How MA's Population Changed Over A Decade: The HUB

The HUB is a daily newsletter designed for what you want — to be caught up on the most interesting, important news in 5 minutes or less. It's a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but if there's something you want more or less of, email me at alex.newman@patch.com.

Today is Friday, August 13. Let's get started.

It's more crowded in Massachusetts than it was 10 years ago. That's according to the latest census information, which also found that Bay Staters skewed older – 80.6 percent of the population is over the age of 18 – and more diverse – the percentage of the population identifying as Hispanic, Latino, Black or Asian increased, while those identifying as white fell 9 percent.

Voting rights advocates said they will propose a "unity" redistricting map based on the new data, with the aim of ensuring equal representation for people of color and low-income and immigrant communities.

Massachusetts is the 15th most populous state, with more than 7 million residents as of 2020.

Read more from the Associated Press.

Top Stories

Attorney General Maura Healey is suing the Boston Police Department in a rare enforcement of the state's public records law. The suit is in response to a rejected public records request made by NBC Boston for documents pertaining to fired police commissioner Dennis White. (WBUR)

The Museum of Science and Boston Children's Museum will both require employees to be vaccinated. And another major Massachusetts employer, TJX Companies, will mandate vaccines for office-based, but not retail, employees. (Boston Globe)

A 29-year-old man was arrested on charges of firing a gun in Back Bay this week. The hail of bullets sent diners ducking for cover inside nearby restaurants and businesses just before sunset on Wednesday. (Boston Herald)

Local voices

The Boston Herald's Joe Battenfeld says Scott Brown could help repair the fractured Massachusetts GOP. The former senator, who lives in New Hampshire, resigned from his post as dean of the New England School of Law this week in order to re-enter the political arena. If Gov. Charlie Baker chose not to seek a third term, Brown and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito would be the strongest Republicans in the governor's race, Battenfeld writes.

Gov. Baker cannot leave it up to individual school districts to require masks in classrooms, mothers Melissa Winchell and Tracy O'Connell Novick write in Commonwealth Magazine. They're calling on the governor and DESE Commissioner Jeff Riley to implement a statewide mask mandate in schools.

If you have a minute

From Arun Rath and Marilyn Schairer, GBH

"The Red Sox faced off against the Rays on Thursday afternoon at Fenway. The Patriots played against the Washington Football Team in a preseason game in Gillette Stadium. And all these shows of athleticism were happening in temperatures in the 90s — when it “felt like” nearly 105 degrees.

Massachusetts is going through a draining heat wave that, for those who run around outdoors professionally, could prove dangerous. But even for the rest of us non-professionals, outdoor exercise can suffer when high heat hits."

A lighter touch

An entire village in Maine is for sale (imagine those property taxes). Tut Hill features four single-family homes, a two family, three apartments, a studio guest house, restored antique shop, church meeting hall, two shop spaces and a mechanic's garage on 50 acres of space. It could all be yours for a cool $5.5 million. (Boston.com)

Did you know? Thursday's ballgame was more Children of the Corn than Field of Dreams for Yankee fans. But I did learn something cool: teenaged Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were among the extras at the Fenway Park game.

Weather:

The National Weather Service says mostly sunny, with a high near 93. West wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable.

A slight chance of showers between midnight and 5am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. Southwest wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.

Have a wonderful weekend.