Size isn’t everything for Bay Village unit

Curbed.com recently called Bay Village "Boston's Monaco: tiny, charming and pricey," and this $1.1 million condominium at 34 Melrose St. is a perfect example.

Tucked in a quiet corner of the city's smallest neighborhood, it is one of two duplexes that recently were renovated and converted from apartments in a brownstone that dates to 1899. And it's something of a rarity in that it has three exposures and abuts a tiny city park. It's also a five-minute walk to the Public Garden, Boston Common, Back Bay, the South End and the Theatre District.

"It is 100 percent turn-key, mint-condition new construction in a perfect location," said broker P.T. Vineburgh of Charlesgate Realty Group.

The parlor level has a wide-open layout, with recessed lighting and Jacobean stained oak hardwood floors. The living area has a coat closet and a fireplace set up for gas. The dining area looks out onto the park. And the chef's kitchen has granite countertops, five-burner gas cooking, a microwave, a dishwasher, custom white Shaker cabinets and, just outside, a tiny deck perfect for a grill. The parlor level also has a half bath.

The downstairs landing has more closet space. And the garden level has two bedrooms, one of which has a small, private patio; two full, marble baths; closets; and a washer and dryer.

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Suffolk Law School behind anti-discrimination effort

Suffolk Law School's use of sting operations to crack down on housing discrimination in the Boston area was hailed by a top HUD official yesterday.

"They are very critical in the work they do to protect fair housing rights, help HUD advance our goals for fair and inclusive housing in the Boston area," HUD assistant secretary Gustavo Velasquez said, after speaking at Suffolk's Fair Housing Conference.

Using a HUD grant, Suffolk's Housing Discrimination Testing Program conducts undercover operations to expose housing discrimination. Posing as potential renters, one person will say they have children and another will not. If there are any differences in treatment, the case is referred to HUD.

"Nowadays it's very hard to prove discrimination in housing," Velasquez said. "Most of the discrimination happens in subtle ways, not the in-your-face discrimination we used to encounter."

Attorney General Maura Healey's office announced a $17,500 settlement with Coldwell Banker last month after a real-estate agent directed families with children away from landlords who did not want to pay to remove lead in their walls. Testing by Suffolk led to the judgment.

"The Housing Discrimination Testing Program has become an invaluable partner to the work of the Civil Rights Division in a relatively short period of time," Healey said at the conference.

In fiscal year 2014, HUD and HUD-funded agencies reported handling 200 new cases of housing discrimination in Massachusetts, and closed another 297 cases. Nearly half of the new cases were disability-related, while close to a quarter were racial discrimination.

Velasquez said his office also focuses on unintentional discrimination, including a recent town ordinance in Berlin, N.H., that gave landlords the right to evict anyone who had police come to their residence three times. The rule discriminated against domestic abuse victims, HUD said.

"This ordinance, neutral on its face, had a discriminatory effect," said Daniel Weaver, fair housing enforcement chief for HUD's Region 1, which includes Boston and New Hampshire. "A woman could have her home invaded by her previous boyfriend and decide she just can't call police."

The ordinance was changed to include an exception for domestic violence victims.

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61 affordable units for senior citizens 
planned in Brighton

Sixty-one new affordable apartments for senior citizens — including seven for formerly homeless seniors and five for older adults with lifelong disabilities — will be built in Brighton under plans by Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly.

The Brighton nonprofit's estimated $20 million to $22 million project at 132 Chestnut Hill Ave. would be adjacent to its existing 700-apartment campus.

The non-sectarian housing units, 56 of which would be one-bedrooms, would help chip away at JCHE's three- to five-year waiting list and Mayor Martin J. Walsh's goal to create 53,000 new housing units by 2030.

"There's just an enormous need, and the need is growing for affordable housing," JCHE CEO Amy Schectman said. "We were a logical organization to develop it because we can … make very efficient use of a small site."

JCHE's existing Brighton campus is at the back of the Chestnut Hill Avenue parcel. Residents of the new apartments would have access, via an enclosed passageway, to the campus' fitness and computer centers, library, auditorium, art room, meeting rooms and lounge areas.

JCHE was the lone respondent to a 2013 request for proposals by the BRA, which acquired the 0.3-acre site in 2004.

"We feel like this is a strong proposal that would serve an important need for the community in that it would provide a significant amount of affordable housing for seniors," BRA spokesman Nick Martin said.

The JCHE has been building affordable housing since 1965 and has close to 1,500 independent seniors at its eight buildings in Brighton, Newton and Framingham. It hopes to start the new Brighton project next spring and complete it in 2017.

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3 Kansas hospital patients die of ice cream-related illness

DALLAS — The deaths of three people who developed a foodborne illness linked to some Blue Bell ice cream products have prompted the Texas icon's first product recall in its 108-year history.

Five people, in all, developed listeriosis in Kansas after eating products from one production line at the Blue Bell creamery in Brenham, Texas, according to a statement Friday from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA says listeria bacteria were found in samples of Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Country Cookies, Great Divide Bars, Sour Pop Green Apple Bars, Cotton Candy Bars, Scoops, Vanilla Stick Slices, Almond Bars and No Sugar Added Moo Bars.

Blue Bell says its regular Moo Bars were untainted, as were its half gallons, quarts, pints, cups, three-gallon ice cream and take-home frozen snack novelties.

According to a Friday statement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all five of the people sickened were receiving treatment for unrelated health issues at the same Kansas hospital before developing listeriosis, "a finding that strongly suggests their infections (with listeria bacteria) were acquired in the hospital," the CDC said.

Of those five, information was available from four on what foods they had eaten in the month before the infection. All four had consumed milkshakes made with a single-serving Blue Bell ice cream product called "Scoops" while in the hospital, the CDC said.

"Scoops," as well as the other suspect Blue Bell items, are mostly food service items and not produced for retail, said Paul Kruse, CEO of the Brenham creamery.

The CDC said the listeria isolated from specimens taken from four of the five patients at Via Christi St. Francis hospital in Wichita, Kansas, matched strains from Blue Bell products obtained this year in South Carolina and Texas.

The five patients became ill with listeriosis during their hospitalizations for unrelated causes between December 2013 and January 2015, said hospital spokeswoman Maria Loving.

