Happening Today
‘Summer Strategy,’ Capuano-Pressley forum, and more
— Auditor Suzanne Bump attends the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts Fire Ops 2018 event, Boston Fire Department Training Academy, Moon Island Rd., Quincy, 9 a.m.
— Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Police Commissioner William Evans discuss the city’s ‘Summer Strategy,’ Boston Police Headquarters, 1 Schroeder Plaza, Roxbury Crossing, 10 a.m.
— The Special Legislative Commission on Public Records meets, Sharon Adult Center and Council on Aging, 219 Massapoag Ave., Sharon, 11 a.m.
— Health care advocates kick off the Health Care Voter Pledge Campaign, sponsored by Health Care For All, 1199SEIU, Boston Center for Independent Living, Disability Policy Consortium, among others, ouside the JFK Federal Building, 15 Sudbury Street., Boston, 11 a.m.
— Mass Growth Capital Corporation president Larry Andrews will be honored at the annual SCORE Boston/SBA awards luncheon, with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Assistant Secretary of Business and International Trade Nam Pham planning to attend, Sheraton Needham Hotel, 12 p.m.
— Gov. Charlie Baker, Secretary of Education Jim Peyser, Higher Education Commissioner Carlos Santiago, Board of Higher Education Chairman Chris Gabrieli, lawmakers and other officials gather for the 8th annual ‘29 Who Shine’ awards, Grand Staircase, 2 p.m.
— Safe Homes, a program which supports LGBTQ youth, holds its annual Safe Homes Gala and People of Courage Awards, with award recipients Sen. Michael Moore and WBZ reporter Kristen Eck attending, AC Marriott Hotel, 125 Front St., Worcester, 5 p.m.
— Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins moderates a racial justice policy forum with U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano and Congressional challenger Ayanna Pressley, Roxbury Community College, Media Arts Center, 1234 Columbus Avenue, Roxbury, 5:30 p.m.
— Gov. Charlie Baker attends the Good Sports 15th Annual Legends Gala with First Lady Lauren Baker, InterContinental Boston, 510 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, 6:30 p.m.
For more calendar listings, check out State House News Service’s Daily Advances (pay wall) and MassterList’s Beacon Hill Town Square below.
Today’s Stories
Rep. Walsh, RIP
He put up a good fight, but in the end the cancer beat him. State Rep. Chris Walsh, 66, a four-term Democrat and House vice chairman of the Committee on Education, died late Wednesday after a year-long battle against small lymphocytic lymphoma, according to the SHNS at WBUR. At MetroWest Daily News, Caitlin Kelleher has a roundup of the social-media reactions to Walsh’s death. Wicked Local has photos of Walsh over the years. An architect from Framingham, he represented the 6th Middlesex District.
A sad note: Walsh is the fourth sitting representative to have died this session, along with Reps. Gail Cariddi, Peter Kocot and James Miceli, SHNS reports.
The end: Rosenberg resigns from Senate
A day after the Senate Ethics Commission released its scathing report on Bryon Hefner and how former Senate President Stan Rosenberg failed to rein in his husband’s predatory ways on Beacon Hill, Rosenberg yesterday officially announced he would resign his Senate seat, effective today, as reported by SHNS’s Matt Murphy at CommonWealth magazine and Gintautas Dumcius and Shira Schoenberg at MassLive.
Here’s the reaction of Gov. Charlie Baker and others, as reported by Meghan Kelly and Lisa Creamer at WBUR. Laura Sweet at the Herald reports on how the lawyer for Hefner is lashing out against Attorney General Maura Healey for calling on Rosenberg to resign while prosecuting his client on various charges. The Globe’s Brian MacQuarrie also reports on various reactions, including a Northampton councilor who thinks Rosenberg may well have won re-election in his home district, if he hadn’t resigned.
Btw: Here’s a full copy of Rosenberg’s somewhat defiant apology/explanation statement, via MassLive, and here’s a State House New Service story (pay wall) about how an increasing number of Senate Democrats were calling for Rosenberg’s resignation, before he actually pulled the resignation trigger.
Senate issues apology but is it enough?
