Happening Today
Cape Cod marine monument
New England Fishery Management Council’s Habitat Committee meets to review national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act of 1906, including the marine national monument off the coast of Cape Cod, Four Points by Sheraton, 1 Audubon Rd., Wakefield, 10 a.m.
Alcohol Task Force
The Alcohol Task Force that Treasurer Deborah Goldberg convened to review the framework governing the alcoholic beverage industry holds a hearing in Foxborough, Boyden Public Library community room, 10 Bird St., Foxborough, 11 a.m.
Healey on the air
Attorney General Maura Healey joins ‘Boston Public Radio’ for her monthly ‘Ask the AG’ segment, WGBH-FM 89.7, 12:30 p.m.
Markey on INTERDICT Act
U.S. Sen. Markey holds press conference with Watertown Police Chief Mike Lawn, Middlesex DA Marian Ryan and Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian to discuss the INTERDICT Act, which would help stanch the flow of illicit fentanyl into the U.S., Watertown Police Department, 552 Main Street, Watertown, Mass., 1 p.m.
Labor Committee
The Committee on Labor and Workforce Development meets to review bills, including one that would allow youths receiving job training to be paid $3 below the minimum wage, Room B-2, 1 p.m.
Large Animal Response Team update
Fisheries and Wildlife Board meets with members expected to hear an update on the Large Animal Response Team and bear-attack protocol from assistant director of operations Michael Huguenin, Cronin Building, One Rabbit Hill Rd., Westborough, 1 p.m.
Neal interviewed
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Ways and Means, is the guest of the Boston Globe’s Josh Miller who will discuss with Neal a number of issues, including the potential for Democrats to re-take the House in 2018, AT&T’s flagship Boston store, Boylston Street, 5:30 p.m.
Kennedy on the air
U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III is a scheduled guest on ‘Greater Boston,’ WGBH-TV Ch. 2, 7 p.m.
Markey on the air
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey is a scheduled guest on “NightSide with Dan Rea.”…..WBZ NewsRadio 1030, 8 p.m.
Today’s Stories
Senate seeks commission to rescue MBTA fund from ‘death spiral’
From SHNS’s Michael Norton: “The Senate will push in upcoming budget talks with the House for a special commission to make recommendations to rescue the faltering MBTA pension fund, which the T’s top manager says is only one steep market downturn from a ‘death spiral’ that could only be halted with a taxpayer bailout.”
Maybe a new commission can also push along the process to hire a new pension-system chief, which has now gone a year without a permanent executive director, as the Globe’s Beth Healy reports.
All of a sudden the U.S. attorney’s office is interested in immigration matters
From the Herald’s Matt Stout: “The Bay State’s U.S. attorney’s office has launched a media blitz on the immigration front, firing off a torrent of press releases touting his office’s work as the Trump administration pushes prosecutors to prioritize illegal immigration cases.”
It’s as if acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb is trying out for a job. Wait a second, he is trying out of a job.
Budget shortfall could top $575 million
Welcome back, senators and representatives. Your job of balancing the state budget got a little harder while you were away for the holiday. A new financial disclosure statement signed by Administration and Finance Secretary Kristen Lepore and state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg shows that the state budget shortfall now ranges between $375 million and $575 million, slightly higher than previously feared, reports SHNS’s Michael Norton at the Telegram. Still no word on exactly how the Baker administration intends to plug the looming budget gap.
Massachusetts National Guard at capacity
Here’s some actual good post-Memorial Day news: the Massachusetts National Guard is nearly at full capacity, with a minimal need for new recruitment, Christopher Gavin of the MetroWest Daily News reports. The guard is authorized for 6,111 soldiers – and currently has 6,060 spaces filled. About 450 members of the guard are currently stationed overseas, well down from the several thousand members who were deployed internationally at the peak of the wars in the Afghanistan and Iraq, Gavin writes.
Shock and awe: Baker re-election team hopes to raise $30 million for campaign
Gov. Charlie Baker may be riding high in the polls, but he’s taking no chances when it comes to his re-election campaign, setting the ambitious goal of raising $30 million for the battle to come, right down to how much will be raised by what point in the election cycle, reports the Globe’s Jim O’Sullivan. “It’s an intimidating sum and one of the reasons why none of the front benchers in the Democratic Party are contesting him,” says Jeffrey Berry, a Tufts University political science professor.
