Happening Today
MBTA meeting, Rollins on the air
— The MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board meets with an agenda that includes discussion of a means-tested fare feasibility study, the Green Line Extension, commuter rail safety and the recent Green Line derailment, State Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, 12 p.m.
— Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins talks with Jim Braude on ‘Greater Boston,’ WGBH-TV Ch. 2, 7 p.m.
Today’s Stories
Death blow? Feds signal Vineyard Wind permit isn’t coming anytime soon
Are offshore wind projects in Massachusetts cursed? You have to wonder. From Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine: “In a decision that could derail Vineyard Wind, federal regulators on Friday put their review of the project on hold temporarily while they seek to better understand the cumulative impact of the many wind farm projects being proposed along the eastern seaboard.”
A report by SHNS’s Colin Young (pay wall) doesn’t make the situation sound so dire, though the fed delay is obviously a serious setback for Vineyard Wind. Btw: Mohl has a follow-up piece at CommonWealth magazine that reports Vineyard Wind’s layout may be one of the sticking points for fed regulators.
Boxed in: Photos, documents say RMV was long aware of problems that led to scandal
They knew. Officials at the Registry of Motor Vehicles were aware as far back as 2017 that stacks of boxes tucked into a corner contained alerts from other states about Mass. drivers, Matt Stout and Laura Crimaldi of the Globe report. One registry worker even snapped photos of the stacks of banker boxes, evidence that will no doubt fuel calls for more changes at the agency in the wake of the New Hampshire crash that claimed seven lives.
EEE case confirmed in Massachusetts, first in six years
Just what we need. From Michelle Williams at MassLive: “A case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis has been confirmed in Massachusetts, state health officials said Saturday. It is the first human case of EEE in the state since 2013. ‘Today’s news is evidence of the significant risk from EEE and we are asking residents to take this risk very seriously,” said Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel, MD, MPH.”
T to shut down weekend service for core subway repairs
The MBTA plans to completely shut down service on several of the system’s core subway lines on weekends this fall to speed the pace of repairs, Matt Stout reports in the Globe. The downtown sections of the Red and Orange line will be impacted, as will some Green line branches, with as many as a half-dozen T stations being out of service for weekends starting in October and likely into December. The plan will get an airing at Monday’s T board meeting.
Warren: Zeroing in on bumbling and stumbling Biden
The Washington Post’s Matt Viser and the Globe’s Jess Bidgood both have stories on the surging U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the anxiety among some Dems about whether Vice President Joe Biden has the right stuff to both fend off Warren (or other Dems) and defeat President Trump in a general election.
Warren also released her own gun control policy framework over the weekend. Asma Kalid of NPR reports the senator’s plan aims to reduce the number of gun deaths in the country by 80 percent, while the Daily Wire’s Frank Camp reports the plan would also allow gun makers to be sued by victims for compensatory costs.
Baker greets Pence in Nantucket before fundraiser
Speaking of the 2020 presidential race, Vice President Mike Pence was officially greeted by Gov. Charlie Baker after the VP landed on Nantucket on Saturday for a fundraiser – a fundraiser that Baker, who has tried to distance himself from the Trump campaign, didn’t attend. The Globe’s Kenneth Singletary reports that Pence later spoiled Baker’s apparent attempt to keep the greeting low key, tweeting: “Thank you @CharlieBakerMA for welcoming us to Nantucket today.”
Meanwhile, Isaac Feldberg at Boston.com reports that Lance Armstrong, the now disgraced bicyclist legend, was bragging he “blew the f***in’ doors off” the VP when they happened to be sharing the same bike path on Saturday.
‘Thanks, Massachusetts’: Convicted child rapist Wayne Chapman released from prison
Convicted child rapist Wayne Chapman was released from prison Friday after he was found not guilty of lewdness charges for allegedly exposing himself to prison workers at MCI-Shirley, 7 News Boston (WHDH) reports. Meanwhile, the Herald also reports he listed his new address as “on the street” in Boston, something his lawyer swears will be corrected soon.
