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What began as a friend's wedding activity in Nashville turned Jessica Gravel into a three-time state champion in steinholding.

The intrigue: Gravel is among hundreds in Massachusetts who are competing in the Bavarian endurance sport this year.

State of play: Gravel, a Canton resident, will compete for her fourth consecutive title at the Massachusetts Steinholding State Championships Saturday at Samuel Adams Boston Beer Co. in Jamaica Plain.

The winner of the men's and women's divisions will have a chance to compete in the national competition on Nov. 21 in Cincinnati, which comes with a $4,000 prize.

How it works: Steinholding, in some ways, is as simple as it looks.

The goal is to hold a 1-liter, dimpled glass stein filled with water for as long as possible.

But the wrong form could lead to a strike, and three strikes get you booted.

What gets a strike? Anything from letting the arm dip or veer to the side, to leaning too far back, to placing the thumb on the stein handle instead of on the side. (Jim Banko, founder and commissioner of the U.S. Steinholding Association, breaks it down in this video.)

By the numbers: Massachusetts saw its biggest steinholding season yet with close to 500 competitors, says Banko.

The rise in interest comes as the 11-year-old association expands its footprint, from contests in four states in 2021 to 18 state championships and wild card competitions this year.

Zoom in: Gravel finished in third place at nationals last year. Her time was 4 minutes and 51 seconds.

She's been training at the gym and at home in hopes of clinching that first-place title.

What they're saying: "It's also a mental game," she tells Axios. "I feel like you can go a lot longer than your body is telling you to go if you're able to tap into that mentally."

What we're watching: Saturday's championship could lead to a new record. Gravel's hoping to break five minutes.

Massachusetts Steinholding State Championships

Steinholding puts Mass. beer lovers' arms to the test

A Bavarian tradition that tests endurance is gaining traction in Greater Boston.

Two empty dimpled beer steins are placed on a table during the 2018 Oktoberfest beer festival in 2018 in Munich, Germany. 

Photo:  Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images

What began as a friend&#x27;s wedding activity in Nashville turned Jessica Gravel into a three-time state champion in steinholding.The intrigue: Gravel is among hundreds in Massachusetts who are competing in the Bavarian endurance sport this year.

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News

The MIT Museum is home to a piece of Star Trek history for the next several months — the original U.S.S. Enterprise model.

The intrigue: The pilot model, having reemerged after a decades-long disappearance, is making its East Coast debut.

Catch up quick: MIT unveiled the model at Future Fest last month and agreed to display it at the Kendall Square museum until next spring.

By the numbers: Richard Datin, a model maker, built the 33-inch wooden figure in 1964.

It was used in the opening credits for the original series.

What they're saying: "It was the first character in Star Trek, before Spock, before Kirk," said Rod Roddenberry, the son of the show's creator, the late Gene Roddenberry.

The model made appearances at San Diego Comic-Con and STLV 2026: Trek to Vegas, but this is the model's East Coast debut since its return.

Flashback: The model went missing after Gene Roddenberry lent it to the team behind the 1979 Star Trek film, reappearing nearly 50 years later in an eBay listing, The New York Times reported in 2024. 

After verifying its authenticity, the younger Roddenberry eventually regained possession of the model.

Its latest voyage not only introduces Star Trek to new audiences, but gives Trekkies a reminder of the sci-fi show's lasting impact, Roddenberry told Axios.

"It's everything from helping people get out of an abusive relationship to believing in a better future to deciding to become a doctor or work at NASA, wanting to teach," he said.

The bottom line: The Enterprise will remain on display at the MIT Museum until March 28, 2027.

Star Trek creator's son shares piece of history with MIT Museum

Cambridge is home to a piece of trekkie history for the next several months.

Scale model of the Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 on a metal stand, featuring a saucer-shaped hull and two warp nacelles, set against a blue textured backdrop.

The Enterprise model. Photo: Courtesy of Creation Entertainment

The MIT Museum is home to a piece of Star Trek history for the next several months — the original U.S.S. Enterprise model.The intrigue: The pilot model, having reemerged after a decades-long disappearance, is making its East Coast debut.

History

A question on the Nov. 3 ballot in "Taxachusetts" would chip away at state coffers, promising more frequent tax refunds based on a 40-year-old law.

Why it matters: This proposal could, at best, put some much-needed money in residents' pockets and, at worst, complicate efforts to fund the services that make Massachusetts a liberal beacon.

Opponents claim this will hamper efforts to fund affordable housing, schools and safety net programs, while proponents say it holds Beacon Hill accountable for its high spending.

Catch up quick: The question revolves around a 1986 law that makes Massachusetts return money to taxpayers when the state's tax revenues are higher than its self-imposed cap.

