After 25 years of rolling out other company’s medical devices, St. Paul-based contract-manufacturer Minnetronix Medical has begun designing some of its own.

The MindsEye Port — a small but expandable insert used in deep-brain surgery — received clearance from the federal Food and Drug Administration last year for the treatment of stroke, cancer and other conditions. MindsEye is a few months away from hitting the market, and if regulatory reviews are favorable, could be followed next year by a spinal catheter that removes blood from cerebral spinal fluid after an aneurysm.

Those aren’t the only innovations that have chief executive officer Jeremy Maniak feeling bullish about company growth. Over the past year, Minnetronix has brought on 75 new workers — roughly half of them engineers — to its headquarters at 1635 Energy Park Drive, just off Snelling Avenue, bringing the total workforce there to more than 400 employees. Maniak, who joined Minnetronix in 2010, was named the company’s chief executive officer in early 2020, weeks before the pandemic officially hit Minnesota.

$6 MILLION EXPANSION

A year-long, $6 million physical expansion has remodeled the three-building campus, growing its footprint from 120,000 to 160,000 square feet, thanks in part to $1 million in grants and loans from the state Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

“We are 100 percent in St. Paul,” said Maniak, in a recent interview. “Obviously, we have a global supply chain. We reach all over the world for parts, but all the high-end testing and assembly happens right here in St. Paul. (We’re) designing, developing and manufacturing a hundred different medical devices on any given day.”

Maniak said the company’s customer base has doubled in five years, and there are 85 contract projects in the pipeline.

It’s the kind of growth that has caught the attention of city and state leaders eager to boost the city’s business profile in the areas of technology and innovation.

Minnetronix is privately backed by Altaris Capital Partners, a New York-based investment firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. Altaris, which had held minority ownership in the company since 2016, became the majority owner in February.

“MINNETRONIX DAY”

On Monday, St. Paul Mayor Carter and DEED Commissioner Steve Grove are scheduled to tour the expanded facility with Maniak and celebrate a ribbon-cutting for the renovated campus. The mayor plans to declare Monday “Minnetronix Day” in St. Paul.

Part factory, part research facility and part corporate headquarters, the Minnetronix campus is made up of some two dozen labs, a traditional factory floor, “clean rooms” for sterile manufacturing and corporate offices. From there, devices are shipped to medical clients around the world, from start-ups to global companies, including Plymouth, Minn.-based Smiths Medical and Boston-based ActivSurgical.

“There’s not many companies in the state that touch this many medical technologies,” Maniak said. “We’ve seen really strong investment in healthcare and in medical technology. When people finance new innovations and therapies, and better, faster, cheaper delivery of healthcare, that helps drive growth, and we’re positioned well to take advantage of that. We really brought on a lot of folks, from engineers to assemblers to key leadership positions across the whole company.”

Over the years, Minnetronix has concentrated its focus on four core segments of the med-tech industry: fluid and gas management, optical systems, RF/EM energy equipment and the stimulation and critical active wearables markets, such as glucose-monitoring machines.

“THRIVE” MODE

While demand for non-essential medical services all but dried up during the early days of the pandemic last year as hospitals deferred non-critical care, other clients relied on the company’s manufacturing and supply chain expertise as much as ever.

“All of those customers needed our help, they just needed our help in different ways,” Maniak said. “(We were) helping our customers slow down and pause if they were non-essential, and then in many cases accelerate delivery and accelerate supply chains. The two ends of the spectrum. We saw the extremes of both. … At first it was ‘survive,’ and then we moved to ‘thrive.’ We were able to get into ‘thrive’ mode pretty quickly.”

He added that “one of the staples of our workplace culture is ‘What can you do to help?’ and ‘What can you control?,’ rather than getting lost in what’s happening to you. The world is very volatile. We can’t control that. But we can control how we react and how we show up in that environment.”

For the campus expansion, Gardner Builders of Minneapolis worked with Pope Architects of St. Paul. Intereum of Plymouth. designed the interior spaces.

Posted: Sep 20, 2021 / 05:47 AM EDT / Updated: Sep 20, 2021 / 05:47 AM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – On Monday, September 20, GasBuddy reported a weekly update on Albany gas prices. All Albany-based data is from GasBuddy’s daily survey of 546 stations in Albany.

