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Middleboro Review 2

NEW CONTENT MOVED TO MIDDLEBORO REVIEW 2

Toyota

Since the Dilly, Dally, Delay & Stall Law Firms are adding their billable hours, the Toyota U.S.A. and Route 44 Toyota posts have been separated here:

Route 44 Toyota Sold Me A Lemon



Tuesday, November 15, 2016

MASSterList: It’s Bickford | Political sanctuary | Remembering Gwen Ifill





By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan
11/15/2016

It’s Bickford | Political sanctuary | Remembering Gwen Ifill



Happening Today
 
Baker at GOP meeting in Florida
 
Gov. Charlie Baker attends Republican Governors Association meetings in Orlando, Florida, with plans to return to Massachusetts in the afternoon.
 
 
PRIM investment committee
 
Treasurer Deborah Goldberg chairs an investment committee meeting of the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, PRIM Headquarters, 84 State St., 2nd floor, Boston, 9:30 a.m.
 
 
Gateway Cities innovation summit
 
MassINC will hold its fourth annual Gateway Cities Innovation Awards and Summit, this year focused on workforce development, MassMutual Center, 1277 Main St., Springfield, 10 a.m.
 
 
'National Women in Apprenticeship Day'
 
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh offers remarks at the Boston Building Trades celebration of 'National Women in Apprenticeship Day,’ Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 Training Center, 1181 Adams St., Dorchester, 4:45 p.m.
 
 
Weld, Cowan on post-election panel
 
ML Strategies hosts a post-election panel discussion that includes former governor and Libertarian vice presidential candidate William Weld and former interim U.S. Sen. Mo Cowan, with Kimberly Atkins, the Boston Herald's Washington reporter, moderating, Mintz Levin, One Financial Center, Boston, 5 p.m.

Today's News
 
It’s Bickford as state Dem chairman
 
So much for our odds-on-favorite prediction on the new state Democratic chairman. Gus Bickford, the veteran pollster and Dem party activist, eked out a victory last night to succeed state Sen. Tom McGee as the next Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman, reports the State House News Service (pay wall) and other media outlets. Steve Kerrigan, a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014, may have been backed by top political leaders such as Attorney General Maura Healey and Senate President Stan Rosenberg, but it wasn’t enough. The first priority for Bickford, the party’s former executive director: Helping a Democrat get elected governor in 2018. Gov. Charlie Baker, we assume, has already taken note.
SHNS (pay wall)
 
 
Developers and unions pony up big bucks for Marty’s charitable foundation
 
Mayor Marty Walsh has a long way to go before his recently established charitable foundation reaches the donation heights of Hillary and Bill Clinton’s charity juggernaut, but he’s making progress, as reported by the Herald’s Matt Stout: “A slew of developers, labor unions, restaurant groups and others who do business before the city are among the donors who gave $420,000 last year to a nonprofit created by Mayor Martin J. Walsh, writing checks for up to $25,000 to help fund the mayor’s civic passions.”
Boston Herald
 
 
Walsh and Capuano cautious about jumping on sanctuary bandwagon
 
After President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to deport millions of illegal immigrants, state Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) is preparing to re-file his “Trust Act” bill early next year to make Massachusetts a “sanctuary state” for non-criminal immigrants, reports the Herald’s Jack Encarnacao and Dan Atkinson. But as the Globe’s Maria Sacchetti and Meghan Ironsreport, cities – or states – that declare themselves sanctuary zones face the real risk of losing crucial federal funds if Trump carries through on his threat to cut funds for those protecting illegal immigrants. So far, officials in Somerville and other sanctuary communities are holding firm on the issue. 
But the potential loss of federal funds – about $250 million for the city of Boston alone – may be one of the reasons why Mayor Marty Walsh isn’t embracing Councilor Tito Jackson’s call to declare the Hub a sanctuary city, though Walsh did emphasize yesterday his administration will go out of its way to protect all Bostonians, as the Herald reports. U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano also urged cities to take it slow on the sanctuary issue until the dust settles. ““People need to be flexible,” he said.
BTW: The Herald’s Antonio Planas reports that many local police departments are saying they’ll flatly refuse to cooperate with any “mass roundup” under Trump, saying they want to improve relationships with immigrant communities, not antagonize them.
 
 
Healey sets up post-election hotline to report incidents
 
Attorney General Maura Healey has set up a new hate-crimes hotline for people to call amid a post-election uptick in hate crimes – including numerous incidents of racial taunts and slurs being hurled at people -- in Massachusetts and across the country, reports Shira Schoenberg at MassLive. "My job as attorney general is to not wait for bad things to happen but to make sure people know here in the state of Massachusetts that their rights will be protected," Healey said at a press conference on Monday.
MassLive
 
 
Not that it matters, but Hillary is officially declared winner in N.H.
 