The Herald’s Wendy Murphy, a lawyer who has represented some of Chapman’s victims, says the lewdness trial that Chapman won was a farce and that his release from prison is a travesty.
‘Managed lanes’: Fit for Soviet Politburo leaders?
In an editorial headlined ‘Luxury Lanes a Soviet specialty,’ the Herald is going after the Baker administration’s tentative embrace of so-called “managed lanes,” in which people can pay more to zip past others in special lanes on highways. It’s not just another perk for the rich, the Herald writes, but it smacks of Soviet-style elitism – if pols are allowed to use the lanes too.
Speaking of pols, the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld thinks more of them should be driving their own cars so they can truly appreciate the congestion nightmares endured by average motorists in Massachusetts. And the Globe’s Yvonne Abraham writes that the state’s traffic-congestion woes can all be traced back to broken promises.
Former Rep. Glodis sells Worcester property, plans to shutter politics-themed bar
He’s cashing out. Former state Rep. and Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis says his politics-themed bar, The Ballot Box, is calling it quits later this week because he has sold the property, Scott Croteau reports at MassLive. Glodis isn’t saying who bought the building but he likely made a tidy profit as it’s located on the edge of the Canal District, where work on Polar Park and the massive mixed-use development that will accompany it are already underway.
Billionaires Club: Morse and Neal trade blows over support from the uber-rich
Michelle Williams at MassLive reports that Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse is calling on U.S. Rep. Richard Neal to return donations from billionaire Stephen Ross, the Equinox and SoulCycle owner who had the audacity to recently organize a fundraiser for President Trump, while Neal is hitting back with digs at Morse’s own billionaire pal, Tom Steyer.
Meanwhile, Morse teamed up with mayoral counterpart Kim Driscoll of Salem in a CommonWealth Magazine piece calling on the state legislature to pass a pending carbon fee bill, saying the revenue it would generate is needed to help cities prepare for the impacts of climate change.
Rollins slams police for South End sweeps
The Globe’s Michael Levenson and Felice Freyer report that Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins is criticizing the South End sweeps conducted by Boston police, saying they’re arresting non-violent mentally ill, homeless and drug-addicted people in the wake of the recent assault of a sheriff’s deputy in the area.
Proposed Mass. ballot question would mandate gun safes
Yet another proposed ballot question that could lead to a very busy 2020 in Massachusetts. From Christian Wade at the Daily News: “A question proposed for the 2020 ballot would require gun owners to lock up their handguns, rifles, shotguns and ammunition in a ‘certified’ safe. It would also hold gun owners legally responsible for ‘crimes committed by any person using unsecured weapons’ taken from their home, vehicle or business.”
Republicans cancel fundraiser amid clash over donor database
They just can’t get along. The Herald’s Lisa Kashinsky reports that the state Republican Party’s rift over a donor database led to the postponement of a planned fundraiser that both Gov. Charlie Baker and GOP chairman Jim Lyons were supposed to attend.
The Herald’s Howie Carr is ripping into “Tall Deval,” listing the lavish salaries and spending habits of the party when it was run by Baker ally Kirsten Hughes.
Weymouth compressor-station foes head to courts to overturn state permit decision
From SHNS’s Chris Lisinski: “Opponents to a controversial natural gas compressor station in Weymouth are officially taking their case to court. Residents and the municipalities of Weymouth, Braintree, Quincy and Hingham filed acomplaint Thursday in state court and a petition for review in federal court, imploring a judge to overturn an air-quality permit the Department of Environmental Protection issued for the project and then upheld.”
State House News Service (paywall)
Lingering mystery: Five weeks later, New Bedford computer woes still unexplained
This story is taking a while to emerge. Five weeks after problems in the city’s computer network first came to light, New Bedford officials say they have all but rebuilt the system but still refuse to say if the city was hit by a ransomware attack, Jeannette Barnes reports at the Standard-Times.
No contest: Beverly’s Cahill makes history with second straight unopposed re-election
They really like him. For the second election cycle in a row, no one is challenging Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill, a feat that apparently hasn’t occurred in the city’s history dating back to its first mayoral election in 1895, Paul Leighton reports at the Salem News.
