Happening Today
Training conference, leadership meeting and more
— Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito joins Mass Insight Education & Research President & CEO Dr. Susan Lusi and Bridgewater State University President Frederick Clark at the Mass Insight Education & Bridgewater State University 2018 Advanced Placement Summer Institute Training Conference, Bridgewater State University, Rondileau Campus Center, 19 Park Avenue, Bridgewater, opening remarks at 8 a.m.
— The Pioneer Valley Regional School District would be approved to authorize borrowing up to $2 million to fund deficits in the district’s fiscal year 2018 and 2019 budgets under a bill (H 4746) the Committee on Education will consider, Room A-1, 10 a.m.
— Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Geoff Diehl is a guest on ‘Boston Public Radio,’ WGBH-FM 89.7, 11:30 a.m.
— Boston Mayor Martin Walsh provides remarks at the Puerto Rican Flag Raising Ceremony, City Hall Plaza, Boston, 12 p.m.
— Gov. Charlie Baker, Senate President Harriette Chandler, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr and House Minority Leader Brad Jones huddle in a closed-door leadership meeting, Governor’s Office, 2 p.m.
— MBTA’s Better Bus Project street team talks with bus riders to solicit feedback on current and future service, Bellingham Square, Hawthorne Street at Broadway, Chelsea, 3:30 p.m.
— Mayor Marty Walsh provides remarks at the Operation Exit Graduation Ceremony, Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 1, 1157 Adams St., Dorchester, 4:30 p.m.
— Mayor Marty Walsh, the Trustees of Reservations, the mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics and TD Bank celebrate the launch of ‘Community Grown: Art and Design in the Gardens,’Nightingale Community Garden, 512 Park St., Dorchester, 6 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
Globe: Yes, Bill Evans is leaving BPD to take post at Boston College
It appears that WBZ-TV was right and that Boston Police commissioner Bill Evans was pulling a Pinocchio when he vehemently denied last month reports he was leaving the BPD for BC. From the Globe’s John Ellement: “Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans will announce Monday he is retiring from the department to take a job overseeing the police force at Boston College, according to several law enforcement officials. Evans, 59, has served as police commissioner for more than four years and has held every civil service rank in the department during a 38-year career.”
Thunder on the right: Is Charlie Baker Republican enough for Republicans?
The Globe’s Joshua Miller lists all the issues that would appear to put Gov. Charlie Baker on the Democratic side of the ledger, rather than the Republican side – and then he lets GOP conservatives fire away at the moderate Republican governor. The Herald’s Howie Carr is most definitely firing away at Baker these days.
Btw: The governor paid a visit to the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Roxbury on Sunday and, as the Globe’s Jeremy Fox reports, “took the pulpit to read a favorite piece of Scripture from Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians and share personal reflections on the value of humility and service to others.” Preaching at a Christian church? The nerve of that RINO!
‘Sanchez on hot seat,’ Part II: The threat from the ‘super left’
The Globe’s Jamie Halper has more on how Rep. Jeff Sánchez, a Jamaica Plain Democrat who serves as the House’s chief budget writer, is feeling the heat for not including a sanctuary-state provision in the final state budget approved by lawmakers. His primary opponent, Nika Elugardo, who describes herself as “super left,” continues to press her attacks.
Off and running: Owner of Santa Anita and Pimlico racetracks eye horse racing in Lancaster
From Mina Copruz at the Lowell Sun: “The owner of some of the country’s most famous thoroughbred racetracks is considering building a track in north Lancaster, town officials said. Selectman Mark Grasso said a landowner approached the board about a week ago, saying he had been approached by The Stronach Group. Grasso would not name the property owner. The property is likely in the Route 70 area, which has about 600 acres of developable land, Grasso said. The Stronach Group is scheduled to make a presentation to the Planning Board at 6 p.m. Wednesday.”
