The Boston Globe - 23.08.2019

B8 Business The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019

25

THEBOSTONGLOBE

Indexof publicly tradedcompaniesin Massachusetts

A wobbly day on Wall Street left stock indexes mostly lower
as investors turnedcautiousaheadof a Friday speech by the
Fed chairman.Losses by health care, tech, and energy com-
panies, amongothers, outweighed gains by banksand con-
sumer goods makers. Stocks gave up an early gain and then
waveredafter a mixed batch of economicdata, coupled
with remarks by two regional Fed presidents who said they
don’t see a need for another rate cut, left investors less cer-
tain the central bank will lower interest rates again. They’re
hoping for a better read on Friday, when the Fed chairman
speaks in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Bond pricesfell. The yield on
the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.61 percent from 1.
percent late Wednesday. New data have donelittle to make
clear the Fed’s next move. Positive data on home sales,re-
tail spending, and jobless claims could argue against lower-
ing rates. But a key manufacturing index contracted this
month for the first time in a decade, which could help make
the case for another cut. And of course there’s the potential
for the US-China trade war to escalate and cause the econo-
my to stumble,hurting corporate profits.

Markets

Stocks endthe day mixed

DOW JONES industrialaverage

NASDAQComposite index

S&P 500 index

Globe 25index

SOURCE:BloombergNews

ByClarice Silber

ASSOCIATEDPRESS

AUSTIN, Texas — Governor Greg

Abbott on Thursday met in Austin

withexecutivesfrombigtechnology

companies to discuss ways to com-

bat extremism followingthe mass

shooting in El Paso, which killed 22

people.

Google, Facebook, and Twitter of-

ficers sat down with state lawmak-

ers and the FBI after Abbott called

for a crackdownon Internet sites

usedby violentextremists. The au-

thoritiesbelieve the gunman posted

a racist screed online shortly before

carrying out the Aug. 3 attack.

Abbott said a series of roundtable

discussionswouldincludelooking

at ‘‘keeping gunsout of the handsof

deranged individuals while at the

very sametime makingsure that we

can do so in a way that safeguards

Second Amendment rights.’’

He hasn’t proposed any new ma-

jor gun-controlmeasures. Thurs-

day’s meeting was also attendedby

several El Paso Democrats who have

pushed for tighter gun restrictions

in Texas.

Patrick Crusius, charged with

capital murderin the El Paso shoot-

ing, has allegedly confessed that he

targeted Mexicans in the attack. The

authorities also believe the 21-year-

old railed against immigrants and

the migration of Hispanics to the

United States in a rambling docu-

mentthat appearedon the 8chan

message board.

It’s unclear what the tech plat-

formswill say. None of the compa-

nies addressedquestions about their

role after Abbott announced the

meeting earlier this week.

MichaelPachter, a researchana-

lyst withWedbush Securities, said

the Texas roundtable was the first

time he has heardof a state attempt-

ing to regulate Internet activity.

‘‘The problem I think all of the

tech companieshave is they wantto

respect the free-speechrights of

theirusers, and yet there is a line,’’

Pachter said.

Abbott said in advance that the

meeting would focus on ways to bat-

tle ‘‘hateful ideologies,’’ domestic

terrorism,andcybersecurity

threats.

The Texas chapterof Gun Own-

ers of America held a small rally out-

side the Capitol beforeAbbott’s

meeting to protest the possibility of

‘‘red flag’’ laws that would allow

gunsto be removed from a person

determined to be a danger to them-

selves or others. The group also

spoke against any ‘‘social media

monitoring.’’

StephenWilleford,whoshot

back at the gunmanwho attacked a

churchin Sutherland Springs,Tex-

as, in 2017, said gun owners don’t

want more restrictions and that ‘‘red

flag’’ laws do away with due process.

The Giffords Law Center to Pre-

vent Gun Violence released a report

Thursday on firearms laws and gun

violence in Texas, and geared up for

its town hall meeting in El Paso. Ari

Freilich,an attorney for the organi-

zation, said that among the report’s

proposals is disarminghate crime

offenders and others convicted of vi-

olent crimes.

According to the Giffords report,

underTexas law thoseconvicted of

violent hate-crime assaults and hate

crimes involving ‘‘terroristic threats’’

are generally able to legally buy guns

immediately after conviction.

‘‘We’ve alsoseen this before,”

Freilich said,“so we wantto make

sure the folks having these conversa-

tionsknowthat it’s time for a really

seriousconversation that’s respon-

sive to ways in which Texans are be-

ing harmed every day by guns.’’