"Via Christi was not aware of any listeria contamination in the Blue Bell Creameries ice cream products and immediately removed all Blue Bell Creameries products from all Via Christi locations once the potential contamination was discovered," Loving said in a statement Friday to The Associated Press.

Via Christi has eight hospitals in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Blue Bell handles all of its own distribution and customer service, Kruse said, so it moved to pull suspect products from shelves, as soon as it was alerted to the South Carolina contamination Feb. 13. Kruse did not suspect handling of those products after they left the Central Texas creamery.

"The only time it can be contaminated is at the time of production," he said. That contamination has been traced to a machine that extrudes the ice cream into forms and onto cookies, and that machine remains off line, he said.

All products now on store and institution shelves are safe, Kruse said.

However, "Contaminated ice cream products may still be in the freezers of consumers, institutions, and retailers, given that these products can have a shelf life of up to 2 years," the CDC statement said. CDC recommends that consumers do not eat products that Blue Bell Creameries removed from the market, and institutions and retailers should not serve or sell them.

Listeriosis is a life-threatening infection caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria called Listeria monocytogenes, the CDC said. The disease primarily affects pregnant women and their newborns, older adults, and people with immune systems weakened by cancer, cancer treatments, or other serious conditions.

A person with listeriosis usually has fever and muscle aches, sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. Almost everyone who is diagnosed with listeriosis has invasive infection, meaning the bacteria spread from their intestines to the blood, causing bloodstream infection, or to the central nervous system, causing meningitis. Although people can sometimes develop listeriosis up to two months after eating contaminated food, symptoms usually start within several days. Listeriosis is treated with antibiotics, the CDC said.

___

Clayton contributed from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington also contributed to this report.

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New blood for Health Connector

Two new appointments to the Health Connector board yesterday signal a new focus on transparency as the board moves forward to smooth out kinks in the program's troubled website, according to an analyst.

"I'm cautiously optimistic," said Joshua Archambault, a senior fellow for the Pioneer Institute, "The philosophy of people being appointed is very different from positions they've taken in the past. I suspect we'll see a lot more transparency and a much more robust discussion at public meetings."

Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday named insurance executive Mark Gaunya and business consultant Rina Vertes as the newest members of the Connector board, after the recent purge of four members.

"Mark is one of the most knowledgeable insurance brokers in the state," Archambault said. "He's been a huge advocate for transparency."

The meeting yesterday also revealed a proposal from the board to cap the number of plans each carrier can list on the website in an attempt to simplify the selection process. Currently 11 carriers offer 126 qualified health plans. The goal is to get below 100 by limiting each carrier to 14 plans.

Massachusetts Association of Health Plans spokesman Eric Linzer said his group will work with the Connector "to make sure there's still a broad range of options that meet consumers' needs."

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Harsh winter hasn’t slowed home sales

Spring is typically a popular time to buy and sell homes, but local realtors say this season could be huge.

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors released pending sales figures for February last week that could indicate a promising sales season.

"Historically, February is probably one of the slowest months in real estate for Realtors making contracts," said Corinne Fitzgerald, the association's president. "In this market, the buyer and seller markets were out despite the snow. Some will say, 'I'll take a month off,' but we didn't see it this year."

Pent-up demand — fewer homes listed, and a surplus of buyers — has altered the pattern. The Realtors' group found pending sales from last month were up 2.6 percent compared to last February.

"If there was such a thing as a crystal ball in real estate to know what the future is, that would be pending sales," said Fitzgerald, broker and owner of Fitzgerald Real Estate in Greenfield. "Basically, you are predicting the next couple of months of what is going to close. Not everyone is going to close, but the majority of them do."

At Hammond Residential Real Estate in Charlestown, 58 properties — single-family, condo and multi-family — had sales pending as of Wednesday, compared to 17 last year at the same time.

"That's a 241 percent increase," said Nora Moran, senior vice president and manager of Hammond's Charlestown office.

Low inventory has created a competitive buyer's market for the past two years, but other factors are contributing to the demand.

"Low interest rates continue to drive the buyer pool, and the high rental amounts to live here," said Tracy Shea, senior sales associate in Hammond's Charlestown office. "Job opportunities are coming into the city, and, coupled with the low inventory, you roll all that in and it's a perfect storm for sellers."

Last weekend, Shea hosted nearly 60 prospective buyers at 23 Prospect St. in Charlestown. By Monday, she had five offers, and the property was under agreement by Wednesday.

Anthony Giglio, a broker and owner of ReMax/Legacy in Woburn, said recent open houses have been packed. In Medford, one open house drew 69 interested parties and yielded 11 offers. All but one was over the asking price, Giglio said. Last weekend, a property in Tewksbury listed by Giglio's offce had 50 people visit and eight offers were received.

"If (the home) is in a decent location and priced right, you are going to have a feeding frenzy," Giglio said.

Realtor Kristin Buker of Keller Williams in Braintree has seen similar results.

"We've done better than we did last year," Buker said. "We are constantly increasing, even with the weather."

From last February to this year, Buker's office has seen a 14 percent increase in sales. In February, business was up 63.5 percent in her office; and year to date, January to February, was up 41 percent on closed sales volume.

"When (properties) come on, if they are priced properly and staged, they sell quickly," Buker said. "There are a lot more buyers out there right now."

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Charlie Baker task force to focus on chronic unemployment

Gov. Charlie Baker wants to find new ways of addressing chronic unemployment problems for minorities, veterans and people with disabilities, and is forming a task force of top state officials and advocates to come up with ideas.

"There are still far too many people out there who want and need a job to sustain their families and build a life," Gov. Charlie Baker said. "In many of these communities, unemployment is nearly double the state average, which is unacceptable."

The task force, led by Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Ronald Walker, will include other top Baker deputies as well as officials at local schools and nonprofits. Last month, Baker announced the creation of a task force focused on helping prospective employees get the skills that employers want.

"The key issue here is to make sure we identify the challenges these populations are facing (and) recommend strategies that can reduce barriers to employment," Baker said. "It's clear that doing what we've been doing doesn't really get us anywhere."

In 2014, the state's black population had an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent, while the Hispanic population saw an unemployment rate of 10.9 percent. The overall statewide rate was 5.8 percent.

