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☀️Still hot, with highs in the 90s and a chance of afternoon showers. Sunset is at 8:05 p.m.

Today we have some tips for handling the dog days of summer. But first: GBH News’ Saraya Wintersmith looked into a recent and very quickly-resolved investigation into whether a high-ranking Boston City Hall employee violated city policy: a subordinate’s ex, also a city employee, said his ex-partner’s boss had invited her to spend the night in his hotel room.

An independent law firm investigated the matter and issued a 200-word memo saying the mayoral aide did not violate any city policies. The reason? Boston, like many other cities, does not have specific policies governing whether city workers can date one another, Wintersmith found. Employees are still subject to conflict of interest laws.

“I do think it’s risky not to have any type of a policy,” said Theresa Adams, an advisor with SHRM, a human resources association. “I think that’s a good practice because it can be a valuable tool for businesses to manage those workplace relationships while protecting the organization as well.” Read the full piece here. 

Four Things to Know

1. Amid reports that Harvard University is close to a settlement with the Trump administration, Prof. Ryan Enos, who teaches government at the university, said he was “extremely disappointed.”

“I’m frankly sad for what this means for the country because people put so much faith into Harvard that it would stand up for our democracy, and it seems to be failing and not living up to the moment,” he said. “There are a lot of smart people who work at Harvard, and [university leadership] should be consulting them. There’s experts on democracy, there’s experts on higher education — and these are all people that the leadership should be drawing on. And as far as I know, they’re all shut out of the conversation.”

2. Downtown Boston and Chinatown have features that make getting around harder, especially for disabled people, a Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association study has found. Among the 150 issues the group identified: unmarked crosswalks, divots in roads, worn-down streets and lights that have burned out.

“Nobody should have to avoid a park or neighborhood because of issues,” association co-founder Rishi Shukla told GBH’s Trajan Warren. “In this case, infrastructure is the issue. The path to resolution isn’t complicated, it’s just a matter of resource allocation.”

3. It’s been two months since many bar advocates, the private attorneys who take on 80% of criminal cases in which defendants cannot afford attorneys, stopped taking on new cases until the legislature raises their rates (we covered this story in one of last week’s editions of GBH Daily, which you can find here if you missed it.) Legislative leaders say they’re working toward a deal — and passing around blame.

“Nobody raised anything about the need for more funding or the concern about the funding. The Senate came out with some increase that was rejected. So we are now trying to resolve the issue and work it out,” Senate President Karen Spilka said. Bar advocate Jennifer O’Brien noted that the Committee for Public Counsel Services “has been advocating for raises for us for years.”

4. Boston is putting $5 million from the Atrius Health Equity Foundation into different programs to try and reduce racial health disparities in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan. Among the programs: mobile primary care vans, access to fresh food, help with housing and financial literacy.

“Closing this gap will require new collaboration. It will require stronger partnerships. And it will require deeper investment in social determinants of health, like economic mobility,” said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, the city’s commissioner of public health.

Keep your furry friend safe from extreme heat

We regret to inform you that it is, once again, a hot one — though we have some temperatures in the 70s coming our way in the days ahead.

But for now, here are some tips on how to watch out for heat stroke signs in your pets, courtesy of veterinarian Kelly Fishman of Strut Animal Mobility Specialists.

You probably already know the basics: make sure your pets have fresh water and a cool, shady place to rest; go for walks in the early morning or late evening to avoid the hottest parts of the day; and under no circumstances should you leave a pet in a hot car, even if it’s just for a short while.

How can you tell if your dog is overheating? “What it would be is that your dog will sit down on a hot and humid day and cannot stop panting,” Fishman said. “Every breath is a big pant. Their tongue is hanging out of their mouth, like a big floppy spade, and they are just saying to you, 'I am too hot.’”

Older dogs and dogs with flat faces and smushed-in snouts (like a pug or a French bulldog) can have a harder time breathing in hot weather compared with dogs who have longer snouts, so pay extra attention to how they’re doing.

One effective way to cool down a hot dog: throw a ball or another toy into the bottom of a bucket of water and encourage them to go after it. A study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Working Dog Center showed that dogs who (voluntarily!) immersed their heads in water cooled off faster than dogs whose humans used ice packs, cooling towels or alcohol wipes to regulate their temperature.

With that said: “any way to cool your dog down is better than doing nothing,” Fishman said. “If they have a dog that’s panting excessively and has one of these risk factors — either their breed or their age, and their dog seems hot — trust that it’s hot and take your dog to the emergency veterinarian because heat stroke, if they do get it, only has a 50% survival rate.”

As for your cats: you can keep an eye out for signs of overheating, like panting or drooling, and definitely make sure your cat has fresh water and a cool place to rest. But Fishman said cats are less prone to heat stroke.

“[Cats] seem to be more heat tolerant than dogs,” she said. “They actually also prefer hotter weather. Dogs prefer a low 70s temperature, and a cat actually prefers like 99 [degrees] , which is kind of funny.”

Hear the full conversation on GBH’s Morning Edition here. 

Read more: 

-Summers are getting hotter. Here’s how experts say to cope with it.