Happening Today
Caissie hearing, House session, and more
— The Massachusetts House meets in its first formal session since July 31, with plans to take up the collective bargaining ‘Janus bill’ and Gov. Charlie Baker’s returned amendments and vetoes from the fiscal 2020 budget, House Chamber, 11 a.m.
— Jennie Caissie, the lone Republican on the Governor’s Council, will sit before her council colleagues for her own confirmation hearing on her nomination as clerk magistrate of Dudley District Court, Council Chamber, Room 360, 10:30 a.m.
— UMass Boston Chancellor Search Committee meets with an agenda that includes an update on the search process, UMass Club, 12 p.m.
— Governor’s Council meets with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito presiding and may vote on the nomination of Karen Hennessy as a Juvenile Court judge, Council Chamber, 12 p.m.
— Massachusetts Safe Communities Coalition holds briefing on the ‘Public Health Impact of Our Immigration Policies: Report from the Front Lines, sponsored by Reps. Balser and Miranda and Sen. Eldridge, Room 437, 1 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
In Fall River, Correia advances, but faces uphill climb
He survived — barely. Despite being arrested and indicted twice by the feds, Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia managed to earn a spot on the November ballot, but the city’s preliminary election results don’t bode well for his prospects, Amanda Burke and Jo C. Goode report at the Herald News. Correia finished a very distant second out of three candidates on the ballot and will face top finisher Paul Coogan, who received an overwhelming majority of the votes cast yesterday.
In other local preliminary elections, Brockton’s next mayor will either have plenty of experience in local government or not much at all, as voters culled a six-candidate field for mayor down to two: Councilor At-large Robert Sullivan, who was first elected to the council in 2006, and Jimmy Pereira, who works with the Old Colony Planning Council and made his first race for public office two years ago, reports the Enterprise.
Here’s some other election results from yesterday: Pittsfield (Berkshire Eagle), Methuen (Eagle Tribune), Haverhill (Eagle Tribune), Framingham (MetroWest Daily News), Salem (Salem News), Braintree (Patriot Ledger), Quincy (Patriot Ledger) and Chicopee (MassLive).
Don’t forget next week’s preliminary elections …
One round of preliminary elections is over – and another round comes next week. And Mayor Marty Walsh and Councilor Michelle Wu appear to be angling to oust Councilor Althea Garrison, a rare gadfly Trump supporter at City Hall, reports the Herald’s Sean Philip Cotter.
Meanwhile, the Globe’s Adrian Walker says it’s clear that city council elections are no longer a joke because the city council is no longer a joke, as the city politically evolves. The Globe this morning lists all its council endorsements for next week’s preliminary elections. Meanwhile, Michael Jonas at CommonWealth takes a look at the mayoral election in Taunton, where Rep. Shuana O’Connell has a leg up on rivals, courtesy of the Baker-Polito switcheroo team.
Polito’s patronage moves: ‘It stinks to high heaven’
Speaking of Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, she may be brushing aside criticism of some of her recent court-related patronage moves, but some members of the Governor’s Council aren’t brushing it aside. “It stinks to high heaven,” Councilor Robert Jubinville tells the Herald’s Mary Markos. Btw: The Governor’s Council may have an interesting meeting today. See our ‘Happening Today’ section above.
Time for feds to take over the T?
The Herald goes there. Fed up with T derailments, fires, evacuations, delays etc., a Herald editorial is calling for a federal takeover of the T, citing recent moves by the feds in Washington D.C. “T riders pay for, and deserve, safety and quality service when taking public transportation, not fresh rounds of promises after each mishap,” the editorial says. “Get D.C. on the line.”
Meanwhile, the Boston Globe isn’t going as far as the Herald, but it is saying that it’s “time for plan B at South Station,” i.e. dropping the idea of taking over U.S. Post Office land for a station expansion and looking at other options, up to and including a possible North-South tunnel.
