Gov.-elect Maura Healey has big decisions to make about who will run the MBTA once she is sworn in on Jan. 5.

What they're saying: "The focus is going to be on workforce, on leadership, on accountability and safety," Healey told Axios last week about her plans for the MBTA during the first days of her administration.

• "My job will be to be sure we have a system, and specifically a T, that is doing everything that we need to see it doing so it is safe, reliable, affordable, and it's going to be important to get the right leadership in place as well," Healey said.
• Healey wouldn't say if she'd designate a new transportation secretary or MBTA general manager to start alongside her in January.

Why it matters: Healey is taking over an MBTA riddled with workforce problems, safety concerns and a ridership that's seen years of promises to improve service go nowhere.

Driving the news: Former Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi told Axios the general manager position and his old job leading MassDOT aren't the only major roles Healey will have to fill.

• Three of the seven MBTA board seats will also be hers to appoint. Add in the seat held by her hand-picked transportation secretary, and Healey will have control over a majority of the board appointments right out of the gate.
• Aloisi suggested Healey demand the resignations of the remaining board members so she can appoint each seat herself instead of having to contend with holdovers from Gov. Charlie Baker's term.

Details: Transit advocates want Healey to enact her vision for the T through her general manager pick.

• "Part of that focus about the GM is how you envision the system running going forward," Pete Wilson from Transportation for Massachusetts told Axios.
• Wilson said the new governor could also begin her term with new MBTA programs Baker resisted, like discounted or free fares for low-income riders or benefits for dedicated riders who have suffered through the worst of the T's shutdowns and delays.

Zoom in: Healey would also be able to exert power over the MBTA and ramp up hiring by reopening collective bargaining agreements with the public sector labor unions whose members make the T run.

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With midterm results still coming in, Latino candidates — mostly Democrats — are expected to make record gains in state legislatures across the U.S., Axios' Russell Contreras writes.

Why it matters: Latinos have been the fastest-growing eligible voter group since at least 2018, according to the Pew Research Center.

• In Massachusetts, the Latino population grew by an estimated 41.43% from 627,654 in 2010 to 887,685 in 2020, per U.S. census data.
• Yes, but: That number likely does not include thousands of undercounted Latino immigrants, including many without legal status, immigration advocates and Boston officials say.

By the numbers: So far, 64 new Latino Democrats and 15 new Latino Republicans have won state legislative seats across the country, Kenneth Romero-Cruz, the executive director of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, told Axios.

Zoom in: In Massachusetts, Latino Democrats largely made gains in last week's election.

• Chelsea City Councilor Judith García won the race for the 11th Suffolk district's House seat.
• Shirley Arriaga will become the new 8th Hampden district state representative, following Rep. Joe Wagner's decision to not seek reelection after three decades in office.

Samantha Montaño (D-Jamaica Plain), who ran unopposed in November after winning her primary for a JP-based House seat, is one of at least nine new LGBTQ+ Latino candidates elected to the state legislatures, Contreras writes.

• She was among at least five Latino Democrats who coasted to victory after winning their primaries.

Keep reading: Latinos on path to make historic inroads in statehouses

🏗 The lab building craze might finally be slowing down because of rising interest rates and construction costs.

• In Greater Boston, some 32 million square feet (80%) of proposed construction could be put on hold, per a report by the real estate brokerage Newmark. (Globe)
• Meanwhile, city officials seek to clarify what kinds of lab proposals the city would approve and where in response to safety concerns raised during the city's lab boom. (BBJ)

🏀 Encore Boston Harbor reached a "preliminary agreement" to hand off one of its mobile sports betting licenses to Caesars Interactive Entertainment. (MassLive)

🏠 Gov.-elect Maura Healey quietly moved from Boston to Cambridge in July without notifying state campaign finance officials in what could be a violation of state law. (Globe)

You think you're fancy? Someone at Bonhams Skinner's recent fine wines and rare spirits auction left with a three-liter bottle of 1971 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti la Tache.

• DRC is considered one of the world's greatest wine producers, and the company is among the few to own a full vineyard in Burgundy.
• Owning the vineyard means they can control the farming process and production, says Louis Kreiger, deputy director of fine wine at Bonhams Skinner.

How much? The winning bid was $81,250.

• That's more than a year of tuition, room and board at Harvard.

Yes, but: Kreiger says DRC produces on average 13,000 bottles worldwide each year, and most are 750 milliliter bottles, not three liters' worth.

• "While it's extremely difficult to find modern bottles of this wine, finding a back vintage, large format bottle, with perfect storage and provenance is almost impossible," Kreiger says.