Happening Today
Markey press conference, Spicer endorsement, pperating under the influence
— U.S. Sen. Ed Markey holds a press conference to discuss his trip to immigration detention centers along the southern border, JFK Federal Building, 9th floor, 15 New Sudbury St., Boston, 11 a.m.
— Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer endorses Democratic candidate for governor Jay Gonzalez, Sofa Cafe, 181 Concord St., Framingham, 2:30 p.m.
— Special Commission on Operating Under the Influence and Impaired Driving meets for the second time, a week after a state study reported that about 21 percent of adults in Massachusetts reported using marijuana in the last month and a third of users said they had driven under the influence in the last month, Hurley Building, 6th floor, Room 612 A & B, 19 Staniford St., Boston, 3 p.m.
For more calendar listings, check out State House News Service’s Daily Advances (pay wall – free trial subscriptions available) and MassterList’s Beacon Hill Town Square below.
Today’s Stories
NAACP and others blast secrecy surrounding appointment of interim school superintendent
Another education-appointment controversy, but this time it doesn’t involve UMass-Boston. From the Globe’s James Vaznis: “The Boston School Committee on Monday night unanimously approved hiring the leader of an education nonprofit to run the school system on an interim basis, amid sharp criticism from parents, educators, and civil rights advocates that her selection was shrouded in secrecy. Laura Perille, president and chief executive of Boston-based EdVestors, will replace Tommy Chang, who abruptly resigned as superintendent less than two weeks ago after he and Mayor Martin J. Walsh mutually agreed to part ways.’”
The Herald has more on the NAACP’s scathing statement. From the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld: “For a mayor who sees himself as a champion of racial equality, this isn’t his finest hour.” From the Globe’s Joan Vennochi: “Let’s stop pretending Laura Perille will be just another interim superintendent of the Boston Public Schools. The mayor won’t admit it publicly. But the permanent job is hers to lose.”
The outrage: Dershowitz says he’s now ‘shunned’ on Martha’s Vineyard
This just in: Harvard lawyer Alan Dershowitz says he’s now the victim of the Martha’s Vineyard version of Red Hen shunning and shaming as a result of his outspoken defense of the Trump administration on legal matters. “They are shunning me and trying to ban me from their social life on Martha’s Vineyard,” he writes at The Hill. “One of them, an academic at a distinguished university, has told people that he would not attend any dinner or party to which I was invited.” The list of outrages goes on and on.
Harvard law professor: Take a valium, dear progressives
Speaking of Harvard Law School types, Jack Goldsmith, a professor at the school and a former assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, thinks the ‘free-fall panic’ by progessives over the resignation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is unjustified. Writing at the Weekly Standard, he believes the odds are that the next justice will “not appreciably (be) more conservative” than Kennedy. Then again, if it’s indeed a toss-up, then the odds are that the next justice could also be appreciably more conservative — and that prospect is what’s causing the panic attacks.
City Hall Plaza to get $60M upgrade, so it’s c’est la vie to Boston Winter
The good news: Boston’s barren and wind-swept City Hall Plaza, long considered one of the worst public spaces in America, is about to get a $60 million facelift that will include the actual planting of these things called “trees.” The bad news: The Boston Winter festival is history. We’ll take that bad news any day, assuming the good news is reality-based news. The Globe’s Milton Valencia has the details.
Baker to sign ‘red flag’ gun bill next week
He’s previously said he’s ‘conceptually’ in favor of the ‘red flag’ gun bill – and now he’s officially in favor of it. From SHNS’s Michael Norton: “Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday afternoon plans to sign legislation allowing family or household members to petition the courts for a one-year renewable order suspending gun ownership rights of someone they believe to be a danger. The bill also calls for the regulation of stun guns, or electronic weaponry, in response to a high court ruling that rendered such weapons unregulated.”
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
Can state troopers be trusted to police MGM Springfield?