Tito Jackson, a city councilor who represents Roxbury, said parts of his district have unemployment rates as high as four times the rest of the city.

"My hope is that the aim is really not about restating problems, the objective I believe here is to find solutions, solutions that actually end up with people getting a job and a career," Jackson said. "It's critical that we do an analysis of what is working and what isn't working."

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New life proposed for vacant Dorchester site

A Boston developer hopes to breathe new life into a vacant patch of Dorchester land with a new mixed-use residential and retail project.

"I think this is a game-changer in my neighborhood," said Catherine O'Neill, a real estate consultant and Savin Hill resident hired by Atlas Investment Group to handle the project's community and government relations. "This site has been dilapidated and decaying for over a decade. This is just going to pick up the entire neighborhood."

Atlas' plans call for 260 residential units, 40,000 square feet of retail space and a 400-space parking garage off Dorchester Avenue, according to a letter of intent filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority yesterday.

The targeted four acres — also bounded by Pleasant, Hancock and Greenmount streets — are part of an old industrial site that's just under a half-mile from the Savin Hill MBTA station.

Eileen Fenton, chairwoman of the Columbia Savin Hill Civic Association's Planning Committee, said, "In general terms, I think people are very excited about the project — excited about something happening there and adding some vitality. That area at night tends to be a little quieter, so I think with ... people living there and businesses, it will be a great addition."

Atlas has been "smart" about getting the word out early to the community and has been listening to abutters' issues and responding accordingly, according to Fenton.

Atlas, which has the four parcels under agreement, has a phased development plan. The first phase, on the northern portion of the site, would include 64 two-bedroom condos in eight four-story buildings along Pleasant and Greemount streets, and 50 condos or rental units in a five-story building.

"The architectural design is kind of fluid," O'Neill said.

The second phase of development, on the southern portion of the site, would include two, six-story mixed-use buildings with 145 residential units along Hancock Street and Dorchester Avenue, with a 20,000-square-foot landscaped roof deck for tenants. Other planned amenities include a pool and fitness facility.

"Because the retail component may change, there's nothing completely etched in stone," O'Neill said. "We will be going back out to the community when we get retail interest."

The retail space would be on the ground floors of the two buildings. Phase-two development also would include the four-level garage.

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Charlie Baker cites increase in cyber attacks in Mass.

Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday called cybersecurity "one of the major challenges" Massachusetts faces, citing a recent 30 percent increase in attacks in the state.

"This isn't just about hackers," Baker said at a meeting of business, university and government leaders convened by Mass Insight Global Partnerships to shape a recommended growth agenda for the new administration. "It's about governments. It's about businesses."

The governor cited as one high-profile example the breach of Target's point-of-sale devices, which exposed approximately 40 million debit and credit card 
accounts in late 2013.

Such advanced threats underscore the need to create the "next generation of tools," in a state that ranks ninth in the number of cybersecurity jobs in the country, he said.

Yet the number of professionals in the field in Massachusetts is not enough to meet the demand, said Charlie Benway, executive director of the Advanced Cyber Security Center, a Bedford nonprofit consortium Mass Insight established in 2011.

Data from Boston-based labor analytics firm Burning Glass shows the number of cybersecurity job postings grew 74 percent from 2007 to 2013 — more than twice the growth rate of all IT jobs.

The center's proposal is a multi-university, cross-discipline, research and development consortium — funded by the industry and the state — bringing together graduate and postdoctoral students to work on research projects aligned with industry's interests, Benway said.

States such as New York and California are making such investments on a larger scale than Massachusetts, William Guenther, chairman and CEO of Mass Insight Global Partnerships, told the Herald.

"We can do better to compete," Guenther said.

Maryland, for example, has a cybersecurity cluster around Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the National Security Agency, while Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh has long been a leader in the field, said former University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson, who is on the board of the Advanced Cyber Security Center.

"In the cybersecurity area, we are playing catch-up," Wilson told the Herald. "Shame on us. We have many more resources here, but less collective organization. We are still too fragmented."

In states such as Maryland, governors have taken an "activist" position, 
he said.

"We have not done that yet," Wilson said, "and frankly, that's why it's a huge opportunity for the governor ... The next big thing he could take credit for is the development of a cybersecurity cluster in Massachusetts."

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MBTA tries to make amends with free day, May discount

The MBTA, desperate to win back the loyalty of straphangers and atone for winter's lost days, will let T riders through the gates for free for a day, and discount monthly passes by 15 percent for May.

"We're trying to strike a balance between acknowledging what people have gone through and expressing our gratitude to our customers and drawing our customers back and the fact that we can only spend so much on that so we have money to invest in the system," said Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, after the MassDOT board unanimously voted to approve the plan. "I want the riders to understand how much we appreciate what they went through."

The back-to-back snowstorms led to several days with no T service and weeks of delays and limited service.

Interim MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola said the free fare day will be on April 24, the Friday of school vacation.

The move will cost about $5 million.

Meanwhile, an audit of MassDOT's human resources departments found MassDOT and the MBTA are facing a buildup of unfilled positions and lack a cohesive human resources strategy.

"There is a significant backlog of open positions within the MBTA and MassDOT," said Steve Fuller, a senior manager at Ernst and Young. "That is really debilitating to the operations of the organization."

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the MBTA currently has 173 open positions. The audit said openings are generally filled in 90 days, compared to 20-30 days at similar agencies around the country.

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Health Connector scramble spikes calls

Calls from Bay Staters with problems enrolling in the Health Connector and MassHealth to an unrelated state health office have increased by 49 percent since December, according to independent state agency Health Policy Commission.

Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders attributes the spike to the 1.2 million MassHealth subscribers who need to reapply since the Connector crashed in 2012.

The calls cited in the commission's report are coming into its Office of Patient Protection, not the MassHealth or Health Connector call centers.

"We don't have any jurisdiction over MassHealth," said Jenifer Bosco of the OPP. "Hopefully this is something that will quiet down over time."

Sudders said at a commission meeting yesterday that she is "not surprised" by the higher numbers — up to 103 calls about MassHealth and the Health Connector as of March 9, from 11 in December and 12 in January.

"We have 1.2 million people who need to be redetermined by December," said Sudders. "As of this week we've added 100 staff to the call centers."

