Happening Today
9 a.m. | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu speaks at the 247th annual Patriots’ Day parade.
9:02 a.m. | The 126th running of the Boston Marathon gets underway with the men’s wheelchair division first on the 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Boston.
11:30 a.m. | Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu are at the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street to help crown the winners.
6 p.m. | Rep. Steven Xiarhos, a Barnstable Republican, holds Patriots’ Day fundraiser featuring former U.S. Sen. and Ambassador Scott Brown. Musical performance by Sgt. Dan Clark, “a/k/a ‘The Singing Trooper.’” Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Doughty plans to attend.
Today’s Stories
Good Monday morning and happy Patriots’ Day.
Easily one of my favorite days on the calendar, the 126th running of the Boston Marathon gets underway just after 9 a.m. with the first pitch at Fenway following at 11:10 a.m. The weather looks to be sunny and cool, so if you’re running good luck and if you’re just headed out to soak in the atmosphere here are some tips on what to expect.
Democrat Shannon Liss-Riordan is running a different kind of race, and if you missed her on “On the Record” Sunday morning her pitch can be boiled down to this: Experience, experience, experience.
All three Democrats in the race (and Republican Jay McMahon) are attorneys. In fact, being a member of the Massachusetts bar is the price of admission to this party. But Liss-Riordan, a prominent labor lawyer who has sued corporate giants like Uber and Starbucks, said being attorney general is about more than having a law degree.
“I’m the only candidate in this race who is an actual practicing lawyer. I am the only candidate in this race who has led teams of lawyers to victories, both in my office of a dozen lawyers, and I’ve coordinated with teams of lawyers across the country,” Liss-Riordan said.
Her rivals may quibble with this distinction. Quentin Palfrey is a former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts who served in both the Obama administration and the Biden administration as deputy general counsel to the Commerce Department, while Andrea Campbell is a former Boston city councilor who worked for a Roxbury nonprofit providing free legal services before serving as deputy general counsel to Gov. Deval Patrick.
“I think this is a job for a top acclaimed litigator, which I am, not a politician,” Liss-Riordan said.
While Liss-Riordan was willing to try to draw distinctions between herself and her rivals, she refused to take the bait when asked repeatedly about how she might have approached the job differently than Attorney General Maura Healey, the Democratic frontrunner for governor, though she did say there’s “more that we can do” on wage law enforcement.
“Maura Healey has been a terrific attorney general. I am very excited about the possibility of stepping into her shoes and continuing and expanding on the important work she has done,” Liss-Riordan said.
Liss-Riordan said she does not support suspending the state gas tax and opposes the death penalty, including for Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. And said she would use the “bully pulpit” of the office to fight to shut down the controversial Weymouth natural gas compressor station.
Sara Mae Berman put the miles in
More than 42 percent of the Boston Marathon’s participants this year will be women, but in the not so distant past that would have seemed like fantasy. This year’s race marks just 50th year women are allowed to officially run the marathon in the race’s 126-year history. To commemorate the occasion, Sara Mae Berman writes for WBUR about her journey as a runner and what it was like to compete in this world-famous road race before women were even technically permitted.
He has Baker’s backing. But can he win?
Is Anthony Amore the best chance Republicans have to retain at least one statewide office in 2022? Gov. Charlie Baker might think so. The governor so far has kept his nose out of the race to succeed him in the corner office, but the Globe’s Samantha J. Gross looks at the one race and candidate for whom Baker has gotten off the sidelines and why Amore – who is running for state auditor – may be the one to carry forward Baker’s brand of politics.
Proposed closure of Northampton VA hospital fought by delegation
The state’s Congressional delegation is almost all in on stopping the Department of Veterans Affairs from closing the Northampton VA hospital as part of a wider reorganization that would see facilities and services shifted to different health care clinics around the state. The proposed closure in Northampton has drawn a particularly sharp and negative reaction because it would force many veterans to travel considerable distances to receive the care they’ve grown accustomed to, with the VA identifying its West Haven, Connecticut facility as one alternative. With the exception of U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (a veteran), the state’s delegation to Congress wrote to the Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough last Thursday asking him to reconsider. MassLive’s Erin Tiernan writes that U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern is willing to take this all the way to President Joe Biden, if necessary.
Those Swans don’t swim on their own
The Swan Boats returned to the Public Garden his weekend, and to mark the occasion the Globe’s Annie Bennet wrote about what it’s like to actually peddle one of those boats around the pond, what to do (and not do) if you drop something overboard and what drivers deeply appreciate, but can’t ask for.
Record-setter: Nantucket property sells for $36 million
A waterfront home on Nantucket recently sold for $36 million, a record price for a private property on the island. Joshua Balling of the Inquirer & Mirror reports the sale price represents a near tripling of the property’s value since 2012 and means the island’s land bank will get a $700,000 cash infusion.
A bit of Southie in Moscow
An iconic image of Bobby Orr leaping across the Garden ice is probably not what you’d expect to find hanging in a Moscow office building. But when that office belongs to a son of South Boston, maybe it’s exactly what you’d expect. John J. Sullivan is the current U.S. ambassador to Russia, and he spoke with the Globe’s Brian MacQuarrie over Zoom at a critical point in history for U.S.-Russia relations, and, really, Russia’s relationship to the world.