So it’s come to this: The Herald’s Hillary Chabot, quoting other people (of course), is raising the question about whether the scandal-plagued State Police can be trusted to oversee the new MGM Springfield casino after it opens later this summer. The quote from William N. Thompson, a gaming expert and professor emeritus at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, is brutal.
Btw: Gov. Charlie Baker believes that any state trooper convicted in the ongoing overtime-abuse scandal should have his or her state pension yanked, reports Shira Schoenberg at MassLive.
‘Mayor of Massachusetts,’ Part II
The Globe’s Matt Stout confirms that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is going all out for his former chief of staff Dan Koh in the Third Congressional District primary race, crisscrossing the Merrimack Valley for candidate Koh and confirming Lowell Sun columnist Peter Lucas’s description of Walsh as the new ‘Mayor of Massachusetts.’ Walsh has even knocked on doors in Hudson, the up-and-coming Somerville of 495 and the Gateway to Marlboro. So we’re impressed!
L’Italien says ‘error’ caused fundraising email from State House account
Speaking of the Third Congressional District race, state Sen. Barbara L’Italien says an ‘error’ led to a campaign fundraising appeal being sent out to supporters from her official State House email account, a move for which she had apologized within minutes, Laurel Sweet reports in the Herald. The email message asked supporters to back L’Italien’s efforts to break up “the boys’ club” and preserve women’s rights in Washington.
Elsewhere in the Third race, fellow Democrat Beej Das is now defending college-era essays he wrote, walking back an apology he issued earlier and taking aim at the Globe for its stories on the pieces, Chris Lisinksi reports in the Lowell Sun.
‘Buh-bye, Mike’
The Herald’s Michael Graham says it’s time to stick a fork in U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano’s re-election campaign, saying he can’t possibly out-progressive the progressive Ayanna Pressley. And then there’s this: “Twenty years ago, an Irish-Italian guy like Capuano was on the winning side of identity politics and happy to take advantage of it. Today he’s on the losing side. Same motives, different voters. Buh-bye, Mike.”
Opinions still divided on handling of A.J. Baker case
Adam Reilly at WGBH probes the status of the investigation into allegations that A.J. Baker sexually assaulted a woman on a JetBlue flight and finds divergent opinions on whether proper procedures were followed at Logan. Reilly also has audio of the transmission from the pilot to the airport asking police to be sent to the gate but turns up few new details on the investigation itself, which is now in the hands of the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Coming soon (maybe): State’s first license holder says pot shop won’t open till September
As expected, the Cannabis Control Commission yesterday issued its first retail pot-shop license to Cultivate, a marijuana dispensary that’s planning a new retail marijuana store in Leicester. Sam Barber, president of Cultivate, initially got everyone all excited when he said his store could open in a matter of weeks. But CommonWealth magazine’s Jack Sullivan reports he later acknowledged a grand opening probably won’t occur until after Labor Day. Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive has more.
Despite lack of pot shops, Baker praises Cannabis Commission for ‘great job’
Some critics within the pot industry might beg to differ. But Gov. Charlie Baker is praising the Cannabis Control Commission’s regulatory performance, even though the start-date goal of July 1 has come and gone and there’s still no retail pot shops in Massachusetts. The commission is literally building a new industry from scratch and needs to get it right, Baker said yesterday, as reported by Shira Schoenberg at MassLive.
James Smith, a former state lawmaker and long-time weed champion, also isn’t blaming the commission for the slow start to retail pot sales. Instead, he’s accusing local towns and cities for most of the pot-industry delays, reports Jack Sullivan at CommonWealth magazine.
Just to be clear: The feds won’t be cracking down on pot heads
WGBH’s Morning Edition host Joe Mathieu interviewed U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, who’s now making it pretty clear that, despite federal anti-pot laws, the feds aren’t going to be going after small-time pot purchasers and users: “What I can say is marijuana enforcement is not the priority of my office. Opioids is the priority of my office. So if people are fearing a sudden widespread crackdown on purchase and use of small amounts of marijuana, they will not see that from my office.” But what about pot sellers and financiers? The story doesn’t say.
