Today: Guv signs anti-opioid legislation, Green Line funding talks, fate of formerGrafton State Hospital
Gov. Charlie Baker signs into law the new legislation that seeks to slow the rising tide of opioid addiction in Massachusetts. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Attorney General Maura Healey, Auditor Suzanne Bump are expected to attend. Grand Staircase, State House, 10 a.m.
Rep. William Straus, House chairman of the Transportation Committee, meets with Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone and Metropolitan Area Planning Council Executive Director Marc Draisen to discuss a bill dealing with how municipalities might help pay for major transportation projects such as the Green Line extension, House Member's Lounge, 10 a.m.
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg is interviewed on WGBH radio by hosts Jim Braudeand Margery Eagan, 1 Guest St., Brighton, 12:30 p.m.
The Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets holds a hearing on a bill that would convey about 60 acres of land on the site of the former Grafton State Hospital to the town of Shrewsbury, Room 222, 2 p.m.
'My communist friend'
There's a danger to linking Norman Mailer's 'Miami and the Siege of Chicago,' the novelist's classic non-fiction account of the Republican and Democratic conventions in 1968, to the crazy campaign news coming out of Florida and Chicago (and Ohio and Kansas) over the weekend. The problem: It dates you. But so be it. Because though comparisons between 1968 and 2016 are a stretch, the current campaign is shaping up to be the most tumultuous one since 1968. That was pretty evident over the weekend.
The disruptions that forced Trump to cancel a rally in Chicago on Friday night were bad enough. But the rhetoric kept escalating to almost breath-taking levels on Saturday and Sunday. They briefly went off the charts when Trump, who had already accused Bernie Sander's supporters of causing recent campaign event controversies, referred to Sanders as "my communist friend," as reported by the Herald's Kimberly Atkins this morning. Sanders wasn't taking any of Trump's guff, firing back that Trump was a "pathological liar."
Did we mention the police use of pepper spray on protesters outside a Trump rally in Kansas City, threats of counter-thuggery protests at future rallies, and other assorted antagonistic bluster and acts over the weekend?
Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, tells the Globe's Matt Viser that he personally decided to openly denounce Trump after Trump had refused to disavow the endorsement of David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Actually, the David Duke incident was the last of many straws for Romney, Viser reports.http://bit.ly/1Ub4oK5
Baker's fundraising juggernaut Gov. Charlie Baker is raising campaign funds at the rate of about $250,000 a month, for a total of $3.3 million, far more than Deval Patrick or Mitt Romney had raised at this point during their governorships, the Globe's Jim O'Sullivan reports. "The governor has not said he is running for reelection but is raising money to sustain an ongoing political operation and to be in a position to seek re-election should he decide to," said a senior Baker adviser. And the Democrats? They don't even have a clear frontrunner in mind for 2018, let alone someone raising millions of dollars. "I don't have the answer to how the Democrats beat him in two years," said Juliette Kayyem, an unsuccessful candidate in the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial primary. "All I know is that remaining quiet and saying he's a great guy is not a strategy." http://bit.ly/1QXyjjh
Teacher unions, education groups back transgender rights billHot of the cyber press, from State House News Service's Andy Metzger: "The state's educational establishment on Monday lent support to a hot-button bill allowing transgender people to use locker rooms associated with their identified gender rather than their anatomical sex. ... The Massachusetts Teachers Association and the American Federation of Teachers, the two major Bay State education unions, joined with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and the Massachusetts Association of School Committees to announce support of the transgender bill on Monday." http://bit.ly/1piKlg2 (pay wall)
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It wouldn't be a St. Pat's Day parade without a lawsuit
Miffed that Mayor Marty Walsh has shortened the route of the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in Southie, organizers say they plan to file a federal lawsuit today to force the city back to the old 3.2 mile route. The parade sponsor, the Allied War Veterans Council of South Boston, says it isn't buying the mayor's explanation that it's about public safety. "The city of Boston has a heavy-handed mayor with little regard for the First Amendment," Chester Darling, who plans to file the suit, told the Herald's Lindsay Kalter. http://bit.ly/1MhzSqh
In case you were wondering, Kalter notes: "Darling has long been a champion for the parade, winning a famous 9-0 Supreme Court case in 1995 that left it up to organizers who could and could not participate, after gay groups had been excluded."