SHNS’s Matt Murphy (pay wall) notes how the Massachusetts Senate, reacting to yesterday’s resignation of state Sen. Stan Rosenbeg, took the unusual step of openly apologizing to the victims of Bryon Hefner’s alleged sexual and power-hungry antics at the State House.
In an editorial, the Globe is praising the Senate for issuing its blunt and tough report on the Hefner-Rosenberg affair (the editorial’s headline reads: ‘Mass. Senate walks the walk on Rosenberg inquiry’). But it does point out that individual senators may not be off the hook yet: “The ethics committee report revealed several instances when senators became aware of conduct by Hefner that could have prompted action, but apparently did not.” The Herald’s Howie Carr is no mood to praise senators, saying the Rosenberg-Hefner controversy has brought the Massachusetts Senate to a new low.
The luckiest pol in Amherst: Chelsea Kline
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz is asking the state for an extension to let more candidates file nomination papers to run this for Stan Rosenberg’s now vacant Senate seat. Why? Because only one candidate, Chelsea Kline, a political newcomer, filed to run against Rosenberg before he announced his resignation yesterday. Lucas Ropek at MassLive has more. We’ll see if this goes anywhere. It seems fair on one level (calling for a competitive race) and unfair on another (Kline was the only person with the moxie to challenge Rosenberg before he decided to resign).
Meanwhile, Kevin Franck, the former press spokesman for the now former-gubernatorial candidate Setti Warren, is writing again at the Herald – and he’s ripping into the timing of the release of the Senate’s devastating Rosenberg-Hefner report, saying it precluded potential candidates from filing to run for Rosenberg’s Senate seat. As a result, only one candidate, a “political neophyte,” i.e. Kline, had officially filed by Tuesday’s deadline to be on this fall’s ballot, he notes. It’s a good column. Check it out.
Speaking of Kline, her election to succeed Rosenberg indeed looks all but guaranteed, since she was the only one who opted to challenge Rosenberg, before he resigned, as reported by Shira Schoenberg at MassLive and SHNS’s Colin Young (pay wall). Young also notes how the recent death of Rep. Peter Kocot and Rosenberg’s resignation have a left big legislative hole in western Massachusetts.
Is the state actually going to have a big budget surplus this year?
SHNS’s Matt Murphy reports that April state tax collections were up a hefty 16 percent over last year’s numbers and tax collections through the first 10 months of the current fiscal year are up 8.1 percent. With two months to go in the fiscal year, the state is $809 million above revenues, reports Murphy.
Politically wired developer Arthur Winn charged with assaulting nurse
He keeps getting into trouble. From Michael Levenson and Andrea Estes at the Globe: “Arthur M. Winn, a prominent Brookline real estate developer, was arraigned Thursday on charges that he grabbed his home health care nurse by the neck and choked her, an accusation he claims she fabricated in an attempt to extort him of $3 million. This is the second time Winn, a politically connected developer who amassed a fortune building some of Boston’s largest affordable housing developments, has been accused of attacking one of his nurses.”
In 2011, he also pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions tied to the doomed Columbia Center project over the Mass Pike.
Former Sen. Forry joins Eversource’s board of trustees
Former state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry has another private sector title to add to her resume, in addition to her new post at Suffolk Construction: Board of Trustees member at utility giant Eversource Energy. Jennifer Smith at the Dorchester Reporter has the details.
UMass bond outlook gets a boost, despite, or maybe even because of, Mount Ida deal
Even though university officials are constantly clamoring for more state funds, Moody’s Investors Service has issued what CommonWealth magazine’s Bruce Mohl describes as a “fairly rosy report” on the five-campus system’s finances. Moody’s kept UMass’s rating the same, but bumped up its outlook from negative to stable. In an interesting twist, Mohl notes: “The report said UMass Amherst’s proposed acquisition of Mount Ida College in Newton would be ‘mildly credit positive’ for the university system. It noted the acquisition would not have a material impact on the system.”
But is it an offsetting net plus for UMass-Amherst and net minus for UMass-Boston? That’s the unresolved zero-sum question.
