| Springfield cops close shop giving away ‘free’ pot but charging admission fees |
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They thought they were being so clever in getting around the state’s no-pot-sales law. But police weren’t the ones smoking the product. From Dan Glaun at MassLive: “The City of Springfield has shut down Mary Jane Makes Your Heart Sing, a store on Page Boulevard that charged an admission fee and then gave out ‘free’ samples of cannabis to customers. Springfield Police Sgt. John Delaney and another officer served a cease and desist order to the shop Wednesday afternoon, drawing groans from a line of about 50 people waiting to enter.”
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarano said the city was merely upholding laws and protecting the public by closing the store that was charging $20 admission fees for the ‘free’ pot samples, reports Peter Goonan at MassLive. |
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| Baker: Massachusetts in ‘no man’s land’ on marijuana |
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From Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive: “As Springfield police officers shuttered a store handing out marijuana for ‘free’ while charging an admission fee, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker acknowledged the state is in a ‘no man's land’ four months after voters broadly legalized the controversial substance for adults who are over the age of 21.”
MassLive |
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| Luxury condo building bans smoking and pot growing |
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Meanwhile, the folks at the posh InterContinental in Boston have voted to ban vaping, smoking tobacco, clove, marijuana or electronic cigarettes -- and harvesting marijuana inside the waterfront high-rise, writes the Herald’s Donna Goodison, who also also reports: “As for prohibiting owners and tenants from harvesting marijuana, Koch replied, ‘We’re a high-rise building. I don’t think we’re a farming community.’”
Boston Herald |
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| Public forum on rattlesnakes bans public comments |
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There’s a disconnect here. From Jim Russell at MassLive: “State wildlife officials say they want feedback about their plan to populate a Quabbin Reservoir island with timber rattlesnakes -- but at Tuesday's forum (in Belchertown), the 18-member panel reviewing the idea said the public was not allowed to speak.” Even some panel members were taken aback by the policy and complained. One resident who wasn’t allowed to speak described the proceedings as “a joke, a waste of time." Meanwhile, at the request of Sen. Anne M. Gobi and Rep. Susannah Whipps-Lee, the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife has decided to make comments, questions and survey responses to the Rattlesnake Conservation Plan available as soon as possible, reports the Telegram. |
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| Oprah Winfrey has an presidential epiphany: ‘Oh … Oh!’ |
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The Herald’s Kimberly Atkins writes how Oprah Winfrey never gave running for president a thought until another TV celebrity, Donald Trump, actually ran and won. “Now I’m thinking, Oh ... Oh!” Oprah said. And now she’s thinking of running for president. Matt Drudge is drooling over the possibility: “Trump vs. Oprah would be the most epic race in American history. MAKE THIS HAPPEN,” he tweeted yesterday, as Kimberly notes.
Boston Herald |
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| The gloves are off: Amherst Town Meeting to debate petition to impeach Trump |
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From Diane Lederman at MassLive, on an Amherst Town Meeting petition that seeks President Trump’s impeachment: “Submitted by lawyer John Bonifaz, the petition takes aim at Trump for allegedly violating the Constitution's emoluments clause, which bars members of government from receiving gifts or money from foreign states. According to the citizen petition, these violations undermine ‘the integrity of the presidency, corruptly advance the personal wealth of the president and violate the public trust.”
MassLive |
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| Did she really think no one would notice? |
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Attorney General Maura Healey, an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, wasn’t exactly touting the fact that she did indeed meet with the president the other day. From SHNS’s Michael Norton at MetroWest Daily News: “It wasn't on her public schedule but Attorney General Maura Healey on Tuesday met up with her recent nemesis, President Donald Trump. The White House late Tuesday afternoon released a list of 47 attorneys general who had met with the president and Healey's name was on it. A Healey aide confirmed she was in attendance as part of scheduled quarterly meetings Tuesday and Wednesday of the National Association of Attorneys General.”
MetroWest Daily News |
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| Three health insurers post big losses, Harvard Pilgrim blames Obamacare |
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Three of the state’s four largest non-profit health insurers saw major operating losses in 2016, saying prescription drugs and medical prices in general are hurting their bottom lines, reports the Globe’s Priyanka Dayal McCluskey. At the BBJ, Jessica Bartlett reports that Harvard Piligrim is also blaming several ObamaCare programs for its losses. |
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| ‘This is pure, unadulterated profiteering … it’s obscene’ |
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Speaking of drug costs, Sander Schultz, Gloucester’s emergency medical services coordinator, is furious that the price of an injectable overdose-reversing drug designed for use by laypeople has skyrocketed, from $690 for a two-dose naloxone auto-injector to $4,500, in just three years, reports Christian Wade at the Gloucester Times. “This is pure, unadulterated profiteering,” said Sander. whose EMTs regularly use naloxone. “The pharmaceutical companies are gouging people who are dependent on these drugs to save lives. It’s obscene.”
