Happening Today
Ethics Task Force
The task force created by House Speaker Robert DeLeo to review state ethics laws meets to discuss its members’ proposed changes to the ethics laws and the State Ethics Commission’s comments on the proposals, Hearing Room A-2, 11 a.m.
Substance-abuse prevention
Attorney General Maura Healey and GE Foundation President Ann Klee announce a new program to prevent substance use by youths, GE Offices, 33-41 Farnsworth St., Boston, 11 a.m.
Time Zone Commission
The group looking into whether Massachusetts should adopt a different time zone meets, with an agenda that calls for testimony on the public health impacts of such a change, Room 222, 11 a.m.
Seat Belt Awareness Month
Gov. Baker joins Secretary of Public Safety and Security Daniel Bennett, State Police Colonel Richard McKeon, Rep. Alan Silvia and other members of the Legislature to present a proclamation establishing May as Seat Belt Awareness Month, Room 360, 11:30 a.m.
Governor’s Council
Governor’s Council holds its weekly meeting with votes possible on the nominations of attorney Robert Ovoian and attorney Maureen McManus as District Court judges, Council Chamber, 12 p.m.
Advanced manufacturing
Gov. Baker joins UMass President Martin Meehan, Sen. Eileen Donoghue and officials from Advanced Functional Fabrics of America and NextFlex for a funding announcement regarding advanced manufacturing of functional fibers and hybrid electronics, UMass Lowell Innovation Hub, 110 Canal St., Lowell, 2:30 p.m.
Rosenberg on Facebook
Senate President Stan Rosenberg hosts a question and answer session on his Facebook page, 2:30 p.m.
Sununu on the air
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is a guest on ‘NightSide with Dan Rea,’ WBZ NewsRadio 1030, 8 p.m.
Today’s Stories
Western Mass. lawmakers press Baker for western SJC appointment
Nineteen lawmakers from the western Massachusetts have asked Gov. Charlie Baker to consider appointing a resident from the region to the Supreme Judicial Court, when a seat becomes available later this year, Buffy Spencer of MassLive reports. “Certainly, the day-to-day experiences, challenges and opportunities of residents in Western Massachusetts differ greatly from those of their urban neighbors to the east,” the legislators write.
Were the governors of Maine and NH right (partially) about Lawrence?
More than 30 people arrested yesterday are facing federal drug, firearm and immigration charges for their role in what federal authorities are calling the state’s “largest fentanyl distribution ring,” based out of Lawrence, reports Christian Wade at the Eagle-Tribune. Hearing this, we immediately thought of the recent controversies involving the governors of New Hampshire and Maine, both of whom got into heaps of trouble for blaming their states’ drug woes on Lawrence and other Bay State cities. Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s racially charged remarks were completely out of line. But LePage and N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu’s finger pointing at Lawrence’s drug connections don’t seem so out of line this morning.
The Herald’s Howie Carr also notes the LePage and Sununu angle, but he conveniently glosses over LePage’s past racially charged remarks and instead turns yesterday’s arrests into an anti-immigrant rant. You’re better off reading Peter Gelzinis’s column in the Herald. It’s about the chilling words and mindsets of the drug traffickers, not their immigration status.
Meanwhile, Markey touts fentanyl-trafficking technology
As federal officials yesterday rounded up dozens of fentanyl traffickers in the Lawrence area, U.S. Sen. Edward Markey was touting a bill he’s filed with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio to give border patrol agents technology to identify and seize illicit fentanyl before it enters the country, reports SHNS’s Colin Young at the Gloucester Times.
Jury finds UMass graduate student guilty in death of Eric Sinacori
After seven hours of deliberation, a jury found former UMass graduate Jesse Carrillo guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2013 overdose death of undergrad Eric Sinacori, who had himself been a confidential informant to the campus police department, Emily Cutts reports in the Hampshire Gazette. UMass shut down the informant program in the wake of Sinacori’s death.
