Happening Today
Jane Doe Inc., ‘Thrive After 55,’ and more
— Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan attends the second day of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys’ Conviction Integrity Prosecutor Symposium in Washington.
— Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, will host nearly 200 experts at JDI’s 2019 Prevention Summit, with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and others expected to attend, DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Worcester, 9 a.m.
— Sen. Eric Lesser hosts “Thrive After 55 Wellness Fair” with 81 organizations to inform Pioneer Valley seniors about available resources, Field House, Springfield College, 263 Alden St., Springfield, 10 a.m.
— Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders speaks at a ribbon-cutting open house at Northeast Arc’s new home for individuals with Prader-Willi Syndrome, 9 Thaxton Rd., Beverly, 4 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
The Everett casino by the numbers …
Benjamin Swasey at WBUR has a good “by the numbers” piece about Sunday’s grand opening of the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett. Meanwhile, the Globe’s Shirley Leung reports on the multi-million dollar bet that Wynn Resorts is taking in order to relieve expected traffic congestion near the casino. The Herald’s Rick Sobey takes a look at a MassDOT electronic highway sign blaring Sunday’s casino opening and basically asks: Is it a public service message or a blatant ad for the casino?
Just fyi: We’re starting to wonder if all the talk of pending casino-traffic doom might actually lead to a repeat of the 2004 Democratic presidential convention in Boston, i.e. pre-event hysteria over traffic leading to people staying home. We’ll see.
Massport’s CEO finalists: True insiders’ insiders
Andy Metzger at CommonWealth magazine reports that Massport has narrowed its CEO search down to two people: Brian Golden, the former state representative and current chief of the Boston Planning and Development Agency, and Lisa Wieland, the agency’s current port director and former chief of the maritime department.
The Herald’s Howie Carr is awed by the breadth and depth of the nationwide search.
Score one for Rollins and Ryan: Judge temporarily blocks ICE courthouse arrests
Shannon Dooling at WBUR reports that U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani has temporarily barred federal authorities from arresting immigrants at state courthouses, in a major first-round victory for Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, who along with others are suing the feds over courthouse arrests.
The Herald’s Joe Dwinell reports that Talwani is no fan of courthouse arrests in general, previously expressing frustration over an ICE stunt after one of her own federal hearings. The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld, meanwhile, pronounces that, yes, Talwani’s ruling is a huge win for Rollins and Ryan, who “got some payback for the arrest of Judge Shelley Richmond” for allegedly helping an immigrant to escape ICE detention.
Globe launches investigative education team partially funded by Barr Foundation
Attorney General Maura Healey has her Michael Bloomberg-paid assistant attorneys general on staff. So why shouldn’t the Globe have Barr Foundation-paid investigative reporters on staff? Yes, the Globe is launching an investigative team focused on public education in Massachusetts, “an expansion of the Globe’s editorial staffing that is being partially financed for the next two years by a $600,000 grant from the Barr Foundation,” reports John Ellement at the Globe.
Considering the terrible financial shape of the newspaper industry these days, the partnership is not all that surprising. But it doesn’t mean we have to like it. We’re entering a brave new world of journalism funding that’s going to raise all sorts of conflicts-of-interest questions, assuming others start going down this hybrid for-profit/nonprofit road. Our worst fear: “The Globe Spotlight Team, sponsored by (fill in the blank).”
Meanwhile, political news sites forge advertising alliance to compete against Facebook and Google
With the 2020 election cycle heating up (and with all the big-buck advertising that it entails), a group of conservative, liberal and moderate political sites, such as the Daily Caller and AlterNet, have formed the “Digital News Alliance” to nab a larger portion of political ad-sales revenue that would otherwise flow into the corporate coffers of Facebook and Google, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The lead on Lukas Alpert’s WSJ story: “Political advertising makes strange bedfellows.”
OK, now we’re talking full damage control: Biden’s anti-busing work with segregationist
The Washington Post’s Matt Viser and Annie Linskey (two former Globe reporters, it should be noted) are reporting that Joe Biden, when he was a young U.S. senator, reached out to and even thanked segregationist Sen. James O. Eastland for his help on “my antibusing legislation.” This is going to hurt Biden in the Dem contest. How much, we don’t know. But this isn’t just “working” with segregationists on various pieces of legislation. This is “working” with segregationists on, well, segregation.