The phone calls came flooding in starting in February.

Sudders also said open enrollment, which was extended to Feb. 23 because of the snowstorm Feb. 15, likely contributed.

The OPP did not specify what portion of the calls were about MassHealth or the Health Connector.

Joshua Archambault, a senior fellow for the Pioneer Institute, said the increase is a "sign of the amount of frustration that people are dealing with a 'fixed' site."

Bosco suggested having the site direct calls elsewhere, but Archambault said "having a more efficient bureaucratic process won't fix the problem."

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Boston-Cambridge biopharma ranked first in U.S.

The Boston-Cambridge biopharma cluster plays second fiddle to the San Francisco Bay area no more.

In a reversal of fortunes, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, or GEN, this week ranked Massachusetts' cluster first in the nation, above last year's favorite — the Bay Area — followed by New York/New Jersey; San Diego; Maryland/Metro Washington, D.C.; Greater Philadelphia; Seattle; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Los Angeles; and Chicago and its suburbs.

"It's always nice to get accolades, but we can't really be satisfied until we're accelerating more cures and getting more remedies to bedsides," said Peter Abair, director of economic and global affairs at the trade group MassBio.

GEN said the Boston-Cambridge cluster ranked first on three measures: 2014 venture capital ($1.82 billion in 110 deals), National Institutes of Health funding ($312.797 million) and lab space (21.2 million square feet).

The cluster's 5,002 patents were second only to the Bay Area. And its lowest ranking — third — was on the number of industry jobs — 57,642 — behind New York/New Jersey and L.A., though it had the highest number per capita, said Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the quasi-public organization charged with administering the 10-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative enacted by the Legislature in 2008.

What GEN also didn't include was the 17 Massachusetts biopharma IPOs last year, up from nine in 2013, and seven drug approvals, up from three the previous year, Abair said.

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Bay State job growth hits fifth straight month

Massachusetts added 2,600 jobs in January, the fifth straight month the state has added more than 2,500 jobs — prompting optimism from economists.

"Finally we've reached escape velocity from the recession," said Robert Nakosteen, an economist and professor at UMass Amherst. "All systems seem to be go."

The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development said yesterday the economy added 2,600 jobs in January, with six of nine sectors seeing job growth. Some of the largest gains came in the trade, transportation, utilities, and construction sectors.

The last time the state lost jobs was in August, but even that decline was largely explained by economists as a ripple effect of the temporary Market Basket kerfuffle.

"The indications are that the trends are moving in the right direction," said Ronald Walker, secretary of the department. "There are indications that jobless residents who had given up are now feeling more confident about finding a job."

The labor force also grew in January, a sign that people are feeling more confident about their chances of getting a job. Still, Massachusetts has room for more improvement, Nakosteen said.

"We still have a ways to go before we have a real, healthy, tight labor market," he said. "If the trajectory we're on continues even through the rest of the year, and I think there's a good chance it will, I think you'll see that start to turn around."

The unemployment rate also fell 0.2, to 5.1 percent, the lowest the rate has been since May 2008.

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The Ticker

Suffolk Downs sues Maine track

The Scarborough Downs harness racing track has been sued by Suffolk Downs for allegedly failing to pay nearly $180,000 in simulcast bets placed at the Maine track.

The Portland Press Herald reported that Suffolk Downs filed the breach of contract lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland on Monday. Scarborough Downs entered a contract with Suffolk Downs in 2012 so bettors at the tracks could make wagers on races remotely.

Dunkin' Donuts to remove titanium dioxide from powdered doughnuts

Canton-based Dunkin' Donuts will change its powdered doughnut recipe so it no longer includes titanium dioxide, a whitening agent, according to a statement yesterday from a Dunkin' Brands official.

The change comes after an Oakland, Calif.-based environmental advocacy organization, As You Sow, said it found titanium dioxide nanoparticles in the white powdered sugar used in Dunkin's doughnuts based on independent laboratory tests in 2013. The group said the small size of nanomaterials makes it more likely to enter cells, tissues and organs and cause damage.

Titanium dioxide is also used in sunscreen.

Jury: Pharrell, Thicke copied for 'Blurred Lines' song, awards $7.4M

A jury awarded Marvin Gaye's children nearly $7.4 million yesterday after determining singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied their father's music to create "Blurred Lines," the biggest hit song of 2013.

Gaye's daughter Nona Gaye wept as the verdict was read and was hugged by her attorney.

"Right now, I feel free," she said outside court. "Free from ... Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke's chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told."

The verdict could tarnish the legacy of Williams, a reliable hit-maker who has won Grammy Awards and appears on NBC's music competition show "The Voice."

He and Thicke are "undoubtedly disappointed," said their lead attorney, Howard King. Thicke and Williams earned more than $7 million apiece on the song, according to testimony. King has said a decision in favor of Gaye's heirs could have a chilling effect on musicians who try to emulate an era or another artist's sound.

• LPL Financial LLC has hired Matthew Peterson as senior vice president, chief wealth strategist. Peterson will be based in Boston and will develop investment analysis tailored to financial advisers serving high-net-worth clients, and help to optimize the wealth platform. Peterson, who brings more than 20 years of experience to the role, helped found Lydian Wealth Management, and joins LPL from GM Advisory Group.

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Suit: Scratch sales to minors

A public health advocacy group has sued Star Market, claiming the supermarket chain makes it easy for minors to buy scratch tickets, after a Cambridge youth was able to buy two tickets.

"Encouraging or facilitating youth gambling is oppressive and unconscionable, and in contrast to the legislature's and society's desire to debar them from gambling while they are of minor age," the complaint says. "Star Markets lacks effective controls to prevent the sale of lottery tickets from Lottery Ticket Vending Machines to minors."

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Craig Kelley of Cambridge and his son, Cooper, the Public Health Advocacy Institute claims the lottery machines are placed close to kid-friendly food and drink, including candy and soda. The suit claims Cooper Kelley was able to buy a Mega Millions ticket and a "$500 Frenzy" scratch ticket in two Star Market locations without supermarket workers intervening. The ultimate aim of the lawsuit is to change lottery machine practices beyond Star Market.

