Finally Friday quick hits: America's last lighthouse keeper; no electricity bills; some good things just keep going

Sally Snowman was America's last lighthouse keeper.
(Photo by Seth Szilagyi, CBS Boston)

America's last lighthouse keeper has left her post, closing the door on an era," reports Emilee Coblentz of USA Today. "Sally Snowman, 72, became the guardian of the historic Boston Light, constructed in 1716, in 2002. She is its 70th keeper. 'The first 69 were all men,' she proudly told CBS News. . . . In a quick-changing society where technology is projected to replace many jobs across industries, the disappearance of one so rooted in our country's founding deserves pause."

If you hate paying your electric bill and like warm weather, you may want to consider relocating to Hunters Point, Florida where "no one pays an electricity bill," reports Nicolás Rivero of The Washington Post. "Hunters Point is the first residential development in the world to get a LEED Zero Energy certification, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, which means the entire community produces more electricity than it consumes.

The original cash register at Rock Dell Cooperative
Creamery (Photo by Noah Fish, AgWeek)

Nothing good lasts forever -- or does it? In Bryon, Minnesota, the Rock Dell Cooperative Creamery just turned 135 years old and is still buying milk. "Times are different today, and the creamery that was buying milk from producers across five counties in 1889 is now only buying milk from a single farm," reports Noah Fish of AgWeek. "The creamery is still owned by the patrons who sell milk or have equity in the business." The Creamery sells animal feed, cheese, ice cream and butter to loyal customers.

Chuttersnap photo, Unsplash

When it comes to its transition to green energy, the United States is on the proverbial struggle bus. "The U.S. is racing to overhaul how it powers its cars, trucks, buildings and industries. It has a long way to go," reports Shane Shifflett of The Wall Street Journal. "Wind and solar energy production are ramping up, but fossil fuels still provide a majority of the country's power." Shifflett provides five charts that show where the transition is now compared to the target goals.

Congress put billions of dollars into a program to help state and local governments build electric vehicle charging stations. However, getting the stations built will take much more than funding. "There's not nearly enough understanding from federal, state or local policymakers on how dysfunctional municipal permitting systems and utility connection processes are today," reports Catherine Geanuracos of Route Fifty. "For a program that's already been slow to launch, it's about to slam into systems that are already struggling, even before we need to dramatically ramp up capacity."

Image by Mariano Pascual, The Economist

How would you describe America's health care system? Bizarre? Infuriating? Dysfunctional? "The country spends about $4.3 (trillion) a year on keeping citizens in good nick [health]. . . twice as much as the average in other rich economies. And yet American adults live shorter lives, and American infants die more often than in similarly affluent places," reports The Economist. "Pharmaceutical firms and hospitals attract much of the public ire for the inflated costs. Much less attention is paid to a small number of middlemen who extract far bigger rents from the system's complexity." Want to know "Who profits most from America's baffling health care system?" Read here.