From the Globe’s James Pindell: “Three reasons why Biden’s civility comments are a big deal.”
Elizabeth Warren: ‘Back from the dead’
She was the walking dead. But now she’s back from the dead. The Globe’s Scot Lehigh reviews Elizabeth Warren’s impressive rise in the polls of late, firmly establishing her as a top tier candidate and chief rival to Joe Biden in the Democratic primary contest. And, yes, Bernie, she’s gaining votes from you, as the Globe’s James Pindell reports.
Warren says she’s open to decriminalizing sex work
Abbi Matheson at the Globe reports that Dem presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren now says, in a very guarded fashion, that she’s open to the idea of decriminalizing sex work conducted by sex workers, who “like all workers, deserve autonomy but they are particularly vulnerable to physical and financial abuse and hardship.”
No mention of those who allegedly pay for the sex work (i.e. prostitution), such as, oh, a certain NFL team owner. But if sex work (i.e. prostitution) is decriminalized, then … Just pointing it out.
Kraft steps back into limelight to accept ‘Jewish Nobel Prize’ in Israel
Speaking of a certain NFL team owner, Robert Kraft has been keeping a relatively low profile since he was charged with soliciting prostitution in Florida earlier this year. But yesterday he stepped back into the public limelight in Israel to accept a prestigious award that’s often called the “Jewish Nobel Prize,” as the NYT reports.
Thanks to donor cash and pledges, Hampshire College to admit full class in fall 2020
Hampshire College, one of many smaller colleges struggling for financial survival these days, has raised $9 million in cash and pledges so far this year – and it’s just enough to allow the school to admit a full freshman class in the fall of 2020, reports Jim Russell at MassLive. Hampshire College isn’t out of the potential de-accreditation woods yet, but officials are hoping to raise a total $20 million to stave off trouble.
State will resume using breathalyzer tests after lab nabs accreditation
They’re back, almost. State public safety officials say the Office of Alcohol Testing has received national accreditation, clearing the way for prosecutors to resume using breathalyzer tests as evidence in drunken driving cases, Shira Schoenberg reports at MassLive. The same judge who halted use of the tests and tossed out hundreds of convictions based on their lack of accuracy could issue an ordering allowing the tests to be used again in a matter of days.
Denied at the State House, DiMasi wins lobbying runner-up prize: City Hall
Secretary of State Bill Galvin may have rejected convicted-felon Sal DiMasi’s application to lobby at the State House. But the former speaker of the Massachusetts House has indeed successfully registered as a lobbyist at City Hall, slipping in via the city’s new first-of-its-kind lobbying registration process, reports the Globe’s Matt Stout. But DiMasi’s city certification may not be a done deal, as Stout notes.
Moulton calls for ‘cyber wall,’ not a border wall
The Washington Post reports on presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton’s $50-billion-a-year plan to build a national “cyber wall” to protect America’s digital frontiers from cyber attacks, rather than build Donald Trump’s Mexican border wall.
State tax collections keep pouring in – as do spending requests
SHNS’s Michael Norton reports that the state’s tax-collection windfall continued through the first half of June, with revenues rising 10 percent (or $127 million) over last year’s numbers and further padding a rather large state surplus that few saw coming. But wait. SHNS’s Michael Norton and Katie Lannan also report (pay wall): “Senate approves $43 million spending bill,” which is its own form of padding.
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
A record? Authorities seize 24 kilos of illegal drugs in huge regional bust
As SHNS’s Kaitlyn Budion (pay wall) and MassLive’s Shira Schoenberg report, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office may have made some history yesterday with what officials believe is the largest drug bust ever by her office and assisting law enforcement agencies, taking down 12 suspects in Lawrence and Methuen and seizing 24 kilos of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine. As Healey notes, 24 kilos “represents hundreds of thousands of lethal doses of drugs that we have kept from affecting communities in our state.”
Report: Thousands of uninspected elevators across state pose threat
Greg Ryan at the BBJ has a big piece on the thousands of elevators across the state that have gone uninspected on a timely basis, due largely to a shortage of state elevator inspectors, and he reports that nearly a dozen people have been injured on passenger elevators whose inspection certificates had expired.
