Tuesday, February 2, 2016
By George Donnelly (@geodonnelly) and Keith Regan
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Today: It's all things New Hampshire
Iowa has been evacuated, and New Hampshire becomes the center of the political universe for the next week. Donald Trump's second-place finish validates the hope in some corners that his candidacy is more chimera than real after he underperformed against his poll numbers. The Globe's Joan Vennochi writes: "Now [Trump] has to show his poll numbers in other states are something more than illusion. And he will have to answer another question: If he can't win Iowa, where can he win?"
Also today: budget hearing, many primaries
House and Senate budget chiefs Brian Dempsey and Karen Spilka join other members of the House and Senate Ways and Means committees to launch public hearings on Gov. Baker's $39.55 billion state budget proposal. Administration and Finance Secretary Kristen Lepore leads off the hearing, and Auditor Suzanne Bump, Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Attorney General Maura Healey, Secretary of State William Galvin and Inspector General Glenn Cunha are also have been invited to testify. Gardner Auditorium, 10 am.
Joint Committee on Housing accepts testimony on 37 bills pertaining to Chapter 40B, the law that produces affordable housing using the comprehensive permit process in certain communities. Room B-1, 10 am.
The city of Boston and ArtsBoston host a series of free events to celebrate Black History Month, starting with a kickoff celebration with Mayor Marty Walsh. Boston City Hall, third floor mezzanine, 12 pm.
The MBTA conducts a public hearing on the two fare hike proposals, aimed at raising between $33.2 million and $49.4 million. 10 Park Plaza, second floor Transportation Library, Boston, 5 pm.
It also is primary day for three House seats. Elections for vacant seats will be held in Brockton, Peabody, and Fitchburg.
n Suffolk drama, Globe editorial backs McKenna
In the soap opera between embattled Suffolk University president Margaret McKenna and the university's board of trustees, the Boston Globe editorial board has sided with McKenna. "The trustees, who are supposed to look out for the best interests of the nonprofit university, must confront an uncomfortable possibility: that they, and not McKenna, are the problem." http://bit.ly/1NOCtax
The board definitely is the problem, writes longtime Suffolk University political science professor John C. Berg in CommonWealth magazine. "On the one hand, there is a strong hope that McKenna can lead us forward to a period of strength; on the other, there is a profound fear that the trustees will once again set us back through their micromanaging of the university's day to [day] operations and sacking of yet another president."http://bit.ly/1STQ5sQ
And some Suffolk trustees are baffled by what's going on, including Jennifer Nassour, the former head of the Massachusetts Republican Party. "For some reason the rest of us are being kept out," she said in Globe reporter Laura Krantz's update of the ongoing controversy. http://bit.ly/1m9rt19
Pollack won't opine on millionaire's tax
Now the score within the Baker administration on the millionaire tax is: No: 1; undecided: 1. Secretary Transportation Stephanie Pollack, asked after yesterday's MBTA Fiscal Control Board meeting, said she had "no position" about the ballot question that would tack a surtax on incomes over $1 million. Andy Metzger of the State House News Service notes that Pollack provided written testimony in favor of transportation revenue in 2013 when she worked at Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University.http://bit.ly/1g3AhR6 (paywall)
Charter school principal excluded from meeting with Rosenberg
A meeting in Greenfield with Senate President Stan Rosenberg organized by a group opposed to the expansion of charter schools blocked a charter school principal from attending, Shira Schoenberg of MassLive reports. Peter Garbus of the Four Rivers Charter School in Greenfield read a story about the impending meeting, but wasn't allowed in the private home where it was being held. "I thought to myself, why does this even need to be a private meeting? What is there to talk about that can't be discussed in an open meeting?" Garbus said.
