Happening Today
Pre-Thanksgiving dinner and more
— Boston Mayor Martin Walsh awards $1.35 million in Neighborhood Jobs Trust funds to 23 community-based organizations, More Than Words Warehouse Bookstore, 242 E Berkeley St, 2nd Floor, Boston, 9:30 a.m.
— U.S. Sen. Ed Markey holds an event in Braintree to discuss local issues, The Casual Cup Cafe, 911 Washington St., Braintree, 9:30 a.m.
— Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries holds its annual Thanks-for-Giving Dinner, with Speaker Robert DeLeo, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, Treasurer Deb Goldberg and Attorney General Maura Healey helping serve the meal, 1010 Harrison Ave., Roxbury, 11:15 a.m.
— Massachusetts Gaming Commission meets to select topics for future commission business meetings later in the month, Gaming Commission, 101 Federal St., 12th floor, Boston, 2 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
‘Now comes the hard part’
As WBUR’s Max Larkin reports, Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday indeed signed the landmark $1.5 billion education funding bill. However, as SHNS’s Michael Norton reports: “Now comes the hard part.” Norton and CommonWealth magazine’s Michael Jonas write that there’s a big difference between signing a $1.5 billion bill and actually finding the $1.5 billion to pay for it.
Separately, from SHNS Matt Murphy (pay wall): “Baker signs OCPF and children’s health reforms.” Still awaiting gubernatorial action: The controversial flavored-tobacco/vaping legislation.
Comptroller to lawmakers: If you don’t do something about the budget, I will
Speaking of unfinished business at the State House: CommonWealth magazine’s Andy Metzger takes a closer look at the compromise offered up by House Speaker Robert DeLeo to break the supplemental-budget impasse on Beacon Hill. Meanwhile, SHNS’s Colin Young (pay wall) reports that Comptroller Andrew Maylor and legislative leaders appear to be on a collision course, with Maylor threatening to close the books himself on last fiscal year’s budget.
Is the Warren surge over?
Two new polls – one by Quinnipiac University and the other by Morning Consult – show that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s early-autumn surge has most definitely stalled. And, needless to say, the media is all over it, including MassLive’s Benjamin Kail and the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld and Bloomberg News at the Globe and the Washington Post, where Philip Bump admirably admits his own “What happened to Elizabeth Warren?” headline might come back to haunt him. And he’s right. A lot can change over the next few months.
Btw, here’s the headline on David Bernstein’s latest piece at WGBH: “Can Warren win the 2020 Mass. primary by 50 percent?” Deval Patrick is complicating matters, obviously.
Elizabeth Warren’s favorite ‘leftish economist’
The NYT has an interesting piece on Mariana Mazzucato, a Tufts University grad and economist at University College London, whose economic message is reportedly resonating with a wide range of American politicians, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Mazzucato’s basic message: The left is focusing too much on redistribution of wealth and not enough on the creation of wealth – and she thinks left-wing pols can and should pursue government policies that spur innovation and jobs within capitalist economies.
Patrick’s itsy-bitsy campaign signs up some familiar names
Who says Deval Patrick isn’t a serious contender for president? The former Massachusetts governor, whose late-stage candidacy barely registers (if at all) in presidential polls, has indeed hired some campaign staffers, including Chelsie Ouellette, who worked in Patrick’s gubernatorial administration, and Samantha Joseph, who previously worked on the now-abandoned Seth Moulton campaign for president. The Washington Post has the other names.
New Hampshire is actually eliminating tolls paid by Massachusetts drivers?
As reported at WCVB, it’s “not often you hear about a government body voting to effectively eliminate tolls on part of a heavily traveled highway.” But that’s exactly what a New Hampshire board did earlier this week, voting to eliminate tolls on the Everett Turnpike, the high-traffic roadway connecting Massachusetts to the Manchester/Concord area.
They’re doing it out of sympathy to Granite State motorists, not Bay State motorists, needless to say.
DiMasi: ‘I’ve paid my debt to society’
He really wants that lobbyist credential. From Steph Solis at MassLive: “Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, who is fighting to become a registered lobbyist despite a 2011 federal fraud conviction, has a message for skeptics. ‘Whatever you think I did, I think I’ve paid my debt to society,’ said DiMasi, a Democrat, “and I think I can get a second chance to be a contributing citizen so that I can benefit the citizens of Massachusetts.’” SHNS’s Matt Murphy (pay wall) has more.
‘Time for diaper-duty parity’
The Globe’s Kay Lazar has an update on two pieces of legislation that would effectively require ‘diaper-duty parity’ in public buildings in Massachusetts, i.e. diaper changing stations for dads as well as moms.
Do your local schools have high levels of lead in drinking water? Don’t ask the state
WGBH’s Craig LeMoult reports on how the state monitors lead in schools’ drinking water around the state – and finds that “officials have no way to know if public schools are testing their water for lead, despite the state allocating $2 million to pay for lead tests in schools three years ago.”
From cranberry bogs to wetlands: Easier said than done
Here’s a timely Thanksgiving-related story about … cranberries. Specifically, how some hard-hit local cranberry growers are increasingly turning to a state program that turns old cranberry bogs into wetlands. But the program faces a number of challenges, scientifically and financially, as Barbara Moran reports at WBUR. Separately, WBUR has some beautiful photos of cranberry farmers at work in Massachusetts.
