Monday, September 14, 2015
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By George Donnelly (@geodonnelly) with Sara Brown
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The action this week: Ride-sharing hearing, criminal records reform, 'Black Mass'
It's a quiet holiday schedule today on the political calendar, but the intensity quickly picks up Tuesday with a Financial Services Committee hearing on ride-sharing legislation. Expect this one to be well attended, with perhaps some theatrics mixed in, as both sides of this conflict are well organized and can marshal many workers. The Boston Herald previews the hearing here: http://bit.ly/1iIPTxh
* Also on Tuesday, City Councilors Bill Linehan and Frank Baker will push a plan to create a2 percent tax on alcohol to help fund addiction treatment.
* On Wednesday, the Joint Committee on the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on 93 bills. Among the most controversial will be ones to expunge the criminal records of juveniles.
* The buzz is growing for the release of "Black Mass" in movie theaters this week. Here's Ty Burr's review in the Globe (2.5 stars): http://bit.ly/1J7hD3D
* The Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention will be held in Springfield on Saturday. Among the speakers will be Howard Dean, who will be representing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Mad about rising home insurance rates?
Last winter, perhaps you paid someone to dangle off a ladder and hammer ice off your roof. Or three times what you usually pay to shovel and plow the 110 inches of snow. Now the icing on the cake for homeowners has been a 9 percent increase in home insurance rates, a spike that has riled enough people to become a political issue. The AG is checking the increases and the Legislature plans to weigh in. Deirdre Fernandes' story in the Globe today reports on the plan for "listening sessions" by the Division of Insurance, which earlier approved the rates but has decided to solicit more input. It will be an opportunity to vent, and no doubt a lesson in actuarial science. http://bit.ly/1NqTb3s
Labor rhetoric too much for Vennochi
Globe columnist Joan Vennochi isn't buying labor's angry rhetoric about the Pioneer Institute. At the Labor Day breakfast, labor organizers went out of their way to impugn the integrity of the think tank, which has stoked the ire of labor by providing research on the costs of not privatizing some transportation services. In her Sunday column, Vennochi points out that Pioneer is using data, and the labor bluster in response isn't very convincing.http://bit.ly/1FGKls6
Globe calls for independent investigation of Worcester SWAT team fiasco
When a Worcester police SWAT team busted into a home to arrest an alleged drug dealer, they held an innocent woman, who was naked, and her children at gunpoint before eventually learning the suspect no longer lived there (and had been arrested by the same Worcester Dept. police a few weeks earlier). A Globe editorial says an independent investigation -- rather than an internal one by the police -- to get to the bottom of the mess.
Local nonprofit institute challenges drug costs
A watchdog institute that challenges the pharma industry on drug pricing, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, is expected to make more waves in the coming months, writes the Globe's Rob Weissman. ICER, as it's called, has 22 researchers and calculates what it calls a "value-based price benchmark" that assesses benefits and prices of the drug, challenging the price tags of new treatments. The pharma industry, in turn, is challenging the methodology. http://bit.ly/1F95gcr
People upset over slow pace of marijuana dispensary licenses given
Attendees at the New England Cannabis Convention said they have been frustrated with the slow rollout of medical marijuana. Voters voted in favor of it in 2012. "It's way too slow," said Jill Osborn, the family outreach director at Parents for Pot, to the Boston Herald. "There are patients in need, people dying, and people living a lesser quality of life because we did not implement this properly." The first dispensary opened this year in Salem. The first one in Boston is expected to open in 2016. http://bit.ly/1OPFNVo
Sanders surge continues
Bernie Sanders is leading in the polls against Hillary Clinton with wide margins in New Hampshire and Iowa. According to a YouGov/CBS polls, Sanders with 52 percent in New Hampshire. In Iowa, he leads with 43 percent. "Clinton had consistently led Sanders in Iowa, until a Quinnipiac poll Thursday showed the two to be even," Boston.com reported. Sanders took to Twitter to celebrate the news. http://bit.ly/1OPG22W
Lawmakers pushing for a new sexual assault bill
Lawmakers are pushing for a bill to develop a set of guidelines governing how colleges handle sexual assaults on campuses. The state's law would require college's victim support services to work closely with local law enforcement and let students know their rights better. "Many schools already have a lot of the services we're trying to mandate," said Sen. Michael Moore, a Democrat to the Telegram. While the many schools already do such things in case of a sexual assault, the bill is to make sure there are set guidelines for everyone. http://bit.ly/1UOLwSm
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