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☁️Cloudy day, with highs around 80. Sunset is at 8:21 p.m.

Massachusetts lawmakers have an ambitious goal for greenhouse gas emissions — net zero by 2050. But that’s going to take a lot of action, and a big piece of it might be changing how we get around. So lawmakers are considering a small step: tracking how many miles Massachusetts residents drive. If we know that, the state might be better able to improve other transportation methods like walking, biking and public transit. It would also be the first step to imposing a mileage-based tax on drivers.

“This bill doesn’t necessarily do anything other than look at the issue, but it’s hugely significant if Beacon Hill puts its stamp of approval on looking at the issues of recording mileage,” Mike Deehan, an Axios Boston reporter, told GBH’s Arun Rath on All Things Considered. “That would be a sea change in a lot of ways, because we don’t do that right now. We don’t factor in how much people are driving into how we decide on policy.” You can hear their full conversation here.

Four Things to Know

1. Private attorneys who represent people unable to afford their own legal defense remain on a work stoppage in protest of their pay, with many having not taken a new client since the end of May. That means the state is releasing some people and dropping charges — though they’ll be able to open cases again when attorneys are available.

“Judges are not just willy-nilly relieving people,” Payal Salsburg, an attorney not involved in the work stoppage, told GBH’s Diane Adame. “They’re looking at whether it is appropriate in any given case and then putting restrictions on the release if that is the case.” Still, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said he’s concerned: “Could it have a bigger and larger impact on public safety? Yes it could. We’re doing everything we can, case-by-case in court, to oppose someone’s release when we can.”

2. An investigator for the Department of Homeland Security said in court yesterday that the agency targeted Tufts Ph.D student Rumeysa Ozturk because her name had appeared on the Canary Mission, a website that calls itself pro-Israeli and lists names of students it accuses of antisemitism. Federal agents took Ozturk off a Somerville street earlier this year, and she spent about six weeks in a detention center before being released on a judge’s order.

The testimony was part of a bench trial in federal court over the Trump administration’s targeting of students participating in pro-Palestinian protests. “I think it’s improper to target students because of their associations, their political views or anything else,” Civil rights attorney Harvey Silverglate said, calling the government’s case weak. “I think they’ll prevail. The real question is the extent to which the administration will obey court orders.”

3. Red Line riders, be aware: the MBTA is running shuttles between Kendall/MIT and JFK/UMass through the end of service on Sunday for maintenance work. T officials say you should plan for your trip to take about 45 extra minutes. Shuttles will skip Park Street, but stop at State and Haymarket for riders transferring to the Orange and Green lines.

If you’re in the right place at the right time, you can skip the shuttles altogether and take a fare-free commuter rail from Braintree to South Station and from Porter to North Station.

4. If you stayed cool during recent heat waves, you may have solar power arrays and batteries to thank. These can be small rooftop solar panels or larger solar farms, connected to batteries that store their power and release it when demand surges.

Fossil fuels are still doing most of the heavy lifting. On a recent hot day in June, “we did have some contribution from solar, but fossil fuels really did carry the bulk of the load during that peak hour,” said Mary Cate Colapietro, a spokesperson with ISO New England. She estimated that carbon-emitting power sources accounted for 74% of the electricity supply at that time.

Capacity data reflects 'moment of relief’ at Mass. hospitals

A cause for some cautious optimism: hospitals across Massachusetts are seeing their capacity stabilize after years of struggle wrought by the COVID pandemic, staffing shortages and the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care.

This comes from looking at the way the state’s public health department classifies the number of patients hospitals are able to welcome at any given moment. Things like a widespread virus can mean more patients come in and stretch the system past its capacity. Hospital closures mean patients have fewer places to go, also raising capacity concerns.

Right now the state’s hospital capacity is classified as Tier 1 of four, the lowest possible risk, Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said this week. By comparison: in February of 2024, the entirety of Greater Boston, the North Shore, South Shore and Cape Cod were classified as high risk, or Tier 3.

“For the first time in years, we are seeing a sustained period of stability in hospital occupancy across the commonwealth,” Goldstein said. “After operating so long under intense pressure, most hospitals are finally functioning at a more reasonable and manageable level.”

But Goldstein was clear that this is not a “declaration of victory.” Plenty of patients still face long wait times. Of particular concern: there are about 2,000 people statewide waiting in hospitals for space to open up with the providers they need, according to the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, GBH’s Marilyn Schairer reports. For example, a person who needs psychiatric care might have to wait in an emergency department.

“Health care is constantly shifting, and all it would take is one difficult respiratory virus season or another unforeseen challenge to quickly reverse these gains,” Goldstein said. “So we’ll remain vigilant, we’ll monitor trends closely and we’ll stand ready to respond. But after years of relentless strain on our hospitals, this moment of relief is meaningful.”

Read more from the State House News Service here.