Happening Today:
8:45 a.m. | Massachusetts Investor Conference features remarks from Treasurer Goldberg and panels on community development, education, and environmental, social and governance bonds. Michael Goodman from UMass Dartmouth will give an update on the state economy and the luncheon keynote will be delivered by Christopher Foote, senior economist and policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
10 a.m. | Attorney General Healey plans to deliver remarks at the Massachusetts State Police's 87th Recruit Training Troop Graduation.
10 a.m. | Associated Industries of Massachusetts hosts "Commonwealth Conversations" with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
11:30 a.m. | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu will host a press conference to provide updates on city efforts to address the homelessness and substance use crises centered at Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard
2:30 p.m. | Gov. Charlie Baker participates in a business roundtable discussion with Rep. Shawn Dooley, whom Baker has endorsed in a run for state Senate, at the Intermission cafe in Franklin.
8 p.m. | WCVB Channel 5, with a media consortium that includes The Boston Globe, WBUR, and Univision-TV, host a live, one-hour gubernatorial debate between Maura Healey and Geoff Diehl.
EXCLUSIVE: Attorney General Maura Healey is launching a new ad today across broadcast, cable, and streaming titled “Team Player.” The spot features supporters of Healey passing a basketball from frame to frame explaining why they want the Democrat to be the next governor.
Creating job, cutting taxes, protecting reproductive rights and lowering the cost of living are all listed as things Healey will do as governor.
Kim Driscoll, the mayor of Salem and Healey’s running mate for lieutenant governor, also makes a cameo, calling Healey a “great teammate.” It’s the first Healey ad in which Driscoll has appeared, though she’s not identified.
“I believe in teamwork. Together, we will make Massachusetts stronger than ever,” Healey says at the end, before draining a three-point shot.
HEALEY’S NEWEST AD RELEASE comes on the same day another poll is showing Healey with a commanding lead over her Republican rival Geoff Diehl, who is still unknown to 28 percent of the electorate.
With the two candidates for governor set to square off for the second and final debate of the campaign, a new MassINC Polling Group survey found Healey leading Diehl by a 30-point margin, with 53 percent backing the Democrat to just 23 percent planning to vote for Diehl.
While the margin for Healey is wider than Tuesday’s Suffolk University poll (56-33), it also shows a greater percentage of undecided voters, with 18 percent telling MassINC pollsters they have still not made up their minds.
Like the Suffolk poll, MassINC’s survey also showed support for passage of Questions 1 and 4 on the ballot. Support for adding a surtax on income over $1 million registered at 59 percent to 31 percent opposed, while the question of licenses for undocumented immigrants was tighter.
The Suffolk/Globe poll showed Question 4 passing with 56 percent support for the law to 39 percent who want to see it repealed, but the new MassINC poll had a tighter 49-37 margin.
The poll also dug into voters’ attitudes toward transportation, with 66 percent saying that the improvement of the conditions for highways, roads and bridges should be a top transportation priority for the next governor, followed by 59 percent who said public transit needs improving.
Only 21 percent of voters rated the condition of transportation in Massachusetts “excellent” or “good” and after the month-long shutdown of the Orange Line for repairs 59 percent said they would support future MBTA shutdowns.
“Voters are not happy with the state of transportation in Massachusetts, but they’re not taking it out on Charlie Baker,” said Richard Parr, senior research director at The MassINC Polling Group. “It will be interesting to see if the next governor inherits Baker’s suit of armor on this issue.”
Eighty percent support the expansion of passenger rail to western Massachusetts, which both Healey and Diehl back as priorities for improving the state’s transportation system.
However, Diehl’s support for repealing new zoning requirements around MBTA hubs to promote the construction of new housing is not popular. Thirty-two percent said they want to keep the policy in place and another 31 percent say the state should require even more housing near transit stations.
— Women electing women in races across Massachusetts
It’s well known that Maura Healey stands on the precipice of becoming the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts, and Andrea Campbell is likely to become the first black woman elected to statewide office as attorney general. But with women poised to take over five of the six statewide offices in January and occupy some of the most powerful positions on Beacon Hill, the Globe’s Matt Stout writes that it’s not just the candidates making their presence felt. In fact, recent polling has shown how the electoral successes of these candidates, as well as several ballot questions, is riding on women voters who are driving up the margins in their favor.
— Public defenders seek dismissal of cases worked by Woburn cop
Public defenders are seeking to have every case in which former Woburn police officer John Donnelly was involved dropped as probes continue into his involvement in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Donnelly resigned this week after being put on leave as reports surfaced that he may have not only played a role in organizing the rally that turned deadly, but had also posted racist messages on social media. WBUR’s Deborah Becker reports that the Committee for Public Counsel Services wrote a letter to the chief of police expressing the agency’s belief that all cases worked on by Donnelly should be dismissed. Woburn PD is still conducting an internal affairs investigation, and Middlesex District Attorney Marion Ryan has said she is reviewing all cases in which Donnelly was involved.
