A state rep faces fraud charges; the Meta settlement raises implementation questions

In the final week before the Sept. 1 primaries bubble over, the State House was pretty quiet. 

Courthouses and the legal front, on the other hand, much less so.

The arrest, indictment and arraignment of Methuen Rep. Francisco Paulino for alleged pandemic benefit fraud hit Wednesday. His alleged scheme included fraudulently obtaining more than $700,000 in pandemic-related relief funds, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah Foley said, some of which he went on to use "for his own personal use including real estate expenses, loan payments and transfers to his campaign account." 

At a press conference in the Moakley Courthouse that morning, Foley covered both Paulino's indictment and the indictment of Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña, who was arrested and charged this month with fraudulently obtaining over $1.5 million in COVID small business loans and using the proceeds to fund his campaign account and pay personal taxes and mortgages. 

Paulino's federal indictment was the second in the House this session, after Rep. Chris Flanagan of Dennis was arrested and indicted in April 2025 on charges of wire fraud for allegedly leading a scheme to defraud a local trade association of tens of thousands of dollars allegedly used to fund his personal and political expenses. 

Paulino pleaded not guilty to all 11 counts against him — eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of unlawful monetary transactions — at his arraignment Wednesday afternoon, and wouldn't respond to questions from reporters when exiting the courthouse. 

Over on Beacon Hill, Attorney General Andrea Campbell spent her Wednesday talking about the $17.1 billion settlement with Meta, resolving claims the company created and ran its platforms in a manner harmful to young people and in violation of consumer protection laws. 

There's a guarantee that Massachusetts gets $366 million over the next decade, but the settlement is about more than just the cash -- it requires Instagram and Facebook to regulate youth usage. Along with a ban for users under 13 and protections added to accounts of kids between the ages of 13 and 18, Meta would also be required to implement an "enhanced age assurance framework" to identify users under 13 and those between the ages of 13 and 18 "with a high level of accuracy," according to Campbell's office. That framework wouldn't require users to submit government identification or "other sensitive information" for age verification. 

Those requirements land in a fraught regulatory environment. As some countries and U.S. states have moved to regulate social media platforms for youth, Massachusetts lawmakers are in the process of hashing out how it's possible to do so here via two very different House and Senate proposals (H 5366, S 2581). Central to that conversation is how, exactly, age verification would work and how the attorney general would enforce the law. 

Remember kratom? The emergency order temporarily classifying the substance as a Schedule I drug and calling it an "imminent hazard to public safety" took effect Friday, meaning the two weeks smoke shops, convenience stores and gas stations had to rid the substance from their shelves are up.

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But four Massachusetts retailers are pushing back. Businesses that sell in Salem, North Billerica, Quincy and Bellingham filed a suit to block Goldstein's order, arguing that he lacked the authority to place kratom into Schedule I, failed to satisfy state requirements to justify the order, and too broadly applied the order to all kratom products rather than risky synthetic derivatives.

Over in Hampden County, a judge ruled that the court will not pause the Springfield courthouse deal, which has been mired in conflict. Across the state, schools and childcare centers now have a playbook for the possibility that federal immigration enforcement shows up on site or requests access to kids or their information, in the form of guidance from Gov. Maura Healey's office this week. 

Some of Massachusetts' most-touted sectors — its life sciences and higher education infrastructure — got some tough news, when an annual report showed that life sciences jobs fell for the first time in two decades here and the Department of Higher Education had to appoint an interim commissioner, chief of staff José Luis Santos, as Commissioner Noe Ortega plans to depart in September. 

And there's now another departure: Melissa Hoffer, the state and nation's first climate chief, will be leaving the Healey administration to lead Vermont Law and Graduate School. Her presidency begins Dec. 1, and Healey plans to name a successor before Hoffer departs, her administration said Thursday. It's more leadership turnover under Healey, who has only a handful from her original Cabinet left.

Healey isn't being challenged Tuesday and kept a relatively low public profile during the final week of some significant races. U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton are still sparring over AI and technology, GOP gubernatorial candidates Brian Shortsleeve and Mike Minogue are in their final push to convince voters they are the right Republican to take on Healey in November, and a six-way Democratic primary in the Sixth Congressional District has overwhelmed doorsteps with mailers. 

Turnout hit 9.6% as of 3 p.m. Friday, Secretary of State William Galvin's office said, accounting for a total of 499,952 primary ballots. Of those, 416,380 were Democratic and 83,572 were Republican. 

Galvin predicted Thursday that Massachusetts will see higher turnout this year than in 2022, estimating that Democratic turnout could reach roughly 800,000 and Republican turnout around 280,000. It's difficult to predict though, he said, because voting habits have changed since the last midterm primary. 

Enrollment is changing, too. New data out of Galvin's office this week shows that Democratic enrollment in Massachusetts dropped by more than 46,000 since early February 2025 and Republican enrollment dropped more than 15,600. 

Registered Democrats account for about 24% of voters, registered Republicans account for just under 8%, and the share of unenrolled voters rose to account for about 67% of total enrollment, which is sitting at over 5.1 million — the rolls this September include roughly 158,000 more voters than they did in February 2025.

Whether voters show up and show out at the polls Tuesday, the Bay State sure did to memorialize country music icon and philanthropist Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at the age of 80. 

The state honored the eastern Tennessee native in glowing pink bridges Tuesday evening, as local newscasts recalled her impact across the state from her Imagination Library nonprofit that has provided books for thousands of Massachusetts families; the Worcester Telegram recalled Parton's trip to Fitchburg in 1969 and shows in Worcester in 1985; the Boston Globe flashed back to her 2019 surprise Boston Common appearance; and a national channel touched down in Provincetown to talk about how Parton's allyship with the queer community has impacted the lives of locals. Flags are at half-staff for Parton through Sept. 1, per federal instruction.

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller sits down with Republican candidate for governor Mike Minogue to discuss his plans for reviving manufacturing in Massachusetts, closing the MBTA operating deficit and eradicating “waste, fraud and corruption.”

@ ISSUE: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard takes a look at the six Democrats running in the Sixth Congressional District. All six full conversations are available now in the @ Issue podcast feed.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. NewsCenter 5 anchor Ed Harding and anchor/reporter Ben Simmoneau host a conversation on primary races in Massachusetts and across the country. Democratic political analyst Mary Anne Marsh and Republican political analyst Ginny Buckingham weigh in on key local races and White House correspondent Christopher Salas discusses consequential national contests.

CITYLINE: 11:30 a.m., WCVB. NewsCenter 5 anchor Jessica Brown hosts a program featuring one-on-one discussions with Suffolk County district attorney candidates Kevin Hayden, Rachael Rollins and Linda Champion.

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