HEALTH CARE

Massachusetts to maintain coverage for children even if CHIP funding falters

Massachusetts’ top health official said Thursday that the state would maintain health coverage for thousands of children through the middle of 2018, even if Congress fails to approve new funding for the popular program on which they rely. About 172,000 children in Massachusetts from low- and moderate-income families are covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, whose cost is paid mostly by the federal government (the rest is covered by the state). Congress missed the Sept. 30 deadline for reauthorizing funding. Most Massachusetts children now on CHIP would remain covered here because they are eligible for the state Medicaid program. Marylou Sudders, the state secretary of health and human services, said Massachusetts could maintain coverage if Congress reauthorizes federal funding sometime in the next few months.Without continued federal funding, Massachusetts is at risk of losing about $148 million in the current fiscal year and $295 million annually after that, state officials said — a significant hit to an already stretched state health care budget. CHIP is a 20-year-old program that typically enjoys broad bipartisan support. But it has received less attention in Congress this year than other priorities, such as tax reform. Some states have already started telling families that funding for the program is running out, but Sudders said Massachusetts won’t take that step until the spring, if necessary. — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY

FOOD

Kendall Square to get a supermarket

In Cambridge’s Kendall Square, you can find some of the brightest minds in the world and some of the biggest companies in technology and life sciences. But much to the frustration of those smart people and the companies they work for, you can’t find groceries to bring home for dinner. That will soon change. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Roche Bros. said Thursday that they have reached a deal to put a supermarket on the ground floor of an MIT-owned office building at the heart of the bustling business district. It will be a small-format Brothers Market, on Broadway between Third Street and the Longfellow Bridge, and is expected to open in 2019. A grocery store has long been a priority in Kendall Square. About 50,000 people work there, and it has a growing residential population, but the district offers little in the way of neighborhood services. As it planned major development in Kendall Square in recent years, MIT got the message. A supermarket was the “most requested retail use’’ the university heard as it talked with residents and workers while planning a series of new buildings along Main Street and Broadway, said Steve Marsh, managing director of MIT’s real estate operations. So it’s redesigning the ground floor of the existing One Broadway office tower to make room for the grocer and will build a 300-unit apartment building next door. — TIM LOGAN

HEALTH CARE

Watchdog to review Beth Israel, Lahey merger

The state’s health care watchdog agency on Tuesday launched a detailed review of a planned merger of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, ­Lahey Health, and several other hospitals, in perhaps the largest and most complicated hospital transaction ever proposed in Massachusetts. The Health Policy Commission will analyze the deal’s effect on health care costs, quality, and access to care. The body’s decision to study the merger was widely expected. It kicks off a review that is likely to last several months and raise questions about whether such a significant merger will be good for patients and consumers. Leaders of Beth Israel Deaconess and the other hospitals pursuing the merger say they are seeking to create a large but relatively lower-cost health care system that would offer a range of routine and specialty care from Cape Cod to New Hampshire. They plan to compete against Partners HealthCare, the largest health network in Massachusetts. Officials at the Health Policy Commission said Tuesday that the combined new health system would have a market share nearly equal to Partners’ (though its revenues would be less). — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY

MARIJUANA

Commission takes preliminary vote to allow pot bars and cafes

The legal sale and consumption of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts came into much clearer focus this week, as state regulators said they are ready to authorize a wide variety of locations where consumers can buy and consume cannabis. Cannabis officials took preliminary votes to allow marijuana “bars’’ or cafes where cannabis products can be consumed on site, to permit home delivery of pot, and to regulate the sale and use of the drug at other businesses such as restaurants, yoga studios, movie theaters, and massage parlors that receive state licenses. In meetings this week, the state Cannabis Control Commission approved creation of a “mixed-use’’ license for such businesses to sell marijuana products on the side for their customers’ use on the premises. The vote opens the door, for example, for masseuses who want to use pot-infused lotions or restaurants that may want to prepare marijuana-laced dishes some nights of the week. Both marijuana “bars’’ and the “mixed-use’’ businesses like movie theaters could only offer single-serve portions of marijuana. And, as at bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, customers wouldn’t be allowed to take any leftover cannabis home. Cannabis Commissioner Shaleen Title said the creation of pot bars and licenses for other businesses should help reduce marijuana consumption in public spaces — which is illegal and can be a nuisance to others — by giving tourists, parents, renters, and others an approved place to use the drug. — DAN ADAMS

HOUSING

Baker wants to add 135,000 homes in Mass. in next eight years

Add Governor Charlie Baker to the list of people pushing for Massachusetts to build more housing. He’s even willing to step into long-running suburban zoning wars to do it. On Monday, Baker set out an ambitious target to add 135,000 homes in Massachusetts over the next eight years and set aside $10 million in state funds to reward cities and towns that do it. He proposed to tackle one of the central chokepoints that hinders new housing development in many Boston-area towns: rules that require a two-thirds majority vote to approve many zoning changes. Baker rolled out his new “Housing Choice Initiative’’ in a speech before civic leaders and housing advocates in Boston. In it, he promised to push for legislation that would allow cities and towns to lower the vote threshold for zoning changes that permit more density and reduce parking requirements. He’s proposing that zoning changes be approved with a standard, 50 percent-plus-one majority, rather than a two-thirds supermajority. The change would be a small, relatively technical, tweak to the ways new single- and multi-family buildings are permitted in much of Massachusetts — one of just 10 states, nationwide, Baker said, that require a supermajority for zoning changes. But it could make a big difference in municipalities like Newton, where development politics are often contentious and a string of big projects lately have risen, or fallen, on tight City Council votes. — TIM LOGAN