One last T item, via Miles Howard at Boston Magazine: “Derailed: My Public Transit Odyssey across Massachusetts.”
Left-wing and right-wing populism: Warren and Trump’s secret weapons
The New York Times has an interesting story comparing Elizabeth Warren and Donald Trump’s substance and style on the campaign trail. They’re obviously different, in a political left-right paradigm type of way, but they do share one thing: populism.
Meanwhile, Warren, as she stumps for votes in the Dem presidential primary contest, is proving she’s also good at old-fashioned retail politics, with a digital-era twist: She recently spent four hours (yes, four hours) taking selfies with voters in New York, reports Abbi Matheson at the Globe. The Washington Post also has more on the large event crowds Warren is now attracting.
Stop & Shop, Rite Aid, same difference
The Herald’s Lisa Kashinsky has the latest gaffe by presidential candidate Joe Biden, who seems to have trouble distinguishing between Stop & Shop and Rite Aid stores in Massachusetts, or at least stores where workers are striking outside.
Passing off pets as disabled service dogs: Worse than phony handicap-driver license plates?
It’s a tough call, but we think these guys have handicap-parking scofflaws beat. From SHNS’s Katie Lannan: “A bill (H 3657) filed by Rep. Kimberly Ferguson would make it a civil infraction to knowingly misrepresent a dog as a service dog or service-dog-in-training ‘for the purpose of obtaining any rights or privileges afforded to a person with a disability requiring the assistance of a service dog.’”
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
Blowing past school-bus stop signs: Worse than passing pets off as service dogs?
Actually, these people are also down there with those with fake service dogs and handicap parking scofflaws, i.e. drivers who blow past school-bus stop signs. Christian Wade at the Salem News has the details on the latest effort on Beacon Hill to pass legislation to require cameras on school buses to catch vehicles illegally driving past school buses.
As Amazon touts new Holyoke jobs, its delivery contractor is laying off hundreds across in New England
File under: ‘Zero sum game’? Jim Kinney at MassLive reports that a “delivery service is ending its contract with Amazon and laying off 201 drivers in Massachusetts and another 74 who work out of Bristol, Connecticut.” The local jobs are in Chelsea, Dedham and Milford. Amazon, which is planning to build a major package-handling facility in Holyoke, says it’s helping the contract drivers find employment with other contractors or with Amazon itself, Kinney reports.
This time he means it: Developer revives plan to replace Shreve, Crump & Low building in Back Bay
From Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin: “The Druker Co., which won city approval more than ten years ago to replace the old Shreve, Crump & Low building at Boylston and Arlington streets with a multi-faceted glass cube, then never did, has asked the BPDA to let it go ahead with the project.”
In other development news, Andy Metzger at CommonWealth magazine marvels at what he’s seeing in the North Station area: An actual “front door,” or exterior gateway, to TD Garden and North Station.
The lobster tariff war hits home
Beacon Hill lawmakers yesterday heard first hand how the tariff wars are putting the squeeze on local lobstermen, as they lose lucrative China-export business to the Canadian lobster industry, reports Christian Wade at the Gloucester Times.
Meanwhile, SHNS’s Matt Murphy (pay wall) reports that “members of the state’s Congressional delegation, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are urging the Trump administration to find new markets for American lobster exports” as the tariff wars rage.
Forget Kennedy’s national IOUs. Ed Markey may have the youth vote
The Globe’s Jazmine Ulloa reports that Ed Markey may have a secret weapon if Joseph Kennedy III decides to challenge him in the U.S. Senate primary next year: The votes of young people focused on climate-change issues.
Grappling with correctional-officer suicides
It’s one of the toughest jobs out there – physically and mentally. From Marie Szaniszlo at the Herald: “Sheriffs departments across Massachusetts are working to develop a suicide-prevention policy after a state commission found that at least 16 corrections officers had taken their own lives in the past decade. The special commission created by the state Legislature to study the prevention of suicide among 3,800 Bay State correction officers found that life expectancy for prison guards nationwide has hit an alarming low.”