GE Foundation, Healey partner on opioid prevention
One last opioid-related post: The GE Foundation will announce a partnership today with Attorney General Maura Healey’s office aimed at curbing substance abuse among young people in the state, Jessica Bartlett of the Boston Business Journal reports.
Garrett Bradley’s busy business schedule: An update
The Globe’s Andrea Estes, a member of the newspaper’s Spotlight team, has an update on the business dealings of Garrett Bradley while he was a State House lawmaker. Let’s see: There’s his legal firm’s extensive county-government work, his state retirement-system work, his work to get his sister, wife and father-in-law jobs, and Andrea has a lot more emails laying out his busy business schedule and dealings.
At the stroke of midnight, the state’s reliance on natural gas will dramatically grow
Steve Dodge, executive director of the Massachusetts Petroleum Council, says the midnight closure today of the coal-powered Brayton Point electric plant will only increase the state’s current overreliance on natural gas to generate power here – and he argues the need for new natural-gas pipelines will also grow. The former seems indisputable. But we’re sure environmentalists would disagree with the latter.
Health-care advocates warn not to imbibe too much in alcohol reforms
Not everyone is gung-ho about reforming the state’s economically antiquated alcohol laws. Health-care advocates are warning that undoing the myriad of laws could lead to unintended public-health consequences, reports the Globe’s Dan Adams. Points well taken. But if health-care advocates merely push to maintain the status quo, then they’re also siding with monopolistic purveyors of alcohol who love the current system precisely because it’s “so complex and intertwined.” Just to be clear.
State readies for ‘catastrophic’ bear encounters
Have the great white sharks arrived yet off the coast of Cape Cod? If not, the media can always contend with the growing menace of bears moving relentlessly east, towards our children, homes and livlihoods, and how the state is responding to protect us from potential ‘catastrophic’ encounters with the forest beasts, as the Herald’s Dan Atkinson and Kristen Giddings report this morning.
Lynch isn’t wavering over Trump’s ethics waivers
From Shannon Young at MassLive: “Taking aim at what he called the Trump administration’s refusal to disclose ethics rules waivers, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston, announced legislation Tuesday that would require such exemptions to be reported and publicly available online.”
‘Oops. They did it again’
Another national search. Another local wins the job. And not just any local: Another male, and former state legislator, got tapped to run Salem State University, making it nine out of nine public universities now run by males in Massachusetts. The Globe’s Shirley Leung discerns a pattern here.
Building a stronger western Massachusetts will help all of Massachusetts
State Sen. Adam Hinds and Dan Hodge, the former director of economic and public policy research at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, say underperforming economic regions around the state, including western Massachusetts, are actually contributing to the state government’s structural deficits and they offer three ways to boost the economies of struggling regions.
Neal to fellow Dems: Yes, it’s the economy, stupid
Speaking of economic development and western Massachusetts, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal of Springfield says Democrats need to start stressing economic issues and growth if they’re ever going to regain the support of work-class voters, reports Laura Krantz at the Globe. “I think that we’ve lost touch with the aspirations of people who really want to do something with themselves,” he said. “They see us as not caring anymore.”
ACLU backs council push for sanctuary-city status in Easthampton
Backers of declaring Easthampton a sanctuary city have produced a letter from the regional head of the American Civil Liberties Union that says the city council does indeed have authority to set police department policy regarding illegal immigrants – and that the city’s solicitor was wrong to assert only the mayor has such authority, reports Mary Serreze at MassLive. The ACLU letter is reviving a previously shelved plan to declare Easthampton a sanctuary city, Serreze writes.
‘The Dutch reach’
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is trying to teach motorists how to open their car doors so as not to hit passing bicyclists. The technique is called the ‘Dutch reach’ and the Globe’s Steve Annear has the details. The story is also accompanied by a MassDOT video.
Thank the French for New Bedford’s booming scallops market …
One word: Scallops. And the French love for them is one of the reasons why New Bedford’s fisheries – and economy as a whole – are doing so much better these days, reports Phillip Martin at WGBH.
