Happening Today
Tax Day, Cocktails-to-go, vocational schools
— Today is the deadline for filing federal and state tax returns for 2020, approximately a month later than normal due to filing extensions related to the pandemic.
— Sen. Diana DiZoglio, Rep. Dylan Fernandes, Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts, Cocktails for Commonwealth, Massachusetts chapter of THIRST and others host a virtual rally to push for bills extending restaurant cocktails to-go, a permanent cap on third party delivery app fees and other legislation, 10 a.m.
— Alliance for Vocational Technical Education holds a briefing on vocational school policy and budget issues, with speakers including Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Sens. Eric Lesser, Jason Lewis and Paul Feeney, Reps. Frank Moran and Kate Lipper-Garabedian and others, 11 a.m.
— Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders speaks at a RIZE Massachusetts and Kraft Center for Community Health at an MGH virtual event on innovations in addiction treatment, with Josh Kraft, president of Kraft Family Philanthropies, among the other speakers, 12 p.m.
— Reps. Erikia Utyterhoeven and Mike Connolly, Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steve Tolman and Massachusetts Teachers Association President Merrie Najimy are among the speakers at a Tax Day rally calling for “a budget that represents the needs of the people and the planet, 12 p.m.
For the most comprehensive list of calendar items, check out State House News Service’s Daily Advances (pay wall – free trial subscriptions available), as well as MassterList’s Beacon Hill Town Square below.
Today’s Stories
Reminder to readers: SHNS Coronavirus Tracker available for free
A reminder to our readers as the coronavirus crisis unfolds: The paywalled State House News Service, which produces MASSterList, is making its full Coronavirus Tracker available to the community for free on a daily basis each morning via ML. SHNS Coronavirus Tracker.
The coronavirus numbers: 5 new deaths, 17,394 total deaths, 494 new cases
NBC Boston has the latest coronavirus numbers for Massachusetts.
Janey’s BPD nightmare
It couldn’t get worse, right? Acting Mayor Kim Janey releases a scathing report about alleged past domestic-abuse charges against already suspended Boston Police Commissioner Dennis White – and how the “blue wall of silence” has allegedly protected him over the years. And then a tipped off White turns to the courts to avoid being ousted by Janey. And … just read all the stories. It’s a political and legal three-ring circus that only the BPD could produce. GBH’s Saraya Wintersmith, the Globe’s Andrew Ryan and Elizabeth Koh and Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin have more.
Janey sure made a mess of Walsh’s mess
Former Mayor Marty Walsh is rightly taking his licks for his role in the Dennis White fiasco now engulfing City Hall and the Boston Police Department. Besides appointing White in the first place, CommonWealth’s Michael Jonas asks: “Why did Walsh look to cut short police commissioner probe?”
Unfortunately for Acting Mayor Kim Janey, Walsh’s mess is now her mess – and she’s making a political mess of it, write the Globe’s Adrian Walker and the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld.
Boston cops are still guarding ex-mayor Walsh’s home in Dorchester?
He may be working in the nation’s capital now. But WBZ’s Cheryl Fiandaca reports that, at least until recently, Boston police officers were being taken off patrol in Dorchester to guard former Mayor Marty Walsh’s Dorchester home – even though he left City Hall six weeks ago to become U.S. Labor Secretary.
Mere coincidence: ‘Abuser hotline’ to launch in western Mass.
Might as well get this other domestic-abuse item out of the way. CommonWealth’s Shira Schoenberg reports that a new helpline is being launched as a pilot program in western Massachusetts. Its target: Those who abuse others and want help changing their behavior.
Guilty as charged: After five-year rise-and-fall, Correia now awaits sentencing
Barely five years after becoming one of the state’s youngest-ever mayors, Jasiel Correia is now at home, wearing a GPS tracker and awaiting sentencing after a jury on Friday found him guilty on 21 of 24 federal bribery and corruption counts. A team of four reporters at the Herald-News reports the convictions include nine counts of wire fraud, eight counts of extortion and four counts of tax fraud, while Shelley Murphy at the Globe reports Correia is due to be sentenced on Sept. 20.