Albany gas prices have not changed in the past week, averaging $3.24/g Monday, September 20. Gas prices in Albany are 8.5 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and 95.7 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

The cheapest station in Albany is priced at $2.90/g Monday, September 20 while the most expensive is $3.39/g, a difference of 49.0 cents per gallon. The lowest price in the state Monday, September 20 is $2.97/g while the highest is $3.89/g, a difference of 92.0 cents per gallon.

The national average price of gasoline has risen 1.3 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.18/g Monday, September 20. The national average is up 1.8 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands $1.01/g higher than a year ago.

Historical gas prices in Albany and the national average going back 10 years:

• September 20, 2020: $2.28/g (U.S. Average: $2.16/g)
• September 20, 2019: $2.66/g (U.S. Average: $2.67/g)
• September 20, 2018: $2.86/g (U.S. Average: $2.85/g)
• September 20, 2017: $2.69/g (U.S. Average: $2.58/g)
• September 20, 2016: $2.20/g (U.S. Average: $2.21/g)
• September 20, 2015: $2.36/g (U.S. Average: $2.29/g)
• September 20, 2014: $3.54/g (U.S. Average: $3.34/g)
• September 20, 2013: $3.70/g (U.S. Average: $3.48/g)
• September 20, 2012: $4.07/g (U.S. Average: $3.84/g)
• September 20, 2011: $3.77/g (U.S. Average: $3.57/g)

Neighboring areas and their current gas prices:

• Waterbury- $3.14/g, up 2.4 cents per gallon from last week’s $3.11/g.
• Hartford- $3.11/g, up 1 cent per gallon from last week’s $3.10/g.
• Springfield- $3.04/g, up 2.4 cents per gallon from last week’s $3.02/g.

“Gas prices have been stuck in somewhat of a limbo and remain near 2021 highs long after Hurricane Ida has dissipated. The damage done to oil production has been left behind and so far has prevented prices from resuming their seasonal decline,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “Ida caused the loss of over 30 million barrels of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, and with gasoline demand remaining relatively high for the season, oil inventories remain relatively tight, preventing any organized decline in gas prices for the time being. As a result, we may have to wait a couple more weeks until hurricane season slows for oil inventories to start to rise and gas prices to fall.”

DIVISION 1

*Jacob Leonard threw three TDs, including the game-winner with 1:02 left, as Taunton improved to 2-0 with a 26-20 win over Durfee.

*Andrew Wetterwald kicked three field goals as Andover defeated Acton-Boxboro, 23-16.

*Mac Gulla ran for 285 yards and two TDs as Franklin defeated Brockton, 37-7.

*Jackson Delaney caught five passes for 133 yards and three TDs as St. John’s Prep rolled to a 49-14 win over Central Catholic.

*Estarling Morales had a solid all-around game as he ran for 105 yards and a touchdown, while registering 10 tackles in Lawrence’s 27-6 win over Somerset Berkley.

DIVISION 2

*Conner Zukowski completed 19-of-29 passes for 302 yards and four touchdowns as Mansfield outlasted North Attleboro, 31-29, in double overtime. Trevor Foley was the prime target as he caught seven passes for 119 yards and three scores.

*Liam Dillon intercepted three passes, one he returned for a touchdown, as well as making six solo tackles in Woburn’s 50-14 win over Burlington.

*JC Petrongolo completed 15-of-25 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns as Catholic Memorial defeated LaSalle, 42-26.

*James Murphy threw for 257 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Reading edged Barnstable, 18-14.

*Jack O’Connell completed 16-of-23 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for two more scores as North Andover beat Beverly, 34-0.

*Dan Craig ran for 144 rushing yards and three touchdowns, while throwing for 160 yards and two more scores as Chelmsford beat Lexington, 35-20.

*Cian Nicholas ran for 166 yards and a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns as Hingham held off Arlington, 21-14.

*Greg Rosenkranz caught three passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns, while returning an interception for a third score as Boston Latin defeated O’Bryant, 34-12.
*Nicholas Araujo booted three field goals and added a pick-six as Milford cruised to a 44-7 win over Wellesley.

DIVISION 3

*For the second straight game, Will Kelly rushed for three touchdowns as Dartmouth defeated Greater New Bedford Voke, 35-0.

