Swan song for the twilight moth?

State wildlife officials are singing the blues over the Twilight Moth, believed to be near extinction in Massachusetts. They’re proposing to add the moth, last seen near the former Devens army base, to the list of endangered species in the state, along with the Precious Underwing Moth and the Barrens Tiger Beetle, plus five plant species in the western part of the state (including Fogg’s Goosefoot) at the mercy of weeds and boat propellers. The additions to the list could be approved as early as this spring, following a public comment period.

There are currently 448 plants and animals on the state’s list of “endangered, threatened and special concern species,” which is overseen by the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Among the best known are the Piping Plover, whose nearly invisible eggs are frequently crushed by pedestrians on sandy beaches (the state has erected little wire fences around some nests), and the Peregrine Falcon, now seen only around tall buildings in Boston and Springfield. But the state is also keeping an eye on the Threespine Stickleback, an “armored” fish known for its “zigzag” mating dance, and the Southern Bog Lemming, a “chunky” rodent pretty much limited to the Belchertown Bog in Hampshire County.

Men are from Oz, women are from Kansas

A 2003 study suggests that men take an Emerald City view of their household finances, while women look at the checkbooks and see the Dust Bowl. Jay Zagorsky, a Brookline-based economist and research scientist with Ohio State University’s Center for Human Resource Research, studied survey responses from 1,195 couples and discovered that the typical husband says the couple earns 5 percent more income and has 10 percent more in total wealth than his wife reports. For her part, the typical wife says that household debt is about $500 more than reported by her husband.

These different attitudes may help explain some of the responses at “RealTalk: Making Massachusetts Work for You,” a January forum for young professionals sponsored by MassINC and United Leaders. More than 350 participants talked about problems and opportunities in the Bay State, and also took part in an instant survey. Sixty-eight percent of the men in attendance agreed with the statement “I believe I can settle down and raise a family in Massachusetts,” but only 46 percent of the women felt the same way. Similarly, 54 percent of the men rated the quality of life in Massachusetts as “very good” or “excellent,” but only 35 percent of the women agreed, with more of them settling for “good.” Finally, 31 percent of the men concurred with the statement that “Massachusetts is a welcoming place for newcomers,” but only 18 percent of women echoed that sentiment.

Sort-of-happy valley

“Good, but not perfect.” That’s life for the people of Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties, according to an exhaustive study recently published by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (www.pvpc.org). 2003 State of the People for the Pioneer Valley includes town-by-town data on 36 measures of health, education, and employment, among other areas. “Particularly positive is the quality of civics, arts, and recreation,” the authors write in their introduction, before warning that “our economic security appears fragile.”

The report gives the Pioneer Valley an “A” in five indicators: home ownership (63 percent of housing units are owner-occupied, up two points since 1990); infant mortality (the region no longer has rates higher than the state as a whole); MCAS proficiency in the 10th grade; voter registration; and support for student involvement in the arts. In only two categories did the report give an “F”: child abuse and neglect (rates 40 percent higher than for the state as a whole); and the poverty rate as of 1999 (at 12.9 percent, more than three points higher than for the state as a whole).

Notes from the racket squad

New York City recently marked the first anniversary of its “311” hotline, a 24-hour service that fields complaints from citizens on just about anything. The city reported 6.5 million calls during its first year (or almost one call per resident) and claimed that the average wait to talk to a live operator was nine seconds. A report on the system’s inaugural year noted that the most frequent type of call involved noise complaints (255,000 of them), followed by gripes about landlords (245,000). Potholes, often seen as the prototypical urban complaint, ranked ninth, accounting for only 29,000 calls.

Would such a system work in Massachusetts cities? It’s hard to say, since New York apparently doesn’t have to deal with what would be the most frequent complaint in Boston during the winter season: lawn chairs occupying parking spaces for weeks after a snowstorm.

We love the arts—the cheap seats, anyway

Bostonians have a high regard for the performing arts, especially if they’re not driving or paying for the tickets, according to a report from the Performing Arts Research Coalition (a collaborative project that includes the Urban Institute and the Pew Charitable Trusts). The report is based on 2002 polling of approximately 800 residents in each of 10 areas: the state of Alaska and the metropolitan areas of Austin, Boston, Cincinnati, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Sarasota, Seattle, and Washington, DC. (It’s available at www.operaamerica.org/parc.) Boston-area residents were most likely to feel that performing arts improve the quality of life in their community. Sixty-four percent of all respondents “strongly agreed” with the statement–though less than half of those under 25 shared this view. The most tepid support for the statement came in Cincinnati, where only 47 percent agreed. Seventy-eight percent of Boston-area respondents reported having attended at least one performing arts event in the previous 12 months, more than any other region. Boston was first in attendance at the theater (62 percent), dance (40 percent), and the symphony (38 percent) but was only fifth in attendance at the opera (10 percent). By comparison, 56 percent reported attending a professional sports event during the same period, putting Boston in fifth place. (Denver and Seattle tied for first, with 60 percent.)

But those ticket prices sting: 35 percent of Bostonians said that the cost of admission was a “big reason” why they do not attend more arts events, higher than in any other area. Not surprisingly, people from households earning less than $25,000 a year were most likely to agree with the statement, but 26 percent of those from households earning more than $100,000 shared the complaint. Boston also tied for second with Pittsburgh (and behind Seattle) in the number of people who said that transportation or parking difficulties were big impediments to attending events. Twenty-three percent of all respondents, and 38 percent of those over 65, took this view.

You are where you read

It’s a little disconcerting to realize that businesses are compiling such detailed information about their customers, but we couldn’t resist spelunking in the Amazon.com Web site to find out which politically oriented books are selling where in Massachusetts this spring. According to the online retailer, Boston is especially interested in Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Irish Mob and The Prince of Providence: The True Story of Buddy Cianci, while Cambridge is curling up with An Elusive Science: The Troubling History of Education Research and Worcester is engrossed in A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America. In Somerville, which happens to have a new mayor, there’s been a lot of interest in two classics of urban planning, The Death and Life of Great American Cities and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

The Bay State also reflects the left-vs.-right wars on the national best-seller lists. While Al Franken’s liberal Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them is doing well across the state, Michael Moore’s Dude, Where’s My Country? is especially popular in Acton, Jamaica Plain, and Westford. On the other side of the spectrum, Ann Coulter’s Treason is big in Billerica, Foxborough, Leominster, Marlborough, and Norwell.