Deval Patrick’s White House assignment: Co-chairing ‘Future of Tech Commission’
He didn’t win the presidency. But former Gov. Deval Patrick will nevertheless be influencing policy in Washington, after being tapped by the Biden administration to co-chair a new commission to “offer guidance and insight” to the federal government on “how technology should be reined in, moderated, or helped along,” reports the Globe’s Jon Chesto.
Sorting out the confusion: Baker expected to update mask and reopening rules this week
There appears to be confusion over whether there’s even confusion in the state over the CDC’s surprise announcement late last week that people who are fully vaccinated no longer have to wear masks indoors. GBH’s Craig LeMoult has the people-are-confused angle while the Globe’s John Hilliard and Nick Stoico have the not-so-confused angle. In any event, Gov. Charlie Baker hopes to clarify things early this week by announcing updates to the state’s mask and reopening policies in the wake of the CDC’s sudden mask pronouncement.
One thing is clear: CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is on the defensive over the announcement (GBH).
Healey: Oh, ok. Baker deserves some credit for handling of Covid crisis
If a future Baker campaign edits the tape just right (“I think that Gov. Baker deserves credit”) and leaves out the subtle digs in the same sentence, they might get some mileage out of this. The Herald’s Erin Tiernan has more on Attorney General Maura Healey’s very carefully-worded comments about the governor over the weekend.
Back to the old normal: Rents are rising again in Boston
You knew it couldn’t last. The Globe’s Tim Logan reports that demand for apartments is on the rise again in Boston, after last year’s pandemic exodus from the city, and that means apartment rents are on the rise again.
Holyoke Soldiers’ Home compromise reached, but it’s no comprise on Baker’s amendments to leave bill
SHNS’s Michael Norton reports that Beacon Hill lawmakers have reached a compromise on legislation to build a new Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. But the House isn’t in a compromising mood when it comes to Gov. Charlie Baker’s recent amendments to legislation that would establish a COVID-19 paid emergency leave program, Norton writes.
SHNS (pay wall — free trial subscription available)
The pandemic’s unemployment-insurance price tag: $22 billion
Christian Wade at the Salem New reports that the state officials still don’t have a plan on how to provide relief for employers recently hit by huge unemployment-insurance rate hikes. But they do know this: The state and federal governments have spent an astounding $22 billion on pandemic-era jobless benefits in Massachusetts, causing a multibillion-dollar deficit that somehow needs to be addressed.
Curse of the AGs, Part II: It applies to other constitutional officers and legislators too
Reacting to our ‘Curse of the AGs’ post last week (and to a column by the Herald’s Peter Lucas that sparked it all), an alert ML reader notes that it’s not just AGs who are jinxed when they run for governor in Massachusetts. “The last sitting constitutional officer to be elected governor was Robert Bradford in 1946,” he writes. “The last sitting legislator to be elected governor was Republican Leverett Saltonstall, who was the incumbent Speaker of the Massachusetts House, elected governor in 1938, defeating James Michael Curley.”
Corporate irony: IBM to move into Lowell complex built by long-ago rival Wang Labs
The BBJ’s Catherine Carlock reports IBM, which is consolidating its properties locally and nationally, has leased 150,608 square feet at CrossPoint in Lowell. And Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin catches the irony of it all, considering the complex was originally built by Wang Laboratories – the same Wang that once vowed to kill off the evil IBM. Special bonus: UH has a video of an old Wang TV ad touting its giant-slayer prowess.
Legalized sports betting proposals tucked among nearly 1,000 budget amendments
Of course they’re there. The Herald’s Erin Tiernan reports state senators are making another play at passing legalized sports gambling in Massachusetts, filing amendments to the proposed Senate budget that’s scheduled to be debated next week.
