Gov. Charlie Baker joins Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Boston Bruins officials and others for the official opening of the Boston Bruins' new practice facility in Brighton, Boston Landing, 7 p.m.
| Today's News |
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| Primary Day Guides |
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Sure, most people in Massachusetts won’t even notice that this is primary election day in Massachusetts, with voter turnout expected to be very low, perhaps under 10 percent. Nevertheless, there are some interesting and lively races today across the state. Here’s a compilation of today’s primary elections by a number of media outlets:
-- At WGBH, Mike Deehan takes a look at five key races, including the Dem primary battle for the Cambridge, Somerville and Medford Senate seat. “The fight between incumbent Sen. Patricia Jehlen and Cambridge City Councilor Leland Cheung is being waged on the left's left,” as Deehan describes it. He also looks at the contested races to replace Rep. Gloria Fox of Roxbury and Sen. Dan Wolf on the Cape. Fox and Wolf are not running for re-election.
-- The Telegram provides a good thumbnail sketch of the four Central Massachusetts House races that voters will decide today in Democratic primaries. The contests are in the 3rd, 4th and 17th Worcester districts and the 4th Middlesex district.
-- At MassLive, Stephanie Barry sums up one of our favorite primary elections today, the bruising three-way Dem battle for Hampden County Sheriff, featuring former four-term Springfield mayor and Governor’s Council member Michael Albano.
-- The Globe has an excellent “everything you need to know” guide about today’s elections, including an explanation about why the heck elections are being held on a Thursday in the first place.
-- The Herald’s Matt Stout this morning is monitoring key legislative races in which the pro-charter schools Democrats for Education Reform and the anti-charter Massachusetts Teacher Association have poured thousands of dollars into contests that may serve as harbingers for this November’s ballot question battle on lifting the caps on charter schools in Massachusetts. |
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| The big loser in last night’s Clinton-Trump forum? NBC's Matt Lauer |
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Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump made back-to-back appearances last night at a NBC forum on military and foreign policy matters. Amidst all the spin and partisan rancor, it’s usually not clear who wins such staged events. But one thing is clear: NBC host Matt Lauer was the big loser, largely for going soft on Trump and hard on Clinton, reports the NYT’s Michael Grynbaum: “Charged with overseeing a live prime-time forum with Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton — widely seen as a dry run of sorts for the coming presidential debates — Mr. Lauer found himself besieged on Wednesday evening by critics of all political stripes, who accused the anchor of unfairness, sloppiness and even sexism in his handling of the event.”
NYT |
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| Warren cheers Europe’s tax crackdown on Apple |
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In a NYT op-ed, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is praising the European Commission’s demand that Ireland collect more than $14 billion in back taxes from Apple, saying it’s a long overdue crackdown on U.S. companies parking their profits overseas to avoid paying taxes in America. From Warren: “For years, corporate tax dodgers have taken full advantage of all the benefits of being American companies, while searching out every possible way to avoid paying American taxes. Now that other leading countries are starting to get tough on tax enforcement, these tax dodgers suddenly want to move their money back to the United States. When they do, they should pay their fair share, just as working families and small businesses have been all along.”
NYT |
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| Not enough deportations but also too many? |
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The Herald this morning continues with its series on the issue of immigrant deportations. Yesterday’s installment focused on how Massachusetts has the lowest deportation rate in the nation. But this morning’s story by Jack Encarnacao is about, well, how there’s sometimes too many deportations, in this case how a Dominican immigrant and suspected drug dealer was deported numerous times and yet kept coming back. So the overall problem is ... we can’t figure it out.
Boston Herald |
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| Moody’s: Suffolk University is a poster child of how not to run higher-ed |
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Though Moody’s Investors Service isn’t threatening to lower Suffolk University’s current bond rating, the rating agency is warning that Suffolk’s current leadership turmoil may discourage student applicants, donors, faculty and staff, harming its finances in the long run, reports the Globe’s Laura Krantz. In a recent report, Moody’s said Suffolk is a prime example of how “tumultuous relationships among university presidents, boards, and faculty can impair a school’s long-term viability and its finances,” writes Krantz.
Boston Globe |
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| Meanwhile, UMass labor center labors to survive |
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Here’s some post-Labor Day bad news for the labor movement: One of the more prestigious labor study institutes in the country, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center, is going through its own turmoil, though not on the par of what’s going on at Suffolk University. The center has recently lost its director and some of its funding, amidst declining enrollment and apparent pressure from administrators to turn the center around or else, reports the Globe’s Laura Krantz.