Judge orders editor to turn over info, but not sources
The editor of the Valley Patriot News must turn over any proof he has about the serious personal allegations he’s lodged against Methuen Mayor James Jajuga, but he can protect his sources for now, a judge has ruled, Kiera Blessing reports in the Eagle-Tribune. Jajuga has sued Thomas Duggan for libel after a column claimed he was a former heroin addict and a ‘crooked cop.’
SJC upholds state’s 20-day voter registration deadline
Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin has a perfectly accurate, if unorthodox, lead on his story: “The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a state law that blocks people from registering to vote in the 20 days before an election – but dropped a hint to the Legislature that, hey, you guys could change this if you want, before adding, it’s OK if you don’t want to.” This is a legal victory for Secretary of State Bill Galvin, but we’re not sure this is a political victory, considering progressives sought to overturn the 20-day rule and Galvin is currently facing a spirited primary challenge from progressive Josh Zakim.
Newsflash: McGrory accuser meets for five hours with Globe investigator
From Jack Sullivan at CommonWealth magazine: “The attorney for former Boston.com staffer Hilary Sargent said on Monday that his client sat down for five hours with an investigator hired by the Boston Globe and laid out her claims of inappropriate sexual conduct by Brian McGrory, the paper’s editor, and others.” The Globe’s Michael Levenson reports the same thing: A meeting was held. That’s it. Hey, it’s the day before the Fourth and it’s a slow news day, OK?
Elizabeth Warren develops a serious case of puppy love: ‘He’s a sweetie’
Now here’s real news: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a new love — an adorable little (still unnamed) puppy. From Warren: “When I got back from Washington on Thursday night, Bruce had someone new waiting for me. There’s a lot of pain and chaos in the world right now — we decided to bring a little gentleness and normalcy into our lives. Meet our new puppy (name TBD). He’s a sweetie.” Via Hayley Glatter at Boston Magazine, who has more on the “newest unofficial member of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation.”
Future of Puerto Rico evacuees rests in Worcester court
The immediate future of scores of Puerto Rico evacuees staying in Mass. hotels—and some 1,700 nationwide—is now in the hands of a federal judge in Worcester, who is expected to rule soon whether to order subsidies paying for those hotel rooms to be extended, Brad Petrishen reports in the Telegram.
Meanwhile, state education officials say an additional $8.2 million in financial support is on its way to districts that took in students feeling the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, reports Shira Schoenberg of MassLive.
Warren, Markey seek list of all migrant children separated from parents
From Shannon Young at MassLive: “U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, urged the Trump administration Monday to provide a list of all the migrant children and parents separated at the United States’ southern border under the White House’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to immigration.” It would be interesting to see if they even have an accurate, centralized list.
From four wheels to two wheels, Lyft agrees to buy operator of Boston’s Blue Bikes
Lyft obviously thinks the ride-sharing concept applies to more than just automobiles. The BBJ’s Max Stendahl reports that Lyft has agreed to buy New-York based Motivate, the company that operates Boston’s Blue Bikes (formerly known as Hubway) and other bike-sharing systems across the nation.
SJC to decide whether commission workers deserve OT pay
With the ‘grand bargain’ bill’s changes to Sunday and holiday pay for workers, now comes this. From Greg Ryan at the BBJ: “The state’s highest court has been asked to wade into a recent wave of lawsuits in Massachusetts accusing businesses of failing to pay overtime to employees who are paid entirely on a commission basis. The Supreme Judicial Court’s decision will have implications for The Herb Chambers Cos., Mattress Firm and other businesses in Massachusetts that are facing class action lawsuits from sales representatives.”
No state budget? No problem
While state GOP chairwoman Kirsten Hughes was trying to make hay of the fact the state has no budget two days into the new fiscal year (and linking the issue to recently approved pay raises by Democrats), Gov. Charlie Baker had other things on his mind. “I’ll talk to you about it later,” Baker said when asked about the late budget while stepping into an elevator Monday, as reported by SHNS’s Michael Norton (pay wall).