"The goal is ideally to get these vending ticket machines out of supermarkets, because they can't really be monitored there," said Andrew Rainer, a lawyer for the Public Health Advocacy Institute. "There is a surprising number of kids gambling, and gambling is not as bad as drug usage, but it is a problem, it is a societal problem."

The Public Health Advocacy Institute is seeking an order to require Star Market to verify the age of everyone purchasing a lottery ticket through the machine, as well as damages, citing Massachusetts' Consumer Protection Act.

The Lottery said its compliance unit does regular testing to ensure tickets are not sold to minors, and that automated machines can only be installed in locations within eyesight of a manager. A spokesman for Star Market declined to comment.

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Scammers target over-50 set

Impostor scams topped the list of consumer complaints in Massachusetts last year, and people 50 or older were among the most common victims, according to a new report.

Con artists posing as other people led the list, accounting for 5,250, or 14 percent, of the 37,422 complaints filed by consumers in the state. Scam complaints followed consumer gripes about telephone service; banks and lenders; vehicles; prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries; shop-at-home and catalog sales; Internet services; television and electronic media; and credit cards, according to the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book.

"Impostor scams — such as callers posing as IRS auditors, claiming you owe money — are the most prevalent," said Mike Festa, state director of AARP Massachusetts. "These are people who have no conscience and prey on vulnerable people, often with modest incomes, who may be isolated and like that conversation, and it leads to harsh results."

People in their 50s filed the most complaints — about one in five — followed by people in their 40s and 60s, and people 70 or older.

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Maine harness track sued by Massachusetts track for $180,000

PORTLAND, Maine — The Scarborough Downs harness racing track has been sued by the Suffolk Downs horse track in Massachusetts for allegedly failing to pay nearly $180,000 in simulcast bets placed at the Maine track.

The Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/1EPw5z9 ) reports that Suffolk Downs filed the breach of contract lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland on Monday.

Scarborough Downs entered a contract with Suffolk Downs in 2012 so bettors at the tracks could make wagers on races remotely.

The lawsuit says the agreement specified how the tracks would share profits from customers who lost their wagers.

Suffolk Downs closed last year, but continues to function as a broker, managing simulcast payments for other tracks.

An attorney for Scarborough Downs says the Maine track owes Suffolk Downs some money, but disputes the amount.

___

Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com

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Asia stock markets overshadowed by US interest rate outlook

TOKYO — Asian stock markets mostly fell Tuesday as the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates dimmed the outlook for equities.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent to 18,733.31 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.2 percent to 1,989.72. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.5 percent to 24,105.60. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 percent to 5,812.40. Southeast Asian markets were mixed.

FED WORRIES: Exceptionally strong U.S. jobs data on Friday, and the higher inflation that will eventually bring, raised the chances that the U.S. Federal Reserve will bring forward the timing of its first interest rate hike since the 2008 global financial crisis. Ultra-low interest rates and other monetary stimulus have been a boon for stock markets for several years as investors sought higher returns. But a return to more normal levels for interest rates in the world's biggest economy likely spells an end to the bull market for stocks.

THE QUOTE: "The news out of the U.S. on Friday has certainly sent shock waves through all global markets, as rate rises from the Fed build momentum," said IG strategist Evan Lucas in a market report. "Commentators are getting nervous about the direction of the US market in 2015" and rate rises are likely to "spell the end to the bull market," he said.

WALL STREET: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.17 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,079.43 on Monday, clawing back from a sell-off after the jobs data. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 138.94 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,995.72. The Nasdaq composite climbed 15.07 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,942.44.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude added 16 cents to $50.16 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 39 cents to close at $50 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, gained 16 cents to $58.69 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The euro fell to $1.0796 from $1.0844 late Monday. The dollar rose to 121.86 yen from 121.44 yen.

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Early Look: How does Apple Watch stack up vs rival watches?

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple made a strong case for how you can use its upcoming Apple Watch, and the device stacks up well against the competition.

If you've waited for the Apple Watch to decide on a smartwatch, here are some things to consider in weighing whether you really need one. You'll need an iPhone 5 or newer, while the rival watches will typically work only with Android.

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PRICE

Apple Watch is among the most expensive on the market. You can get an Android smartwatch from Motorola or Sony for $250. You can get a high-end Samsung Gear S with its own cellular connectivity for $300 through AT&T, plus the monthly cost of a data plan.

The cheapest Apple Watch is $349, and that's designed for fitness enthusiasts. A stainless-steel version for everyday wear starts at $549. A luxury edition with 18-karat gold starts at $10,000 and can cost as much as $17,000.

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DEPENDENT ON THE PHONE

Apple Watch doesn't have its own cellular connection. You can make and receive phone calls and messages only if your iPhone is nearby. That said, with the exception of Samsung's Gear S and the upcoming LG Watch Urbane LTE, most other smartwatches don't have cellular service, either.

Apple Watch also doesn't have GPS for better distance tracking; Sony's SmartWatch 3 and the Gear S do. Then again, GPS is rare in smartwatches. Apple Watch will use your phone's GPS to learn your running pattern and calibrate its built-in accelerometer for better tracking the next time you go for a run and leave your phone at home.

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SHAPE

Apple is offering different sizes, colors, materials and bands, but all of the watches have rectangular faces. Motorola's Moto 360 and LG's G Watch R are among those with round faces.

Apple has a good reason, though. Round faces are fine for graphical content, such as photos and maps, but they are inefficient for text. There's a lot of wasted space on all four sides, resulting in a watch that's bigger than it needs to be. (Another plus for Apple: All models come in a smaller size, which might fit better on women's hands.)

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APPS, APPS, APPS

This is by far Apple's biggest strength. At Monday's event Apple demonstrated using the watch to request a ride through Uber, open a garage door remotely using Alarm.com and bypass the front desk when checking in at a Starwood hotel. Expect a robust offering of apps when Apple Watch goes on sale next month.

With other watches, developers have been slow to release apps given how relatively few smartwatches have been sold.

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MOBILE PAY

Apple Watch has mobile pay capabilities, as Apple Pay is integrated. Pay with a tap of your wrist at any of the nearly 700,000 locations Apple Pay is accepted. I've yet to see a similar capability in other smartwatches, even though some have NFC wireless technology for such payments. Samsung is coming out with its own payment service, Samsung Pay, but the Gear S doesn't have NFC.

