among a group of governors who will meet with members of the U.S. Senate in Washington later this month to discuss ways the federal Medicaid program could be reformed to help states as Congress moves toward a repeal of Obamacare.
A general invitation from the GOP members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance was extended to all 33 Republican governors in mid-December through the Republican Governors Association with the promise of more details to come.
The meeting has now been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 19 – the day before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration – but a Baker aide said the administration was told by the RGA that the meeting would be limited to governors from the home states of committee members.
A spokesman for the Finance Committee could not immediately be reached to confirm.
“Who said you can’t make it in western Massachusetts?” Mary Hurley said from atop the rostrum in the House chamber.
Hurley had not ascended to become the state’s first female speaker of the House, but instead was on the rostrum Thursday as she was sworn in as the newest member of the Governor’s Council.
A retired District Court judge and former Springfield mayor, Hurley made the comment as she shared the spotlight with her senator, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst, and signed her oath of office.
Hurley, a Democrat who now calls East Longmeadow home, is the only new member of the Governor’s Council. The other seven councilors were re-elected in November and renewed their oath of office Thursday.
Hurley takes the place of Michael Albano, also a former Springfield mayor, who did not seek re-election and opted instead to pursue an unsuccessful bid for Hampden County sheriff.
Having served 20 years on the District Court bench, and as an attorney, elected mayor and city councilor, Hurley said she will bring a fresh perspective to the council’s judicial confirmation hearings.
“I think I can bring a lot of experience and legal knowledge to the job that will give perhaps an additional perspective to people,” she told the News Service after her swearing-in ceremony.
Hurley was mayor of Springfield from May 1989 to January 1992, and was nominated for a Chicopee District Court judgeship by former Gov. William Weld in 1995. Like all judicial nominees, she went before the Governor’s Council and was confirmed on a 6-0 vote.