Happening Today
Veterans Day, Warren in New Hampshire
— Today is Veterans Day, an official national and state holiday, with most federal, state and local offices and schools closed, though Wall Street markets and most retail stores and businesses will be open.
— A Veterans Day event will be held at Memorial Hall at the State House, with Gov. Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey attending, State House, 10 a.m.
— Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito delivers remarks at the Shrewsbury Veterans Day Service, World War One Memorial at Major Howard Beal School, 1 Maple Avenue, Shrewsbury, 10:45 a.m.
— Boston Mayor Martin Walsh kicks off the 2019 Veterans Day Parade, Corner of Charles St. and Boylston St., Boston, 12 p.m.
— Newton residents gather to honor veterans, with U.S. Sen Ed Markey expected to deliver remarks, Evans Park, 430 Centre St., Newton, 12:45 p.m.
— U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren hosts a town hall event in New Hampshire for her 2020 presidential campaign, Exeter High School, 1 Blue Hawk Drive, Exeter, NH 3:15 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
Is Baker launching a new state political party?
Ed Lyons, a state Republican activist and political writer, applies the old duck test to Gov. Charlie Baker’s role in the recent launch of a super PAC that’s dishing out funds to all sorts of local candidates – and concludes Baker may be launching a new political party in Massachusetts, or at least a distinct moderate faction within the state GOP to counter the party’s drift to the right of late.
After New Zealand, Scott Brown to lead New England Law
The BBJ’s Hilary Burns reports that former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, now ambassador to New Zealand, already has a post-NZ job lined up, as president and dean of Boston’s New England Law. The Globe’s Joshua Miller has more on the long and winding career of Brown, a former model, military attorney, selectman, state representative and state senator, U.S. senator, ambassador and now this academic gig.
MIA: Markey defends Green New Deal in debate notable for who wasn’t there
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey defended his track record and his embrace of the Green New Deal in a forum-turned-debate with one of his challengers over the weekend, but the event may have been most notable for who wasn’t there. Benjamin Kail at MassLive and Victoria McGrane at the Globe report Shannon Liss-Riordan questioned Markey on what she sees as his “lofty language” and lack of specifics in his Green New Deal legislation. And where was U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, the third candidate in the Senate race? He skipped the event.
Biden catches flak for saying what Warren is saying about herself: She’s ‘angry’
The NYT rides to the aid of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, now coming under fire from other Dem candidates, including Joe Biden, who has criticized Warren as being too “angry.” The NYT reports that some people see sexist politics at work. But Warren later indeed pronounced “I am angry and I own it,” while using the Biden/angry controversy to simultaneously raise funds, according to a Bloomberg News report at the Globe.
Btw: Biden was in New Hampshire on Saturday, reminding one and all that, yes, he really was a member of the Obama administration, in case anybody forgot, reports Felice Belman at the Globe.
Do we really need a billionaire to beat a billionaire?
Unintentionally (we’re pretty sure), the Globe has a dueling-columnists take on the latest billionaire likely to run for president, i.e. Michael Bloomberg. Yvonne Abraham isn’t impressed with billionaires’ wealth and alleged knowledge in general (“we’ve turned billionaires into little gods in this country”), while Larry Edelman writes that he welcomes Bloomberg’s possible entry into the race, if only because he may be the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump.
Btw, from the Washington Post: “America’s billionaires take center stage in national politics, colliding with populist Democrats.”
George Hursey, 98, one of last Pearl Harbor survivors in Mass., RIP
As we commemorate Veterans Day today, here’s some added solemn news: George Hursey, 98, a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, has passed away. Ben Berke at the Enterprise and Max Reyes at the Globe have the details. There seems to be some discrepancy over whether Hursey was the last, or one of the last, Pearl Harbor survivors in Massachusetts. No matter. He served. He survived. And so farewell, George Hursey. RIP.
Due to his military service, charges dropped against trooper accused of lewd behavior at Gillette Stadium
Is this how we’re supposed to thank and reward veterans? From the Herald’s Stefan Geller: “A lewdness charge against a Massachusetts State Police trooper who had been accused of drunkenly exposing himself at Gillette Stadium in June was dropped Friday, under a law that lets veterans who are first-time offenders go into treatment and avoid a criminal record.”
The Globe’s Alyssa Lukpat has more on the controversial Brave Act’s use in the case against Trooper Andrew Patterson. Fyi: Patterson’s suspension from State Police still stands, for now.
To the rental rescue: ‘The Housing Navigator’
From the Globe’s Tim Logan: “The Kuehn Charitable Foundation and several state housing agencies and affordable housing advocates are getting ready to launch what will be Massachusetts’ biggest searchable database of deed-restricted affordable housing. Dubbed The Housing Navigator, it aims to be a one-stop online shop for all affordable housing in the state, easing an often-tedious search for subsidized apartments.”
The Herald’s Erin Tiernan has more on the ‘Housing Navigator,’ only the second of its kind in the U.S.
Walsh quickly returns $3,000-plus from pot companies
Grand jury investigations often prompt sudden decisions like this. From Lisa Kashinsky and Sean Philip Cotter at the Herald: “Mayor Martin Walsh is returning the $3,000-plus his campaign has raked in over the past two years from pot company executives, shedding the cash after the Herald asked about the donations. The mayor’s move Friday comes as Boston officials have been served federal subpoenas for records linked to legal weed licenses.”