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CUSTOMIZE THE WATCH FACE

With Apple Watch, once you pick the look of the watch face, you can sometimes choose the types of content to embed, such as weather or stock quotes. With existing smartwatches, you're typically limited to how the display looks.

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CONTROLS

Use the Apple Watch dial, known as the digital crown, to zoom in on a map or scroll down text. You still need to tap on the screen to slide a map or photo around, but the dial reduces how often your finger blocks the screen. Many smartwatches on the market have buttons that merely turn on the display and make menu selections.

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BATTERY LIFE

Apple says the battery should last 18 hours on a single charge. That's less than the typical smartwatch, though few go more than 24 hours. Sony's SmartWatch 3 is among the exceptions, promising two days. Though I didn't always get that much, the Sony watch offered enough for me to occasionally sleep with it on. (If you're using an app that monitors your sleep patterns, your best bet is a fitness tracker that can go several days on a charge.)

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GESTURES

The Apple Watch display is usually "sleeping" to save the battery. As soon as you lift your arm, the display automatically turns on. Many other smartwatches do that too. Where Apple Watch stands out is in detecting how long you have your arm up. At first glance, you might see that a message has arrived. Hold it longer and the full message appears.

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DOESN'T JUST REPEAT THE PHONE

Many smartwatches merely repeat notifications that appear on your phone, and notifications sometimes linger even after you've viewed them on your phone, tablet or PC. Apple says it will do a better job of coordinating that: If a notification appears on the watch, the phone in your pocket will know not to bug you with a vibration.

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So, do you need Apple Watch?

Apple Watch can do a lot — more than rival watches and probably more than you need it to do — so you'll need to decide which features and apps you'll find convenient. Ultimately, it comes down to how willing you are to pay for that convenience.

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Will Apple Watch flop? Beware the naysayers' jinx

Even before the first Apple Watch has gone on sale, pundits have been predicting it will be a spectacular failure.

The Apple Watch, which was in the spotlight at Apple's event Monday, is priced starting at $349 for the "Watch Sport" model, up to (no kidding) $10,000 for the 18-karat gold version. The devices start shipping April 24, with pre-orders starting April 10, promising to let you get alerts on your wrist for various iOS apps, among other features.

Apple, in its announcement Monday, touted the Watch as providing the ability "to send messages, read email and answer calls to your iPhone right from your wrist."

But wait. Really, why would anyone need this? People already have a device they carry around with them all the time to do this -- it's called a "smartphone," and it does everything the new Apple watches do, and more. Skeptics, myself included, have wondered who in the world would shell out hundreds of bucks for Apple's latest offerings.

Yes, Apple Watch may be a gigantic misstep. However, it's risky to bet against the Cupertino magic factory.

There's a long history of (seemingly) smart people getting tech predictions entirely wrong. For example: In 2007, Steve Ballmer, then CEO of Microsoft, said: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." He was referring to Apple's subsidy model, but in the end what matters is that Ballmer was phenomenally wrong.

And when Apple announced the iPad in January 2010, many so-called experts suggested it was a non-starter. Personally, I thought the iPad was a pointless attempt to thread the needle between a smartphone and PC. Of course, I was was totally incorrect. Since then, Apple has sold more than 200 million iPads and spawned a legion of competitors.

Now comes the Apple Watch: a device that doesn't appear to serve any valuable function except that you can glance at your wrist for info or to pick up calls instead of fishing around in your pocket for your iPhone. And, maybe, you think it looks kinda cool.

Apple has lined up several partners -- including ESPN, CNN, Facebook, Twitter and MLB.com -- which will provide text-based alerts to wearers of the Apple Watch... you know, in case it catches wildfire. Another supposed attraction of the device is that the Apple Watch will nag you to get off your butt -- to move around and get some exercise every day.

Are such features enough drive millions of units sales? I'm not going to call the Apple Watch a useless product out of the gate, since I've been wrong before in calling these predictions. But I wonder just who, exactly, is going to fork over the bucks for these premium-priced wristbands that don't do anything except act as a companion to an iPhone.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Purcell joins Dirty Water as senior VP

Dirty Water Media, the parent company of Dirty Water TV, has hired Patrick Purcell Jr. as senior vice president of sales and business development.

In this newly created role, Purcell will be at the helm of some major plans for growth and development for the emerging new media company.

For the past five years, Purcell has worked to build Patch.com from the ground up. After leading top teams in multiple departments, he rose through the ranks to become vice president of sales. Purcell was previously the director of retail advertising at the New York Post and display manager at the Boston Herald.

"I am joining Dirty Water TV because I not only see a company with great leadership and vision, but also a tremendous amount of potential," Purcell said. "Dirty Water TV is doing something original and unique within the Boston media landscape. They have only scratched the surface of their potential for growth. I have known the company's founder, Billy Fairweather, and the Dirty Water TV team for years and it is no surprise that this they have grown Dirty Water TV from an unknown startup to an established brand over the last seven years."

"We are both incredibly excited and fortunate to have Patrick Purcell join our team to help take the Dirty Water brand to the next stage of development," said Fairweather, founding owner of Dirty Water TV. "His reputation for hard work and innovation precede him. And his enthusiasm for our brand is both inspiring and exciting. He has hit the ground running, and we cannot wait to see where we go next."

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Boylston Street gets Verizon anchor site

Verizon Wireless will open its fourth flagship store, on Boylston Street this month, complete with its longtime retail standbys, including a stationary bike and a selfie booth.

"It will have an entertainment value to it," said Mike Murphy, a spokesman for Verizon. "(We want to) help customers discover all the things their cellphones and wireless devices and accessories can do to support their lifestyle."

The store, at 745 Boylston St., will be an 8,000-square-foot retail "destination," Murphy said, and will span two storefronts.

Verizon said Boston was chosen for the first store on the East Coast in part because of its roots in 
early telecom innovation.

The focus of the store, split into six areas, will be to highlight accessories such as fitness trackers and services such as home security by making products interactive inside the store.

"We're at a point where customers are looking for mobile solutions" beyond cellphones, Murphy said.

The store will include:

• A stationary bike, to use while customers test fitness-trackers.