In nearby Peabody, meanwhile, Mayor Edward Bettencourt wasn’t quite so lucky, drawing a last-minute challenge from resident Janice Conway, who blames the Bettencourt administration for taking her family’s mobile home for unpaid taxes, Thomas Grillo reports at the Lynn Item.
‘Broken windows’: A case of broken police promises?
Michael Jonas at CommonWealth magazine writes that the recent death of George Kelling, one of the authors of a famous article touting the “broken windows” theory of policing, has “revived a long-standing debate over the nature of Kelling’s outsized influence” over community-policing policies in recent decades. It’s a good story. Read it.
Our humble take: “Broken windows” was, and is, a generally sound theory that became corrupted over time by others, such as in NYC, where it morphed into the grotesque “stop-and-frisk” program that was the antithesis of trust-building community policing.
Amherst asks state to keep host communities in mind in college-closing debate
What about us? The town of Amherst is urging state education officials, as they craft regulations meant to soften the impact of college closings on students and faculty, to keep host communities in mind as well, Scott Merzbach reports at the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Reunited: Stolen Humvee doors returned to police, charges pending
We love a partially happy ending. The doors to the Warren police department’s military-grade Humvee vehicle, which went missing about a month ago, have been returned, George Barnes reports at the Telegram. Someone’s not happy, though, for police say they will be bringing charges in connection with the theft.
Let’s at least discuss a casino license for southeastern Massachusetts
Former state Sen. Thomas Norton of Fall River writes at CommonWealth magazine that a casino in southeastern Massachusetts is long overdue, politically and economically, and it’s time to at least discuss a license for the region.
Immigration Working Group Meeting
The Immigration Working Group works in solidarity with (im)migrant-led groups in Boston to help build a broad cultural and legislative campaign in the name of dignity, respect, and political protection for the (im)migrant working class.
Transportation and Climate Community Engagement Workshop – Chelsea
We have an opportunity to address two of our greatest challenges together — transportation and climate change.
Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, MassDEP and MassDOT
Make Our Voices Heard – “Our Fight For Healthcare”
This event is designed to discuss the disparities that Black Women, the elderly, and other underserved demographics in America face during their experiences with the American healthcare system.
The Mary J. Harris Foundation, Inc.
Commercial Leasing Onsite Course
The course will provide an overview of the commercial leasing process and educate students on pertinent leasing issues and clauses in lease transactions for office, industrial and retail.
PLAN: Downtown Public Alleys Walking Tour
Join the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) for a walking tour of Downtown Boston’s public alleys.
Boston Planning & Development Agency
Deal Winning: Political Mapping and Execution (Braintree)
Identify opportunities by locating critical information. Ask yourself why your company is the best choice by developing a message of value to convey to the executive sponsor. Develop a competitive strategy and avoid traps. Formulate a political strategy to gain enough support to win the sale.
Greg Nanigian and Associates – affiliate Sandler Training
Authors@MIT | Nolen Gertz in Conversation with Robin James
Nolen Gertz in Conversation with Robin James discussing Gertz’s new book Nihilism
Tenant Rights and Responsibilities
A housing professional will provide an overview of tenant rights and responsibilities.
City of Boston’s Office of Housing Stability
2019 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
Global Engagement Networking Night
Join WorldBoston, BNID, and UNAGB, three local international relations organizations, for an exciting evening on international affairs!
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Boston restaurants feel pinch from Encore casino’s hiring – Boston Herald
Plans for a $20 million mixed-use development in downtown Lynn are dead – Lynn Item
Massachusetts
Jewish activists gather at Greenfield jail to protest ICE detentions – Daily Hampshire Gazette
Mass. policy leaves Dudley hemp farmers in limbo – Telegram & Gazette
1st legal pot shop opens on Nantucket – Associated Press
Nation
How the El Paso killer echoed the words of conservative media – New York Times
Scaramucci: GOP may need to replace Trump for 2020 – The Hill
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