As the Globe’s Joshua Miller reports, Massachusetts is one of only two states that still doesn’t have a budget for the new fiscal year, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. Even Illinois, which hasn’t passed a budget since 2015, has a new budget, reports the AP at WTOP.
Sen. Humason blows opportunity to eliminate state government, guarantee free Brigham’s ice cream to all citizens
So how dead was it at the State House yesterday? State Sen. Donald Humason, a Westfield Republican, strolled with his son, Quinn, into the Gardner Auditorium, the Senate’s temporary digs, to find no one there even though there was supposed to be an informal session, reports SHNS’’s Katie Lannan. With no Democrats on hand in the Democratic-controlled Senate, the Republican Humason simply gaveled the session to order and immediately declared a recess. Obviously, absolute power doesn’t corrupt everyone.
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
‘Cop Pool Karaoke’
In a Fourth of July video spoof of ‘Carpool Karaoke,’ two Boston police officers, Stephen McNulty and Kim Tavares, discuss the Fourth of July and belt out a stirring rendition of ‘God Bless America,’ the AP reports at CBS Boston. Enjoy!
Happy Fourth!
We’ll be taking tomorrow off for the Fourth of July holiday. MassterLIst will be back on Thursday. Have a great holiday everyone. And stay cool if you can.
Candidate’s Forum: Jeffrey Sanchez and Nika Elugardo (Suffolk 15th District)
On July 9th, JP Progressives, Our Revolution Boston, NAACP Boston, and Amplify LatinX will host a forum with State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez and Nika Elugardo, his challenger to represent the Suffolk 15th District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.The Suffolk 15th District includes parts of Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, Roslindale and Brookline.
JP Progressives, Our Revolution, NAACP Boston, Amplify LatinX
Space Spotlight at Pier 4
Join NAIOP on Pier 4’s expansive rooftop terrace as we hear from Jessica Hughes, Brooks Brown and Dave Wilkinson.
The Climate Action Business Association’s Annual Cookout
Join the Climate Action Business Association for an evening of grilled cuisine, refreshments, and lawn games. Learn what our organization has been involved with this year, and engage with fellow member businesses and environmental professionals
The Climate Action Business Association
5th Annual Strategic Internal Communications–East Coast
For the past 4 years this highly anticipated conference has continued to bring over 100 internal communication professionals together to benchmark best practices. Together, over 3 days, attendees have brainstormed solutions for their biggest challenges, shared cost-effective resources, and gained an inside look at internal communication strategies from leading organizations.
South End By Foot: A NAIOP Summer Walking Tour
Visit some of the South End’s most exciting commercial & residential projects, including completed developments & those to come. Following a presentation by Jonathan Greeley of Boston Planning & Development Agency, attendees will be guided on a walking tour to hear from developers of the Flower Exchange, Harrison /Albany Block Developments & AC Hotel / 7INK by Ollie at Ink Block.
Suffolk County Candidate’s Forum: District Attorney & Registry of Deeds
Please join Boston’s Ward 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 19 Democratic Committees for a joint forum with the candidates running for Suffolk County District Attorney and Suffolk County Registry of Deeds.
Boston’s Ward Committees (Wards 8,9,10,11,12, and 19)
CFO of the Year Awards 2018
Don’t miss your chance to meet & learn from Boston’s top CFOs at the 10th annual CFO of the Year Awards!
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Boston Winter is canceled amid plans to renovate City Hall Plaza – Boston Globe
NAACP criticizes transparency in superintendent search – Boston Herald
Massachusetts
Mass. gets $3 million to root out food stamp fraud and waste – MassLive
Ferry AC fizzles during weekend heat wave – Martha’s Vineyard Times
Opioid deaths down last year in Mass., but up in Worcester – Telegram & Gazette
Warrant sweeps aim to make Brockton streets safer – Brockton Enterprise
Nation
Rhode Island sues major oil companies over climate change – Reuters
Trump goes to war with corporate America – Politico
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