Happening Today
MBTA Control Board
The MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board will meet to discuss MBTA safety, the T’s fiscal year 2017 operating budget, and an analysis of the T’s compensation strategy, Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, second floor, 12 p.m.
Happy birthday, Marines
On the 241th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, nearly 2,000 Marines, supporters and Medal of Honor Recipients gather for a celebration luncheon, Boston Convention and Exposition Center, South Boston, 12 p.m.
Wage theft clinic
Attorney General Maura Healey’s office hosts a free legal clinic at Suffolk Law School to match workers with volunteer lawyers and assist them on wage theft issues, Suffolk Law School, 120 Tremont St., Boston, 4 p.m.
Offshore wind hearing
Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center will answer questions at a presentation on upcoming planning for future offshore wind projects in federal waters off Massachusetts, Cornell Theater, 54 Spring St., Vineyard Haven, 5 p.m.
Dem party chair election
Democratic party insiders will gather in Quincy on Monday to choose the successor as party chair to Sen. Thomas McGee, Quincy High School, 100 Coddington St, Quincy, 7 p.m.
The Globies
Attorney General Maura Healey introduces and presents an award to former Boston Celtics player Bob Cousy at the Globies sports award ceremony, House of Blues Boston, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston, 8 p.m.
Today’s Stories
Nothing personal, Tom, but Stan doesn’t want another elected official as Dem chair
As Massachusetts Democrats prepare today to elect a new party chair to succeed Sen. Thomas McGee, Senate President Stan Rosenberg says the next party leader shouldn’t be an elected official serving “two masters” and pulled in different directions, the Herald’s Matt Stout reports. As it so happens, the candidate Rosenberg is backing isn’t an elected official, just a failed elected wannabe, Steve Kerrigan, the former lieutenant governor candidate who unsuccessfully ran with Martha Coakley against the Baker-Polito ticket in 2014, reports Shira Schoenberg at MassLive.
Attorney General Maura Healey is also throwing her support behind Kerrigan, who, with the backing of two top Dems like Rosenberg and Healey, has to be considered the odds-on-favorite to defeat Democratic National Committee member Gus Bickford and Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins for the chair post. But after last week’s elections, who knows? Fyi: The trio faced off at a forum in Northampton on Sunday, reports Stephanie Murray at the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
No laughing matter when it comes to insulting Trump
Comedian Wanda Sykes flipped the bird and walked off the stage amid boos and jeers after she asserted that Donald Trump’s Tuesday victory was “not the first time we’ve elected a racist, sexist, homophobic president,” reports the Herald’s Arthur Pollock and Owen Boss. But Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin notes another comedian – “Triumph the Insult Human, Nick DiPaolo” – actually managed to insult everyone, from women to Jewish Americans, at the Comics Come Home benefit for the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care. And the Globe’s Kathy McCabe notes that Denis Leary was not exactly Mr. Sensitive either, prompting some to think Sykes was unfairly singled out for boos because she’s a black lesbian.
Btw: The Herald’s front-page coverage of the Sykes incident, with the headline “Flipping out,” got prominent Drudge Report coverage over the weekend, if you’re into knowing about such things.
Maybe Denis Leary will defend two pro-Trump Babson students?
Reacting to the controversy over the weekend at Comics Come Home, comedian Denis Leary proudly notes that we have “never censored any performer” at the event in the past, the Herald reports. So maybe Leary will now defend two Babson College students who drove around Wellesley last week, whooping and hollering in celebration of Trump’s victory and who may face disciplinary action by their school, as reported at New Boston Post? One can argue the two students were even more obnoxious than Sykes, though probably not as obnoxious as DiPaolo. People tend to forget that there’s this thing called the “First Amendment.”
The ‘reddening’ of western Massachusetts
Brad Petrishen at MassLive was quick to notice that the state was getting a little “red in the middle” in terms of pro-Trump voting trends in central Massachusetts last week. But Evan Horowitz and James Pindell add that large swaths of western Massachusetts are actually “reddening,” based on their analysis of voting results. The type of communities turning: working-class towns. The outcome is perhaps the “first hint of a possible long-term realignment in local politics,” Horowitz and Pindell write.
More than 1,600 march against Trump in Springfield
Boston had its big anti-Trump rally last week. Yesterday it was Springfield’s turn, with more than 1,600 people hitting the streets to protest the election of the Republican presidential candidate, reports Dan Glaun at MassLive: “Demonstrators, who included nearby college students, veteran Springfield activists and local residents, held signs reading ‘Not my President,’ ‘Trump makes America hate again’ and ‘Will swap one Donald Trump for 25,000 refugees.’”