Wu organizing protests of planned T fare hikes
City Councilor Michelle Wu is milking various T controversies for all they’re worth, opposing planned fare hikes, pushing for city oversight of the T and generally stealing Mayor Marty Walsh’s thunder on the T-bashing issue. Now she’s helping organize a two-day protest against fare hikes set to take effect July 1, reports Adam Gaffin at Universal Hub.
Andy Metzger at CommonWealth magazine reports Wu is also trying “organize volunteers to canvass straphangers” – and he notes that, yes, Wu’s happens to be a potential mayoral candidate in 2021.
Says WHO? Group rescinds opioid guidelines after Clark’s report on Purdue involvement
The World Health Organization says it will rewrite its opioid prescription guidelines after a scathing report from U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark and a Republican colleague shined a light on the role of Purdue Pharmaceuticals in crafting the organization’s standards, Priyanka Dayal McCluskey reports at the Globe. Clark hailed the move to change the guidelines as a “very positive first step” but said WHO should still acknowledge the influence lobbyists had on the drafting of the guidance in the first place.
Why wait? Yarmouth takes preemptive measures against yet-to-appear sharks
There have been no sharks spotted in the waters off Yarmouth, but the community wants to be prepared in case they show up. The town has posted signs warning beach-goers of how to avoid shark encounters and is kicking the tires on a sonic buoy warning system that could detect Great White sharks that swim too close to shore, Kristen Young reports at the Cape Cod Times.
Head of Islamic Society of Boston tapped to lead city’s immigration office
CommonWealth magazine’s Sarah Betancourt and the Globe’s Milton Valencia report that Yusufi Vali, who most recently ran the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury, has been tapped to run the city’s immigration-outreach office, in the process becoming the highest ranking Muslim in city government.
Sunday public affairs TV: Eileen McAnneny, : David Paleologos and more
Keller at Large, WBZ-TV Channel 4, 8:30 a.m. This week’s guest: Eileen McAnneny of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, who talks with host Jon Keller about taxes, the transportation funding debate and the budget impact of casino gambling.
This Week in Business, NECN, 10 a.m. Jim Rooney, CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, discusses Encore Boston Harbor’s opening on Sunday, the future of the MBTA and other topics; Lisa Wieland, Massport’s port director, on the boom in port related business; and Boston Business Journal editor Doug Banks on the top business stories of the week.
CEO Corner, NECN, 10:30 a.m. Timothy Loew, executive director of the Massachusetts Games Institute (MassDigi), talks about the business of video gaming and how officials are preparing students for opportunities in the industry.
On The Record, WCVB-TV Channel 5. This week’s guest: David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, who talks with hosts Janet Wu and Ed Harding, followed by a discussion with Democratic political analyst Mary Anne Marsh and Republican political analyst Patrick Griffin.
DC Dialogue, NECN, 11:30 a.m. Political analyst Scott Spradling on presidential politics and advice for the 20 debating Democrats; Carolyn Kirk, MassTech Collaborative executive director, on the agency’s mission, and the future of trade agreements with Mexico and Canada.
CityLine, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 12 p.m. With host Karen Holmes Ward, this week’s topic: Summer in the City, including a look at the 21st annual Roxbury International Film Festival
Boston Unity Cup – Kick Off Party
Boston Unity Cup is a citywide World Cup style adult soccer tournament powered by the City of Boston and Mayor Walsh to bring together Boston’s diverse and immigrant communities around the shared passion for sport. Join us for a live viewing of the Women’s World Cup knockout round match (teams to be determined), meet the teams and event organizers, and learn more about the tournament weekend.
Suffrage Centennial Kick-Off Celebration
Kicking off a year of commemorations celebrating 100 years since the 19th Amendment was adopted in 1920, enabling women to vote.
The Women’s Suffrage Celebration Coalition of Massachusetts and The Greater Boston Women’s Vote
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Muslim to head city’s immigrant advancement office – CommonWealth Magazine
Quincy could be next to ban plastic bags – Patriot Ledger
Massachusetts
Housing starts continue slow pace in Worcester metro area – Worcester Business Journal
Swansea would get 7 percent of revenue from proposed marijuana dispensary – Herald News
Moulton seeking money for right whale research – Gloucester Times
Nation
Why Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders and Warren intervened in a Queen DA race – New York Times
Trump ordered an attack on Iran but called it off at the last minute – Washington Post
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