After massacre, Te xas brainstorms

represent the theoretical remaining

life of the old cable to be decommis-

sioned. Oncefinancing costs are in-

cluded, the entire expense equals

$158 million.

The costs will be spread among

900,000 customers in 43 communi-

ties. A spokeswoman for the

MWRA says the typical household

will see an additional $2.11 a year

on their bill for the remaining

costs. Ratepayers have alreadybeen

billed for the upfront half over the

last five years.

Fred Laskey, the executive direc-

tor of the water resources authority,

points out that the new powerline

will provide an important dual

function: It brings a backup fiber-

optic line to Deer Island, to be used

if the existing service through Win-

throp gets interrupted.

Of course, a project of this scope

didn’t get pulled off without a

hitch.

The MWRA Advisory Board has

been raising a stink for several

months about the $8 million that

Massport wanted for an easement

uCHESTO

Continued fromPageB

through its shipping terminal. Ex-

ecutive director Joe Favaloro ac-

cused Massport of extortion, saying

the port authority shouldn’t be re-

quiring such a payment: It is both a

public agency and a main beneficia-

ry of the cable relocation. Favaloro

says he plans to lodge a protest this

fall with the Department of Public

Utilities, which has authority over

the payments, and will reach out to

state lawmakers for support after

Labor Day. (Massport, meanwhile,

says the price was the result of a

good-faith negotiation, and reflects

the fair value of the easement.)

Then there’s the minor glitch

this week. Deer Island has been

running on backup power since

Aug. 5, at an extra cost of about

$30,000 a day, as crews put the fi-

nal touches on the new cable and

test it out. The power line was sup-

posed to go live Monday, but an

equipment issue delayed the big

switch until Friday.

One major infrastructure project

is all but complete. Another one is

well under way. The harbor dredg-

ing is nearly halfway done, and

three bigger cranes are coming next

year to Conley for the larger ships.

Let’s hope no hidden surprises get

left behind this time.

Jon Chestocanbe reached at

[email protected]

on Twitter @jonchesto.

Power line

through

harbor is

charged up

the capsule drops into the stomach,

it opens up into a star-shapedsys-

tem that’s designedto sit in the

stomachand graduallyreleasedos-

es of a drug. After a set amount of

time, it passes throughthe body.

Lyndra’s effort is still in the earli-

est stages, so it remains to be seen

whether the company can designa

birth control pill that can stick in

the stomachfor a month — and de-

liver drugs that entire time.

“They needto designthe ability

for the drugto be stable in the gas-

tric juices, which is a high-acidity

environment, for a full month,” said

Patrick Kiser, a biomedical engineer

and professor at Northwestern Uni-

versity who has developedrepro-

ductive health drug-delivery tools.

Kiser is not affiliated withLyndra,

uPILLS

ContinuedfromPageB

but has received funding fromthe

Gates Foundation.

An addedchallenge: The capsule

also has to be passedthroughthe

digestive system at just the right

time.

Andwhile there’s evidence to

suggest that switching from daily to

weeklypills couldkeep patientson

theirschedules,Kisersaid it’s not

clear whether a once-a-month op-

tion would make oral contraception

more effective.

Kiser pointedto the NuvaRing, a

hormone-secreting ring the Food

and DrugAdministration approved

in 2001. Because the ring lasts for a

month, experts were hopeful it

wouldprevent pregnancy moreef-

fectively than daily pills. But it has a

similarfailurerate to oral contra-

ceptives.

“Having to only remember to do

somethingoncea monthis, in a

way, easier. But it’s also potentially

fraughtwithproblems,because

you’re not in the habitof taking

your pill once a month,” he said.

Still,Kisersaid he sees several

potentialbenefits to a monthlypill,

including that it would be more dis-

creet and would offer womenan-

other choice for contraception.

Schulmansaid Lyndra is plan-

ning to run a user-preferencestudy

to glean insight into what women

think would make an oral contra-

ceptive easier to use.

“We wantto make sure that the

way we are developing the once-

monthlywill actually workwith

people’s livesin the environments

in which they live,” she said.

MeganThielking canbe reached at

[email protected].

Firm hopes for a once-monthly contraceptive

EVANRICHMAN/GLOBESTAFF/FILE 2000

‘They

needto

design the

ability for

the drug

to be

stable in

the gastric

juices...

for a full

month.’

PATRICK KISER

Northwestern

University

DeerIslandhas

beenrunning

onbackup

powersince

Aug. 5, as crews

putthefinal

touchesonthe

new cableand

test it out.

GovernorGreg

Abbott (top

center)led

Thursday’s

forumin

Austin,

convened

becauseof the

El Paso

massacre,

whichkilled22.

ERICGAY/ASSOCIATED PRESS