‘Super commuters’
Tanner Stening at MassLive takes a look at the thousands of “super commuters” driving long distances each day from western Massachusetts for jobs in the economically booming eastern Massachusetts. We’d add that there’s now a relatively new species of the “super commuter”: People moving further west for affordable housing – while keeping their eastern Mass. jobs.
‘There was nothing they wouldn’t do to overthrow it’
We’re not sure what news-cycle event prompted Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. to write this NYT opinion piece now (probably the whole Trump era prompted him), but it’s a terrific read about how the ‘Redeemers,’ i.e. ex-southern Confederates, brutally undermined Reconstruction and paved the way for Jim Crow and the bogus ‘Lost Cause’ interpretation of the Civil War. Definitely check it out. It’s an excellent piece.
Speaking of twisted racial history, the Globe’s Jeff Jacoby has a good column on the pseudo-science that was used in the early 1900s to justify anti-immigration policies against all those not considered white “Nordic.” The definition of “colored” people was quite expansive back then.
Report: Nearly 40 dams In Massachusetts considered high risk
Might as well add this to our collective TTD list for fixing the state’s infrastructure, i.e. AP reporter Michael Casey’s investigation that found 39 high hazard dams that are in poor or unsatisfactory condition in Massachusetts. A total of 1,680 dams across the nation are rated “high-hazard,” according to Casey’s report at WBUR.
Mike Pence and Jim Davis: Shared love of vintage cars?
Spencer Buell at Boston Magazine tracks the somewhat mysterious detour that Vice President Mike Pence’s motorcade took the other day in Boston, apparently stopping at an Allston garage where New Balance’s Jim Davis keeps his fancy-car collection. Tori Bedford at WGBH and Andrea Courtois at WBZ seem to have little doubt: The VP got a special viewing.
It’s official: Sen. Humason wins Westfield mayor’s race – and Velis wants his Senate seat
Police Capt. Michael McCabe on Friday officially conceded the close Westfield mayor’s race to state Sen. Donald F. Humason Jr., as Jim Kinney reports at MassLive, and that move prompted state Rep. John Velis to quickly announce he’s now running for Humason’s Senate seat, in an attempt to flip the seat to Democrats for the first time since the early 1990s, reports Shira Schoenberg at MassLive.
Matt Szafranski at Western Massachusetts Politics & Insight has more on the upcoming special-election battle.
Election aftermath: Beverly, Northampton see new diversity in local government
In other post-Election Day news, some communities are still sorting out the changes voters made last Tuesday. In Beverly, voters doubled the number of women on the city council from two to four, Paul Leighton reports at the Salem News. Meanwhile, in Northampton, John Thorpe may be the first African-American person elected to serve on the city council –but no one is quite sure about that historical fact, Greta Jochemat the Daily Hampshire Gazette reports.
Ordained college professors?
If they’re not ordained ministers, this seems to be stretching job definitions a bit. From Max Larkin at WBUR: “A judge will decide whether faculty at religious colleges in Massachusetts should be considered ministers — and therefore not be covered by anti-discrimination laws. The question arises from a lawsuit by professor Margie DeWeese-Boyd at Gordon College in Wenham, who claims she was denied promotion because of her advocacy for the college’s LGBT students.”
In suit, Dracut firefighter claims retaliation for town meeting advocacy
Was it payback or something else? Dracut firefighter Justin George has filed a $2 million federal lawsuit against the town, saying officials retaliated against him after he pushed for a town meeting article that would guarantee full pay for town employees while serving out military obligations, Meg McIntyre reports at the Lowell Sun.
Oops: T brought shuttle-bus riders to wrong destination
From the Globe’s Jordan Frias: “Riders boarding a shuttle bus from Orange Line MBTA stops Friday night were taken to the wrong place, the MBTA said. The agency said it is investigating ‘an incident involving a third-party Orange Line shuttle taking its riders to the wrong destination,’ in a tweet Saturday evening.”
ROE Act Tzedek Salon
In many states, access to abortion is hanging on by a thread. Donald Trump and politicians like him are stopping at nothing to ban abortion. But in Massachusetts, we are pushing forward. In Massachusetts. This month, we will be hosting a Tzedek Salon discussion with Kim Kargman, organizing manager at Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts.
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Boston Speakers Series: Bob Woodward
A journalistic icon, Woodward is associate editor of The Washington Post. He, along with Carl Bernstein, uncovered the Watergate scandal detailed in their Pulitzer Prize-winning book, All the President’s Men. Woodward has written 19 bestselling books on American politics, most recently: Fear: Trump in the White House.
2019 New England State and Local Tax Forum
The New England State and Local Tax Forum is a one-day conference designed to provide an annual update on significant state and local tax developments from across the nation with a particular focus on New England.
New England State and Local Tax Forum
Boston Speakers Series: Bob Woodward
A journalistic icon, Woodward is associate editor of The Washington Post. He, along with Carl Bernstein, uncovered the Watergate scandal detailed in their Pulitzer Prize-winning book, All the President’s Men. Woodward has written 19 bestselling books on American politics, most recently: Fear: Trump in the White House.
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Boston CIty Hall employee convicted of cocaine and fentanyl sales – MassLive
Online tool would connect renters to affordable housing – Boston Herald
Massachusetts
Worcester reaches tax relief deal with hotel developer – Telegram & Gazette
For Moulton, book brings to life painful memories of war – Gloucester Times
Fall River election results won’t be certified until Friday deadline – Herald-News
Nation
What Joe Biden actually did in Ukraine – New York Times
Poll: Bloomberg’s potential run is a flop with voters so far – Politico
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