GBH Daily: No gas tax break

⛅Cloudy and cool, with highs in the 50s. Sunset is at 5:52 p.m.

Suspending the state’s 24-cents-a-gallon gas tax won’t be happening for now. State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the chairman of the state House Ways and Means Committee, said not collecting it would mean the state has less money to pay for infrastructure and the MBTA. And he questioned how much it would actually lower prices: the average price of a regular gallon of gas today is $4.25, according to AAA. A year ago, before the U.S. attacked Iran and spiked global oil prices, it was $3.01.

“Even if the gas tax holiday was to take effect, I don’t see the mechanics of preventing wholesalers or distributors from raising the rate to offset that 24 cents,” Michlewitz told the State House News Service. “I think many of us have real skepticism on this being real, an opportunity for real savings with our constituents that are desperately in need in the middle of this affordability crisis that we’re in.”

A little on the political machinations behind this: Gov. Maura Healey called for suspending the gas tax for two months. Her Republican opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Mike Minogue, had also called for suspending it. All 24 Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of advancing a bill that does not include a gas tax holiday yesterday, and the committee’s Republican members all abstained from voting. You can read more on that here.

Four Things to Know

1. Survey says: About 42% of Massachusetts residents who responded to a poll from Suffolk University and the Boston Globe told surveyors they think the state has become either “a little” or “significantly” worse as a place to live in the last four years.

Respondents were about equally likely to blame Gov. Maura Healey and President Donald Trump for the state of the Massachusetts economy — about 34% said Healey and 33% said Trump. And a majority of respondents (58%) said they plan to vote for Healey over her Republican challenger, Mike Minogue.

2. Congestion pricing: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told the MBTA Advisory Board yesterday that her team has spoken with city officials in New York City about their experience with congestion pricing — charging drivers tolls to bring their cars into the city’s downtown core during busy times.

“Our teams have been in touch a little bit, just to understand what they have experienced, and the details there,” Wu said. “We’ve all been talking about revenue for a long time now, because the economic environment that we’re in has been straining cities in general.” Wu has previously said she’s open to congestion pricing, but the policy has never been implemented in Boston.

3. Meeting with church abuse survivors: Attorney General Andrea Campbell met yesterday with more people who survived sexual abuse from Catholic clergy as children. The state Attorney General’s Office published a report this month on abuse in the Fall River, Springfield and Worcester Catholic dioceses.

One of those survivors, Skip Shea, said Campbell thanked them for talking to investigators and said her office is advocating for new laws that would let them bring their cases to civil court if they wish.

4. East-west rail update: The project designed to connect Boston and Springfield with regular rail service by 2030 has received a $130 million federal funding boost. “This funding will allow us to upgrade the tracks and signals, increase capacity and reduce delays that have been caused by conflicts between our freight trains and our passenger trains,” Gov. Maura Healey said.

This train service has been in the works for decades; Rep. Richard Neal said it was something he campaigned for when he ran for Springfield City Council in 1977.

A Littleton moment of joy as high school seniors celebrate National Merit recognition

Suma Bhiravarasa and Lucas Wright are both Littleton High School seniors who were named Commended Students in the National Merit Scholarship Program, after earning exceptional scores on the PSAT. They both talked to GBH’s All Things Considered for our Joy Beat segment, highlighting people making a positive impact in their communities.

“The subject that has always been my favorite was always math,” Bhiravarasa said. “Math was just the subject that made the most sense to me, but what really changed my perspective about it was taking humanities classes like [Advanced Placement U.S. History] and AP Art History, and then still being able to apply the same concepts of math into these classes. So, it’s like math class teaches you logic, but then you’re able to apply it to other instances with humanities. And that kind of just opened my eyes to what I’m going to major in.”

“I am a huge, huge fan of the humanities,” Wright said. “I feel like, especially in the past few years, they’ve been kind of slighted, not just in Littleton but, kind of, just worldwide. There’s been such a huge focus on STEM that the humanities have kind of been pushed aside. ... And they’re such an important thing to me that I’m very passionate about defending them and promoting them and trying to get as many kids to follow their dreams that way as they can. And that has reflected in, kind of, not only the classes that I choose to take, but also the activities that I do outside of school. Like, I’m in the theater. I’ve been in, I think, about 14 shows throughout my whole life so far. And I’ve also written and directed a play at my local middle school.”

You can hear the full conversations with them here.