This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.

See past editions and sign up here to get it in your inbox.

☀️Enjoy a sunny day with highs in the 50s before a rainy weekend. Sunset is at 7:06 p.m.

There’s still time (and tickets available) to go see the International Skating Union’s World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden this weekend. If you manage to go see any of the programs, listen closely: what kind of music did skaters and their teams choose, and what factors went into making that decision?

We have some insight from Téa Mottolese, who is both an accomplished figure skater and an audio engineer for our classical music sister station, WCRB.

“The key to good program music is not always the piece of music, but the relationship the skater has to it, and their ability to communicate that through movement,” Téa wrote. “If a skater doesn’t ”feel it,“ how can the audience or the judges?”

Skater soundtracks have expanded far beyond traditional picks like Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, she writes. They can now include movie soundtracks, hip hop, folk, opera, and more. You can listen to some of her picks , like a pair of ice dancers performing to jazz by Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck.

Four Things to Know

Federal cuts and Massachusetts biotech: At a biotech trade group meeting, Gov. Maura Healey warned that if federal cuts to the National Institute of Health go through as planned, the Massachusetts economy could lose billions of dollars. Kendalle O’Connell, CEO and president of MassBio, said it could also have real impacts on people’s health . “More importantly, there are patients waiting who may have no solution, and they’re relying on us to bring a solution, hopefully a cure, to them,” she said.

More riders, more revenue: The MBTA is seeing more riders and higher fare revenue than its leaders expected, General Manager Phil Eng told the agency’s board : So far this fiscal year, fare revenue has exceeded expectations by $18 million, and more people took the T across all four major lines this February than last February. Some context: last February, portions of the Green and Red Lines were shut down for maintenance for about a week and a half each. Even the Orange Line, which operated without interruption last February and provided weekend shuttle buses this year, saw a19% increase in ridership.

Emotional support dogs and housing discrimination: The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination initiated its first complaint since 2018, stating that real estate agents “engaged in unlawful housing discrimination by denying reasonable accommodations to potential tenants with disabilities who required the use of an assistance animal.” RE/MAX Destiny will have to donate $8,000 to a Boston nonprofit that works with disabled people. This case stands out because it was initiated by the commission members on their own. The vast majority of cases that go through the commission are brought by Massachusetts residents who are not affiliated with it.

Thoughts and prayers to allergy sufferers: Maples, birches and ashes are starting to emit their pollen, according to GBH meteorologist Dave Epstein, causing people with allergies to sneeze, wheeze and generally have a hard time. Take solace in the fact that pollen seasons do end. “Maple pollen will peak over the next few weeks, and then that will start to decline,” Epstein said. “Then, we’ll go up to the oak pollen, and that will decline. We’ll get into the pine pollen and … you get the idea.” Epstein, who also has pollen allergies, said he deals by taking non-drowsy antihistamines and making sure he has plenty of tissues on hand. “I love spring so much, and I love everything that’s happening around the area now,” he said.

Mass AG Andrea Campbell targets “costly” state program to fix gas pipes

What do utility companies do with the money customers pay as delivery fees? Like every supply chain question, it’s somewhat complicated. But we have a partial answer.

As consumers see higher and higher utility bills, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell is turning her attention to an unintended consequence of a well-meaning program. The Gas System Enhancement Program was created a decade ago to encourage utility companies to repair leaking pipes.

But a decade in, it’s on track to cost almost $42 billion through the end of the century — “roughly the equivalent of two Big Digs,” said Dorie Seavey, a senior research scientist at Groundwork Data.

According to state data, spending on the Gas System Enhancement Program has gone from $291 million in 2015 to an expected $880 million in 2025. Seavey looked at the numbers for the state’s three biggest gas companies and found that delivery charges were up as much as 20% per year, and the cause was largely attributable to the Gas System Enhancement Program. It makes little sense to rebuild that infrastructure if the state’s climate goals move off natural gas.

“If we today are still pouring hundreds of millions — billions, honestly — of dollars into the gas distribution system, we are just burying that money in the ground,” said Sarah Krame, a Sierra Club staff attorney.

That doesn’t have to be the case, Campbell said. Companies should take a cheaper route: repair instead of replacing pipes or take them out of service completely and analyze alternatives like geothermal for every pipe project.

“Sweeping replacements only serve to entrench the gas distribution system and generate profits for gas companies,” Campbell said.

Read GBH News reporter Liz Neisloss’ full reporting here.