Happening Today
Cybersecurity forum, Senate session, and more
— Gov. Charlie Baker will speak at the Massachusetts Cybersecurity Forum, a presentation of the MassCyberCenter during Massachusetts Cybersecurity Week, Great Hall/Grand Staircase, 12 p.m.
— Senate President Karen Spilka will keynote the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts annual lobby day, Room 428, 11 a.m.
— The Massachusetts Senate meets in a formal session to take up legislation that would create a confidential registry of caregivers found to have abused individuals with disabilities and a multi-faceted bill aimed at improving children’s health, Senate Chamber, 1 p.m.
— Gov. Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Rep. Russell Holmes gather for a ceremonial ribbon cutting of the Valina N. Jackson Family Center, 35 Hansborough Street, Dorchester, 4:15 p.m.
— William James College hosts a conversation with David Axelrod , political strategist and former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, and NPR’s Meghna Chakrabarti, Sheraton Hotel, 100 Cabot St., Needham, 7:30 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
Post-debate: The attacks continue
A day after a Dem presidential debate in which she came under sustained attacks from rivals, front-runner U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren yesterday was still the target of heavy criticism from Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, reports the Washington Post and the New York Times. Much of the criticism focused on Warren’s dodging of questions about whether or not the middle-class would pay for her “Medicare-for-all” health plan, an issue that has become a vulnerability for Warren, reports the Globe’s Liz Goodwin.
Fyi: Peter Kadzis and Adam Reilly at WGBH have a good five-takeaways piece on Tuesday’s debate, one of which concerns the emergence of Klobuchar as a potential moderate standard bearer, if Biden continues his current slide. And from WGBH’s Dan Kennedy: “Cable Pundits Agree: Tuesday Was A Big Night For Klobuchar And Buttigieg. Will It Matter?” From the Globe’s Scot Lehigh: “Pete Buttigieg wins the night.”
The ‘mansplain’ moment
Joanna Weiss at WBUR writes about Joe Biden’s “enduring gift” to Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday that will “go down in the annals of mansplaining.” The Globe’s Joan Vennochi has more Warren’s take down of Biden during the Tuesday showdown.
Divvying up the surplus: It came down to either the rainy day fund or tax cuts
SHNS’s Colin Young and Chris Lisinski report that the House yesterday approved the $723 million supplemental budget, with House leaders ultimately opting to earmark surplus funds for the state’s rainy day fund, the MBTA and education – and not for Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed $175 million tax-relief proposal.
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
Reset: Encore Harbor Boston president leaving amid disappointing revenues
This confirms it: All is not well at the new Encore Boston Harbor. A day after the Everett casino released disappointing revenue numbers, Wynn Resorts announced yesterday that president Robert DeSalvio will be stepping down, as part of a reshuffle of top management at the $2.8 billion gaming facility, reports Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine. Brian Guilbrants, the head of food and beverage at Encore Boston, will replace DeSalvio.
Right on cue: Candidate launches write-in bid that could split Correia opposition vote
Is his diabolical plan coming together? Fall River City Administrator Cathy Ann Viveiros launched a write-in campaign for mayor on Wednesday, saying she wants to give voters a choice now that indicted Mayor Jasiel Correia has allegedly suspended his campaign, Jo C. Goode reports at the Herald News. Naturally, the entry of Viveiros — who has run unsuccessfully five times in the past — has some wondering if Correia’s strategy to get himself re-elected by flooding the race with additional candidates is finally taking shape.
The Globe’s Yvonne Abraham is almost awed at Correia’s lack of scruples, something he shares with a certain orange-haired guy in Washington.
It’s alive: South Station tower plan rises again
The Globe’s Tim Logan reports that the long-delayed South Station tower proposal has suddenly been revived – and the developer hopes to start construction quickly. But it still needs city and state approvals due to its incredible complexity tied to all the rail traffic at the site. We’ll see if this latest attempt succeeds. With it so late in the commercial real estate cycle, you have to wonder.
Meanwhile, the BBJ’s Catherine Carlock reports on a development heading the other way, so to speak: “Millennium cuts size of planned Seaport innovation campus by more than half.”
Gas compressor opponents dealt appeal setback
From SHNS’s Chris Lisinski (pay wall): “A proposed natural gas compressor station cleared two more major hurdles Wednesday when a state adjudicator recommended upholding wetlands and waterways permits that opponents had appealed.” The finical decision rests with DEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg, but Wednesday’s conclusions are a “significant step toward construction of the Weymouth facility that has riled surrounding communities,” reports Lisinski.
Don’t putz around on housing reform, lawmakers
The Globe’s Shirley Leung has a good piece this morning on the “evil twin of our broken transportation system,” i.e. our broken housing system, and she’s urging House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate President Karen Spilka and other lawmakers not to “putz around” and instead pass Gov. Charlie Baker’s zoning-reform plan, using it as a foundation for even bolder housing proposals.
Meanwhile, Warren goes on offensive against new Trump housing rule
Speaking of housing, in a Globe op-ed headlined “Housing rule would make it harder to fight discrimination,” U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is running for president, is going after President Trump and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson for “trying to make it almost impossible” for people of color to counter housing discrimination.
Sen. deMacedo’s sudden departure sparks immediate interest in Plymouth seat
State Sen. Viriato deMacedo, a long-time Republican fixture on Beacon Hill, has decided it’s time to move on and he’s accepted a post as director of regional partnerships at Bridgewater State University. Geoff Spillane at the Cape Cod Times has the details. Meanwhile, SHNS’s Matt Murphy (pay wall) reports the ink was barely dry on deMacdo’s announcement when would-be candidates made it clear they’re most definitiely interested in filling his Plymouth seat.