The cap is based on how much tax revenue the state collected in 1986, weighed against the last three years of wage and salary growth.

Mass. calculates the new cap based on the prior year's cap.

The state can also "bank" years where it collected less tax revenue, factoring that and tax cuts to offset the final number, per the Tufts University Center for State Policy Analysis. (TLDR; it's a lot of math.)

Threat level: Over the years, the cap and the actual state revenue drifted further and further apart, effectively setting the goalpost farther for tax refunds.

That's largely why taxpayers have only gotten these refunds twice: once in 1987 and another in 2022.

State of play: The proposal would base the formula on how much the state collected instead of last year's cap, while nixing the option to "bank" bad years or factor in tax cuts.

It would also add revenue from the "millionaire's tax," which was meant to target high earners to fund schools and transportation investments, to the equation. (It's currently not factored in 62F calculations.)

If approved, this would take effect July 1, the start of fiscal 2028.

By the numbers: An independent study by the CSPA projects the proposed formula would get taxpayers eight or nine refunds over the next 20 years, two to four times as many as if the formula didn't change. 

Those refunds would translate to $200–$250 a year in taxpayers' pockets, or $1.1–$1.3 billion a year in lost state tax revenue, per the CSPA's projections.

The fine print: One unintended consequence is that the way the law is worded means the tax refund is counted as "negative revenue" in the next year's total.

As a result, next year's total revenue could look lower, and could set a lower bar for the refunds to get triggered the following year.

That's because the proposed formula would compare the net total tax revenue (after refunds go out) to the total tax revenue collected the next year.

Reality check: Explaining how this works and all of the variables that may or may not come into play would take an accounting seminar.

And the Legislature will likely change the language of the ballot measure if it is approved by voters.

Tufts University Center for State Policy Analysis

Question 5 effectively proposes more frequent tax refunds

Inside the complicated math problem behind special tax refunds in Mass., and what could change.

Illustration of the Massachusetts State House with lines radiating from it. 

A question on the Nov. 3 ballot in &quot;Taxachusetts&quot; would chip away at state coffers, promising more frequent tax refunds based on a 40-year-old law.Why it matters: This proposal could, at best, put some much-needed money in residents&#x27; pockets and, at worst, complicate efforts to fund the services that make Massachusetts a liberal beacon.<ul><li>Opponents claim this will hamper efforts to fund affordable housing, schools and safety net programs, while proponents say it holds Beacon Hill accountable for its high spending.</li></ul>

Politics

The slime experience company Sloomoo plans to open a new site downtown in the space formerly occupied by the Hard Rock Cafe, the company tells Axios exclusively.

The intrigue: The Sloomoo Institute's opening next month will feature new games and lots of colorful, slime-filled activities for children.

Driving the news: The new space will open on Nov. 14 with slime waterfalls, a "Squishy Hoops" game like basketball and an ASMR installation, says Sara Schiller, the company's co-founder and co-CEO.

Sloomoo will continue to run its MiniMoo space at Faneuil Hall Marketplace as a retail-only store, while moving all of its activities to the new space at 22-24 Clinton St.

The expansion breathes new life into the shuttered Hard Rock Cafe space, which closed in 2022 after 15 years in operation.

What they're saying: "What we've heard from people is that they wanted more," Schiller tells Axios. (The company boasted 65,000 visitors from the MiniMoo.)

"They were happy and joyful that they could come and experience part of it, but that they really wanted a full experience."

The institute's new site has been in the works since January, when the company signed the lease for the Clinton Street space.

Zoom in: This will be the company's eighth Sloomoo Institute when it opens, but some features are only available at the Boston location.

They include the squishy hoops game, the "Boop a Poo" station that's akin to whack-a-mole and the "Slimey Mirrors" VR room where you become slime with a spaceship element.

Exclusive: Sloomoo expands into shuttered Hard Rock Cafe site

The Sloomoo Institute will open in downtown Boston in November.

Three children pose in a pink photo booth with a mural reading "Welcome to Lake SLOOMO" in large pink letters at a Sloomoo Institute.

Lake Sloomoo. Photo: Courtesy of Sloomoo Institute

The slime experience company Sloomoo plans to open a new site downtown in the space formerly occupied by the Hard Rock Cafe, the company tells Axios exclusively.The intrigue: The Sloomoo Institute&#x27;s opening next month will feature new games and lots of colorful, slime-filled activities for children.

Steph Solis

Featured stories

Question 5 effectively proposes more frequent tax refunds

Star Trek creator's son shares piece of history with MIT Museum

Steinholding puts Mass. beer lovers' arms to the test

Take the Axios Boston news quiz

Exclusive: Sloomoo expands into shuttered Hard Rock Cafe site