Today: GOP shindig; privatization on the agenda
Gov. Baker hobnobs with Massachusetts Republican Party election volunteers, according to a party spokesman, VFW Plymouth, Plymouth, 6pm... The MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board discusses the winter resiliency plan, potential outsourcing of some bus operations, a "Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Thread Report" and the Green Line Extension, which will bring trolley service out to Somerville and Medford. MBTA workers have been upgrading tracks with heating devices after last winter's snow and cold took a devastating toll on riders' commutes, MassDOT Board Room, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, 1pm.
And the week ahead: Wynn's environmental permit, blasting and listening to Trump rhetoric
Attorney General Maura Healey ramped up the pressure Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton Friday, saying that no environment permit should be issued to Wynn Resorts until the casino provides a "long-term traffic solution" for the affected area, one agreed to by the cities of Boston and Somerville and the MassDOT. Beaton is expected to deliver a decision Friday.
On Wednesday, Centro Presente, a group that advocates for immigrants, will take on the "dangerous, hateful rhetoric of people like Donald Trump" in a vigil on the State House steps. Trump, who is leading the pack in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination, has claimed immigrants crossing the border illegally are dangerous criminals and proposed ending birthright citizenship -- a feature of the 14th Amendment.
On Friday, a guest-list of over 700 are slated to "come on down" to a private fundraiser for Donald Trump at car magnate Ernie Boch Jr.'s mansion near the Automile. The Herald's Inside Track reports admission is $100 per person, cash or check at the door. Howie Carr will broadcast live from the event. Location: 190 Sumner St., Norwood.
Boston's mighty student migration season -- are policy makers asleep at the wheel?
When Gov. Baker and his wife Lauren dropped off their daughter last week to start her freshman year at Miami University in Ohio, it was a reminder of the great student migration season underway. Many local students leave to experience the world, yet there's no region in the country that enjoys the influx of students like Boston. It's an enormous competitive advantage that is largely taken for granted in the political sphere. At minimum, it begs for a more cohesive housing policy, for students are exploited on the margins, like the tragic fire in Allston that claimed the life of a Boston University student in 2013. On Saturday the Globe reported that no charges would be brought against the landlord of that building. http://bit.ly/1LpxKOm
The Massachusetts higher ed student numbers are staggering:
* 594,000 students are enrolled in higher education institutions.
* Higher education institutions here confer roughly 100,000 bachelors, masters and doctorates annually (2012 data).
* There were 51,240 foreign students enrolled in Massachusetts higher education institutions in 2013-2014.
* Boston University will welcome 3,600 freshman alone; at Northeastern, another 2,800 are arriving.
* Today's Globe has a feature on Brandeis University's freshman class of 800 arriving on campus, "marking the unofficial end of summer and the beginning of Boston's transformation back into collegiate central." http://bit.ly/1U9aVAI
But clouds are forming around this student abundance in the form of massive debt and unsustainable college costs. If Massachusetts is a higher education mecca, then it's also a student debt center, with students here on their way to adding to the $1.2 trillion in debt already outstanding. Student defaults are rising, as the Wall Street Journal reported this weekend - about 17 percent of borrowers are in default. Boston is educating legions of bright students who increasingly can't afford to live here after they graduate. That's the public policy question that few, if any, are paying attention to.
Pipeline battle just heating up
Massachusetts has some of the highest electric rates in the country, often blamed on the lack of natural gas pipeline capacity to feed the region's power plants. But it's not only environmentalists who want to stop plans for the new natural gas pipeline. So does the liquidified natural gas industry, writes the Globe's Jon Chesto. GDF Suez, which runs LNG terminals in Everett and Gloucester, issued a report challenging the need significantly more pipeline capacity. We're only in the early stages of what's sure to be an intense pipeline battle. http://bit.ly/1LsqX6v
Best Sunday business read: Private companies keep private, and love it
The Globe's Scott Kirsner give us insight into a handful of large, and mostly off-the-radar private companies that have quietly grown quite large and successful while eschewing IPOs. In essence, not having to worry about the stock price confers advantages. One large private company, eClinicalWorks of Westborough, has taken off as the growth for electronic medical records has soared. It now has 3,000 employees.
Meehan: I want more money for our medical school
Umass President Martin Meehan wants the state to invest in medical school. It currently gets about 4 to 6 percent of its approximately $1 billion annual budget come from state funding. "I think at some point, the state may make a decision that they want to invest more in the medical school," he said to the Telegram. "All of this involves constant dialogue -- part of my job every day is to make the case for the school."
As Biden bides his time... Sanders not worried about a Biden run
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders doesn't seem worry about Biden potentially running for president. "What we are trying to do ... is to make sure this campaign is not about Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump or anyone else," Sanders told a crowd in New Hampshire yesterday according to the Herald. According to a poll by Franklin Pierce University and the Boston Herald that showed him ahead 44 to 37 percent. "This campaign has got to be about you."
...And Moulton keeps his options open
Joe Biden has been very good to freshman Rep. Seth Moulton, appearing on his behalf during his campaign victory. He hasn't forgotten and has not jumped on the Hillary bandwagon, unlike many others in the Massachusetts delegation. http://bit.ly/1MIdE3q
MassCann Picks a side in ballot question faceoff
DigBoston's Mike Cann reports that MassCann/NORML members have endorsed Bay State Repeal's 2016 ballot initiative to roll back marijuana regulation. Cann says the nod is a boost to what he calls the underdog movement from Bay State Repeal, which is expected to go up against a proposal from deep-pocketed backers to regulate marijuana like alcohol. MassCann pledged to provide financial and marketing support and assistance in collecting signatures to get the question on the ballot. http://bit.ly/1JN9aJX
Teacher diversity vexes BPS
Boston public schools have fallen out of compliance with racial hiring mandates for teachers put in place 30 years ago, the Globe reports. Many minority teachers hired under court order as the city's schools were desegregated are now retiring, dropping the district below the court-mandated 25 percent level for black teachers.
House-sharing regulations on tap?
Worried that short-term house-sharing sites such as AIrbnb will hamper efforts to boost the affordability of the city's housing stock, some lawmakers are calling for regulation of the fast-growing Web services, the Globe reports. Rep. Aaron Michlewitz is co-sponsoring a bill that would impose a new tax on the rentals and put some regulatory oversight in place; Airbnb tells the Globe it is just fine with that.
Free the Nipple hits Hampton Beach
Dozens of women went topless this weekend at New Hampshire's Hampton Beach. The event is to demonstrate gender double standards when it comes to being topless at the beach and in public in general. "We're not protesting," 19-year-old Emilee Hyland told Boston.com. "We're exercising our right to bring awareness to the subject." "The event was part of wider demonstrations in places like New York City and even outside the White House. GoTopless.org provided a map of places across the world where demonstrations were planned," Boston.com reported.
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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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