*Dom Gird rushed for 164 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Billerica defeated Westford Academy, 22-14.

*Michael Landolfi completed 12-of-17 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns as Hanover rolled to a 34-0 win over East Bridgewater.

*Mat Nadworny rushed for 179 yards and two touchdowns to give Masconomet a 35-24 win over Peabody.

*Chase Vaughan threw for 300 yards and three TDs as Milton took care of Framingham, 34-6.

DIVISION 4

*Brady Madigan caught five passes for 167 yards and four touchdowns as Duxbury held off Scituate, 27-26.

*Jacob Briggs ran for four touchdowns and threw for a fifth as Middleboro cruised to a 48-21 win over New Bedford.

*Lucas Stallard caught seven passes for 165 yards and two TDs, while recording 10 tackles as Newburyport beat Bedford, 42-27.

DIVISION 5

*Alex Carucci threw three touchdown passes and also ran for a score in North Reading’s 46-9 win over Greater Lawrence.

*Troy Irizarry ran for 93 yards and three touchdowns as Bishop Fenwick rolled to a 48-7 victory over Arlington Catholic

*Julien Acevedo-Torres rushed for 186 yards and two touchdowns as Whittier defeated Malden, 28-7.

DIVISION 6/7

*Jake Croke ran for four touchdowns and threw for a fifth as Norwell defeated Archbishop Williams, 34-24.

*David Brown rushed for 135 yards and three TDs, while returning a pair of punts for scores as St. Mary’s rolled to a 62-14 win over Bellingham.

*Mashpee earned its first win as Kayden Eaton rushed for 131 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-6 win over Nantucket.

*Malcolm Crispin ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns as Latin Academy defeated Weston, 51-6.

*Randy Bermudez rushed for 137 yards and a touchdown as East Boston won its second straight, 40-16, over Brighton.

*Daveon Scott ran for 200 yards and scored twice in the overtime sessions as Holbrook/Avom edged Wareham, 28-22.

*Emanuel Pires amassed 147 all-purpose yards and scored three times as Matignon/Cathedral beat Atlantis Charter/Bishop Connolly, 42-6.

*Angel Velez ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns as Tri-County beat South Shore, 27-8.

DIVISION 8

*Nathan Razza completed 12-of-17 passes for 188 yards and two TDs, while Aidan Baker caught seven passes for 130 yards and two scores as well as eight tackles and a fumble recovery as West Bridgewater outlasted Fairhaven in overtime, 33-27.

*Anthony Plumb completed 9-of-17 passes for 242 yards and four TDs as Georgetown coasted to a 44-8 win over Roxbury Prep.

*Nick Sawyer ran for 228 yards and two TDs as Lowell Catholic rallied to defeat Ipswich, 27-21.

*A.J. Pallazola caught a pair of TD passes, returned an interception and a kickoff for scores as Manchester-Essex rolled to a 49-0 win over Nashoba Tech.

This article has been archived. Find the latest coverage on Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie here.

NORTH PORT, Fla. (WFLA) — North Port police officers and FBI agents searched the Carlton Reserve Saturday to find Brian Laundrie, fiancé of missing North Port woman Gabby Petito.

The North Port Police Department tweeted that Laundrie’s family believes he went to the reserve earlier in the week. His family previously said he was last seen Tuesday while wearing a hiking bag with a waist strap.

North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor said this is being investigated as a missing person case since there still is no crime for officers to investigate.

“We can’t just go just pulling people in,” Taylor said. “He certainly has the Fifth Amendment (right) not to speak.

The initial search focused on the 200 acres at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, where Taylor said Laundrie is believed to have entered the reserve. The search then expanded into the Carlton Reserve, which encompasses 25,000 acres.

Taylor said 50 officers from five different local agencies had joined the search for Laundrie. So far, vehicles, K9s, air units, and drones were deployed in what is being called a grid search.

Police say evidence bags containing Laundrie’s clothes were used for the K9s in the search. They were taken Friday while officers were at the Laundrie home.

“We’re hopeful that he’s out here,” Taylor said. “Certainly, we prepare for all different possibilities, but you know, our goal is to locate him and bring him back to North Port.”

Taylor said Laundrie could be out in the nature preserve for months if he wanted, depending on his skills.

Law enforcement called off the search later in the evening “due to darkness” but will pick back up Sunday morning.