Baker to sign $2 fee for police training, renews call for death penalty for cop killers
The Herald’s Mary Markos led off her story with the fact Gov. Charlie Baker is renewing his call for the death penalty for cop killers, in the wake of last week’s execution-style murder of a Weymouth police officer Michael Chesna and 77-year-old bystander Vera Adams. The death-penalty call is going nowhere on Beacon Hill.
But Baker also told the Herald that he plans to sign a bill on his desk that will add a $2 surcharge to every vehicle rental contract in Massachusetts to pay for municipal police training. “I’m not a big fan of raising fees,” Baker said. “(But) the law enforcement community made it very clear to us that this is their number one priority. … We’re going to support it.”
Paul Heroux: Attleboro mayor, ex-legislator and … Russian TV commentator on Middle East issues?
The Globe’s Michael Levenson has a story about how Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux, until recently a state representative on Beacon Hill, has an interesting side gig as a “Middle East expert” on Russia’s state-funded RT International television, which a U.S. intelligence report recently labeled as “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.” Read the story. Heroux, who stresses he’s not paid nor censored, indeed has a fascinating and “unorthodox resume,” as Levenson puts it.
Beacon Hill’s TTD list in the final days of the legislative session
The AP’s Steve LeBlanc and Bob Salsberg at the Sentinel & Enterprise and the Globe’s Matt Stout have summaries of the items still on the legislative TTD list with less than10 days left in the legislative session. The list includes bills dealing with: Airbnb regulations, school spending, the sales tax holiday, distracted driving, health care reform, energy, civic lessons, animal cruelty and more. The Globe, in an editorial, has its own wish list of bills it would like to see addressed, including those tied to zoning reforms, pre-K schooling, dental therapists and non-compete agreements.
Closing the ‘bodyworks loophole’
More unfinished business at the State House, from Liam Knox and Jenifer McKim at WGBH: “The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a bill aimed at fighting human trafficking in illicit massage businesses across the state. The legislation would close a legal loophole that exempts businesses that claim to practice ‘bodywork therapy’ from the licensing requirements that apply to massage parlors.” The legislation now goes to the House in the waning days of the session.
A name is not just a name: Group calls for boycott of Faneuil Hall over slave-trade ties
From Brooks Sutherland at the Herald: “A group pushing to change the name of iconic marketplace Faneuil Hall is now calling for a national ‘black-led boycott’ of the tourist site after being ‘avoided and rebuffed’ by Mayor Martin J. Walsh, according to its founder. Kevin Peterson said the New Democracy Coalition has been reaching out to the mayor for more than a year and a half about a name change through letters, press conferences and office visits.” The Globe’s Jerome Campbell has more.
Count the Globe’s Renée Graham as among those who believe that changing the name is not the answer. Instead, she argues, a form of artistic shaming and education is in order, via visual artist Steve Locke’s planned memorial to slaves outside the hall.
Can UMass Boston emulate the huge success of University of Maryland Baltimore County?
The Globe’s Laura Krantz has a terrific story on how the University of Maryland-Baltimore County is now seen as a science-mecca model of what UMass-Boston might be one day – if the state ever decides to ante up enough money and if the UMass-Boston’s faculty ever gets its act in order. UMBC’s superstar president, Freeman A. Hrabowski III, is advising UMass president Marty Meehan on how to get UMass-Boston from here to there, so to speak, Krantz reports.
Scooter invasion: Walsh warns alien ride-sharing intruders to stay away
The Herald’s Jordan Graham and Kathleen McKiernan report on the surprise appearance late last week of California-based Bird’s electronic scooters on the streets of Cambridge and Somerville, an invasion that’s freaked out Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who must know his city is next. Walsh is warning that the ride-sharing scooter company “can’t just show up here, there has to be some regulation and some notification of what’s going to happen.”
Meanwhile, Quincy is suffering its own ride-sharing shock, only in reverse: The sudden decision by Ofo, a Chinese bike-sharing company, to withdraw it services from the city, reports Kelly O’Brien at the BBJ.