Did something worse than an international incident occur over the weekend?
Veering off of local politics, though not necessarily local politicians: Before President Trump jetted off to Israel and Europe, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren joked (sort of) that she’d consider the trip a success if Trump could somehow avoid an international incident. He didn’t commit any classic public gaffe one might associate with an international incident. But did he do something far worse? German Chancellor Angela is now saying, after meeting privately with the president, that Europe can no longer rely on foreign partners (i.e. the United States) and that Europe “really must take our fate into our own hands,” the Washington Post reports. So – poof! – just like that, the post-World War II American policy of close military and diplomatic ties with Europe – one that has maintained the peace for more than 70 years — has suddenly changed in the eyes of Europe’s most critical leader. Meanwhile, the president has apparently left in his European wake an opening for Russia to start courting Italy in the absence of strong U.S. leadership, the NYT reports.
As it is, U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas of Massachusetts will be in Germany this week, as part of a bipartisan delegation that plans to meet with German officials on various matters. Maybe she can take a detour to Italy on her way home to assess the diplomatic damage there, too. This past weekend may have been more consequential than Warren ever imagined or feared. … Now back to local politics and pols.
Business groups rally to kill the millionaires-tax in its cradle
Led by the Massachusetts High Technology Council, business groups are raising funds and strategizing on how to block the proposed millionaires-tax referendum before it’s even placed on the 2018 ballot, reports Jon Chesto at the Globe. “One likely plan of attack: challenging (ballot) language that would set aside funds for education and transportation,” Chesto writes.
Baker to unveil proposed changes to unemployment insurance program
Gov. Charlie Baker today plans to file proposed changes to the state’s unemployment insurance law, including a bill that would bar former prison inmates from collecting unemployment checks after their work-release jobs end, reports the Herald’s Matt Stout.
Progressive ponders why Dems’ super-majority doesn’t translate into super-progressive legislature
Jonathan Cohn wonders why progressives, with Democrats holding a super-majority on Beacon Hill, can’t get a super-progressive agenda passed on Beacon Hill. Answer: Maybe because, mathematically, there wouldn’t be a Democratic super-majority on Beacon Hill if weren’t for the election of different shades of Democrats who don’t think and act exactly like Cohn? That thought, it appears, seems to have never crossed his mind.
Celebrating Kennedy’s pragmatic idealism
Speaking of different shades of Democrats, Jeff Shesol writes at the NYT about John F. Kennedy’s idealism “without illusions” and he takes shots at Bernie Sanders and others who once shunned, and still shun, Kennedy’s pragmatic approach toward politics. Also celebrating the 100th anniversary of JFK’s birth is House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who writes at the Globe how he’s “awed by JFK’s singular ability to translate the majesty of imagination and idealism into pragmatic policy.”
Springfield council-race shakeup
Former Springfield city councilor Timothy Ryan, also the son of the city’s former mayor, has declared he’s a candidate for an at-large council seat – and the move has dramatically altered the dynamics of the fall election, reports Matt Szafranski at Western Mass Politics & Insight.
Fix first, build later: The new campus reality
The glory days of campus empire building are over, for the time being, it seems. Elaborating on a policy first enunciated a few weeks ago by the administration, Education Secretary James A. Peyser says fixing UMass Boston’s crumbling underground garage is the top capital project for the state’s public higher education system. In fact, fixing buildings, not constructing new ones, is now the state’s priority when it comes to all campus projects, Peyser says, as the Globe’s Laura Krantz reports.
Keenan’s Salem State appointment raises diversity questions
Speaking of public higher education, the selection of former state Rep. John Keenan to head Salem State University has “ignited a simmering debate about the lack of gender and racial diversity in the top ranks of public higher education” in Massachusetts, reports Michael Levenson at the Globe.
