Happening Today
Wollaston Station reopens, Walsh on the air, and more
— The Red Line’s Wollaston Station reopens after two years of renovations, with MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak welcoming back commuters, this morning at 90 Woodbine St., Quincy.
— Former Gov. Michael Dukakis talks about transportation and the 2020 presidential race on WGBH Radio, WGBH-FM 89.7, 11 a.m.
— FAN EXPO Boston kicks off its three-day convention with the presentation of a City of Boston proclamation to vice president Andrew Moyes, followed by a media availability about the show that’s expected to attract tens of thousands of fans, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St., Boston, 1:30 p.m.
— Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is a guest on ‘Boston Public Radio,’ WGBH-FM 89.7, 12 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 latest count: RMV suspends the licenses of an additional 869 drivers
Another day, another batch of suspended driver’s licenses by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, bringing the total to more than 2,400 suspended licenses in Massachusetts alone. SHNS’s Chris Lisinski (pay wall) and MassLive’s Michelle Williams have the latest on the records-keeping scandal at RMV.
But, wait, there’s more: Michelle Williams at MassLive also reports that state officials are “mailing notices for approximately 45,000 convictions and/or suspensions issued to out-of-state drivers in Massachusetts since March of 2018.”
Trump and Warren in N.H.: A preview of a coming general-election showdown?
President Donald Trump stormed into New Hampshire last night, bashing away at anything and everything having to do with Democrats, including (and perhaps especially) the surging U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The Globe’s Victoria McGrane and James Pindell and the Herald’s Lisa Kashinsky have the details on the president’s bash-a-thon last evening in Manchester.
The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld and Howie Carr say Trump was in fighting form last night. But the Globe’s Scot Lehigh, setting aside Warren’s “hokey Okie-ness,” says Warren has been a “certified hit” in New Hampshire, mostly at the expense of Bernie Sanders.
Meanwhile in Iowa: Warren is now leading the pack, poll says
More proof U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is surging: A new Iowa Starting Line poll shows Warren taking a commanding lead in the Iowa Caucus, pulling comfortably ahead of Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
Btw: It looks like the Globe’s Michael Levenson beat the NYT to the punch, with the Times running its own piece about unease among some Dems about whether the progressive Warren can attract enough moderate voters to beat Trump in a general election.
State Senate staffers kicking tires on forming union
Some staffers employed by the 40 members of the state Senate are considering a push to unionize, a move that could put the typically labor-friendly body controlled by Democrats in a very public bind, Mike Deehan at WGBH reports. A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka says she is considering some moves that could address some of the staffers’ concerns, such as standardizing job titles and pay scales, rather than leaving them up to individual senators.
‘Marijuana brownies, gummies, and chocolates ending up in toddlers’ hands’
Yet another pot-related issue that regulators might want to examine a little more closely. From the Globe’s Kay Lazar: “Amid a proliferation of new pot shops in Massachusetts, health care officials are seeing an ominous trend: a sharp increase in calls to the state’s poison control center about toddlers getting into marijuana products — usually brownies, chocolate bars, or gummies — and ending up in the emergency room.”
Encore Boston: The new casino king of the hill in New England
It’s too early to tell how all of this will pan out, but it certainly looks like the new Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett is eating into the revenue of rival casinos in Rhode Island and Connecticut, based on its first full-month of reported revenues, as Michael Jonas at CommonWealth magazine reports. Then again, MGM Springfield’s revenues rebounded a bit last month, suggesting that, well, it’s too early to tell how all of this will pan out. Jim Kinney at MassLive has the MGM angle.
GE’s shares plunge after whistleblower accuses company of hatching a ‘bigger fraud than Enron’
The BBJ’s Greg Ryan reports on General Electric’s huge stock hit yesterday after Harry Markopolos, of Bernie Madoff whistleblower fame, alleged that GE has engaged in financial shenanigans that amount to a “bigger fraud than Enron.”
