Happening today
Gov. Baker with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Treasurer Deb Goldberg, state Auditor Suzanne Bump, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash, and members of the legislature join Pete Frates and his family to participate in the ALS "Every August Until a Cure" Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness and support a cure for ALS, front steps, State House 2 pm. Here's more on the event in the Herald: http://bit.ly/1DGiigC
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Selection Committee will meet in executive session to "consider or interview" applicants for the position of executive director. The authority's longtime leader James Rooney left the post to become president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boardroom 201, 12 pm.
Organizers of the marijuana ballot questions, including campaign manager at Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, Will Luzier, and McLean Hospital Doctor Kevin Hill, MD, MHS are scheduled to appear as guests on Great Boston along with Governor's Councilor Robert Jubinville, WGBH-TV Ch. 2, 7 pm.
The week ahead:
All eyes turn to a New York City courtroom Wednesday morning, where a federal judge will preside over a settlement conference between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. The Globe's Ben Volin sets the stage. http://bit.ly/1MfyGGg
Expect more photos of President Obama on the links of Martha's Vineyard at the first family takes a two-week vacation. Also expect a flood of ads for the upcoming sales tax holiday, Aug. 15-16.
The mayor won't let go of his iPhones
It's a political quandary: Once texts are easily retrievable by Freedom of Information Act requests, how on earth will government officials communicate? Mayor Marty Walsh, just like No. 12, doesn't want to share his text messages, although no one is suggesting that Walsh had an assistant destroy his phone. The city has denied the request of Fox Investigative Report Mike Beaudet, who also teaches at Northeastern University, looking for text messages from the mayor over a month period as part of an effort with his journalism class. The texts would seem to be public records, just like email. The city lacks the "technical capacity," so it claims, to retrieve them. Andrew Ryan has the story:http://bit.ly/1Pfrh9V
Now we have Kitchengate
Mayor Walsh refurbished his City Hall office kitchen with materials from (who else?) Joe Fallon, one of Boston's most successful developers (and a close friend of the late Thomas Menino). A granite countertop was among a few other kitchen materials that apparently came from space Vertex vacated in one of Fallon's buildings. Is this smart recycling or an even smarter attempt by Fallon to ingratiate himself with the mayor? Or an obvious conflict of interest to take the stuff, even if it's not worth that much? Andrew Ryan breaks Kitchengate in the Globe. http://bit.ly/1PfAOhh
Police Commish wants regs on filming police
The Boston Herald reports BPD Commissioner William Evans is "calling for laws to regulate theproliferation of cellphone-toting citizens and so-called cop watchers dedicated to recording potential police misconduct -- a trend that has given rise to new challenges and risks for officers at crime scenes." http://bit.ly/1MkiGog
Liberally yours, Massachusetts
Massachusetts has the second most liberal legislature in the country, and not just because of the superabundance of Democrats. Our Republicans in office are moderate (and to the left of Democrats in at least one state.) The Globe's Evan Horowitz breaks down the numbers (assembled by two political scientists), along with a nifty chart of the leanings of legislatures across the country.http://bit.ly/1gWRZZP
Political ingredients for the sales tax holiday
Some laws have a special momentum of their own, notes the blogger who goes by the name HesterPrynne and writes regularly on Massachusetts politics with liberal grace. It wasn't just the lethargy of the legislature or the efforts of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts' Jon Hurst. The Mass Fiscal Alliance (a bête noire among liberals) zeroed in on the effort with a July 17 letter to legislators. http://hesterprynne.net/
Polls: The divide is wide over voting process
Recent polls show that many voters are out of UMass Lowell show voters are divided along party lines about the voting process. In two national polls released by the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion, 78 percent of Democrats believe that access to voting was a main problem as opposed to 22 percent of Republicans. However, Republicans seem to be more concerned over voter fraud thanDemocrats. "The parties have clearly staked out grounds with Democrats expressing concern about the free and available use of the franchise and Republicans expressing concern about voter fraud; this concern is now readily apparent in our surveys of elections," said Professor Joshua Dyck, co-director of the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion, according to The Eagle-Tribune.http://bit.ly/1J5LH6g
Common Core repeal ready to rumble
Education activists in Central Mass. are poised to roll out a concerted campaign to repeal Common Core, the Worcester Telegram reports. If the group, led by Worcester's Donna Colorio, receives approval from the Attorney General's office on the language, it can start collecting signatures and advocates for the measure believe they'll find a lot of support. "Anti-Common Core advocates often point to the new standards' seemingly diminished focus on content compared to critical thinkingskills. Some parts of the math standards have also been made less ambitious than what Massachusetts students used to be required to do, said Jim Stergios, executive director of the Boston-based Pioneer Institute, which has published a series of reports critical of the Common Core over the past five years," the Telegram reports.
http://bit.ly/1f3dGpg
Warren: I will miss Jon Stewart
Along with many, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she is going to miss Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. She said her first appearance on the show changed her life but it also made her sick with nerves. "I threw up backstage," Warren wrote on Facebook according to the Herald. "I had gut-wrenching, stomach-turning stage fright." She said it was that appearance on the show that got people noticing her. "I'm grateful for every single time someone has come up to me and asked: 'Hey, aren't you that lady I saw on Jon Stewart?' Because almost every time I've told someone, 'Yup, that's me,' they've followed it up with: 'Keep fighting!' That's what Jon has done for 16 years: with passion and humor, he skewered the people who needed skewering, called out the big guys who rig the system, and prodded us all to fight back," she wrote.
http://bit.ly/1ISS2f6
Clinton reveals student loan plan
Hillary Clinton is set to unveil her student loans plan to which would allow students to earn a four-year degree without taking any loans. Community college would also be free, and those with student loanswouldn't be required to pay more than 10 percent of their income in debt payments, according to the Globe. "The plan would be paid for by limiting the value of itemized tax deductions for the wealthiesttaxpayers, and increasing unspecified taxes. The overall cost: $350 billion over 10 years," the Globe reports. Other serious Democrat contenders released their student debt plans months ago.
http://bit.ly/1ISRxBz |
How to reach me and MASSterList
Nothing makes me happier than comments, tips, suggestions. Also, opinion articles also will be considered. Please don't hesitate to weigh in on what we're missing and where we should look. Reach me at gdonnelly@massterlist.com or on Twitter @geodonnelly.
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