GRID: Two former National Grid employees plead guilty to accepting bribes and kickbacks from a contractor to whom they handed valuable contracts. (Brooklyn Eagle)

ALSO:
• National Grid is testing artificial intelligence software in Rhode Island and Massachusetts meant to chill grocery store freezers before high power demand periods to potentially lower energy costs and grid stress. (Energy News Network)
• Proponents of the controversial New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line expansion have a new strategy to combat a popular referendum threatening the project: focus on how the proposed policy would supposedly impact other businesses. (Bangor Daily News)
• Lewiston, Maine, receives its first tax payment from the Clean Energy Connect line project and continues to support the project. (Sun Journal)

FINANCE: Baltimore’s mayor has signed legislation mandating the city’s pension funds divest from fossil fuel industry assets. (Maryland Matters)

PIPELINES:
• Pennsylvania’s attorney general appeared ready to announce criminal charges against the Mariner East 2 pipeline developer over a drilling fluid spill but canceled a related news conference 20 minutes before it started. (Associated Press)
• A federal judge dismisses a Catholic congregation’s argument that a natural gas pipeline slated to be developed on their Pennsylvania property goes against their religious beliefs. (Catholic News Service)

SOLAR:
• The growth of new community solar projects in New York City may be stunted if the state doesn’t expand community solar incentives poised to dry up in the next month, solar industry backers argue. (The City)
• Massachusetts officials release new guidelines that will be applied to energy storage projects seeking state solar incentives, but advocates say the rules will remove much of the state’s land from development opportunities. (PV Magazine)
• In central New York, a solar energy developer purchases three arrays totaling 15.6 MW and is pursuing a fourth project (PV Magazine)
• Several proposed solar facilities around Erie, Pennsylvania, wind their way through the permitting process. (Erie Times-News)

UTILITIES:
• A top Connecticut lawmaker laments the state’s recent settlement with Eversource Energy over storm recovery as a missed opportunity to impose stricter financial penalties with longer-term consequences. (Hartford Courant)
• Some New York lawmakers want Gov. Kathy Hochul to oppose a National Grid rate hike agreement on the grounds that the deal includes over a billion dollars for fossil fuel infrastructure, contradicting state climate policy. (Jamestown Post-Journal)

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: A Connecticut landfill that accepts leftover ash from waste-to-energy facilities wants to expand by dozens of acres but faces opposition from numerous environmental groups. (New Haven Register)

CLIMATE: The upcoming Maine Science Festival will include an uncommon headliner: a symphony addressing climate change. (Associated Press)

TRANSPORTATION: A Biddeford, Maine, electric boat business tries to ignore skepticism over purported problems with the cost, speed and practicality of its vessels. (Mainebiz)

Bridget is a freelance reporter and newsletter writer based in the Washington, D.C., area. She compiles the Northeast Energy News digest. Bridget primarily writes about energy, conservation and the environment. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a degree in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. When she isn’t working on a story, she’s normally on a northern Maine lake or traveling abroad to practice her Spanish language skills.