• A selfie booth, stocked with Boston-themed props.

•  DJ equipment, so customers can mess around while trying out headphones.

•    A station to design and print custom phone cases.

Opening later this month, this store will be Verizon's fourth destination store. The other three stores are in Chicago, Houston and Bloomington, Minn.

The new store comes at a time when some retailers are packing up and focusing on online shopping.

"We're seeing things go in the opposite direction, going away from the brick and mortar quite a bit," said Chris Christopher, an economist with IHS 
Global Insight in Lexington. "Online retail sales are growing very rapidly, and nothing's going to prevent that."

Still, it may be worth a shot, Christopher said.

"There's still a need for people to walk in, touch and feel and get a sense of (products)," he said. "What a lot of stores are finding out is they could have specialty stores that fill a special niche."

Murphy said the store is also designed to attract people who don't plan to buy anything specific, but just want to look around or take a selfie.

"We think some customers will walk in with a particular product in mind, but we think there might be other visitors who don't," he said.

Verizon is also updating all of its more than 1,700 stores, emphasizing 
accessories beyond 
mobile phones.

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Watch this: Apple has a lot at stake

The most anticipated Apple product reveal since the iPad kicks off today on the West Coast, and the stakes could not be higher for Mac Daddy Tim Cook as he is expected to reveal the final version of the make-or-break Apple Watch, the company's first wearable device.

To hear industry analysts tell it, this product launch could rocket the company to an unprecedented valuation of $1 trillion — or doom it to be pigeonholed as a washed-up maker of mobile phones and laptops, ensuring the stock will sink for some time.

This is Apple's biggest launch since 2010, its first foray into a new product category since it unveiled the iPad almost exactly five years ago. Again, Apple is seeking to own the category, not just enter it.

With a variety of design options, the Apple Watch collection includes the choice of several bands that range from leather to metal links and more. With a display protected by sapphire crystal, the Watch starts at $349 for the sport version, which is meant to appeal to fitness buffs. Features are meant to complement and extend the capabilities of the iPhone, even while it's tucked away in your pocket.

I expect Cook to further detail how the Watch interacts with HomeKit, Apple's smart-home framework, perhaps showing it turning on lights and opening doors. He will surely also show off the fitness-tracking capabilities of the watch, though sadly, the company seems to already be marketing the Watch more as a game changer for fashion timepieces than for health.

With the announcement slated for 1 p.m. Eastern, Cook will need to hit these five goals for the reveal to be a success:

• A post-event stock bump, which usually is more of a dip after Apple's product reveals. So if it rises, that's an excellent sign of Wall Street confidence in Cook.

• Hit the top-tier pricing sweet spot. Estimates of up to $19,999 for the upscale Apple Edition seem too soul-crushing to comprehend. I'm more apt to believe the yet-unconfirmed reports that have the most bejeweled version clocking in like your average Rolex, $4,500. (Apple's thought process is pretty simple here: If the super-rich are willing to pay that much for a mechanical brushed-metal band, why not so for a feature-rich smartwatch?)

• Be available in stores soon. The clock is ticking on "early" 2015, which has been the company's target.

• Reveal awesome third-party bands. If Apple wants in on the fashion industry, it needs to stock a healthy supply of watchbands from designers like Kate Spade and Michael Kors, similar to the red-hot iPhone case market.

• Roll out that killer feature. Apple has already announced so-called "taptic" feedback — little taps that do a number of things such as tell you if you're walking in the wrong direction. But it will have to surprise with at least one more stunner to get that aforementioned announcement bump from the markets.

If Cook hits those five marks and there are no major surprises, we'll officially be continuing the era of "i."

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Inspector Gadget: Freebie Office 2016 for Mac is worth a tryout

Office 2016 for Mac (free download: products.office.com/en-US/mac/mac-preview)

A preview of the newest version of Microsoft's famed productivity suite is now available to Mac users who are running Yosemite (Mac OS 10.10). It's free for 60 days, giving consumers a generous opportunity to decide if the updated versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook are for them.

The good: There are many small feature upgrades that, taken together, enhance the overall experience. For instance, a new design tab for changing themes and styles is a welcome addition to Word, and PowerPoint includes enhanced animation and transition features.

The bad: This will take up nearly 3GB of space on your hard drive, so make sure you have room.

The bottom line: It's free. What have you got to lose?

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Repair shops unable to find source of van’s ‘clunk’

I have a nice '93 GMC conversion van that has been stored winters since new. There is a clunking sound when moving forward or backward while turning left or right, and it's getting worse. It has been in two shops with no results. One shop removed brake backing plates and lubricated parts, the other said they couldn't tell where the noise was coming from. I feel this needs to be repaired before something happens.

Without identifying which model van — full-size or mid-size — or from which end of the vehicle the clunking originates, troubleshooting is much more difficult. But here are several possibilities:

• If the noise is coming from the front, the most common source is a broken sway bar link. These tend to rust and when broken often generate a solid clunk. Other potential front-end culprits are worn ball joints, control-arm bushings, worn steering tie rods or drag link, a failed shock absorber, broken coil spring or loose steering box or rack. If the vehicle is equipped with a tilt steering wheel, the noise could also originate in the steering column due to a burr or wear in the upper bearing assembly. This noise is typically heard as the steering wheel returns to center.
• If the noise originates in the rear, possible culprits include a rear axle/bearing assembly, differential or spider gear problem, leaf-spring bushing, failed shock or loose exhaust.
• If the clunk originates in the brake system, it could be the brake pads moving back and forth in the calipers. If the issue is with the rear drum brakes, wear on the backing plate can cause the brake shoes to "catch" or clunk when applied.

...

I've been changing my own oil for nearly 50 years and I have some questions. Is there really a necessary difference between 5-20 and 5-30? Why do manufacturers have such odd capacities? My Escape needs 5.3 quarts, my Tacoma uses 5.5 and my son's Contour uses 5.8. Can't they just keep it in full-quart or half-quart amounts for ease of changing? If a car uses a blend can you top the odd amount with a regular oil, blend or full synthetic? Finally, when I first started to change oil I was told to put a bit of oil on the filter gasket to help it seat. Is this correct?

