Happy Thursday!

• Today, we dive into a local AI lab's efforts to revolutionize contracting for Black-owned businesses and a Market Basket snafu.

🌧️ Today's weather: Chance of rain showers, with a high of 71 and a low of 52.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Jorge Allen!

Situational awareness: Gov. Maura Healey, who's running for reelection, faces Republican challenger Mike Minogue tonight for their first televised debate on WBZ/CBS Boston, 5:30-6:30pm.

Today’s newsletter is 1,025 words — a 4-minute read.

The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts is testing an AI-powered tool to connect business owners with promising contracting opportunities.

• The software didn't come from Anthropic or one of the other AI giants, but from a Cambridge-based, Black-owned lab.

Why it matters: The tool, developed with the Hope Group's Loop Lab, stands to streamline an often opaque government contracting process for Black-owned businesses, especially microbusinesses.

• It's a barrier BECMA has been trying to break down for years.

Catch up quick: The Hope Group has spent the last few years developing an AI-driven engine, Project Lookout, that can automate typically arduous tasks, like grant research or contract bidding.

• The group developed BECMA Compass, under the Project Lookout umbrella, earlier this year, said Rev. Chris Hope, the group's founder.

State of play: Ten businesses affiliated with BECMA gained access last month and are testing the tool until November.

• Shonté Davidson, co-founder of Boston-based clean energy company Better Together Brain Trust, said the tool turned days of research into an hours-long application process.
• Hope unveiled the tool Tuesday at the Mass Black Expo in the Seaport.

What they're saying: "The money is public …. The problem is that public doesn't necessarily mean it's accessible," Hope said, holding up a thick red envelope with what he described as a City of Boston request for proposals spanning 100 pages.

• Larger companies have dedicated business development teams, but small businesses often have one person wearing multiple hats, he added.
• "That becomes a tax on Black businesses."

How it works: Compass reviews a business's experience and certifications and compares it to open bids across multiple websites, scoring a business's fit from 0-100%.

• The tool compiles various details, from the project site and scope to the industry codes, and drafts response letters.
• It doesn't train its models on BECMA members' data, said Hope, who has advocated for legislation that imposes guardrails on AI-based algorithms and data-sharing.
• BECMA used state digital grants to fund the project, but the service is free for its members, says Mackenson Charles, BECMA's chief of programs.

Zoom in: Davidson has flagged some issues with the system since starting beta testing last month.

• One issue, she said, is Compass needs to update the score when an agency adds amendments or sends additional requirements directly to a bidder.
• Still, she said the tool lets her focus on recruiting clients in electrifying commercial buildings, installing EV charging systems and other services.
• "This tool is freeing up my time so I can work on the highest and best-value problems that we need to solve," Davidson said.

Keep reading: City of Boston talks

The cash registers went offline at some Market Basket locations Wednesday afternoon.

Why it matters: The outage disrupted midday shopping for some in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, per NBC Boston.

Driving the news: Market Basket confirmed that some stores had "a temporary technical glitch with the registers," the company posted on X.

• The problem has been resolved, per Market Basket.

The company didn't specify which stores were affected, and the cause remains unclear.

Spread the word

A Green Line trolley fatally struck a person last night near the Washington Street stop in Brighton. (UniversalHub)

• The MBTA started running shuttle buses on the B branch as authorities responded, per NBC Boston.

🏙️ Amazon listed half of its second Seaport tower in hopes of subleasing the space. (BBJ)

• This puts the Seaport's vacancy rate at 27.9%, per real estate brokerage firm Hunneman.

🤖 Rohit Prasad, Amazon's senior VP and head scientist for AI and Alexa, started yesterday as the new CEO of Boston Dynamics. (Gizmodo)

Police arrested two men accused of attacking an off-duty NYPD detective after finding them in Lynn Tuesday night. (WCVB)

⛷️ Loon Mountain, the New Hampshire ski resort, plans to add a fourth mountain peak that would expand into part of White Mountain National Forest. (CBS Boston)

• The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public comment on the proposal's environmental impacts through Oct. 23.

🍔 BRED, the Boston-based restaurant group, is opening shop in Faneuil Hall Marketplace next month.

• Smashed by BRED will sell burgers, chicken, fries and "dirty sodas."

🥘 The Moseley, a fine-dining restaurant at South Station Tower, is now open on the ninth floor, per Boston Restaurant Talk.

🍗 Celine, a Montréal-inspired restaurant launched by the CODA Restaurant Group, opened last week in Fort Point (more on that below).

🧋 Mochiko Hawaiian closed in Newtonville and Boston Landing last week, but the latter store reopened on Tuesday.

• The business didn't explain why, but posted on Instagram that the Brighton location's closure was a "brief pause."

Tell a Mochiko fan

Steph here. I stopped by Celine, the CODA Restaurant Group's new restaurant in Fort Point.

The intrigue: Celine breathes new life into the corner of A and Melcher streets, six years after the Blue Dragon closed due to the pandemic.

What I got: The cassoulet, a confit duck leg with flageolet beans and shaved carrots.

• It was a little heavy on the beans, but the duck leg was succulent. A decent comfort meal for the winter.
• The biggest surprise was the São Paulo mule, an outlandish combination of novo fogo cachaça, ginger beer, passion fruit and espresso.
• Somehow, it tasted like an elevated, carbonated Long Island iced tea.

What we're watching: Celine opens around 4pm most days, but lunch service starts later this month.

Tell a Fort Pointer

Deehan is thrilled Taft Street in Dorchester is getting it's due thanks to Eva Longoria.

Steph is grateful for everyone who joined the Axios Social Club after-party, even if the bar was mysteriously closed at first.

This newsletter was edited by Jeff Weiner.