Diehl presses Warren to state where she stands on illegal immigrants voting
The last time we checked, City Council President Andrea Campbell et gang weren’t advocating that illegal immigrants be allowed to vote in Boston, just legal immigrants. No matter. Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Republican primary candidate for U.S. Senate, is re-framing the local debate and demanding to know where U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren stands on letting illegal immigrants vote, as is now the case in San Francisco school-board elections, reports Sean Phillip Cotter at the Herald.
New York Magazine makes it official: Warren now the ‘de facto leader of the Democratic Party’
Speaking of Elizabeth Warren: After a thorough and exhaustive description of the senator’s constant motion, body language and all-around energetic demeanor, Rebecca Traister at New York Magazine finally gets to the point: “In the absence of a clear favorite to challenge Trump and the Republicans, Warren has emerged in just the past few weeks as the de facto leader of the Democratic Party, and accordingly, the candidate-of-the-moment for 2020.”
Lobster prices plummeting as tariffs take their bite
Have you seen the latest signs outside area supermarkets? Lobsters for $4.99 a pound or even $3.99 a pound. You can thank, or blame, the Chinese and President Trump, as the trade war over tariffs escalates and wholesale lobster prices plunge. Alex Gaileyat the Globe has the details.
Warning: Godzilla-connected tsunami to destroy Boston next summer
Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin, via a reader tip, sends out the alert that Boston is to be destroyed by a tsunami in next summer’s Godzilla movie, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.” He has the movie-trailer proof, or so it would appear. It’s a little confusing about what’s where.
Brockton and Taunton battling it out in D.C. over gambling rights
As Marc Larocque reports at the Enterprise, Taunton and Brockton are now battling it out on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. over casino gambling in southeastern Massachusetts, dragging in U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Reps. Bill Keating and Stephen Lynch, among others. Key legislation on the matter goes before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources on Tuesday.
Time to reconsider a long-ago, cast-off, outside-the-box option for South Coast Rail
Ari Ofsevit, a transportation and urban planning student at MIT and a board member of TransitMatters, thinks the T’s current preferred route for the proposed South Cost Rail is headed in the wrong direction. He thinks it’s time to reevaluate a “long-ago, cast-off option” for the line: The Mansfield alternative. He explains at CommonWealth magazine.
Capuano versus Pressley update: Still not many differences
The policy-differences gap between U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano and City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, now battling it out in the Democratic primary for Congress, has opened up a smidgen, with the two differing over whether to eliminate ICE and accept corporate and PAC donations. Otherwise, there’s still not many policy differences between the two, reports Michael Levenson at the Globe.
CLF suit against state: It’s not just about Don Chiofaro’s tower
Bradley M. Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation, writes at CommonWealth magazine that his group’s legal action against the state is over its recent approval of Boston’s Municipal Harbor Plan, which he says will further wall off the waterfront to average Bostonians, and not about a new tower planned by a certain developer whose name can’t and shan’t be mentioned.
‘What is it? The uniforms? The machismo? The endorsements?’
The Globe’s Margery Eagan ponders why police always seem to get what they want when it comes to keeping their attractive perks and pay. “Some things around here never change,” she writes. “One of them is the incredible inability of elected officials to say no to sweetheart deals for the police.”
Plymouth County DA candidate hatches new plan to get back on the ballot
John E. Bradley Jr., who lost his spot as an independent on the ballot for Plymouth County District Attorney after state officials say he misled them about whether he actually lives in the county, now says he’ll wage a ticket campaign for the Democratic nomination. Marc Larocque of the Brockton Enterprise has details on Bradley’s new plan: To garner at least 1,000 write-in votes in the Sept. 4 Democratic primary so he can appear on the ballot in November.
Trooper is cooperating in criminal probe after admitting receiving free guns
Here’s more on the embattled State Police, via the Globe’s Shelley Murphy: “A Massachusetts State Police trooper has admitted receiving free guns from a state-contracted firearms dealer and is cooperating with prosecutors in an ongoing criminal investigation into the sale of department weapons, according to two people familiar with the probe.” Earlier this month, Dan Glaun at MassLive reported on the grand jury’s investigation into the alleged improper guns sales.
We’re No. 1: Massachusetts is the altered-fingerprints capital of America
Who would have thought? From Hillary Chabot at the Herald: “The number of criminals trying to hide their identities by burning, hacking and mutilating their fingerprints is skyrocketing in the Bay State — and local law enforcement continues to see the number rise even as the FBI has targeted Massachusetts as an altered fingerprint hot spot.”
Lost appetite: ‘Hungry Man’ frozen dinner recalled in Mass.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administrations has ordered the recall of Hungry Man Chipotle BBQ Sauce Boneless Chicken Wyngz dinners sold in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia, fearing the frozen dinner made by an Arkansas company may be contaminated with salmonella. Dave Danton at MassLive has the specifics on the recall.
Audit finds long delays in handling of complaints about licensed professionals
Who do we complain to about the complaint department? Kristin Palpini of the Berkshire Eagle has details on a state audit that found that a quarter of all complaints made to the state’s Division of Professional Licensure take longer than 60 days to resolve, a fact that state lawmakers with oversight of the agency say they are looking into further.
Shocking development: As parking fines rise, so do the number of tickets issued
The city of Boston has been writing more parking tickets in the days since fines for many violations saw significant increases, Antonio Planas and Brian Dowling report in the Herald. We’re shocked. Shocked!
Forum with Candidates for Middlesex County DA and Governor’s Council
Participating candidates: District Attorney: Donna Patalano and Marian Ryan (incumbent); Governor’s Council: Nick Carter and Marilyn Petitto Devaney (incumbent). Co-Moderators: Patti Muldoon and James Milan
Massachusetts Democratic Party
A Job Fair & CORI Sealing Clinic for a New Economy
The Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association, the Commonwealth Dispensary Association, the Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council, the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, Equitable Opportunities Now, and ELEVATE NE are pleased to collaborate and co-host a special event connecting prospective employees to one of Massachusetts’s fastest growing sectors.
Coffee with the BBJ Editor & Publisher
Join Boston Business Journal Editor Doug Banks and Publisher Carolyn M. Jones for coffee at our office. You’ll get the chance to network with business professionals from various industries & introduce yourself and/or your business to our team.
2018 Summer Institute in Global Leadership: Advanced Public Speaking
Advanced Institutes bring together older students who are passionate about global issues and are in, or aspire to be in, leadership roles that demand advance communication skills. This week, students will work together to develop public speaking skills through the format of Model UN crisis simulations. There will be a particular focus on presentation tips and tricks and extemporaneous speaking.
United Nations Association of Greater Boston
NAIOP 8th Annual Harbor Cruise
Mix business with pleasure on the decks of the NAIOP Harbor Cruise, featuring networking, an 80’s theme party, and cocktails. Connect with friends and colleagues while enjoying a 360-degree view of Boston’s ever-changing waterfront.
2018 #FlipMyFunnel B2B Marketing and Sales Conference
Each year, more than 1,000 B2B marketing and sales professionals gather together to learn about the latest in B2B marketing and sales, network with one another and explore the latest technologies to power their programs.
Malden Democratic City Committee Annual Summer BBQ
We hope you’ll join us for our summer BBQ! This annual event is always a lot of fun and a great chance to catch up with old friends while supporting MDCC.
Malden Democratic City Committee
Today’s Headlines
Metro
’She-village,’ block of women-owned pop-up shops, opens in Seaport – Boston Business Journal
Advocacy group wants blacks to boycott Fanueil Hall – Boston Globe
Massachusetts
Noise complaint turns to dance-off in one Mass. community – MassLive
Foster case highlights red tape, alleged bias in DCF office – Telegram & Gazette
State targets treacherous stretch of Route 6 – Cape Cod Times
Nation
After Supreme Court punts on gerrymandering, Democrats make it a campaign issue – NPR
inside the mission to blow up the 2020 Democratic field – Politico
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