Take that: Nahant voters approve eminent-domain takeover of Northeastern land
They did it. From Elyse Carmosino at the Lynn Item: “Massachusetts’ smallest town made history Saturday when its residents voted 647-271 to enact eminent domain over Northeastern University’s East Point property. The Town Meeting results were met with roaring cheers from residents, who celebrated Nahant’s latest win in the effort to prevent the school from following through on a proposed expansion to its existing Marine Science Center situated east of Murphy Bunker.”
Powerful ally: Mariano expresses support for saving Quincy College
Save that school. House Speaker Ronald Mariano says Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch has the right idea with his efforts to save Quincy College, though he’s stopping short of taking sides on the specific issue that the City Council will take up tonight, to wit: Whether to spend $23 million to buy land to build a new home for the college, as Mary Whitfil reports at the Patriot Ledger.
‘Unemployable:’ Fired Sherborn police chief sues town over dismissal
Former Sherborn Police Chief Richard Thompson has filed suit against the town, saying the way it removed him from his role has made it impossible for him to find work in law enforcement again, Norman Miller at the MetroWest Daily News reports.
The current bane of the T’s existence: A thin, foot-long, synthetic strip
It’s sort of the T’s equivalent of the O-ring – a “side bearer pad,” or a thin strip of synthetic, resin-like material, about a foot long and five inches wide, and it’s the cause of the sidelining of the transit agency’s new Orange Line cars. The Globe’s Adam Vaccaro has more.
Not quite free: Oaks Bluffs voters approve bottle ban
Almost. Oaks Bluffs voters have made the town the fifth community on Martha’s Vineyard to adopt a plastic bottle ban being pushed by an island-based youth environmental group, Brian Dowd at the Martha’s Vineyard Times reports. By summer, single-serve plastic bottles will only be available for sale in the largest town on the island, Edgartown.
Perfect 10? Perennial mayoral hopeful joins fray again in Northampton
Instead of collecting stamps, he runs for mayor. Roy Martin, a onetime homeless man who calls running for office a ‘hobby,’ is launching his 10th bid to become Northampton mayor, Greta Jochem at the Daily Hampshire Gazette reports.
Innovations in Addiction Treatment and Harm Reduction
RIZE Massachusetts Foundation and The Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital host a virtual convening focused on innovations in addiction treatment and harm reduction.
Climate Emergency Preparedness: Art x Cultural Resilience
Join us for a conversation that will explore the wisdom and beauty of different cultures, cultural organizing and artistic expression in the development of resilient and sustainable communities—featuring Erin Genia, Boston Artist-in-Residence, and Meghan Venable-Thomas, Cultural Resilience Program Director for Enterprise Community Partners.
Sustainable Solutions Lab at UMass Boston
The Venezuelan Enterprise: Current Situation, Challenges and Opportunities
What is the status of the Venezuelan business fabric? What are its strengths and weaknesses? And where should the emphasis be put to help the private sector jump-start an economic recovery? To answer these questions, the IDB, together with the IESA, and with the support of more than 30 business chambers in the country, carried out the Enterprise Survey with a sample of almost 300 companies.
Calibrated Resistance: The Political Dynamics of Iran’s Nuclear Policymaking under Trump
Everyone is welcome to join us via Zoom! Please register before the event. Speakers and Presenters:Abolghasem Bayyenat, Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Boston Rock City: Explore Wikidata and Learn about Local Music
The BPL is partnering with Harvard Library for a guided exploration of Wikidata and local music history. Join us for two days of music and Wikidata editing, no prior experience necessary! Project staff will provide you with everything you need to generate new Wikidata entities. You’ll also get to learn about how we can use these new Wikidata entities to synthesize and visualize data.
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Keith Lee announces run for Lynn mayor – Lynn Item
2 More Face Charges In Boston Police Overtime Scheme – WBUR
Massachusetts
Worcester police union heads: Review board would be redundant, costly, divisive – Telegram & Gazette
Clear Channel tried to ‘walk away’ from billboard deal with Methuen – Eagle-Tribune
Creation of youth sports oversight panel proposed – Salem News
Nation
Cicilline seeks to censure Republicans who dismiss Jan. 6 insurrection – Politico
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