Eldridge pushes pay increase for human-service workers
From Brad Petrishen at the Telegram: “A new union-backed report rapping CEO salary growth at nonprofits that provide human services – including the Seven Hills Foundation of Worcester – has spurred a local lawmaker to seek pay increases for caregivers. ‘Direct care workers should be making, at the very least, $15, if not more, an hour,’ said state Sen. James B. Eldridge, D-Acton, who filed a budget amendment intended to increase pay for caregivers.’”
Now hear this: Warren’s hearing-aid bill draws fire from gun-rights lobby
The strategy: Oppose U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on anything and everything. So that’s why gun-owner and conservative groups appear to be mobilizing against Warren’s push for creating an over-the-counter category of hearing aids, reports the Globe’s Victoria McGrane. It’s that simple – and that crude.
Children’s study: Trumpcare would likely mean fewer insured young adults
Even though the Affordable Health Care Act approved by the Republican-controlled U.S. House would continue to allow young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance plan until they are 26, the legislation is likely to result in fewer young people having coverage, a new study from Boston Children’s Hospital argues. The BBJ’s Jessica Bartlett explains.
Officials question Southbridge school’s use by church led by council chair
Some Southbridge leaders are raising concerns about school space being leased to a local church that is led by the chairman of the Town Council, Brian Lee of the Telegram reports. The House of Destiny Ministries pays the going rate of $400 to the school district—which is currently run by a state receiver—and its pastor, the Rev. Esteban Carrasco Jr., said questions being raised amount to little more than personal attacks and “small-town politics.”
Tourism officials: Bumped-up funding still not enough
Leaders of the state’s regional visitors bureaus says the $6 million set aside in the Senate version of the state budget—twice the amount proposed by Gov. Charlie Baker—to promote tourism still falls well short of needs, Christian Wade reports in the Salem News. The state’s tourism councils had asked for $10 million in funding for the next fiscal year—a request likely to go exactly nowhere given the increasing deficit facing budget writers.
Water and Wetlands Legislative Briefing
The Massachusetts Rivers Alliance and the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions are hosting a Water Issues and Wetlands Sustainability Briefing on Tuesday, May 30th from 10 am – 11 am in the House Members’ Lounge.
Massachusetts Rivers Alliance and the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions
Putin’s Strategy in Ukraine and the Baltics
As Editor in Chief of Ukraine Business Journal and the former Russian Foreign Correspondent for Voice of America, James Brooke will give an overview of present-day Russia and Eastern Europe along with his thoughts on Russia’s current strategic interests. Q&A, refreshments. Free
China from Inside and Outside
China changes rapidly. Learn opportunities/challenges from American & Chinese practitioners who will share their outcomes and focus on what an investment in China might mean, from your own perspective. The Chinese Economic, Monetary and Banking Situation | China in a Global Asset Allocation Framework | Investing in Chinese Equities | What’s the next Alibaba? A Focus on Chinese Tech Shares
Women Influencers: A Financial Industry Networking Event
Please join CFA Society Boston, Boston Women in Finance, Women in ETFs Boston, Women in Investments, and Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy for a spring joint-networking event! A special THANK YOU to Eaton Vance for hosting us in their space!
15th Annual Spring Awards Breakfast: Honoring Health Equity Champions
This June, join MPHA and more than 300 friends and partners in public health for a special celebration, as we honor five visionary leaders advancing health equity here in the Commonwealth.
Massachusetts Public Health Association
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Tsarnaevs, Manchester terror suspects have common histories – Boston Globe
Massachusetts
Charlie Baker bill targets convicts – Boston Herald
Rivera’s statements on planner contradict sworn testimony – Eagle-Tribune
Warren joins N.H. Sen. Shaheen on FERC legislation to give citizens more leverage – Berkshire Eagle
Mass. National Guard at capacity – MetroWest Daily News
Governor hopeful Setti Warren outlines goals at Framingham meet-and-greet – MetroWest Daily News
Dennis awaits court ruling on veterans housing dispute – Cape Cod Times
Mass. wage theft bill seeks to tackle growing problem – Lowell Sun
Nation
Tourism to the U.S.has been in decline since Trump took office – NBC News
Scrutiny turns to why Kushner met with a Putin ally – New York Times
Mueller tells Tabor grads, ‘You’re only as good as your word’ – Standard-Times
Trump demands brevity when he consumes top-secret intelligence – Washington Post
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