GBH Daily: PFAS all over

☀️Sunny and cooler, with highs in the 60s. Sunset is at 6:02 p.m.

Researchers looked at data from 108 waterways across Massachusetts and found PFAS chemicals at 87% of them. (You can find a map of the testing locations here.) PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also called forever chemicals, are a large group of compounds that have been tied to negative health impacts in humans, including some cancers.

Researchers found that 30 different PFAS were found in the Charles River, along the ocean coastline and in ponds and lakes across the state.

“What we really have to do is get at the source of the problem. We have to stop using PFAS in so many processes and products,” Deirdre Cummings, consumer program director for the MASSPIRG Education Fund, told GBH’s Craig LeMoult. “Wherever we can, where there are alternatives available and where it makes sense, we need to stop using PFAS.” You can read the full story here.

Four Things to Know

1. Upgrading public housing in Hyde Park: Boston city officials will put $5 million into upgrades at the Fairmount Apartments public housing development in Hyde Park, with another $10 million from the state and $1 million from the federal government. The development was originally built in 1951 and has more than 200 units.

Among the improvements on tap: 5% of units will be made accessible for people with physical disabilities, units will get new cooling systems and stormwater infrastructure and tenants will get community gardens where they can grow food. “This is the safest community I’ve been in for 15 years, and I know a lot of residents can agree,” tenant Wendy Rosseau said.

2. No data center in Western Mass.: The city of Westfield won’t be welcoming a 150-acre hyperscale data center after all. The developer trying to build one, a company called Servistar, has a permit valid only through this month, and members of the city’s planning board denied an extension.

A representative for Servistar said the company was taking longer than expected to get tax breaks in place and said things have gotten more expensive in part because of tariffs. “Last time I knew you guys haven’t bought land yet. And I mean, clearly we gave you what you needed,” planning board chair William Carellas said. “Everything that you mentioned, tariffs and all of this ... There already should have been a building in place is the way I look at it.”

3. Healthcare in vacation towns: People who work in health care in seasonal vacation towns came to Nantucket last week to talk about how to make sure people with part-time residencies in these locations can get year-round care.

Nantucket has a care-coordination program that connects health care providers on the island with caregivers in the other places where their patients live. “So, say they’re from Florida. It connects the caregivers in Florida to our caregivers here on-island, so that we can make sure that the transition is seamless,” said Amy Lee, president and chief operating officer of Nantucket Cottage Hospital. They also talked about other challenges, like making sure their workers have affordable housing.

4. Ready, set, row: The Head of the Charles Regatta kicks off tomorrow morning and goes through Sunday afternoon. Expect 12,000 rowers from 32 countries, as well as about 375,000 spectators, 20 food vendors and bands of Berklee College of Music students providing entertainment. Weather will range from showers and highs in the 60s on Friday to sunny skies and highs in the 50s on Sunday.

“I always like to say that the Head of the Charles is the most Boston event of the fall, because you have these incredible athletes coming in and competing during what tends to be one of the most beautiful times of the year in Boston,” said Tori Stevens, executive director of the Head of the Charles Regatta.

Longtime civic leader Lee Pelton reveals Alzheimer’s diagnosis in personal essay

Lee Pelton, a former president of Emerson College who stepped down from his job as president and CEO of The Boston Foundation last month, said he’s been diagnosed with dementia. He talked about the diagnosis in a personal essay published in The Boston Globe and on GBH’s Boston Public Radio yesterday. 

“One is that I wanted to bring to the public a disease that is often talked about only in hushed terms and one that is not well known,” Pelton said. “I thought that if I could explicate my own experience, that would create in this community and maybe beyond some really thoughtful discussions about this disease.”

Above all, he said, he wants people who don’t have dementia to remember that those who do are human.

“I think the important thing is for people to understand that their loved ones, their friends are still people and they want to be treated in that way despite the impediments that are given to them when they have this disease,” he said. “Be patient, because this disease — it flourishes at different rates and [has] different effects for different people. But remember… they’re human. I’m human.”

You can hear the full conversation with Pelton here. 

Dig deeper: 

-A community for Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers

-More people will need memory care soon. Is Massachusetts ready?

-What scientific research says about reducing dementia risks, from a local expert