Today: Animal abuser registry? T fiscal board; Finneran on TV
A bill to create an animal abuser registry board, compelling those convicted of felony animal abuse to register with the state, is among 20 animal-related bills to be heard by the Committee on the Judiciary, Rooms A-1 and A-2, 1:00pm.
MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board will hold a meeting at MassDOT Board Room, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, 2:30pm. Agenda includes a Registry of Motor Vehicles presentation on "War on Wait Times," an update on the Green Line Extension, a report from the board, and "action" items pertaining to West Boylston - Worcester - I-190 and Parcel 13/Hynes Station.
Former House Speaker Thomas Finneran is a scheduled guest on Greater Boston with host Jim Braude. A judge recently ruled Finneran is entitled to his state pension, despite a federal conviction in 2007. Finneran resigned from the House in 2004. WGBH Channel 2, 7:00pm.
Meaningful fantasy sports regs may come from feds
Attorney General Maura Healey has again declared the fantasy sports operation DraftKings to be legal, saying there is nothing explicit in the law that prohibits fantasy sports activity. That, of course, is a matter of opinion. The law that ushered in casino gambling in Massachusetts defined gambling as: "dealing, operating, carrying on, conducting, maintaining or exposing any game for pay." A game for pay: Isn't that the fundamental model of fantasy sports?http://bit.ly/1hRI9YL
Healey is expected to release some consumer protection provisions, but the more pressing regulation is probably out of the hands of state regulators and lawmakers: They need to figure out a way to get a cut of the action. Massachusetts stands to collect 25 cents for every dollar bet in casinos; it is getting 49 percent of the slot machine revenue at Plainridge. It receives almost $1 billion in lottery profits. Because fantasy sports players come from near and far, it may not be feasible for the state to intercept its fair share with homegrown legislation.
Congress may be the answer, although few these days turn to Congress for answers. Perhaps a federal law can streamline a process to funnel back some of the fantasy fees to the states. Without a taxing mechanism on fantasy sports, states will continue to risk the impact of tax-free gambling on their bottom lines.
Meanwhile, she lives the fantasy: The Globe's Shirley Leung, never one to be left out of the action, decided to borrow a page from the late, great George Plimpton and check out fantasy sports for herself. She had a blast, and concludes with a few regulatory thoughts, including a very sensible one on fee limits. http://bit.ly/1Xjx6re
SPONSORED Undemocratic charter schools siphon money from public schools. www.massteacher.org/chartermap #KeepTheCap
|
Galvin calls out Baker team on budget numbers
With political candor that few can match, Secretary if State Bill Galvin called out what he claims were inflated revenue expectations for his office, numbers he says never should have been used to build the budget in the first place. A recent Administration and Finance update said his office would come $35 million short of its target, a figure Galvin says was obviously unrealistic to meet."I don't know where this all came from because everyone now disowns it," Galvin told Matt Murphy of the State House News Service. "Why should we start with erroneous numbers?" Galvin goes on to suggestion the Baker administration is manufacturing a budget crisis.http://bit.ly/1GROmun
Globe review: Trump speaks at 4th grade level
The Boston Globe ran the campaign rhetoric of the presidential candidates through a program that analyzes their words and syntax for grade-level ranking, finding that Donald Trump's language is the simplest. He's speaking at a 4th grade level. "By every criteria in the algorithm, Trump is speaking at the lowest level. He used fewer characters per word in his announcement speech, fewer syllables per word, and his sentences were shorter than all other candidates."http://bit.ly/1MT8Kl3
Chester seeks middle road in test debate
o the ongoing test controversy -- MCAS or PARCC -- State Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester says there's a third option: an updated MCAS, using PARCC."It's got to be a next generation assessment for the Commonwealth, a next generation MCAS. The question in my mind is to what extent can we take advantage of the development that's been done with PARCC to take us down that road," Chester said yesterday. Michael Jonas of CommonWealth Magazine has more:
Alcohol ads banned on T, but not alcohol delivery ads
A Boston startup that makes alcohol deliveries has an ongoing ad campaign on the T, reports Boston.com's Adam Vaccaro. Drizly has an app that enables home delivery of alcohol, and its advertising falls with the T's no-alcohol guidelines. T officials were weighing eliminating the alcohol ban as a way to boost revenue, an idea that has some prominent opponents, including Mayor Marty Walsh. http://bit.ly/1W3Pxh6
|
MGM seeks to shrink Springfield casino
MGM wants to trim the size of the resort casino it is building in downtown Springfield by 14 percent, reducing retail space by 38 percent and cutting down the size of an on-site movie theater and bowling alley, MassLive reports. MGM says the changes are part of the design process, but the casino now faces the prospect of a competitor just over the Connecticut border, something that wasn't in place when the proposal was first made. The city's mayor said he will work to stop any further reductions in the project after MGM already removed a high-rise hotel tower from the original, approved plans. http://bit.ly/1hSJpej
Bill would shield internal police inquiries from public
Amid a movement to make Massachusetts government more open and transparent, one lawmaker's bill seems to be heading in the other direction, Boston Magazine reports. Rep. Nick Collins -- who the magazine says has taken several thousand dollars in donations from police officers and public safety unions -- wants to exempt the materials that are the subject of internal police probes from the public records law while the probes are ongoing. http://bit.ly/1NTGVdS
Quincy mayor's race carries hefty price tag
Mayor Thomas Koch has spent more than a half-million dollars this year on his bid for re-election, the Patriot Ledger reports, setting a new spending record in the process. His challenger, former mayor Bill Phelan, has spent more than $114,000 and the total spent on the race could challenge the city's record of more than $700,000, set in 2007. http://bit.ly/1GSxRhz
Lowell council: teach kids about opioids
The Lowell City Council wants the city's public schools to introduce opioid education as part of a larger effort to address the ravages of the drug epidemic on the city, the Sun reports. Lowell has seen 42 overdose deaths already this year. http://bit.ly/1GSyho4
Roadrunner (more than) once
A bill to make "Roadrunner" by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers the official state rock song is back on Beacon Hill, but WGBH's Mike Deehan points out that lawmakers seem more enamored with filing such legislation than actually passing them into law. The bill died in committee last year and will likely face the same fate again. http://bit.ly/1NTDJ25
|
Today's day: It's National Reptile Awareness Day.
http://bit.ly/1Lmm2Es
REMEMBER: To send your tips to me at gdonnelly@massterlist.com. Op-eds and other commentary invited for publication on Massterlist.
|
|
National headlines
State headlines
Local headlines
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment