Happening Today
Election day and Post-election rallies
— Today is election day with polls open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. Below are where major candidate will be this evening after polls close. Please see SHNS’s Daily Advances (free trial subscriptions available) for a complete listing about where candidates will be throughout the day.
— Third Congressional District candidate Lori Trahan and her supporters will gather at the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center, Lower Locks Room, 50 Warren Street in Lowell, starting at 7:30 p.m.
— Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, each running for a second term, will hold a rally with their supporters after the polls close, Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston St., Boston, 8 p.m.
— The Massachusetts Democratic Coordinated Campaign holds an election night celebration for candidates and officeholders, featuring U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez, Boston City Councilor and Congressional candidate Ayanna Pressley, Attorney General Maura Healey, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, Auditor Suzanne Bump, Suffolk County District Attorney candidate Rachael Rollins, and U.S. Reps. Niki Tsongas and Katherine Clark, Fairmont Copley Plaza Boston, 138 St. James Ave., Boston, 8 p.m.
— Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Geoff Diehl holds his election night gathering at Whitman VFW, 95 Essex St., Whitman, 8 p.m.
For more non-election-day 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
It’s finally here: Election Day
We’re just going to go with stories this morning that caught our attention and that might help readers make decisions and follow results tonight. Here goes:
From Mike Deehan at WGBH: ‘Eight races to watch.’ … From CommonWealth magazine: ‘CommonWealth’s election cram sheet.’ … From WGBH: ‘The Massachusetts Governor’s Race In 5 Charts.’ … From WBUR: ‘Photos: Baker and Gonzalez’s Final Campaign Day.’ … From Mary Markos at the Herald: ‘As Charlie Baker chills, Jay Gonzalez attacks.’ … From the Herald: ‘GOP expert: Big win’s a must for Elizabeth Warren.’ … From Dick Lindsay at the Berkshire Eagle: ‘Ballot boxes brace for sizable Berkshire turnout.’ … From Geoff Spillane at the Cape Cod Times: ‘Candidates see turning point in 9th District race.’
Massachusetts voter turnout expected to top 50 percent today
Not bad. From the AP at Wicked Local: “Massachusetts’ top elections official says he expects about 2.4 million state residents to have voted by the time polls close on Election Day. Democratic Secretary of State William Galvin says if his prediction holds turnout would exceed the last two midterm elections in 2010 and 2014. There are about 4.5 million eligible voters in Massachusetts.” Early voting has been particularly strong, though not as strong as two years ago during the presidential election, reports Shira Schoenberg at MassLive.
So what shade of how blue will it be?
The Globe’s Evan Horowitz and the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld write that today’s election results should show us just how blue Massachusetts and the country are in this age of Donald Trump. Battenfeld suspects we may see a lighter shade of blue than some people think and hope. Hillary Chabot at the Herald reports that at least Trump has stirred up interest in this year’s ‘dud’ elections in Massachusetts.
BREAKING NEWS: ‘Harvard researchers suggest interstellar object might have been from alien civilization’
We interrupt our election-day coverage to bring you this breaking news from the Boston Globe, via Martin Finucane and Steve Annear: “That strange interstellar object that invaded our solar system and passed close to Earth in the fall of 2017 could have been an artificial object, a piece of a spacecraft from an alien civilization, Harvard researchers are suggesting in a new paper.”
Some scientists are sounding a note of caution. … Actually, we were feeling a little cautious too, with our thoughts hippity-hopping to this NYT article after we saw the headline. … Anyway, back to the comparatively humdrum election, political and other news. ….
Does he get an interactive map? Rosenberg to host Amherst’s media election coverage
From Jim Russell at MassLive: “Former state Senate President Stanley C. ‘Stan’ Rosenberg will host a live program covering election results Tuesday night on (Amherst’s) public access TV station. The show is expected to feature commentary from him and four guests, with a focus on the Town Council race, as well as statewide and national races.”
Feds will monitor voting in Lowell and Malden today
Two Massachusetts cities, Lowell and Malden, are among 35 places across the country that will receive special monitoring during today’s elections, reports Shannon Dooling at WBUR and Aimee Ortiz at the Globe. There seems to be two reasons for the monitoring: To ensure voting rights aren’t violated and to monitor activities for any voting fraud. I.e. The common fears of both political parties are being addressed.
Galvin swats aside conservative group’s voting research as ‘political propaganda’
From Shira Schoenberg at MassLIve: “Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin dismissed as ‘political propaganda’ research from the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance related to potentially incorrect voting addresses. ‘It’s obviously political propaganda by a political organization,’ Galvin said Monday.” One can almost hear Galvin saying: “And that’s that.”
Looks like Amazon won’t be calling Boston its second home
In a follow-up to yesterday’s news: Technically, no decision has been reached, but the NYT and Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe are now reporting that Amazon’s HQ2 will likely be split between Northern Virginia and the Queens in New York. Meaning: Boston won’t be getting even a portion of Amazon’s second headquarters.
Here’s a question: If part of the new HQ2 is indeed located in Queens, will Amazon transfer any Boston-based employees there – or at least stop expanding in Boston? You got to wonder. If Boston wasn’t going to get the HQ2, it would have been better if it was as far away as possible from the Hub.
Papa Gino’s declares bankruptcy, blames minimum-wage increases and health-care costs
One more business story: We now have an explanation for all the sudden closures this past weekend. From Max Stendahl at the BBJ: “One day after closing nearly 100 restaurants, the owner of the Papa Gino’s Pizzeria and D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches chains has filed for bankruptcy protection and announced (on Monday) a proposed sale.” Here’s a full list of the closed restaurants, via the Globe.
The Globe’s Jon Chesto reports that Papa Gino’s is partially blaming higher minimum-wage and health-care costs for its woes. Obviously, these factors played a role. But the company was also heavily in debt and saddled with a large number of large-sized restaurants that, as far as we could tell, were rarely full in this pizza take-out and apps-delivery age.
Cambridge has apparently outlawed unauthorized …. candles?
The Cambridge Fire Department recently posted a notice saying that candle-burning is not allowed without approval from the city’s Fire Prevention Bureau. Marc Levy of Cambridge Day reports the move appears to be aimed at a North Cambridge restaurant that is due to appear before the License Commission on Wednesday for a disciplinary hearing because it had lit candles on its tables.
When the state’s political establishment bowed to the Bulger brothers
The Globe’s Joan Vennochi has a good column this morning on those not-so-good-old-days when pols from both parties used to genuflect to the Bulger brothers in Boston – including former Gov. Bill Weld. She gives credit where credit is due: Former Gov. Mitt Romney was not one of them.
Separately, the Globe’s Shelley Murphy and Kevin Cullen report that the late Whitey Bulger once wrote that his years on the lam with Catherine Greig were the happiest days of his life, that he expected to die a natural death and that he would like to be buried next to Greig.
After he leaves office, it’s off to low-tax Florida for Maine Gov. LePage
He’s outta here in two months. Maine Gov. Paul ‘Never a Dull Moment’ LePage said yesterday that he’s bolting Maine after he leaves office in two months, going to a land of sunshine and low taxes. He also plans to teach in Florida, though he doesn’t have a job yet. Kevin Miller at the Portland Press Herald has the details.
Cardinal O’Malley ‘shocked’ that so many bishops haven’t been responsive to sexual-abuse complaints
Cardinal O’Malley may be the only person in Boston who’s shocked that his fellow bishops haven’t exactly been cooperative when it comes to handling clergy sexual-abuse allegations. The Globe’s Thomas Farragher and Jenn Abelson have the details.
Entrepreneurial bug: Ex-Rep. Dempsey leaving ML to start own lobbying firm
That was a short stay. From SHNS’s Matt Murphy at CommonWealth magazine: “Just a little over a year after ending his legislative career for a high-profile lobbying job at ML Strategies, Brian Dempsey has left the Boston firm to start his own consulting business with two former aides. ‘I’ve decided to go out on my own. It’s an exciting change,’ Dempsey told the News Service on Monday after being asked about his departure.”
Seventy percent of affected customers still without gas service in Merrimack Valley
They may have finished work on the main pipelines in the Merrimack Valley area but still have a long way to go hooking up individual homes and businesses. From SHNS’s Michael Norton: “More than 70 percent of residential natural gas customers affected by the September gas emergency remain without service Monday morning, but hundreds of plumbers are working to bring Columbia Gas customers back online in the wake of the Sept. 13 gas fires and explosions that devastated gas infrastructure in three Merrimack Valley communities.”
Separately, Barbara Moran at WBUR reports that Columbia Gas announced yesterday that it plans to replace condemned appliances with more energy-efficient models, when possible, at no expense to customers. Meanwhile, the city council in Lawrence plans to rename a street for the teen killed in the September disaster, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
Globe isn’t buying Walsh’s ‘second chance’ explanation for hiring Henriquez
In an editorial, the Globe is criticizing Mayor Marty Walsh for hiring former state Rep. Carlos Henriquez, who was booted from the House after he was convicted of punching a woman who wouldn’t have sex with him. The mayor says it’s about ‘second chances.’ The Globe says that’s a very nice sentiment – if Henriquez had ever shown remorse.
‘Trip to flip’: Helping other candidates outside the blue-state Massachusetts
Amanda McGowan at WGBH has a piece on ‘Trip to Flip,’ a new local group that connects Massachusetts residents to Democratic campaigns in key swing states. It seems to be working – or at least from the perspective of volunteers. “One of the most interesting things about doing this is getting us out of this ‘blue bubble’ and seeing in a very different way what different parts of the country are about and what their issues are,” says one Jamaica Plain volunteer.
More anti-Semitic graffiti found in schools … and an idea to how to stop it
The Globe’s Abigail Feldman and Jackson Cote report that yet more anti-Semitic graffiti, i.e. swastikas, has been found in Massachusetts schools, this time in Malden and Melrose.
We have a suggestion: Mandatory student assemblies at these and other schools, at which photos will be shown of students’ grandfathers and great-grandfathers who fought in World War II; photos and films of American GIs liberating concentration camps; photos and films of victims at liberated concentration camps; news clippings, letters, and photos from old school yearbooks of town soldiers and ancestors of residents who perished in WWII and the camps, etc. etc. No comments from principals and teachers allowed. Just show them and see how they react.
T study: Dedicated bus lanes cut travel times for commuters
Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine reports that a T experiments on congested roadways appear to lead to shorter travel times for commuters, sometimes by six to ten minutes. Our question: Why wouldn’t they cut commuter times?
Revere’s mystery porn DVD …
At least one member of the Revere City Council wants a criminal investigation to find out how a pornographic DVD ended up in the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, Bridget Turcotte reports at the Lynn Item. But the city’s mayor says no such inquiry is needed, as staff looked into it and found the video was overlooked when it came in along with scores of others donated to the department.
Rural schools get first tranche of extra state funding
The state delivered $1.5 million worth of grants to the state’s least-populated school districts, where declining enrollment and soaring transportation costs are causing budget woes, Shira Schoenberg reports at MassLive. Lawmakers said they expect another round of grants to go out in the next fiscal year as well.
Author Talk and Book Signing with Melinda Ponder
Author talk and book signing with Dr. Melinda Ponder, author of the book: Katharine Lee Bates: From Sea to Shining Sea. Tenor soloist Teddy Crecelius will sing “America the Beautiful.”
State Library of Massachusetts
A Nation of Immigrants Dinner & Reception
Join the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation for A Nation of Immigrants – Celebrating the Immigrant Experience in American Culture as we celebrate immigrants and their contributions to America’s culture and success.
2018 Distinguished Real Estate Awards Gala
Join NAIOP Massachusetts for the 2018 Distinguished Real Estate Awards Gala as we honor Related Beal for their achievements in real estate, charitable activities and community betterment. David Begelfer will be honored with this year’s Edward H. Linde Public Service Award in recognition of his 27 years of service to NAIOP.
TEDxBeaconStreet
On November 17, TEDxBeaconStreet will return to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for a second year! Some of the most inspiring minds and speakers in the world will come to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for the final day of TEDxBeaconStreet.
2018 Newman Civic Fellows National Conference
The Newman Civic Fellows National Conference is an annual conference exclusively for current Newman Civic Fellows that provides opportunities for networking, collaboration, and shared learning among Fellows. Only members of the 2018 Newman Civic Fellowship cohort may attend the 2018 Newman Civic Fellows National Conference.
Today’s Headlines
Metro
New GE CEO bets on himself with $2.2M stock buy – Boston Business Journal
Parking lot taking would cost Quincy $6.8 milion – Patriot Ledger
Massachusetts
Dracut TM rejects military pay article – Lowell Sun
Rats! Peabody has a rodent problem – Lynn Item
Nation
Facebook blocks 115 accounts linked to foreign entities – Washington Post
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