Gloucester Times
| Baker: State will pay early voting costs in ’18 |
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Town clerks are going to cheer this. Gov. Charlie Baker says his administration will pay for early voting costs encumbered by cities and towns in the next statewide election in 2018 if necessary, Shira Schoenberg of MassLive reports. Baker also said his team is still reviewing a report from Auditor Suzanne Bump that found early voting amounted to an unfunded mandate for municipalities.
MassLive |
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| His excellency, Union Oyster House owner, honorary Thailand consul general |
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Did you know the owner of the Union Oyster House, Joe Milano, is the honorary consul general for Thailand, running the consulate out of his restaurant’s back office, just past the shucking station? “The position is no joke,” writes Caroline Lester at WGBH. “If you want to go to Thailand for business or to visit for more than 30 days, you’ve got to go through Milano. He says his office hands out 12 to 13 hundred visas a year.” She relates a fun tale on how Milano landed the gig. And, yes, Milano loves the pageantry part of the job.
WGBH |
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| With request to NRC, Pilgrim shutdown clock starts ticking |
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Entergy Corp. has taken the first formal step toward the shutdown of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in 2019, asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve its training program for the fuel handlers who will be brought in to decommission the plant when it stops generating power in 2019, Christine Legere of the Cape Cod Times reports.
Cape Cod Times |
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| In Berkshires, ‘Indivisible’ grassroots seen growing |
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Pittsfield and eight other communities in the Berkshires have seen local chapter of the Trump-opposition group Indivisible form in recent weeks, Carrie Saldo reports in the Berkshire Eagle. The local groups are part of a national network of 4,500 aiming to influence members of Congress.
Berkshire Eagle |
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| Banks have paid out $321B in fines since financial crisis |
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A study by the Boston Consulting Group says that regulators have slapped $321 billion in financial penalties on banks globally since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, reports the Globe’s Beth Healey. North American banks accounted for 63 percent of the fines paid, or $204 billion, through 2016. And many critics say banks actually got off lightly for all the damage they did to the national and world economies last decade.
Boston Globe |
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| Healey to Texas lawmaker: Butt out of Exxon Mobil feud |
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From the Herald: “Bay State Attorney General Maura Healey is urging Republican U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith to withdraw his committee’s subpoena for documents related to her Exxon Mobil investigation. Healey sent a 10-page letter to Smith yesterday arguing the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has no authority over her probe into whether Exxon Mobil misled Massachusetts consumers and investors about the impact of burning fossil fuels on the environment and the impact of climate change on the company’s business.”
Boston Herald |
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| UMass Boston campus plastered with white supremacy flyers |
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From NECN (with video): “Flyers advocating white supremacy were distributed on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus. According to a statement from Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Winston E. Langley, the group responsible for the flyers has reportedly been distributing the flyers at other universities throughout the country. The university pulled the flyers from all its halls, citing a policy that requires school approval before posting.”
NECN (video) |
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| ‘Ashes to Go’ at T commuter stops |
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It was “Ashes to Go” day at T rail stops in Billerica, Melrose, Stoughton and elsewhere yesterday, as pastors fanned out to provide commuters with ashes to mark Ash Wednesday, heralding the start of Lent. Wicked Local has a photo slide-show of Ashes to Go in Billerica. What a wonderful idea, which has spread in popularity in recent years.
Wicked Local |
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| Jackson aims to block BU biolab, again |
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City councilor and mayoral candidate Tito Jackson is proposing an ordinance that would block Boston University from ramping up work on the world’s deadliest pathogens at the biolab it built near Boston City Hospital, Adam Gaffin of Universal Hub reports. The lab is awaiting final city approvals.
Universal Hub |
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| Former Patriot player sentenced to prison for Ponzi scheme |
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We could make SpyGate and DeflateGate jokes here but we won’t. From USA Today: “Former New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots cornerback Will Allen was sentenced to six years in prison and three years of supervised release as well as ordered to pay $16.8 million in restitution by a federal judge on Wednesday for his role in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Co-defendant Susan Daub received the same sanctions when U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young announced the sentence in Boston.” The duo ran their scheme through a Massachusetts-based company, Capital Financial Partners.
USA Today |
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