It sure looks like the Red Sox have something in Garrett Richards as a reliever.

Richards closed out the ninth inning of the Sox’ 8-6 win on Sunday in emphatic fashion, needing just eight pitches to wrap up the win and complete the sweep.

It was a relatively easy series against the Orioles, who have just 47 wins and need a few more over the final two weeks to avoid going down as one of the 25 worst teams in MLB history.

There weren’t a lot of moments where the Red Sox were tested this weekend, but there were a few.

Here’s what the Red Sox have learned over the last week, and a few things they still need to find out:

Learned: Richards looks like a closer.

Facing Ryan Mountcastle, the first-ever 30-homer rookie for the Orioles, Richards threw a fastball just off the plate, then came back with three straight sliders dotted on the lower-outside corner for a strikeout. It was unquestionably one of the most impressive at-bats of Richards’ season.

He got the next two outs on four pitches. The radar gun flashed 98 mph, 3 mph faster than his usual max velocity.

The Red Sox aren’t exactly flush with late-inning options right now, and Richards looks like the best choice on most nights. He has an 0.87 ERA with 25 strikeouts and eight walks in 20 2/3 innings since joining the Sox’ bullpen. He’s yet to allow a home run.

Matt Barnes admittedly struggled in his first outing back from his bout with COVID-19 and still has a ways to go before he wins back the trust of manager Alex Cora.

Adam Ottavino hasn’t pitched in four days, and Cora offered no reason why after Sunday’s game, saying only that Ottavino “is OK.”

Hirokazu Sawamura hasn’t looked great since his return from the COVID-19 related injury list.

Garrett Whitlock left Sunday’s game with right pectoral tightness after Rafael Devers noticed the pitcher’s injury from third base. He’s considered day-to-day.

This looks like Richards’ job to lose, though Cora said he’s taking it day by day.

“We feel that way,” Cora said. “We’ve got stuff back there. That’s the way to go. People talk about the ninth inning, but today the sixth and seventh were big, too. So, we’ll mix and match and keep doing it that way.”

Have yet to learn: How will Kyle Schwarber get into the lineup? 

“It’s just Bobby (Dalbec),” Cora said Sunday, when asked why Schwarber was on the bench twice in three days. “Let’s put it that way. Bobby has to play against every lefty, and you have to pick and choose with Alex Verdugo and Kyle, that’s the bottom line and Kyle will be fine. He’ll play both games against the Mets (Tuesday and Wednesday). They’re going with two righties and Alex will play those games against righties, we’ll find a way to do that but this is more about Bobby Dalbec than anything else.”

With Dalbec swinging the bat the way he has, it has to be hard to keep him out of the lineup against right-handers, as Cora has done. Either way, Cora will have an elite pinch-hitting option late in games.

Learned: The top of the rotation

Nathan Eovaldi bled out a few runs in the third inning Sunday, but still struck out eight and continues to rank as the most valuable starting pitcher in the American League based on WAR. He’s fanned 188 over 173 2/3 innings with a 3.53 ERA and he’s yet to miss a start.

Chris Sale is still trying to find consistency and his velocity is a concern, but between Sale and Eovaldi, the Sox are 12-2 in their last 14 starts and the two have a 2.32 ERA.

Not learned: Who starts the Wild Card Game?

Eovaldi has been the ace all year, but Sale is the de facto leader of this team. Eovaldi has experience coming out of the bullpen in big games. So too does Sale. It’ll probably depend on the matchup, but it’s not a bad problem to have.

Learned: The best defensive alignment

Verdugo in left, Kiké Hernandez in center and Hunter Renfroe in right field seems to be the way to go, though Schwarber will play left against lefties.

Not learned: Who is the second baseman? 

José Iglesias has been an underrated pickup and somewhat of a gift for the Red Sox, who signed him on Sept. 6 after the Angels released him to let him catch on with a playoff-caliber team. He has a premier glove and has brought reliability to a position that has been anything but reliable this year.

Unfortunately, he’s not allowed to be on the playoff roster because he wasn’t in the organization before Sept. 1. Christian Arroyo is due to come back from his bout with COVID-19 this week. It’s likely Arroyo’s job to lose, but Cora could ride Iglesias’ hot bat to secure the Sox make the postseason before handing the job to Arroyo.