UMass-Boston students still seething over Mount Ida move
Speaking of the Mount Ida deal, Simón Rios at WBUR talks with students, faculty and even UMass president Marty Meehan about UMass-Amherst’s planned takeover of Mount Ida College’s Newton campus, a move that’s upset more than a few people at UMass-Boston. “Putting another campus in the vicinity of Boston makes it harder for our working class, majority minority students to compete for jobs, internships and money in a city that already has dozens of schools competing for it,” says Katie Mitrano, UMass student union president.
Patrick endorses Capuano over Pressley in Congressional race
As Democratic Congressional rivals U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano and City Councilor Ayanna Pressley prepare to faceoff today at a forum in Boston, Capuano has gotten a nice political lift: An endorsement from former Gov. Deval Patrick, the state’s most prominent African-American political figure, in a race in which identify politics matter, as the Globe’s Frank Phillips reports.
Dershowitz: ‘We’re moving closer and closer to the surveillance state’
From Nicole Lafond at Talking Points Memo: “Harvard University professor Alan Dershowitz, known for having President Trump’s ear, reacted to news that President Trump’s personal attorney’s phones were wiretapped with a dystopian take. ‘Well I think we are moving closer and closer to the surveillance state where phone calls are tapped, where emails are secured without a real basis,’ he said.”
Judge refuses to dismiss Joyce’s lawyer, but allow feds to subpoena lawyer-client correspondence
Alan Dershowitz probably wouldn’t like this ruling either. From Maria Cramer at the Globe: “A federal judge Thursday denied attempts by prosecutors to disqualify the lawyer for former state senator Brian A. Joyce from representing him in his upcoming corruption trial. But in a significant victory for prosecutors, US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton said he would allow them to issue a ‘limited subpoena’ for communications between Joyce and his lawyer.”
Oops: Rep. Gonzalez to run as write-in candidate after falling 38 signatures short to get on ballot
Is there such a thing as political malpractice? He had no opponent. He needed only 150 signatures to get on the ballot. But state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, a Springfield Democrat, didn’t collect enough qualified signatures, so he must now run as a write-in candidate, reports Peter Goonan at MassLive. Still, Gonzalez is shaking it off and seems upbeat. He deserves credit for that.
Btw: In a separate Western Massachusetts race, John Hine, a former South Hadley selectman and a senior business analyst at Baystate Health, has thrown his hat into the Democratic primary ring to succeed departing state Rep. John Scibak, reports Jim Russell at MassLive. Hine is the fourth candidate in the race.
Sharp elbows and party interference in primaries are part of politics, dear progressives
Elaine Kamarck, a Harvard lecturer, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and long-time DNC bigwig, writes at the NYT that the controversy over a party official telling a progressive candidate to step aside for someone else in a Colorado Congressional primary is way overblown. Democrats need more, not less, party leadership if they’re going to win this fall, especially in key swing districts, she argues.
DCR grapples with Gallops Island’s tragic past: Boston’s long-ago smallpox victims
This is a sad one. From the Globe’s Brian MacQuarrie: “Gallops Island is silent now, but traces of the tragedy that once cloaked this former quarantine station in Boston Harbor are resurfacing from its eroding soil. Harsh winter weather has scoured an old cemetery on the island and exposed the remains and coffins of smallpox victims, state officials said. … The state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which manages the 16-acre island, is making plans to halt further damage to the remains and protect the cemetery against future storms.”
Major hang-up: Inmates sue Hodgson over jail phone calls
Four people, including two inmates from the Bristol County House of Corrections run by Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, are suing Hodgson and a third-party contractor over the high cost of calling out of the jail, Maria Cramer reports in the Globe. The suit alleges a contract Hodgson signed with Securus Technologies Inc., which currently pays $820,000 a year to the sheriff’s office to run phone services at the jails, amounts to an illegal kickback scheme. Hodgson called the suit ‘frivolous.’
Pilgrim’s owners lose more than $1 million daily on shutdowns
A series of unplanned shutdowns is costing the operators of the Pilgrim Station nuclear plant tens of millions of dollars as the Plymouth plant staggers toward its planned permanent shutdown next year, Christine Legere reports in the Cape Cod Times. The plant loses $1.1 million in gross revenue every day it is shutdown, and it has been offline 55 of the last 122 days for various reasons.