Town of Medfield pays computer hackers ransom
This just in by John Ellement on BostonGlobe.com: "The town of Medfield paid a $300 ransom to hackers who installed a virus that completely disabled the municipal computer network for about a week, the town reported Tuesday." http://bit.ly/1QEsbOF
Rosenberg slams Baker's UMass funding plan
Senate President Stan Rosenberg is calling Gov. Baker's proposed 1.4 percent increase in funding for the University of Massachusetts system "woefully inadequate" and says the legislature will work hard to find a way to boost funding, the Daily Hampshire Gazette's Dave Eisentadter reports. Rosenberg said he hears often from business leaders concerned about graduates leaving UMass burdened by student debt. http://bit.ly/205qZpZ
Millions at stake as MBTA sues Amtrak
The MBTA has gone to court in a bid to avoid paying out $30 million this year alone to Amtrak for the cost of maintaining rail lines they share, the Boston Business Journal's Greg Ryan reports. The T is arguing that an agreement to allow Amtrak to use the T's Attleboro Line in exchange for maintenance and upkeep trumps a decision by a commission created by Congress to require equal cost-sharing. http://bit.ly/1nKgbC4
Fantasy sports companies scramble to keep cash flowing
The decision by the main payment processing vendor for daily fantasy sports sites to stop handling payments to the sites has the companies searching for alternatives, Curt Woodward and Don Adams of the Globe report. The vendor, Vantiv, said Friday it would drop the sites by the end of the month. Boston's DraftKings is not affected immediately, as a judge has issued a restraining order enforcing the contract between the two that runs until the middle of next year. http://bit.ly/23Gswrk
Technical schools laud Baker funding plan
Leaders of technical and vocational high schools are applauding Gov. Baker's plan to boost funding for them in the fiscal year 2017 budget he unveiled last week, the Lowell Sun's Amelia Pak-Harvey reports. Such schools in and around Lowell - and other so-called Gateway Cities - have some of the longest waiting lists, with more students than they can take each year. http://bit.ly/1SpZlFt
Clark is apparent target of swatting hoax
U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, who has sponsored a bill in Congress to make it a federal crime to cause a police response without cause, has become an apparent victim of the very swatting hoax she is targeting, the Globe's Joshua Miller reports. Police descended on Clark's Melrose home Sunday night after receiving an automated call reporting an active shooter at the address. http://bit.ly/1VGdpbB
The T tries to quantify 'overcrowded'
The MBTA's Fiscal Control Board is trying to put hard numbers on what constitutes an over-crowded subway car, CommonWealth Magazine's Jack Sullivan reports. The T has surveyed thousands of riders and even staged focus group tests that involved seeing how many riders could squeeze into a confined space before others would refuse to join the fray. One finding: 18 percent of riders would force their way into a car, no matter how crowded it was when the doors opened. http://bit.ly/20DMb8S
Anti-Narcan Facebook post gets Weymouth firefighter suspended
The city of Weymouth has suspended a firefighter who took to social media to argue that addicts should be allowed to die from overdoses rather than treated with Narcan, the Patriot Ledger's Christian Schiavone reports. Mark Carron, an 11-year veteran of the department, has been suspended 90 days without pay, Mayor Robert Hedlund announced on Monday. In the since-deleted Facebook post, Carron called Narcan "the worst drug ever created" and said most addicts saved with the treatment return to using a short time later. http://bit.ly/1o1W6qD
Lawrence gets OK to hire Spanish-speaking cops
After initially saying no, state officials have now cleared the way for the city of Lawrence to hire seven new police officers specifically because they speak Spanish, the Globe's Travis Andersen reports. The state's Human Resources Division gave Lawrence an exemption from the so-called Castro consent decree because the new officers possess a specific skill in high demand in a city where half of the residents are Spanish speakers. http://bit.ly/1SBhjTu
Why Stephanos landed at WCVB
Maria Stephanos will join WCVB as an evening anchor, a move that made sense given the position of the other competing stations, writes Gayle Fee of the Herald. Stephanos, who left Fox suddenly in September, will begin Feb. 29. http://bit.ly/23GBUeC
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