Mansfield and North Attleboro compete in the Hockomock League, but since they are in different divisions, they haven’t locked horns for seven years.

The two met Friday night in a game for the ages.

Mansfield rallied to force overtime then found a way to prevail in double-overtime, 31-29, to extend its current winning streak to a state-best 18 games. Hornets coach Mike Redding, himself a former North Attleboro standout (class of 1979), was thrilled the sides were able to work out an agreement.

“We had three opens that we needed to fill and we were able to get Stoughton and St. John’s of Shrewsbury,” Redding said. “Both of us were still looking around and we just decided to hook up. Next game, this could be a league game as we might be in their division.”

An ambitious nonleague schedule was something Redding was admittedly concerned about, given the relative lack of experience on his roster. If ever there was a need to display patience, this is the one for the Hall of Fame coach.

“With the youth we expected a lot of inconsistency. There are moments when we haven’t been very good, then our young skill kids show flashes of brilliance which shows that they are capable,” Redding said. “The challenge are facing is getting them to do it for a full 48 minutes. Against North Attleboro, we really did nothing in the second and third quarter, but we did enough to keep us alive.”

Trailing 15-7, the Hornets tied the score when Conner Zukowski marched his team 80 yards in 10 plays, capping off the drive by throwing a 4-yard TD pass to Trevor Foley. The duo hooked up on the ensuing two-point conversion pass to force overtime.

In the first extra session, Zukowski connected with Foley on a 10-yard TD pass, then hit Aidan Sacco for the two. North Attleboro responded when Tyler DeMattio scored from the 1, then Chase Frisoli extended the game into a second overtime by hitting Gavin Wells to deadlock the score at 23.

“When we got into overtime, we were hoping to go on defense first,” Redding said. “But when we started on offense, we just decided to throw the ball right away and that gave the kids confidence. Our defense then played well, but DeMattio just made an unbelievable run.”

North Attleboro scored in the second overtime, but failed to get the ensuing two points. That would prove costly when Zukowski threw his fourth TD pass, a 10-yarder to Rocco Scarpellini, followed by the game-winning conversion pass to Foley.

“Before the season, we were thinking realistically, if we won two out of three, that would be good, but now we have a shot at all three,” Redding said. “That would be nice for us heading into league play.”

Sweet 16

1. CATHOLIC MEMORIAL (2-0) – Not bad when the old ballcoach can find plenty of flaws after a 42-point effort.

2. EVERETT (2-0) – Crimson Tide opened league play with a predictable outcome against overmatched Somerville.

3. ST. JOHN’S PREP (2-0) – Imagine how upset the Eagles’ coaches and players would have been if we actually picked against them last Saturday.

4. XAVERIAN (1-1) – Hawks rebound nicely with a win over Bridgewater-Raynham.

5. CENTRAL CATHOLIC (1-1) – Back to the drawing board for the Raiders, who were manhandled against St. John’s Prep.

6. LINCOLN-SUDBURY (2-0) – Warriors controlled the Melrose game from the get-go.

7. ANDOVER (2-0) – Little bit of late-game trickery saved the Golden Warriors against upstart Acton-Boxboro.

8. MANSFIELD (2-0) – Good to see Mansfield and North Attleboro putting together a game for the ages.

9. DUXBURY (2-0) – The names change but the Dragons always seem to find a way to beat Patriot League competition.

10. READING (2-0) – Huge statement win against Barnstable stamps the Rockets as a contender in Div. 2.

11. MARBLEHEAD (2-0) – Magicians lighting up the scoreboard.

12. BARNSTABLE (1-1) – Redhawks hung tough on the road against a very good Reading team.

13. NATICK (2-0) – Shades of yesteryear when Natick and Walpole was an annual must-see event.

14. SCITUATE (1-1) – Sailors gave Duxbury all it could handle Friday.

15. KING PHILIP (2-0) – Warriors clamped down on Needham to remain unbeaten.

16. MARSHFIELD (1-1) – Contributor Eddie Asaley told us Methuen-Marshfield should have been listed as a game to watch; he was right.

The humongous bill that Democrats in Washington, D.C., are assembling is a slap in the face to Americans who work, pay taxes and support their families.

The bill demeans work ethic and glorifies government handouts. It sends a message that work and self-sufficiency are for suckers.