Tito Jackson wants to declare Hub a ‘sanctuary city’
Reacting to Donald Trump’s vow to deport millions of “criminal” illegal aliens, Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson wants to make Boston a sanctuary city, reports the Herald’s Jack Encarnacao. “I believe the city of Boston should not assist or cooperate with the mass deportations of immigrants,” Jackson said. “That’s not who our city is.”
Without Beacon Hill guidance, communities are coming up with their own pot-shop regulations
Some cities and towns aren’t waiting around for the Legislature to act now that voters have approved legalized marijuana in Massachusetts. Political leaders in a number of communities north of Boston, especially those close to the New Hampshire border, tell Christian Wade of the Eagle-Tribune they plan to move quickly to put rules in place limiting or outright banning recreational pot shops.
Meanwhile, local police chiefs are among those looking to state lawmakers for clarification on how to proceed now that the state has voted to legalize recreational marijuana, reports Alice Shen at the MetroWest Daily News.
And now for the towns that were really gung-ho for marijuana legalization
Last week, MassLive brought you the towns that really didn’t want marijuana legalization in Tuesday’s election. Today, MassLive lists the towns that really and truly wanted marijuana legalization. Yes, Amherst and Provincetown rank up there as among the biggest supporters of Question 4. But they weren’t the most gung-ho.
Déjà vu helipad controversy
From Dan Atkinson at the Herald: “Boston city councilors will hold a public hearing Wednesday on plans to create a commercial heliport in the Hub after a call for more information by the councilor who helped ground plans for a similar site eight years ago.” In Boston, some things never change.
Here come the mega-big, year-end real estate deals
We’re well into the fourth quarter of the corporate calendar, so start looking for huge commercial real estate transactions to take place, as companies try to book deals before the end of the year. The latest example: Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ closing on its $725 million purchase of Cambridge’s One Kendall Square, so far this year’s largest single-asset real-estate transaction, reports the BBJ’s Catherine Carlock.
SJC takes up the 24,000-case question
The Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled to hear arguments this week in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking to throw out some 24,000 drug-related convictions that have ties to disgraced former state drug lab technician Annie Dookhan, Denise Lavoie of the Associated Press reports at SouthCoast Today. Prosecutors will argue that each case should be decided separately, an argument that carried the day in 2015 when a similar request for blanket dismissal was denied by the SJC.
Dukakis: Do away with Electoral College
Former governor and onetime presidential candidate Michael Dukakis renewed his call over the weekend for Democrats to mobilize to dismantle the Electoral College, Gabriel Debenedetti reports at Politico. Noting that Hillary Clinton will likely win the national popular vote by more than 1 million ballots, after all the votes are counted, Dukakis called the electoral college “anachronistic” and said it should have been eliminated a long time ago. “Hillary won this election,” Dukakis said.
Opponents appeal Children’s expansion approval
Opponents of Boston Children’s Hospital’s planned $1 billion expansion have filed a regulatory appeal of the Department of Public Health’s approval of the project, Jessica Bartlett of the Boston Business Journal reports. The same group, which is upset about the planned destruction of the Prouty Garden to make way for the expansion, has also appealed the project in court.
In Brockton, some questions about the mayor’s Creole lessons and missing granite bricks
Some Brockton city councilors want to question Mayor Bill Carpenter on some recent spending items, including a Creole language course he is taking on the city’s dime, Marc Larocque of the Enterprise reports. Councilors want to ask Carpenter about the $585 bill for the class at Massasoit Community College as well as another line item of more than $9,000 to purchase granite bricks as part of a renovation at City Hall — bricks that are now unaccounted for.
Today’s Headlines
Metro
South Boston industrial park honors native son Raymond Flynn – Boston Globe
Self-Driving hits Boston’s Seaport – Boston Herald
Tito Jackson seeks Boston sanctuary – Boston Herald
Harvard Square landmark is heading the way of yesterday’s newspapers – Boston.com
City councilors to hold hearing on plans for public Boston heliport – Boston Herald
Massachusetts
Police waiting for legislature on pot rules – MetroWest Daily News
Lowell leaders on front line of anti-panhandling push – Lowell Sun
AG says Plymouth committee violated Open Meeting Law – Patriot Ledger
Water leaking into Union Station, repairs could cost as much as $6M – Telegram & Gazette
Commercial fishing ends at marine monument – Salem News
In wake of legalization vote, communities look to limit pot shops – Eagle-Tribune
Mass. court to hear bid to dismiss 24K drug cases – Standard-Times
Councilors: Brockton mayor spends city cash on language course – Brockton Enterprise
Nation
Dukakis calls for end to Electoral College – Politico
Soros bands with donors to resist Trump, ‘take back power’ – Politico
Trump draws sharp rebuke for appointing Bannon as chief strategist – Washington Post
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