But the Globe’s Joe Chesto reports that the Boston-based GE is hitting back, with CEO Larry Culp accusing Markopolos of trying to manipulate the market for his and others’ gains. And, yes, this is a sort of inside-Boston slugfest, with Markopolos having his own strong ties to the Boston area.
Joe Kennedy III calls column about his grandfather ‘grotesque’
The Washington Post is hosting an op-ed duel. In an opinion piece at the Post, U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III is ripping into an earlier op-ed piece by conservative Hugh Hewitt, with Kennedy saying Hewitt’s column was “grotesque” for trying to manipulate his grandfather’s dramatic statement the night Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. The Globe’s Christina Prignano has more on the RFK legacy fight.
Twister trouble: Cape storms fail to qualify for federal aid
Not even close. Communities on Cape Cod spent about $3.7 million to recover from the three tornadoes that ripped through four towns late last month, Ethan Genter reports at the Cape Cod Times. And that’s well short of the $9.6 million threshold that would have triggered a formal request for federal disaster aid.
Pressley rides to rescue of fellow squad members, blasts Israel’s move to bar Omar and Tlaib
Israel has backed down a bit on its initial decision to bar U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from the country, saying this morning that Tlaib can indeed visit her grandmother in the West Bank, the NYT reports. But we assume it won’t change U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s opinion of the matter much. Yesterday, she was blasting Israel’s move to bar Omar and Tlaib as a “bigoted, short sighted, and cruel’ move.”
Keep in mind: Pressley isn’t the only one criticizing the initial decision, as the Globe’s Christina Prignano reports. The pro-Israel AIPAC also opposes the ban, and, as the Washington Post reports, some conservatives think President Trump and Israel merely fell into a PR trap.
Brockton mayoral candidate stands by 90s-era immigrant comments that sound eerily like Trump’s comments today
Mark Lawton, the retired judge and former state representative who has moved back to Brockton to run for mayor, says he stands by resurfaced comments he made in the early 1990s about Dominican immigrants bringing drugs and crime into the City of Champions, Marc Larocque reports at the Enterprise. Lawton had apologized for the remarks at the time, but now says they were an accurate description of what was happening in the city at the time.
Planning ahead: Worcester Red Sox roll out tickets for 2021 season
They still don’t have an official nickname and Polar Park is still little more than a hole in the ground, but the Worcester Red Sox say they’ll start selling season tickets for their first season on Monday, Aviva Luttrell reports at MassLive. Season ticket packages for all 70 of the team’s 2021 home games start at $770.
Columbia Gas president: Post-explosion repairs ‘substantially’ completed in Merrimack Valley
He didn’t quite declare “mission accomplished.” But the president of Columbia Gas, Mark Kempic, announced yesterday that the utility has “substantially” completed the second phase of repairs following last September’s devastating gas-pipeline explosions and fires in the Merrimack Valley, reports Breanna Edelstein at the Eagle Tribune.
Bar Association defends judiciary against ‘attacks’ by national and local pols
From SHNS’s Michael Norton: “The 13,000-member Boston Bar Association is mounting a strong defense of an independent judiciary, citing in a lengthy new report an escalation of ‘attacks’ on it by President Donald Trump and others, including members of the state Legislature.”
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
Rockland sex scandal report to stay sealed, for now
Sorry, gawkers. In a complete reversal, the state’s Supervisor of Records now says Rockland does not have to release a report on the sex scandal that roiled town hall last year, Mary Whitfil reports at the Patriot Ledger.
Meanwhile, just next door in Abington, a woman has filed suit against the town, claiming she was harassed sexually by a former town employee and that her complaints were ignored by other officials.Ben Berke at the Enterprise has the details.
MIT Media Lab chief apologizes for Jeffrey Epstein ties
He’s now among the many who have issued, or should issue, an apology. From the Globe’s Deirdre Fernandes: “The head of a famed MIT research lab that developed robotic prosthetics to mimic the human gait and launched online news giant BuzzFeed, issued a public apology Thursday for taking donations from Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier who was accused of trafficking underaged girls. Joi Ito, in an open letter on the MIT Media Lab’s website, acknowledged for the first time that he had several ties to Epstein.”