The social spending bill will give monthly payments to almost all parents based on how many children they have, regardless if anyone in the family works. Democrats are also promising virtually free child care until kids reach age 5, free community college and, near the end of life, new Medicare and elder care benefits. The bill also includes 12 weeks paid leave each year for anyone who claims a family member needs care.

These freebies are rolled into one massive bill that is allegedly expected to run about 10,000 pages and, of course, will likely go unread by anyone, including your state’s representative.

Why are Democrats rushing? Under the U.S. Senate rules, they have only one shot to pass a bill before the end of the year with their slim majority. Democrats don’t have a mandate to transform America into a European-style welfare state, but they’re determined to ram the bill through anyway.

Democrats are also eyeing the 2022 midterm elections, which is when they could lose power. “Many of us feel that this is the biggest opportunity we will have,” explained Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) It’s vote buying on a grand scale.

This bill pours money down a rathole. It allocates a whopping $45 billion to make community college free. Students won’t have to spend even $1 on tuition or fees, or pursue a course of study that prepares them for work.

Most students don’t finish community college within two years. Currently, 42% of community college students graduate within four years. A big reason is a lack of academic skills when they enter. Nothing in this program will change that.

One of the bill’s costliest items is paid family leave, with an estimated price tag of $225 billion over 10 years. It’s the mother of all family leave plans. Benefits are paid by the federal government based entirely on an employee’s word that a family member needs care. No doctor’s note or medical records required. Even the self-employed are eligible. It’s an invitation to big-time fraud, and a nightmare for small businesses that would have to hire a replacement on short notice and yet still keep the job open for the employee on leave.

The overall bill is being touted as a way to reduce poverty. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brags that extending the monthly payments to parents will “cut child poverty in half.” Nonsense. Government entitlements don’t cut poverty or improve mobility for poor children — a working parent does.

This bill lacks incentives to work. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) is urging a work requirement for parents to receive their monthly payments. His party should listen.

House and Senate committees are racing to finish drafting this gigantic bill, but what’s needed is public input. Most Americans don’t want to swap the American ideal of success through hard work for government paternalism, but that’s what the bill does.

The U.S. already has a generous social safety net, including federal programs to subsidize housing, food, child care, college, medical care and even cellphones for the poor.

Europe demonstrates the dismal results of a declining work ethic and ever-expanding government entitlements. Europeans have a lower gross domestic product per capita because they work fewer hours. They have to settle for a lower material standard of living.

Everything Europeans manage to buy is laden with hidden taxes to support their “caring” governments. Working-class Europeans are heavily burdened by these taxes.

That is the choice Americans face: Adopt European-style entitlements and the suffocating taxes to pay for them, or work hard and have more spending money to buy what you and your family want.

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Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and author of “The Next Pandemic.”

California’s 13 largest wildfires have occurred since the Cedar fire burned 2,820 structures and killed 15 people in San Diego County in October 2003. With the Dixie and Caldor fires front of mind now, it’s maddening to hear lip service from lawmakers and bureaucrats, and see how little has been done to take basic steps to reduce wildfire risks.

Perhaps the most maddening failure of all is the federal government’s refusal to take responsibility for properly maintaining the 57% of California forest land that it owns.

A recent story by The San Diego Union-Tribune detailed how frustrated private forest owners were with the U.S. Forest Service and how it has done little to adopt practices that would minimize the risk of blazes starting on federal land and crossing into private holdings. As the story noted, between environmental laws and pressure from the logging industry, federal forest overseers have felt constrained in what they can do.

But at a fundamental level, the U.S. Forest Service simply never gives enough credence to a basic truth of forest health. A policy of emphasizing fire suppression without active efforts to clear forests of dead trees and other flammable growth makes the chances of huge conflagrations much more likely.

To his credit, Gov. Gavin Newsom has stepped up efforts to thin state forests. But he needs to reach out to the White House and point out the obvious: Until federal policy on federal land is smarter, California’s ability to reduce wildfires during the climate emergency is limited.

At 40, Jake Gyllenhaal is focusing on storytelling, serving as both star and executive producer of Netflix’s “The Guilty.”

An ingenious thriller, “The Guilty” follows a 911 emergency operator who tries to alert authorities and maintain contact with his desperate caller, a kidnapped wife being driven God knows where.