The new Michelle Wu guessing game: Will she or won’t she?
Michelle Wu was the top vote getter in the recent city council elections – and so she’s logically being mentioned as the top potential challenger to Mayor Marty Walsh. But will she run? The Globe’s Milton Valencia has all the speculation and unsolicited advice from the political pros around town.
The plot thickens: Pittsfield challenger claims mayor’s husband had access to ballots
Pittsfield mayoral hopeful Melissa Mazzeo, who recently lost a recount to Mayor Linda Tyer, now says she sought to preserve the ballots after she filed a complaint with the state alleging that Tyer’s husband had been seen inside the Registrar of Voters office during the early voting period, Amanda Drane reports at the Berkshire Eagle.
It’s all yours: State takes control of historic Northampton courthouse
The Massachusetts Trial Court is now the proud owner of the historic Old Courthouse in downtown Northampton, but maybe not for long, Shira Schoenberg reports at MassLive. The building had been owned by the Hampshire Council of Governments before it recently folded up under financial duress. Under a deal struck with the state, the building will remain accessible to the public but could be put on the market if the trial court determines it doesn’t need it. Our hunch: Break out the ‘For Sale’ signs.
Going public: Straus says RMV docs will be made available to all
Not if, just when. State Rep. William Straus tells WGBH’s Mark Herz that the 300 pages worth of outside-audit documents turned over to the Transportation Committee will indeed be made public, though there may be a few redactions here and there. Straus, co-chair of the committee, also said there will be more public hearings into the RMV records-keeping scandal.
About those hidden messages in the new WooSox logo …
It’s not unlike the hidden clues and messages left behind by the Knights Templa, Leonardo da Vinci and the Beatles. Michael Bonner at MassLive explains all the hidden and not-so-hidden Worcester connections tucked into the new ‘WooSox’ logo, from the smiley-face mascot (which we’re no fans of) to the bat-swinging style of the mascot. We never would have gotten the latter.
‘Tales of valor and bravery’
MassLive is all over yesterday’s 30th Annual Firefighter of the Year awards, including the posthumous awarding of the Medal of Honor to fallen Worcester firefighter Christopher Roy. His ten-year-old daughter accepted the medal on his behalf, as Aviva Lutrell reports.
Happy Thanksgiving – and see you Monday
We’d like to wish all our MassterList readers a happy Thanksgiving. We’ll be taking ooff tomorrow and Friday, but we’ll be back on Monday morning. Have a wonderful holiday, everyone.
Blacks In Government Future Leaders in America’s Government Youth Summit
The theme of the FLAG Youth Summit is: “Your Benchmark for Achieving Excellence” Topics covered will include: Establishing and benchmarking goals for achieving Personal, Academic, and Professional Success.
Blacks In Government and Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center
New England Energy Summit
New England Power Generators Association (NEPGA) in collaboration with The Dupont Group will host the New England Energy Summit, a half-day event that will bring together industry leaders, end users and policymakers to address emerging issues and engage in impactful discussion.
Author Talk and Book Signing with Richard A. Johnson: The Pats
Author talk and book signing with Richard A. Johnson, co-author of The Pats: An Illustrated History of the New England Patriots.
State Library of Massachusetts
A Conversation with Stacey Abrams
Stacey Abrams, New York Times bestselling author, nonprofit CEO, former Georgia House Democratic Leader and 2018 Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, discusses her distinguished career and continuing work on voting rights and social issues.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
High-Quality Curriculum: A Foundation for Student Success
Please join the Rennie Center as we explore how curriculum can support deeper learning and better student outcomes.
Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy
Discussion: Building Urgency and Political Will
There are many policy solutions that could have impact, but their viability is challenged by the lack of urgency and broad political will that is needed to get municipal leaders to lead on a crisis that their constituents may not currently feel. How do we sound the alarm and build the support needed to meet our housing challenges head-on?
Can We Bridge the Political Divide? Better Angels Red/Blue Workshop
Please join us for an intensive workshop that will bring together Republican-leaning and Democratic-leaning citizens for a day of structured conversations, with a focus on listening and reflecting rather than debating and persuading.
Better Angels Red/Blue Workshop
The Constitution: Changes and Challenges in US History
Akhil Amar, professor of law and political science at Yale University, and Eric Foner, professor emeritus of history at Columbia University and author of The Second Founding: How Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution, discuss constitutional changes and challenges throughout our nation’s history.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Patient-family housing project proposed in Fenway – Boston Herald
Half of Brockton’s apartments go uninspected by health department – Brockton Enterprise
Massachusetts
Report: Worcester ranks among US leaders in rent growth – Worcester Business Journal
Vineyard Wind shows interest in Fall River’s city pier – Herald-News
Rowley taxes to rise almost 10 percent in fiscal year 2020 – Newburyport Daily News
Nation
Trump knew about whistleblower complaint when he released Ukraine aid – New York Times
Care about journalism? Maybe you should cancel your newspaper – Politico
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