Democrat Hillary Clinton has been officially declared the winner of New Hampshire's tight presidential race, after Donald Trump’s campaign failed to ask for a recount of the final count showing Clinton winning by only 2,700 votes, reports the Hill. So Clinton gets the Granite State’s four Electoral College votes, but Trump still gets the White House.
The Hill

Baker and other state pols concerned over Trump’s Bannon appointment
 
State officials, including Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, are not exactly thrilled by President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon, a fire-brand conservative and former head of alt-right Breitbart News, as his new chief strategist and senior advisor, reports the Globe’s Astead Herndon. “The president-elect has stated that he will focus on unifying the country after a divisive campaign and the governor is concerned that this selection runs counter to that important goal,” said Brendan Moss, a spokesman for Baker, who refused to endorse Trump during the campaign.
Boston Globe
 
 
Planned Parenthood sees Trump-induced spike in calls
 
The Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts says it saw 16 times as many requests from women seeking information on long-term birth control options in the days after Donald Trump’s surprising election last week, Carey Goldberg of WBUR’s CommonHealth reports. The organization says it fielded close to 100 requests last Wednesday and Thursday for IUDs, the cost of which is—for now—fully covered under Obamacare.
WBUR
 
 
Gwen Ifill’s Boston legacy
 
The Herald’s Jessica Heslam has a touching piece on the sad death of veteran PBS journalist and news anchor Gwen Ifill, a Simmons College graduate who cut her journalistic teeth in Boston by starting out as an intern at the old Boston Herald American and later as a staffer at the Herald. The Globe’s Dylan McGuinness reports on how the Simmons community is mourning her death. As far as the Boston angle is concerned, we recall the numerous occasions when Gwen would make on-air references to her years in Boston, her face lighting up at the fond memories and antics she witnessed here as a reporter. She will be missed.
 
 
Downing rides into the sun rise
 
Sen. Ben Downing announced yesterday he will join solar energy firm Nexamp when he leaves office in January, Gintautas Dumcius of MassLive reports. Downing -- who earlier this year helped craft a major energy bill as Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy and opted out of seeking a sixth term -- will serve as vice president of new market development at the Boston firm.
MassLive
 
 
The Carmen’s Union is going to love this: T mulls pay hike for top managers
 
Saying the T is not competitive in what it pays top managers, the board overseeing the cash-strapped MBTA is now eyeing boosting the compensation of key management personnel as a way to attract and keep talented workers, reports CommonWealth’s Jack Sullivan. Needless to say, the move comes at a time when the T is pushing privatization of services, over bitter protests by T unions, and taking other steps to cut costs at the transit agency.
CommonWealth


Unreported T accident compared to tragic N.J. crash
 
Also from CommonWealth’s Jack Sullivan: “A previously unreported incident in which a commuter rail train that struck a bumper at South Station was similar to an accident in Hoboken, NJ, earlier in the fall that killed one person and injured 100 more, said the MBTA’s top safety official.” Obviously – and thankfully -- the outcomes in Boston and New Jersey were different, but it’s still disturbing because the South Station incident could have “triggered similar destruction” and tragedy as what happened in NJ, Sullivan writes.
CommonWealth
 
 
Pretty slick. But will they work?
 
The MBTA has unveiled images of the new Orange Line cars scheduled to be manufactured in Springfield and delivered for service starting in early 2019, reports Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive. A short slide-show accompanies the story, showing one of the subway cars being built by CRRC MA Corp., a Chinese-owned rail company. It looks pretty slick, but it’s only a mock-up version of the real thing.
MassLive
 
 
MassPort moves forward on new Logan parking
 
The Massachusetts Port Authority is finalizing plans to add 5,000 new parking spaces in two garage projects at Logan Airport that carry a $250 million price tag, Jon Chesto of the Globe reports. Before construction can begin, however, the projects first need state approval to lift a cap on the number of commercial spaces at the airport. 
Boston Globe
 
 
Senate finally OKs DeLeo’s ethics task force
 
It took a while, but the Senate has finally approved creation of a new 13-person task force to look into ethics laws and rules governing state, county and municipal employees with a report due March 15, 2017, reports SHNS’s Andy Metzger at the Gloucester Times. The final measure is a narrowed-down version of House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s call earlier this year to also study campaign finance, lobbying and the feasibility of extending the lobbying law to municipalities. Senate President Stan Rosenberg wasn’t exactly thrilled about creating a new ethics task force, noting that findings from previous ethics panels rarely led to major reforms.
Gloucester Times
 
 
Six-year UMass campaign nets $379M
 
The University of Massachusetts- Amherst says the final haul from its six-year UMass Rising fundraising campaign came in at $379 million, well ahead of the $300 million goal the campus set in 2010, Jack Suntrup of the Hampshire Gazette reports. More than $100 million of the total raised from some 103,000 donors will be diverted to the school’s permanent endowment with the rest earmarked for various projects and initiatives. 
Hampshire Gazette
 
 
Prosecutor accused of misconduct
 
The state’s Board of Bar Overseers is accusing a Cape and Islands prosecutor of misconduct, saying she limited defendants’ access to possibly exculpatory information in two cases, Haven Orecchio-Egresitz of the Cape Cod Times reports. Laura Marshand faces a possible hearing before the board, which last sanctioned a state prosecutor some six years ago.
Cape Cod Times


Today's Headlines
 
Metro
 
 
Massachusetts
 
 
Nation
 





 
 

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