A remake of the award-winning 2018 Danish film of the same name, “The Guilty” puts Gyllenhaal front and center for 90 minutes as 911 dispatcher Joe Woods.

It immediately becomes clear Joe is not your usual 911 responder. No Mr. Nice Guy. He’s rude, he lectures, he’ll even hang up.

“Yeah,” Gyllenhaal said in a Zoom interview, “there’s a real toxicity to him. From the beginning, he’s pushing people, saying things he shouldn’t. It’s not his job, right?”

Joe, we learn, is a cop put on this desk job while an abuse case is investigated. That’s a departure from the original.

“Immediately upon transposition into America and then to Los Angeles, it just set a different tone,” Gyllenhaal said. “A tone of the world collapsing around this character, like Dante’s Inferno.”

“The Guilty” Gyllenhaal sees as speaking to, “the whole issue of Joe and his daughter, Joe coming to terms with his own truth emotionally.”

Despite its escalating tension, don’t call this a one-man show. “We shot this in 11 days at the height of COVID so it was just inherently tense.

“We shot 20 pages a day with 20- to 30-minute-long takes that are very highly choreographed with the cast assembled on Zoom from different parts of the world.”

They range from Riley Keough as the distraught mother and Peter Sarsgaard as her disturbed husband to Ethan Hawke, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Paul Dano.

“I was most worried about who we would cast as these calls that came in. Because performance,” Gyllenhaal explained, “is really about listening.

“As any actor would tell you, Rule No. 1 with acting is: You need to listen, which becomes harder, not just for actors, over time.

“These great actors agreed to do it in this period of time and every call that came in was just so alive. All the calls are live phone calls (none pre-recorded), which made my job pretty easy. I just really had to listen.

“And, yeah, there were definitely moments that were hard. Technical things. But I never really looked at it like it was a one-man show. I looked at it like, there are all these incredible performances going on around me.”

(“The Guilty” opens in theaters Friday.)

New research finds female undergrads rush to nail down their first job faster than men, and in doing so may miss better offers.

Academics studied job-hunting habits and initial salary offers for more than 1,300 undergrads at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University between 2013 and 2019.

There was no gender difference in the number of job offers, nor the tendency to turn down a job offer. But female students were more inclined to accept a job earlier than male classmates, by an average of one month.

Among those accepting offers during the summer (August) heading into their last year of school, women earned 17% less than men, on average. By graduation, the wage gap had narrowed to 10%. (The data takes into account different majors — marketing vs. finance — and GPAs.)

Granted, that 10% gap is still problematic — it worked out to an average gap of around $6,000 — but the research suggests that being a bit more patient can pay off.

Why the difference between genders in timing?

The well-established behavioral fact that men tend to be more confident — overly confident — than women is at play in the job search. The researchers estimate that about 25% of the wage gap can be attributed to men’s greater confidence.

Waiting, of course, raises the risk one might not land a job. Men were more OK with that, and more comfortable with risk-taking than women.

What women graduates can do

Negotiate if you get a summer job offer. If you interned at a great place, and they offer you a job before you head back to school for senior year, that’s a great achievement. But slow down. Are you absolutely sure you want this job? If the answer is yes, don’t retreat into a “I can’t believe how lucky I am” stance. C’mon, they’re lucky too, right?

Do not tell yourself all you care about is getting your foot in the door. A lower starting salary tends to stick with you for years, and it means raises and next jobs are built from a lower base.

Research what’s competitive. There are plenty of websites, such as PayScale and Glassdoor, that provide salary range info. And asking people you know in that job, or who had that job a few years ago, is going to be even more helpful. This is where your social network and alumni relations can help.

Ask for more time to make a decision. Undergrads recruited at BU’s business school typically have a maximum of two weeks to accept an offer, and 40% are given just a one-week decision window.

The researchers estimate that if employers extended the offer time by a month it would reduce the first-job gender wage gap by 40%. That’s not likely going to become standard practice any time soon. In the meantime, when you get an offer, politely and professionally express your enthusiasm, and then pivot to requesting that you have a few more weeks to sort through the decision.

Get negotiating help. If your school offers any free seminars on salary negotiating or how to approach the job hunt, you are nuts to not take advantage of that. In junior year, ideally. There are going to be some useful nuggets in there.

— Rate.com/Tribune News Service