In Lawrence, even a seemingly simple recess is cause for alarm
From Lawrence, via Keith Eddings of the Eagle-Tribune, comes a tale of either the clarifying power of a recess or something more sinister. Amid a lengthy standoff at the city council over whether to sell city-owned property to a developer, the chairman called a recess during which several members of the council disappeared behind closed doors for 18 minutes. When they emerged, there was suddenly consensus about how to move forward. Eddings wasn’t the only one whose Open Meeting Law violation detector went off: Two councilors stayed out of the recess room specifically because they didn’t want to be caught up in any potential complaint.
Six firms want to remake Lynn’s waterfront for the future
Six companies have stepped forward to say they want the job of helping Lynn map out the future of 300 acres of waterfront property in the city, a potential development goldmine the Baker administration has long touted as a success-story-in-waiting, Thomas Grillo reports in the Lynn Item. Most of the firms are Boston-based but one hails from Philadelphia.
Wild video of man climbing on the hood of a school bus in middle of Pike traffic
You may have seen it already, but, if you haven’t, check out this YouTube video, via MassLive, of a man driving erratically on the Pike, then slowing, then stopping, then getting out of his car to gesture and yell at a school bus driver and then climbing on the hood of the bus in Newton. The bus driver was freaked out – understandably. And no kids were on the bus – thank goodness. Michelle Williams at MassLive and Fox25 Boston have more.
Pipeline war update: Report zaps prediction of brownouts this summer
From Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine: “A group of natural gas pipeline opponents released a report on Thursday suggesting the operator of New England’s power grid used “unreasonable assumptions” when it concluded that rolling brownouts were possible in 2024 without additional gas supplies. The new report, prepared by Synapse Energy Economics for the Conservation Law Foundation and a handful of other groups, said the power grid operator low-balled renewable energy development, hydro-electricity imports from Quebec, and liquefied natural gas imports to make its case.”
How about them Celtics?
All-stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward may be out for the season, but the young Boston Celtics keep winning, last night coming back from a 22-point deficit to beat the favored 76ers and to go up two games to none in their NBA playoff series. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald have details on last night’s triumphant stunner at TD Garden.
Sunday public affairs TV
This Week in Business, NECN, 10 a.m. Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation chairman and CEO Peter Palandjian on breaking ground for a new hotel in the Boston Seaport; Little Leaf Farms CEO Paul Sellew on hydroponic farming; and Shirley Leung of the Boston Globe on the top local business stories of the week.
CEO Corner, NECN, 10:30 a.m. Boston Celtics president Rich Gotham and assistant GM and legal counsel Mike Zarren on the business of running an NBA basketball team.
On the Record, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 11 a.m. This week’s guest: Mayor Marty Walsh, who talks with anchor Ed Harding and co-anchor Janet Wu.
This is New England, NBC Boston Channel 10, 11:30 a.m. With host Latoyia Edwards, this week’s main topic: Prom season, with Teen Empowerment advisor and founder of The Powerhouse Program, Maria Wood.
CityLine, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 12 p.m. With host Karen Holmes Ward, this week’s main topic: Mental health in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month.
Responding to Federal Tax Reform: Options for Massachusetts
Responding to Federal Tax Reform: Options for Massachusetts
Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Can We Save Our Democracy?
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate
Author Talk and Book Signing with Kathleen Teahan
State Library of Massachusetts
The Public Conversation
Is Social Media Killing Journalism?
WGBH News and the New England Center for Investigative Reporting
Leonard Bernstein and President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Winter weather helped uncover a dark past on Gallops Island – Boston Globe
Boston small business owners split on tax overhaul, survey says – Boston Business Journal
Massachusetts
Middleboro officials discuss South Coast rail project with DOT – Brockton Enterprise
Old Sturbidge Village adds 5,400 solar panels – Worcester Business Journal
Worcester sets the stage for its next master plan – Telegram & Gazette
Someone is stealing 300-pound sewer grates in Saugus – Lynn Item
Nation
‘Scam PACs’ rake in millions under guise of charity – Politico
Pruitt secretly bought a house with a lobbyist – New York Times
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