One of the easiest ways to improve fuel economy is to fill the engine with lighter weight oil. The less viscous the oil, the less power needed to pump it through the engine under pressure. I remember when car makers switched from 10W-30 to 5W-30, fuel economy improved by 1/10th of 1 mpg. Today's lubricants are so far superior in performance that we now see 0W-20 oil recommended for many new cars.

Regarding oil capacities, I suspect there are two main factors. First, adequate volume to continually lubricate and cool the engine's mechanical components while maintaining continuous flow during acceleration, braking and cornering. Secondly, design constraints for oil pan size, shape and location. And finally, some engines were designed to metric sizes, which are different than SAE measurements. The issue of partial quarts isn't much of a factor since today's oils come in resealable plastic bottles.

As long as the oil meets the car maker's specs, there is no harm in topping up with petro­leum, semi-­synthetic or full synthetic.

Not only is it a good idea to "wet" the rubber seal on an oil filter to help it seal, partially filling (if possible) the filter before installation helps the engine build oil pressure faster at first start-up.

...

Is it better for mileage or the car to cycle heating/cooling on and off or just leave them on?

Just leave the HVAC system on. Cabin heat is generated by waste heat from the engine in the coolant, so there's no significant cost or impact on the vehicle. The A/C compressor cycles on and off automatically to minimize cost, wear and tear.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrandstartribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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Tesla denies reports about gigafactory construction delay

RENO, Nev. — Electric-car maker Tesla Motors is denying reports that construction has been delayed on its gigafactory about 15 miles east of Reno.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), in an online job posting, says the project has been delayed at this time.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports (http://on.rgj.com/1EU6ZzG ) the delay is attributed to a change in design plans for the giant $5 billion factory that will produce lithium batteries for Tesla cars.

But Tesla spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson denies there's a delay, saying the company's plans are on schedule.

A representative of IBEW Local 401 declined comment, citing a non-disclosure agreement with Tesla.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk in September declared Nevada the winner of a high-stakes battle for the factory, which will mass-produce cheaper batteries for its next line of more-affordable electric cars.

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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com

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Wicked Good jars cupcake business

Something's cooking in Marshfield — good enough to get the attention of "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary.

The celebrity entrepreneur was in town for a promotional photo shoot with one of his most successful investments to date: Wicked Good Cupcakes, the retail and mail-order bakery headed by mother-daughter duo Tracey Noonan and Danielle Vilagie.

"They were doing $15,000 a month (in revenue) when I met them (in 2013)," O'Leary told the Boston Herald. "Now they're doing over $400,000 a month. We have all kinds of new products and plans for the year ahead."

Noonan and Vilagie opened their first retail location in Cohasset in 2011, achieving national notoriety for their cupcake-in-a-jar concept. Business exploded after their appearance on ABC's "Shark Tank" venture capital competition in April 2013, which the women described as "intimidating."

"You get only one shot in front of them and there are no retakes," Noonan said. "It's nerve-wracking on many levels."

O'Leary, the bottom-line businessman who admitted he has a weakness for cupcakes, invested $75,000, which was used to help build a commercial kitchen in Pennsylvania and a retail outlet at Faneuil Hall.

"That is one damn good jar of cake," O'Leary said during the broadcast.

"You go on the show to get the money," said Wicked Good Cupcakes COO Scott Noonan. "But the bigger impact was the media exposure and now having a partner in your camp like (O'Leary)."

He said Wicked Good Cupcakes' revenue grew 600 percent in 2013 thanks to that single appearance on "Shark Tank." Business rose 50 percent last year and is on pace to add another 45 percent this year. O'Leary made a wise choice: As part of the "Shark Tank" deal, he gets 45 cents of every cupcake sold.

Wicked Good Cupcakes won't yet share the nature of the new product that brought O'Leary to the Noonans' Marshfield home.

"But it was inspired by my 9-year-old niece Samantha (Wheeler)," Tracey Noonan said. "It's her product line. It's a yummy treat that's customizable and giftable."

The new product will launch this fall, in time for the big holiday rush.

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Lawyers predict claims for ice falls will be hard to prove

Massachusetts personal injury lawyers say they expect to see an influx of slip-and-fall claims stemming from this winter's record snowfall and ice, both of which have been so extreme that they may make such cases harder to win.

David White of Breakstone, White and Gluck in Boston said his firm has received at least 50 percent more claims this winter.

"We've never had as many phone calls as we've had this year," said White, former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association. "Some of them are slips and falls; others are people being hit by snow and ice falling off buildings."

Other attorneys, such as Frank Antonucci of Springfield, said he has yet to see a large increase in claims, but that doesn't surprise him.

"People with catastrophic injuries don't run to a lawyer; they go to the doctor," Antonucci said. "If there's an increase, I probably won't start to see it until around April. Hopefully, someone in the family was smart enough to take photos (of the scene and the injuries)."

Even with such evidence, he said, negligence may be hard to prove this year. In the past, Massachusetts property owners were 
liable only for injuries caused by "unnatural" accumulations of snow or ice, such as water pouring down the gutter of a house and freezing on the sidewalk, causing someone to slip and fall, White said.

But in 2010, the state's highest court held owners to a higher standard. Because of the availability of everything from salt and sand to shovels, snowblowers and plows, owners have a duty to take "reasonable care" to clear their property of snow and ice, the court ruled.

During most winters, that would make personal injury cases easier to win if someone failed to shovel his sidewalk or plow his driveway, said Robert Feinberg of Feinberg and Alban in Boston.

"It has definitely changed the landscape," he said, "because proving an unnatural accumulation was not always possible."

This year, however, the snow and ice have been so difficult to clear "that it could affect the calculus of what's reasonable," Feinberg said.

"In general, the more severe the injury is, the more likely a jury would be to give the plaintiff the benefit of the doubt" in the small percentage of cases that go to trial, said Scott Tucker, a defense attorney and partner in the Boston firm Tucker, Saltzman and Dyer.

"But in a year like this, everybody realizes sometimes your best efforts aren't enough," Tucker said. "I think jurors will be more likely to identify with the defendant who wasn't able to keep up with this winter's unrelenting storms because there's a good chance the jurors weren't able to, 
either. There's a whole lot of, 'There but for the grace of God go I.' "

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