Happening Today
Higher-education announcement
Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Education Secretary Jim Peyser, Department of Higher Education Commissioner Carlos Santiago, UMass Chancellor Marty Meehan and others gather to announce news regarding college affordability, access, and on-time completion, Middlesex Community College, 33 Kearney Square, Lowell, 9 a.m.
Verizon strike rally
Striking Verizon workers will hold a rally at Copley Square and plan to march up Boylston Street to protest outside a Verizon store, Copley Square, 5 p.m.
Today’s Stories
Liz Warren is not going to be Hillary’s VP choice
There. We said it. But just in case we weren’t clear: Liz Warren won’t be Hillary Clinton’s VP choice, speculation in the Globe to the contrary. Clinton may be a bad campaigner, but she’s not dumb. General elections are about winning the political center. Clinton knows this. She also knows that excitement over the prospect of a female winning the White House will galvanize her left-wing like no other issue this fall. The vast majority of Bernie Sanders’ supporters will come around by late summer or early autumn. They will smell victory and know history is in the making. Clinton needs to shore up the center, not the left wing and female vote. She doesn’t need Liz Warren as a running mate. Because we assume Clinton understands all of this, we assume Liz Warren won’t be Hillary’s VP choice.
Re Kinder Morgan’s suspension of pipeline project: It was the economy, stupid
In retrospect, yesterday’s announcement by Kinder Morgan that it was suspending its proposed and highly controversial natural gas pipeline project, as reported by the Lowell Sun’s Todd Feathers and Robert Mills, shouldn’t have come as a surprise. The reason for the decision: Simple economics. Kinder Morgan says it just couldn’t find enough major customers to buy the additional natural gas its pipeline across the state would have delivered. The fact that the project was fiercely opposed by community activists and politicians merely compounded the challenges facing Kinder Morgan.
But as the Wall Street Journal has been reporting, Kinder Morgan’s financial woes run much deeper than its inability to find regional customers for one its projects. The company’s first quarter earnings were down 27 percent and it has announced nearly $4 billion in spending cuts of late, partly driven by the collapse in energy markets across the globe. The real surprise is that Kinder Morgan didn’t stick a fork in its Northeast pipeline project a lot sooner.
Goldberg compiles TTD list should marijuana legalization pass
Though she’s personally against the legalization of marijuana, Treasurer Deb Goldberg thinks lawmakers and others better get cracking in anticipation of voters approving a ballot question this November that would permit recreational use of pot, reports the Globe’s Dan Adams and Joshua Miller. On Goldberg’s TTD list: Prepare legislation that would ban home cultivation of marijuana, delay marijuana retail sales, restrict marijuana “edibles” such as candy, and provide enough money for her office to enforce regulations. “I believe it is coming,” Goldberg said of legalization. “We need to be working on it, no matter how I feel personally.”
Scott Brown will file complaint on Senate mailer
Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown plans to file a complaint with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance over a union-affiliated PAC’s campaign mailer that claimed candidate Dan Rizzo endorsed the Republican, Michael Jonas reports in CommonWealth magazine. Brown says he was never endorsed by Rizzo, the former Revere mayor, who finished second in the recent primary election to send a new senator to the Statehouse from East Boston and surrounding communities.
From Cambridge to the $20 bill
The decision announced yesterday to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill originated with a letter from a Cambridge girl to President Obama, O’Ryan Johnson and Prisca Pointdujour of the Herald report. The girl wrote to Obama after being inspired by a research project on the Underground Railroad and the civil rights leader.
Officials exploring racial disparities in ‘drug court’ participation
Participants in the state’s drug-court system, partly designed to get adults convicted of drug crimes help rather than thrown in jail, are overwhelmingly white, even though non-whites make up a disproportionate share of people convicted of drug-related offenses, reports MassLive’s Shira Schoenberg. “We know that there’s disproportionate representation, but we’re frankly not at a point where we can indicate what might be causing that,” said Ira Packer, director of the Massachusetts Center for Excellence for Specialty Courts and a clinical professor of psychiatry at UMass Medical School in Worcester. “That’s something we’re very committed to looking at.”