Fyi: Krantz’s separate UMass and Suffolk stories both landed on the Globe’s front page this morning. Not bad.
Boston Globe |
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| Containing health care costs: Victory or setback? |
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Health care spending in Massachusetts grew by 3.9 percent last year, above the 3.6 percent benchmark goal set by state officials but below the 4.8 percent growth rate recorded in 2014, reports MassLive’s Shira Schoenberg. So is this a plus or a minus in terms of the state’s ongoing efforts to contain health care costs? Stuart Altman, chairman of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, is declaring victory. "At one point Massachusetts was just a high-spending state. It's no longer the case," Altman said. "Our providers and our insurers have clamped down, and yet we continue to be a high-quality state." It should be noted that health care costs are still growing well above the inflation rate, as they have been for decades, but Altman is right: Progress is being made, in the context of prices coming down from ridiculously high levels.
MassLive
| Baker announces $1 million micro-loan fund to help farmers hit by drought |
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Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday unveiled a new $1 million program to provide micro-loans to family farms and small businesses hit hard by the current drought, reports Gerry Tuoti at Wicked Local. The quasi-public Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp. will oversee the new Massachusetts Drought Emergency Loan Fund. Last month, officials had estimated that crop damage in the state had hit more than $14 million, but most observers believe that figure is now probably way low. Tuoti also reports that farmers in Essex, Franklin, Middlesex and Worcester counties can qualify for federal natural disaster assistance.
Wicked Local |
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| Tax amnesty program nets $136.8 million |
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It’s not nearly enough to plug a looming state budget deficit, caused primarily by anemic tax revenue growth. But the $136 million raised by the state’s recent tax amnesty program will help, particularly since it netted $36 million more than originally projected, as reported by SHNS’s Colin Young at the Sentinel & Enterprise.
Sentinel and Enterprise |
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| Trying to bring life to lifeless City Hall plaza |
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We’re of the opinion that the dreary brick-covered City Hall plaza should be torn up and replaced with a simple park. But no one listens to us on landscape design matters. Still, we’re somewhat encouraged by the Walsh administration’s new plan to turn the plaza into a sort of winter wonderland, complete with a skating path, holiday shopping market, and pop-up beer gardens, etc., all via Boston Garden Development Corp., which was tapped yesterday by the city to try to make that dream a reality. The plan falls short of more ambitious ideas to rejuvenate the plaza. But it’s a start, though it’s obvious the main problem with the plaza is the plaza itself, not the designated activities on the plaza.
Universal Hub |
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| Unable to fill jobs, Worcester mulls $15 minimum wage for some city workers |
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The city of Worcester is considering boosting pay for laborers in its Department of Public Works to $15 an hour, saying the current low-paying jobs are all but impossible to keep filled, Nick Kotsopolous of the Telegram reports. More than 300 city workers earn less than $15 an hour and the city administration says roadwork jobs that require a commercial driver’s license should be among those first in line for an increase.
Telegram
| Comptroller to launch state pay, spending site |
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Hoping to get ahead of changes brought about by recent updates to the state’s public records law, Massachusetts Comptroller Thomas G. Shack III plans to launch a new web portal next week with detailed state payroll and spending data, David Scharfenberg of the Globe reports. The site, dubbed CTHRU, will cost the state $175,000 this year and $200,000 in the future, as more features are added.
Boston Globe |
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| Body cam ruling expected tomorrow |
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A judge will likely rule tomorrow whether the city of Boston can launch its police body camera pilot program next week as scheduled, Zeninjor Enwemeka of WBUR reports. A two-day hearing on a request from the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association to issue an injunction halting the program wrapped up yesterday with more arguments from both sides about whether the department has the authority to compel officers to take part in what was originally planned as a volunteer program.
WBUR |
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| Grand Prix auction sputters to finish line |
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An auction of some of the final remaining assets of the never-held Boston Grand Prix event brought in far less than expected Thursday, with model race cars and concrete barriers fetching a fraction of what the group believed they were worth, Brian Dowling of the Herald reports. In all, the auction brought in just over $35,000, including $17,500 each for two Indy cars valued at $50,000 apiece.
Boston Herald
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