Rooney: Take another look at tax cuts
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney said he hopes House Speaker Ron Mariano takes another look at Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed tax cuts, including breaks for renters and seniors. House leaders did not include any tax breaks in the fiscal year 2023 budget proposal released last week, suggesting surplus tax revenue that’s been collected so far this year would be better used investing in areas like early childhood education. Rooney, however, told WBZ host and MASSterList contributor Jon Keller in an interview aired Sunday that the state can afford and should prioritize tax relief. “…it just seems like this is stereotypical party behavior. You’ve got the Republican Party proposing tax cuts and the Democratic Party saying not so fast we have ways to spend that money — and that’s what came out in the budget,” Rooney said.
Golden nears deal with Lowell to take city manager job
The Sun reports in its Sunday notes column that state Rep. Thomas Golden is closing in on a five-year deal worth $235,000 a year to become Lowell’s next city manager. The City Council has already voted to offer Golden the job, and the contract negotiations are all that stand in the way of the longtime representative leaving the Legislature to succeed former state senator and current City Manager Eileen Donoghue before the end of the month.
When a mayor needs the Legislature’s blessing to act
From liquor licenses to real estate taxes, politicians from Quincy and Ashland have as much say, if not more, about what Boston can and cannot do as the mayor of Boston herself. The Boston Globe’s Emma Platoff looks at the “home rule petition” process and the history of the Legislature exerting control over all sizes of decisions in the capital city and how that can hamstring someone like Boston Mayor Michelle Wu who needs help to make good on her campaign promises. And while the focus of this piece may be Boston, the city is not alone among municipalities who routinely must seek permission from Beacon Hill.
“Ghost gun” recoveries climbing
The number of “ghost guns,” or firearms without serial numbers, has been climbing in Boston since law enforcement began tracking in 2019, and with 16 weapons recovered so far in 2022 the trends is not letting up. The Herald’s Matthew Medsger writes that Boston has seen a 280 percent increase in the number of so-called “ghost guns” recovered during the course of criminal investigations since 15 unserialized or homemade weapons were confiscated in 2019. President Joe Biden announced last week that his administration would be issuing regulations to crack down on these weapons.
Prosecutors urge appeals court to end Correia-to-prison delays
Make it stick. U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins and other federal prosecutors are urging an appeals court to send former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia to a New Hampshire prison to start his sentence on corruption charges later this week. Jo Goode of the Herald-News reports Correia has received six delays to date, but prosecutors argue there is no legitimate legal basis for him to remain free pending his full appeal.
Pittsfield shooting brings resolve to better train police
The National Alliance of Mental Illness Berkshire County is trying to raise enough money to offer a 40-hour crisis intervention training program for law enforcement officers this fall after the fatal shooting by police of a man outside his Pittsfield apartment last month. The Berkshire Eagle’s Amanda Burke writes that Miguel Estrella, who had a history of mental illness, had cut himself and was moving towards officers with a knife. The incident has underscored for advocates how having people trained to deal with mental health issues could help diffuse similar situations in the future.
Money for prison calls in House budget challenged
House leaders have proposed to use $20 million to eliminate all phone charges for prison inmates to call family and friends while incarcerated. Criminal justice reformers see connections to the outside as positive for rehabilitation and setting up offenders for successful reentry, but the Herald’s Joe Dwinel writes that conservatives are outraged that Democratic lawmakers would put this expense in their annual budget proposal while saying no to a gas tax suspension for law-abiding citizens. “It’s bonkers,” said MassFiscal’s Paul Craney.
Warren makes it into top half of presidential maybes in 2024 look-ahead
Here we go again. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post is out with his first ranking of the top 10 Democratic presidential candidates heading into 2024 and ranks U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren fourth–behind only President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Blake notes that a recent poll suggests a Democrat electorate is open to someone other than Biden being the standard-bearing in two years.
This day in history: Democrats see opportunity in State Police scandal
On this day back in 2018, some state Democrats thought they had a winning campaign issue to help keep Gov. Charlie Baker from winning a second term: A growing scandal involving overtime pay inside the State Police. Andy Metzger of State House News Service reported key Democrats called for an outside investigation. Spoiler alert: The issue didn’t keep Baker from rolling to a second term, even though the issue lingered well after Election Day.
Harrington’s handling of infant death case knocked by judge
Superior Court Judge John Agostini dismissed manslaughter charges against a couple charged with the death of an infant in their care, and criticized the handling of the case by District Attorney Andrea Harrington’s office in the process. The Berkshire Eagle’s Amanda Burke reports said that Aogstini took issue with evidence introduced by prosecutors that he felt has little to do with the cases and was “intended simply to portray them as angry and inept foster parents.”
“This is not the standard of conduct the court expects from the Commonwealth in grand jury proceedings,” Agostini wrote.
Game Over: Old PlayStation forces Logan evacuation
An old beat-up PlayStation forced the evacuation of Terminal A at Logan International Airport on Sunday. The Globe’s Nick Stoico has more details on how the gaming console got mistaken for a “suspicious device.”
Today’s Headlines
Metro
Ex-Swampscott chair selects new role: campaign manager – Lynn Item
Logan finally bouncing back as traffic approaches pre-pandemic levels – Boston Globe
Massachusetts
Greenfield rally attendees highlight where U.S. tax dollars go – Greenfield Recorder
Nation
Interior Department to resume oil and gas leasing, charge higher fees – Washington Post
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