Btw, via SHNS’s Michael Norton (pay wall): “In an interview, deMacedo told the News Service that the grind of commuting between Plymouth and Boston for so many years and a desire to work closer to home and spend more time with his family contributed to his decision.”
Cavell officially throws hat in ring for Kennedy’s seat
He’s previously given every indication he was going to run, up to and including leaving his job as an assistant state attorney general. And this morning Dave Cavell, a former White House speech writer for President Obama and Michelle Obama, indeed made it official in a press release: He’s running to fill the seat of U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III.
Report: Change the people, not the sharks
There will be no seal culling or hiring of a bigger boat. Instead, people need to make largely behavioral changes in order to live safely with the increasing number of sharks off the coast of Cape Cod. That’s the bottom line conclusion of a much anticipated report from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which studied possible solutions for the Cape’s shark problem on the Cape, Sarah Mizes-Tan reports at WGBH. The study says high-tech solutions–such as underwater detectors–are not reliable and come with daunting price tags and instead urges communities to better educate swimmers and hire more lifeguards heading into next summer.
Accountant convicted of helping Brian Joyce defraud IRS
From the Globe’s Danny McDonald: “An accountant for former state senator Brian A. Joyce, who was found dead last year while facing a federal indictment on corruption charges, was convicted by a federal jury Wednesday of conspiring with the Milton Democrat to defraud the IRS of about $600,000, prosecutors said. John H. Nardozzi, 67, a certified public accountant from Waltham, was convicted after a seven-day trial of defrauding the IRS from 2011 through 2014.” Scott Croteau at MassLive has more on Nardozzi’s dealing with the Joyce over the years.
City pulls $248M in pension money after CEO’s lewd comments on women
He’s the guy you always see on cable TV ads ranting against annuities, fyi. From the Globe’s Shirley Leung: “The City of Boston on Wednesday terminated its relationship with billionaire money manager Ken Fisher, pulling about $248 million in pension fund money from his firm following lewd comments he made last week.” And, yes, there’s a loose Jeffrey Epstein angle.
DeLeo: It’s a ‘bit too early’ to be talking subpoenas in RMV case
SHNS’s Chris Lisinski (pay wall) reports that House Speaker Robert DeLeo thinks it’s “a little bit too early” to play the subpoena card in the confrontation with the Baker administration over documents in the RMV records-keeping scandal. Meanwhile, the Herald’s Mary Markos reports the Gov. Baker is “shrugging off complaints that his administration is veiled in secrecy and trying to avoid a paper trail in the RMV scandal.”
Holyoke cannabis firm goes up in smoke, figuratively
Just like that, it’s snuffed out. Positronic Farms, a company that planned to set up a cannabis growing facility in a Holyoke mill, has dissolved its board of directors and will likely go into bankruptcy, Shira Schoenberg reports at MassLive. The company’s future has been in serious doubt since June, when Secretary of State William Galvin brought securities fraud charges against it. Now the company says it has few, if any assets, to pay back investors.
Walsh hints major changes could come to Boston ZBA
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said changes will be made at the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals following revelations of self-dealing from board members and promised “more than tweaks” will be undertaken to address the issues. Isaiah Thompson of WGBH reports Walsh says he’ll wait for an ongoing outside review of the board before recommending specific changes.
Taking center stage at the State House: Celts’ Enes Kanter
Celtics center Enes Kanter, well-known for his political feud with Turkey strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, yesterday paid his second visit in three weeks to the State House, this time to address House members about his and others’ struggles against persecution in Turkey. SHNS’s Chris Lisinskihas the details (pay wall).
Race in the Public Dialogue: History, Free Speech and Civil Rights
Panelists will focus on the history of free speech and civil rights in the context of academia and the university campus.
Museum of African American History
Boston Speakers Series: Zanny Minton Beddoes
Named one of the “Most Powerful Women in the World” by Forbes, Beddoes is the first female editor-in-chief of The Economist, a post she has held since 2015. Prior to her 25-year tenure with The Economist, she was an economist at the International Monetary Fund.
2019 Financial Experience Design Conference
FXD, a one-and-a-half-day conference, is a select gathering of more than 150 executives, experts, visionaries, and progressive thinkers from across the insurance, banking, wealth management, and fintech industries.
Revolutionize – Presented by Aging2.0 Boston & Age Friendly Foundation
The Boston Chapter of Aging 2.0, together with the Age Friendly Foundation, is pleased to announce “Revolutionize”. Join us on October 25, 2019 at the Seaport Hotel in Boston for our inaugural conference. Let’s revolutionize our approach to aging by promoting creative collaborations among the varied sectors engaged in aging services.
Aging2.0 Boston & Age Friendly Foundation
The Good Fight, ADL’s Forum on Confronting Anti-Semitism
Join the Boston community for an informative and hands-on day dedicating to combating anti-Semitism. This one-day forum will include presentations by leading experts on anti-Semitism and skill building workshops for adults, students, and families. Participants will leave with an actionable toolkit for confronting anti-Semitism.
WorldBoston 10th Annual Consuls Reception
The Consuls Reception convenes the 60-member local Consular Corps and some 200 leaders from business, government, academia, and the arts for a lively evening of networking, hors d’oeuvres, and drinks – all against the sparkling backdrop of Boston Harbor by night. Ambassador Susan E. Rice, the former National Security Advisor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, will provide remarks.
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Revised proposal for Morrissey site lowers heights on residential towers – Dorchester Reporter
City officials break ground on $30 million East Boston police station – Boston Herald
Massachusetts
Northampton health board may limit menthol cigarettes sales – Daily Hampshire Gazette
Officials: Racist post at Framingham High was faked – MetroWest Daily News
UMass Medical School aimed for $250 million in fundraising–and beat it – Worcester Business Journal
Nation
Youth suicide rate rises 56 percent in decade, CDC says – Wall Street Journal
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