A win for DiZoglio and an unpleasant surprise for a GOP candidate

Mass General Brigham is committed to world-class care backed by the latest advances in medical research. Innovation across our system delivers the best possible outcomes and enhances the patient experience.

The deadline for lawmakers to get major legislation into conference committee is less than 12 weeks away, but another week of light sessions showed the branch leaders aren't feeling much pressure to act.

House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz and Majority Leader Mike Moran jetted off to the Vatican to participate in a climate resilience workshop. In their absence, the House met for about 20 minutes this week.

As her budget chief parsed through nearly 1,160 budget amendments, Senate President Karen Spilka had a shorter journey to the New England Aquarium, where she said primary care and energy affordability are still under development, and will have to wait until the fiscal 2027 spending package is finished.

A sense of urgency was on display elsewhere in state government.

The Supreme Judicial Court last week gave Attorney General Andrea Campbell a 30-day deadline to decide whether she would represent Auditor Diana DiZoglio in the ongoing legislative audit dispute. By Tuesday, Campbell cited newfound clarity from SJC oral arguments and delivered her verdict: DiZoglio can seek outside counsel in her lawsuit against top Beacon Hill Democrats to force compliance with the voter-backed audit.

DiZoglio, who wants to rely on former Campbell rival Shannon-Liss Riordan, celebrated the breakthrough for less than a day before she was back on offense. DiZoglio is cleared to pursue four specific records requests from the Legislature, claimed Campbell had tried to "box us in" from later expanding the scope of her probe.

"We are not going to ask the Legislature for a few records, call it an audit, and tell the taxpayers that’s all they get because the Attorney General’s public comments sought to box us in," DiZoglio said on Wednesday.

Anne Brensley may be feeling boxed out. The Republican lieutenant governor candidate was favored by GOP convention delegates in April, but learned that she's about 2,000 signatures short of the number needed to appear on the Sept. 1 ballot where voters will actually choose the party nominee for that statewide office.

Brensley is blaming Joe Bronske, the former Weymouth Republican Town Committee chair whom she paid to gather signatures, for allegedly failing to do his job and turning in forged signatures. The Wayland Republican plans to run as a write-in candidate and has asked Bronske for her money back.

Healthcare affordability woes hit a new degree of desperation this week.

At a Health Connector Board meeting Thursday, Insurance Commissioner Michael Caljouw declared that insurance is "increasingly out of reach and unsustainable" across the market. He told members, "Our work to reduce those costs systemically have taken on an urgency that we have never seen in Massachusetts."

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Hours later at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Caljouw perked up as he joined Gov. Maura Healey to announce finalized regulations for scrapping prior authorization requirements on a lengthy list of routine services, including for chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes and heart disease. Patients and clinicians will benefit from the changes by the end of the year, Caljouw predicted.

"There's a lot more work to do, as the governor mentioned. But today, I'm happy to say we're a few steps closer to better healthcare," Caljouw said.

In a victory for patients and oncologists at Dana-Farber, radiology imaging used after a cancer diagnosis — which can gauge the stage of the disease and best treatment options — will also no longer be subject to prior authorization.

It was Dana-Farber's second win of the week, after the Public Health Council greenlit its plans for a proton beam therapy center while tacking on patient access and equity conditions. Reproductive care advocates also celebrated as the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday preserved telehealth access to mifepristone.

"This is a win for reproductive health care access, but patients and providers should never have to live in a constant state of legal limbo when it comes to obtaining or providing health care," the leaders of Reproductive Equity Now said.

Private investment in battery storage projects is expected to save consumers billions of dollars and support a reliable electric grid.

Kicking into high gear for World Cup preparations, state public health officials will activate their emergency operations plan on June 1. The Department of Public Health is on alert for disease outbreaks and mass casualty events, among other issues. International visitors account for one-third of ticket sales here, with travelers arriving from countries such as Scotland, England, Switzerland, Haiti, Norway, Morocco and Ghana.

The local trek from Boston to Foxborough may be more arduous and costly than expected. A Kraft Sports & Entertainment executive on Wednesday advised people to drive to Gillette Stadium, but Healey a day later urged fans to stick with public transportation. While New York slashed game day bus prices from $80 to $20, Healey called the MBTA's $80 roundtrip commuter rail tickets a "reasonable" fee.

Healey tended to a pair of tragedies this week. She attended the wake and funeral of State Police Trooper Kevin Trainor, describing him on social media as the "kind of person you could count on" and whose "life was cut far too short."

Tyler Brown opened fire on Memorial Drive in Cambridge Monday afternoon, with two people in separate cars sustaining life-threatening injuries. The shooting reignited criticism over whether a judge was too lenient back in 2021, when she sentenced Brown to a maximum of six years in prison over a separate shooting involving Boston police officers in the South End.

Asked whether Healey has any criticism for how Brown's case was handled, the governor told reporters Thursday, "I mean, I criticize the original sentence."

"The judge provided a sentence that was way too low," said Healey, the state's former attorney general. "And you know, that's a serious problem."

THE SUNDAY SHOWS

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller's guest is Senate President Karen Spilka. They discuss local aid levels in the state budget, controversy over Senate proposals for a new unrestricted aid distribution formula, and the legal battle over the state auditor's push to audit the Legislature.

@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Eric Paley, Gov. Maura Healey’s economic development chief.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. The guest is Michael Cox, the Boston Police commissioner.

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