— The ongoing struggle to find a solution to Mass. and Cass
With Boston Mayor Michelle Wu planning a press conference later today to discuss the city’s efforts to clean up the area and help those living and doing drugs near Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, the Herald’s Sean Philip Cotter reports how the situation has deteriorated again since the city cleared the area of tents. Cotter writes that as many as 200 people a day are gathering, and had to be removed from Southampton Street where they were creating a disturbance.
— Woman charges after unleashing bees on sheriff’s deputies
Hampden County sheriff’s deputies attempting to serve an eviction notice in Longmeadow quickly found themselves in the eye of a swarm. The Springfield Republican’s Stephanie Barry reports how the woman getting the unwelcome news decided to rile up the bees she was transporting in her truck and unleash them on the deputies, resulting in more than a few stings. This story is not one you read everyday.
| — Trash piling up in some Greater Boston communities From Lawrence to Reading, the Globe’s Daniel Kool and John Hilliard report that trash is starting to pile up as an Arizona-headquartered disposal company contracted to haul away the garbage is not fulfilling its obligations. The Boston Globe |
— Weld for Amore makes three
How many governors does it take to get a Republican elected statewide? Anthony Amore is trying to find out. The Republican nominee for auditor appeared outside the State House yesterday with former Gov. Bill Weld to formally get his stamp of approval. While Baker could have watched the scene unfold from his office window, the governor joined in person to show his support for the only statewide Republican he has endorsed this cycle. Amore, who is trailing Sen. Diana DiZoglio in the polls, is also backed by former Gov. Jane Swift. But only Weld sang his endorsement.
— Weld for Amore makes three
How many governors does it take to get a Republican elected statewide? Anthony Amore is trying to find out. The Republican nominee for auditor appeared outside the State House yesterday with former Gov. Bill Weld to formally get his stamp of approval. While Baker could have watched the scene unfold from his office window, the governor joined in person to show his support for the only statewide Republican he has endorsed this cycle. Amore, who is trailing Sen. Diana DiZoglio in the polls, is also backed by former Gov. Jane Swift. But only Weld sang his endorsement.
— Trash piling up in some Greater Boston communities
From Lawrence to Reading, the Globe’s Daniel Kool and John Hilliard report that trash is starting to pile up as an Arizona-headquartered disposal company contracted to haul away the garbage is not fulfilling its obligations.
— Kids under state supervision with nowhere to go but the office
A lack of foster and group homes for children taken into state custody has meant increasing incidences of children being brought to Department of Children and Families offices by social workers to spend the night, or sometimes longer. The practice, while alarming, is sometimes viewed by those involved as a necessity with the availability of placements harder to come by. The Globe’s Elizabeth Koh has more on how the fear of needing to board kids in offices not built for shelter has become a reality.
— Early cleared of ethical wrongdoing in judge’s daughter case
The state Ethics Commission ruled that Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early and others in the State Police did not violate any ethics laws when they directed a trooper to amend the arrest report of the daughter of a local judge. While the report was changed to omit several damaging and salacious details of her OUI arrest, Early and the others involved said the actions they took had nothing to do with who the woman was and everything to do with protecting her from the stigma associated with substance use disorder. Furthermore, they said the types of details included in the initial report were not standard for that type of document.
— Haverhill teachers contract close to being finalized
Schools in Haverhill will be closed again today as a teachers’ strike reaches its fourth day, but the two sides may be close to an agreement on a new contract, Mike LaBella of the Eagle-Tribune reports. The Haverhill Education Association and the Mass. Teachers Association now also face daily fines of at least $50,000 after a judge ordered the teachers back to work.
— National Guard officer who chased bus will face magistrate
A Falmouth District Court court magistrate will decide whether a Joint Base Cape Cod officer will face charges related to his decision to follow a tour bus he thought was full of migrants for 10 miles, confront the driver and those on board and livestream the whole thing, the Cape Cod Times’ Sarah Carlon reports. Local police issued a criminal summons to Christopher Hoffman, a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserve, for OUI and other motor vehicle charges after the incident, which occurred just days after planeloads of migrants arrived on Martha’s Vineyard without notice.
— Methuen mayor says 55 migrant families arrived without warning
Methuen Mayor Neil Perry says he was not warned before 55 migrant families were moved into a Days Inn in his community. His administration is providing food and other services, but Perry says he plans to push back on state officials if the plan is to find the migrants permanent housing in his city, WCVB-TV reports. State and local officials plan to meet on the issue today.
— Attleboro is latest to ban sale of small pets
The Attleboro City Council unanimously backed a proposal by Mayor Paul Heroux to ban the sale of dogs, cats, guinea pigs and rabbits in local pet stores, George Rhodes of the Sun Chronicle reports. Attleboro becomes the eleventh Bay State community to adopt such a ban but is among the first to include guinea pigs.
MORE HEADLINES:
Metro
Are daytime shootings up in Boston? The numbers say otherwise – The Boston Globe
Judge tosses anti-vax BU student’s lawsuit against Covid-19 testing – Universal Hub
Massachusetts
Baker administration provides paid internships to 10,000 high school students – The Boston Globe
National
Gas station chain to sell marijuana at 10 Florida locations – The Hill
Taxpayer group asks Supreme Court to weigh in on Biden loan forgiveness program – USA Today
Times Square May Get One of the Few Spectacles It Lacks: A Casino – The New York Times