BTW: A mystery pollster was ringing up Southie residents over the weekend, asking about the parade route and, oh, what they thought of Walsh as mayor. Both the mayor's office and parade sponsors say they have no idea who was making the calls, according to the Herald's Erin Smith. http://bit.ly/1YQvp52
Metered parking pays off in Lowell
Officials in Lowell say a decision to enforce on-street parking restrictions is paying off handsomely, thank you very much, with the city now raking in $1.1 million a year from meters alone, Grant Welker of the Lowell Sun reports. Although some business owners say the city's approach keeps visitors away from downtown, the city plans to plow the funds back into parking projects, including a new $30 million garage. http://bit.ly/21qRqqU
Baker, Bump join fray over ex-Bridgewater State prez's retirement windfall
The Boston Business Journal's big story last Friday on the ex-Bridgewater State University president's $270,000 payout for unused sick and vacation time continued to make waves over the weekend. Gov. Baker said he was disappointed with Dana Mohler-Faria's retirement bonanza, while Auditor Suzanne Bump plans to meet with school officials this week about the matter, according to a front-page story on Saturday by the Globe's Michael Levenson. The Herald's Howie Carr was piling on the controversy on Sunday.
Once again, T refuses to release absenteeism report
The MBTA is again refusing to release the details of a report it commissioned on the use and potential abuse of the Family Medical Leave Act at the agency, despite orders from the Secretary of State's office to do so, the Herald's Matt Stout reports. As the 10-day window for the T to comply with the Supervisor of Record's order expired, the Herald instead received a letter in which the T again stated its objections to making the document public on the grounds that it is the result of a legal services contract and because it is part of a larger policy-making process. The Herald plans to appeal once again. http://bit.ly/1YQkhp0
U.S. Senate probes surgery practices highlighted by Spotlight team
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah has launched an investigation into the practice of concurrent surgeries, an issue the Globe's Spotlight team brought to light last year, Jonathan Saltzman and Jenn Abelson of the Globe report. Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed it was among some 20 hospitals nationwide that received letters asking for information on practices around allowing surgeons to schedule more than one surgery at the same time. http://bit.ly/1QPY0nX
Another hearing for 'rattlesnake island'A Division of Fisheries and Wildlife proposal to establish a colony of timber rattlesnakes on an island in the Quabbin Reservoir will get its second public hearing Monday night in Belchertown, the Associated Press reports in an account carried by Boston.com. An earlier hearing drew both supporters and opponents, many of whom expressed safety concerns should the poisonous snakes use their natural swimming abilities to reach the shore of the reservoir, which is heavily used for outdoor recreational activities. http://bit.ly/22b8Xct
Retired couple take on public watchdog roles
George Brennan of the Cape Cod Times profiles Don and Judy Stainbrook of Sandwich, who after their retirements have taken on the role of public watchdogs, using public records laws to keep the community informed of a controversial plan for a zip line and ropes course at the Sandwich Heritage Museum & Gardens. The couple has filed a number of FOIA public records requests and videotapes board meetings where the proposal is being discussed.http://bit.ly/1pGi3MJ
Dukakis and Birmingham: Bring US History courses back to classrooms
Former Gov. Michael Dukakis and ex-Senate president Thomas Birmingham say it's time to revive a previous policy that required students to pass a US history MCAS test in order to graduate from high school. For budget reasons, that requirement was dropped in 2009. "It's often said that what isn't tested isn't taught," Dukakis and Birmingham write in a Globe op-ed. "Unfortunately, that appears to be the case when it comes to US history education in Massachusetts' public schools. Entire middle-school social studies departments have been eliminated, leaving history courses to be taught by English, math, and science teachers."http://bit.ly/1RhzXM1
'Clean energy has absolutely gone mainstream'
So you think the clean energy sector is still made up of mostly small, quirky companies and dreamers cheered on by earthy environmental types? Think again. Clean energy has gone big time -- and the sector's investment growth is defying economic conventional wisdom that holds that clean energy suffers when the price of fossil fuels fall, according to a Globe story by a certain MassterList author. http://bit.ly/1piKlg2
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