… and thank Homeland Security for the immigration anxieties in New Bedford
You can’t blame Rep. Michelle DuBois for this one: New Bedford, while its fishing industry and economy are undergoing a robust turnaround, is still racked with rumors of impending raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Phillip Martin also reports at WGBH.
Dershowitz defends his record
In a Globe op-ed, Alan Dershowitz defends his record of supporting the civil liberties of both those on the left and right and provides a mini-legal lesson on the Logan Act that some liberals want to use to prosecute Donald Trump et gang.
Baker is turning left, right, and every which way in re-election fight
To nab enough Democratic and Independent voters to win re-election, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker is signaling that he’s headed left, not right, in the upcoming gubernatorial fight, reports Mass Inc Polling. Which is true. For the time being. All Republican governors in Massachusetts have to lurch to the center, and sometimes cross the line to the left, and then back to the center again, then hard right and hard left, etc. etc. Zigzagging is the only way for Republicans to get into, and stay in, the Corner Office. See example below.
Baker, Walsh unveil free-tuition program for inner-city kids
Free college tuition is the campaign-promise du jour, for both Democrats and Republicans, it seems. From David Harris at the BBJ: “Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Tuesday launched a new college affordability pilot program for Boston high school graduates, which will enable low-income students to complete a four-year degree without having to pay tuition and mandatory fees.” Democratic gubernatorial candidate Setti Warren says all students, not just some, should be entitled to free tuition, reports SHNS at Wicked Local
Healey: Photo caption omission speaks a thousand words about Trump’s LGBT policies
Attorney General Maura Healey isn’t buying the White House’s explanation that it accidently omitted a gay partner’s name from a photo of NATO first spouses, saying it’s representative of President Trump’s overall agenda toward the LGBT community, reports Tori Bedford at WGBH. “These are the values that I guess they support and want to see reflected in any way possible,” Healey said on Boston Public Radio. “It shouldn’t surprise people.”
Pre-emptive strike: GOP opens Clinton playbook to target Warren
We all know that national Republicans have been targeting U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. What’s interesting is that Republican groups are now openly acknowledging that they’re borrowing a page from their anti-Hillary Clinton playbook to damage Warren’s 2018 re-election campaign, in order to damage her for a potential 2020 presidential run, report Alex Roarty and Katie Glueck of McClatchy’s Washington D.C. bureau.
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
20th Annual MWLS Nancy King Memorial Golf Tournament
It’s that time of year! The 2017 MWLS Nancy King Memorial Golf Tournament will be held on Monday, June 5th, at the Framingham Country Club. All proceeds support MetroWest Legal Services.
ELM Earth Night 2017
Friends, supporters, and colleagues are invited to join us for hors d’oeuvres and drinks while enjoying the Aquarium. With national environmental policy looking grim, it’s important we celebrate our achievements here in Massachusetts.
Environmental League of Massachusetts
Immersive Storytelling: Transforming Brand Experiences Online
Great brands do it, and now you can learn their secrets. Join PRSA Boston for Immersive Story Telling: Transforming Brand Experiences Online. This is your chance to get insights on the latest strategies and tactics of building an immersive story with authenticity and integrity through multiple platforms.
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Is Boston’s building boom coming to Kenmore Square? – Boston Globe
Roxbury rebuild eyes building big – Boston Herald
Trying to find an economic balance in the battle for Dudley Square’s future – WGBH
Massachusetts
Mass. wants to update its alcohol laws. Not all are happy – Boston Globe
Springfield councilors praise proposed rule for new firefighters – MassLive
Hopkinton police move toward Tasers – MetroWest Daily News
Staffing ‘debacle’ unfolding in Framingham Public Schools – MetroWest Daily News
Barnstable County plans early retirement offer – Cape Cod Times
Is Mass. heading for a budget crisis? – WGBH
Bay State gets high business scores in report – Worcester Business Journal
Nation
Trump’s climate conundrum nears a verdict – Politico
Recruiting proves difficult as Trump weighs shakeup – New York Times
GOP taps anti-Clinton strategy to damage Elizabeth Warren early – McClatchy DC
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