‘You call this a party?’
The Globe’s Joshua Miller has the latest on the mini-civil war within the state Republican Party: “The ongoing spat between the political committee of Governor Charlie Baker, a moderate Republican, and the conservative state GOP has left Baker’s team locked out of fund-raising databases for a month, while the party has now regained access after threatening legal action.”
Baker on vacation through end of next week in far-away Gloucester
Speaking of the governor, just fyi: Like a lot of other people, Gov. Charlie Baker is taking a late summer vacation, but he’s not going far from his Swampscott home. He and the family will be spending some time in nearby Gloucester and will remain in touch with state government officials, reports SHNS’s Katie Lannan (pay wall) .
‘Are you ready for a tax-free weekend?’
Get your wallet out. The state sales-tax holiday is this weekend, and Jodi Reed at WWLP has the details, including the eternal question: “Is it really worth it?” Maybe not to state government. But it’s worth it to retailers, who love the holiday, as do many shoppers. So it’s all a matter of perspective.
Sunday public affairs TV: Rachael Rollins, Michelle Wu and more
Keller at Large, WBZ-TV Channel 4, 8:30 a.m. This week’s guest: Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who talks with host Jon Keller about the rise in non-fatal shootings, the controversial Operation Clean Sweep, recent criticism of ‘social justice prosecutors by U.S. Attorney General Barr, and the push for safe injection sites.
This Week in Business, NECN, 10 a.m. Alliance for Business Leadership president Jesse Mermell weighs in on MBTA and traffic news; Zageno CEO and co-founder Florian Wegener talks about his company that he hopes will become the Amazon of life science products; and Jon Chesto of the Boston Globe on this week’s market turmoil, the Harvard Health-Tufts Health Plan merger proposal and other top business stories.
CEO Corner, 10:30 a.m. Simplisafe CEO and co-founder Chad Laurans discusses how his firm is working to disrupt the burglar alarm business.
On The Record, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 11 a.m. This week’s guest: Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu, who talks with host Ed Harding, followed by a roundtable discussion with Democratic political analyst Mary Anne Marsh and state Rep. Hannah Kane, a Republican.
CityLine, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 12 p.m. With host Karen Holmes Ward, this week’s topic: Women of color in comedy.
Kiosk Unveiling and Reception: State of-the-art kiosk makes available the complete volumes of Susan B. Anthony’s Newspaper
The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum now has a state-of-the-art, interactive kiosk that displays the complete, unedited Susan B. Anthony newspaper, The Revolution, from 1868-1872. The kiosk indexes the period, January 1868-May 1870, the years Anthony was the owner and publisher. The unveiling coincides with the opening of the National Suffrage Centennial, when women won the right to vote.
Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum
Authors@MIT | Nolen Gertz in Conversation with Robin James
Nolen Gertz in Conversation with Robin James discussing Gertz’s new book Nihilism
Town Hall Meeting on Climate Change with Sen. Edward Markey and Rep. Katherine Clark
A community discussion will be held at Framingham High School with Sen. Edward Markey and Rep. Katherine Clark, with plans to discuss “the Green New Deal resolution, a bold set of goals that calls for a national mobilization to transform the economy, fight climate change, and create millions of jobs.”
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
Judge allows Long Island bridge suit to proceed – Patriot Ledger
Boston Fed COO Tapped To Lead Development Of New Fast Payment System – WBUR
Massachusetts
Cape Cod Hospital plans $180M tower – Cape Cod Times
Northampton city council backs Green New Deal – Daily Hampshire Gazette
New North Attleboro town manager could cost over $200,000 – Sun Chronicle
Nation
‘He’s rattled’: With 2020 in mind, Trump worries about the economy – Washington Post
Trump eyes a new real estate deal: Greenland – Wall Street Journal
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