National Grid brings energy to power possibilities across Massachusetts, supporting homes, businesses, and communities every day. Through continued investment in reliable electric and natural gas systems, the company helps keep energy flowing when it matters most. National Grid is strengthening the energy system to support communities, economic growth, and future development across the region - Learn more.
KELLER @ LARGE
Polls show we spend more time gambling or guzzling social media sewage than reading, and that’s a shame. There’s less chance people who need it will absorb the wisdom of Dale Carnegie’s 1936 bestseller “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
People like Greater Boston’s ultra-fervent bike supremacists, currently putting on a clinic of how to pedal a worthy cause into a political ditch.
Local bicycling enthusiasts have had powerful allies, from avid biker Tom Menino through pro-bike Marty Walsh and now Michelle Wu, a staunch advocate for getting people out of cars and onto bikes and public transit. Rightly so. While Boston has the nation’s second-safest roads according to the US Safe Streets index and ranks 94th in pedestrian deaths, anything that eases congestion, pollution and reliance on costly car travel is worth doing.
Or, at least, trying to do. After taking office in 2022, Wu moved aggressively to expand bike and bus lanes and traffic-calming measures. She installed a chief of streets, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, who turned out to be a human GLP-1 pen, forcibly injecting so-called “road diets” into neighborhoods with an attitude of disregard for community feedback described by one activist as “we own the streets, so we’re gonna do what we want.”
The backlash, in many cases from longtime Wu allies, was intense. After a city study validated the critics’ complaints about a lack of due process, Wu returned Franklin-Hodge to the Bluebike rack and imposed a pause in the bike-and-bus-lane program. In a June 24 onstage interview with MASSterList, the mayor said the program would soon resume but added: “We can't have a one-size-fits-all approach just to be able to move as fast as possible.”
Healthcare workers continue to suffer assaults and other incidents of workplace violence. The Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, the Massachusetts Division of 1199SEIU, the Massachusetts Emergency Nursing Association and the Massachusetts College of Emergency Physicians have come together to support meaningful, measurable and enforceable legislation addressing workplace violence in our healthcare facilities. Pass H.4767 - Learn more.
HAPPENING TODAY
9:00 | MassINC Polling Group and AI frontier lab Anthropic release a new statewide poll about Massachusetts voters' attitudes around AI. Registration and networking starts at 8:30 a.m | UMass Club, 32nd floor, 1 Beacon St. | Register
11:00 | Senate meets in an informal session | Senate Chamber | Livestream
11:00 | House meets in an informal session | House Chamber | Livestream
1:30 | Mayor Wu announces the draft Boston Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study | Langone Park, 517 Commercial St., North End
6:00 | MBTA hosts an event for the public to learn about the proposed Route 714 bus stop locations being addressed in the first phase of a project that will convert Route 714 from a "flag stop route" into a typical route with designated bus stops | Hull High School Exhibition Room, 180 Main Street, Hull | More Info
6:00 | MassDOT hosts a virtual design public information meeting to discuss a proposed project that would replace an existing culvert, which carries Green Trail, North Street (Route 114) and a pedestrian path over the North River in Salem, with a bridge or bridges | More Info and Register
MASSterList Job Board |
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Senior Investigator, AOI — NEW!, Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General |
Associate — NEW!, Shepherd Strategies |
Project Accountant — NEW!, Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) |
Public Affairs Manager — NEW!, Bentley University |
Director — NEW!, Toxics Use Reduction Institute, UMass Lowell |
Legislative Affairs Manager, MassHousing |
Legislative Coordinator, Massachusetts Municipal Association |
Jobs continue below the fold — post a job
FROM BEACON HILL
TOASTING LAST CALL: Gov. Healey says the later bar hours temporarily allowed this summer have been a success and she wants to keep them available as an option. | State House News Service via The Eagle-Tribune
WRITE THIS WAY: Secretary of State Bill Galvin could face a challenger after all: Anne Brensley, a Wayland Republican whose bid for lieutenant governor sputtered without enough nomination signatures, is now running a write-in campaign for secretary. Brensley, who's blamed the same signature-gatherer whose alleged fakes rattled other Republican campaigns, says she wants to solve ballot-access problems. | State House News Service
SALVAGE SUPPORT STALLED: Two months after state leaders wrote to the U.S. Navy asking for help in recovering the crew of sunken fishing vessel the Lily Jean, the Navy and Gov. Healey's office have different responses on the status of that request. | WCVB
OUT OF STATE: LaMar Cook, the former Healey aide fired while facing drug and gun charges, has been recorded spending SNAP benefits in Florida, and a spokesperson for the state's Department of Transitional Assistance says federal rules prohibit them from shutting off benefits over pending criminal charges. | Boston Herald
NEWS NEXT DOOR
MASSHOUSING EXIT: A MassHousing executive, Tony Richards II, resigned his job in the wake of reporting by the Globe’s Spotlight Team that found developers with ties to him submitted fake invoices to the quasi-public state agency. | Boston Globe
SUMMER HOMEWORK: Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy is calling for a state review of the city's school bus safety after the April 2025 death of a kindergartener. | WBUR
ONE WAY: A bus lane near Brookline Village is working well in the westbound direction, officials say, but the town's transportation board recommends scrapping most of the eastbound lane over issues including a lack of driver compliance. | Brookline.News
STOW INVESTIGATION: A Stow police officer is on leave as the department investigates a report that he improperly used a state system to try to access information about another person. | WHDH
Colorectal cancer is largely treatable and preventable. Mass General Brigham is encouraging routine screening for patients over age 45 with a wide range of test options. Our providers treat every patient interaction as a chance to educate and offer screening.
MORE HEADLINES
JOB BOARD
Do you have an open role you'd like to feature here? Click here to place a job board order, or email Dylan Rossiter, Vice President of Affiliated News Services, at [email protected].
Managing Editor, CommonWealth Beacon
Chief Financial Officer, Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office
Court Administrator, MA Supreme Judicial Court
Executive Director, LivableStreets Alliance
Organizing Director, City Life/Vida Urbana
Senior Counsel – Workers’ Compensation and Employee Benefits, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
Capital Projects & Procurement Manager, MetroWest Regional Transit Authority