The mystery vaping-related lung illnesses: Plenty of questions, few answers
WBUR’s Carey Goldberg and the Globe’s Naomi Martin have pieces this morning on what’s known and not known about the mysterious vaping-related lung illnesses hitting people, particularly the young. The bottom line: They know very little.
Roy steps down as head of DCR, replaced by agency’s finance director
From SHNS’s Michael Norton: “Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Leo Roy is retiring next week, after leading the agency for three and a half years, he announced Tuesday. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides named Jim Montgomery, director of administration and finance at DCR, as interim commissioner. Roy’s last day is Friday, Sept. 27.”
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
Are business leaders natural pro-immigrant allies?
The Globe’s Jon Chesto reports on the efforts of Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, to woo business leaders to her new cause: The Massachusetts Business Immigration Coalition – and she’s making some headway among business leaders desperate for workers.
Trahan praises Pelosi for keeping Democrats together
She sees both sides. U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has done a “masterful” job of keeping Democrats together while also heaping praise on newly elected party members who have challenged her, as Emma Murphy reports at the Lowell Sun. Seems like a shrewd strategy for avoiding a primary challenge from either flank.
Identity crisis? Wareham hires branding firm to change public perception
Once a gateway, always a gateway? The town of Wareham has hired a Boston public relations firm to help it come up with a new town slogan meant to dissuade vacationers from thinking of it only as the ‘Gateway to Cape Cod,’ Ethan Genter reports at the Cape Cod Times. One of the early contenders: ‘Not a gateway.’
Old North Speaker Series: Kellie Carter Jackson – Forcing Freedom
Her book Force & Freedom examines one of the perennial questions in political thought: is violence a valid means of producing social change? In her lecture, Kellie Carter Jackson address how black abolitionists answered this question.
Old North Church & Historic Site
Boston Trade Compliance & Policy Seminar 2019
International trade regulations change constantly—old rules are updated and new regulations are added every day. Attend one of the full-day seminars in a location close to you to stay up to date on the latest information. Learn about changing international trade regulations with industry experts—C.H. Robinson’s Kevin Doucette and Jeff Simpson—who are passionate about the subject.
Boston Speakers Series: John Kerry
Kerry served as United States Secretary of State during President Barack Obama’s second term. He represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for nearly thirty years, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in 2004.
12th Annual Public Performance Conference
This year’s National Center for Public Performance (NCPP) Public Performance Conference marks the 12th year the nation’s top government and nonprofit performance professionals and academics will convene to emphasize the use of data to improve efficiency and efficacy of public services.
ADL’s Breaking Barriers Speaker Series Presents: Survivor’s Club with Michael & Debbie Bornstein
ADL’s Breaking Barriers Speaker Series presents: Survivors Club with Michael and Debbie Bornstein. Please join us on Thursday, September 26, 2019 to hear from Michael Bornstein, one of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz death camp, and his daughter Debbie Bornstein, co-author of Survivors Club. Register by Wednesday, September 25: www.adl.org/breakingbarriers2019
Starr Forum: Iran Reframed
A discussion about the evolution of the Islamic Republic and its reaction to President Trump’s Iran strategy
MIT Center for International Studies (CIS)
Boston Speakers Series: John Kerry
Kerry served as United States Secretary of State during President Barack Obama’s second term. He represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for nearly thirty years, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in 2004.
Today’s Headlines
Metro
MBTA and Lynn at odds over proposed bus layover location – Lynn Item
Walsh, Wu appear to back ouster of Althea Garrison – Boston Herald
Massachusetts
Worcester City Council OKs ban on plastic bags at checkout – Telegram & Gazette
EEE outbreak: State leaders meet in Framingham to discuss crisis – MetroWest Daily News
Nation
Democrats seize senate floor to protest gun inaction – The Hill
Abortion rate is falling in nearly every state, report says – NPR
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