A ‘zany’ idea for transit rail-pods finds an audience in Everett and Chelsea
Even though his crowdfunding campaign for above-ground rail pods transporting people to and fro wasn’t exactly a smashing success, entrepreneur and MIT grad Mike Stanley may have found some interest in his seemingly far-fetched dream. Officials from Everett and Chelsea have signed letters of intent to explore the “TransitX” idea as a way to potentially curb traffic congestion, the Boston Business Journal’s Sara Castellanos reports. Check out the story’s accompanying slide show for a gander of Stanley’s rail-pod vision.
The Curt, Shonda and Charlie show
By now, a small sliver of the whole world knows of the momentous news that former Boston Red Sox star Curt Schilling got axed as a baseball analyst yesterday for making unfortunate social-media remarks about transgender people and bathrooms and penises and whatnot. Read all about it at Wicked Local. But we bet you probably haven’t read about the defense of Curt Schilling by his wife Shonda. So read all about it in the Herald’s Inside Track.
For more serious analysis, though, check out the Globe’s Joan Vennochi swatting aside the Curt controversy and getting to the heart of the transgender-rights issue here in Massachusetts. Hint: It’s not really about Charlie Baker. It’s about a certain House speaker protecting his rank-and-file members.
Worcester outlines a huge redevelopment plan
Worcester is eyeing dozens of downtown properties for potential redevelopment, including two former movie theaters, the Midtown Mall and other commercial properties along Front and Main streets, the Telegram’s Nick Kotsopoulos is reporting. Meanwhile, MassLive’s Michael D. Kane is reporting that the redevelopment proposals could cost $100 million over 20 years and could require eminent-domain takings.
Galvin goes after ‘dishonest’ State Street unit for overbilling clients
Secretary of State William Galvin, who serves as the state’s securities industry watchdog, is charging a unit of State Street Corp. of overbilling clients, a practice that the company has acknowledged cost its customers $240 million, the BBJ’s Greg Ryan reports.
Experts say speed limit reduction unlikely to work
Experts say lowering the speed limit on many Boston streets from 30 miles per hour to 20 mph is unlikely to actually slow down drivers and make roads safer, Brian Dowling reports in the Herald. The Boston City Council held a hearing yesterday on the speed-reduction proposal, which would require legislative approval.
Senator lays out case for dental care plan
Sen. Harriet Chandler said a proposal to enable dental hygienists to perform more dental work is necessary to increase the health of the state’s low-income residents but is being stalled by dentists bent on keeping the current system in place, Cyrus Moulton of the Telegram reports.
Chatham video brawler removed from role
Chatham selectmen have voted to remove a resident from the town’s Waterways Advisory Committee after video surfaced of a brief melee breaking out at a meeting last month, Doug Fraser of the Cape Cod Times reports. David Davis declined the opportunity to speak at a disciplinary hearing that preceded the vote to remove him from the committee.
Lowell adjuncts protest over pay
The union representing adjunct faculty at UMass Lowell plans to protest at a retirement party for an outgoing provost as they call for pay increases and health benefits, Amelia Pak-Harvey of the Lowell Sun reports. The union says Lowell adjunct professors make significantly less than their counterparts at other UMass campuses.
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Boston councilor wants to lower city speed limit – Boston Globe
Cambridge girl told Obama to put Harriet Tubman on bill – Boston Herald
Experts: Lowering limit is road to nowhere – Boston Herald
Massachusetts
ODs behind the wheel are dangerous turn in opioid scourge – Standard-Times
Brockton 21st Century Corporation head accused of plagiarism – The Enterprise
UMass Lowell adjunct faculty to protest over pay equity – Lowell Sun
Arms Race Over Casino Revenue Breaks Out Between Massachusetts And Connecticut – WGBH
Scott Brown says Rizzo never endorsed him – CommonWealth Magazine
Auditor Bump Finds MassHealth Paying Doctors Prohibited by Feds – Boston Magazine
Chatham selectmen oust waterways panel member involved in fight – Cape Cod Times
Pipeline opponents claim victory with Kinder Morgan decision – Eagle Tribune
Central Mass. communities save money trimming town hall hours – Telegram & Gazette
Worcester state senator presses for way to expand access to dental care – Telegram & Gazette
Baker administration plans overhaul of $15 billion MassHealth system – MassLive
Nation
Women will be on Clinton’s vice president list – Boston Globe
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