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By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan

04/17/2017

Rosenberg to UMass? / ‘Hounding’ Warren

Battle of Lexington / Concord

Patriots Day events began shortly after sunrise with a re-enactment of the first shots of the American Revolutionary War. Lexington Green, 5:30 a.m. Later, British and Colonial re-enactors will commemorate the 1775 fight that took place at North Bridge in Concord. North Bridge, Concord, 8:45 a.m.

121st Boston Marathon

The Boston Athletic Association kicks off the 121st running of the Boston Marathon. The first wave of mobility impaired racers will leave the starting line in Hopkinton at 8:50 a.m. Men's and women's push-rim wheelchair racers will start the marathon at 9:17 a.m. and 9:19 a.m., respectively. Handcycles and duos will start at 9:22 a.m. The elite women pack will begin their race to Copley Square at 9:32 a.m. The elite men and the first wave of runners will set out at the 10 a.m. firing of the starter's pistol. Additional waves of runners will depart Hopkinton every 25 minutes until the final group at 11:15 a.m.

Baker, Walsh at Marathon

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will begin the day by marching in the Patriots Day parade, then travels to Copley Square to crown the winner of the Boston Marathon. Gov. Charlie Baker will attend the 2017 Boston Marathon with First Lady Lauren Baker and will participate in the crowning ceremony of the female marathon winner. Westin Copley Place, 10 Huntington Ave.

Sudders at JFK Library

Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders joins Boston Health Care for the Homeless President Dr. James O'Connell to discuss health care issues in a conversation moderated by WCVB's Emily Riemer. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, 6 p.m.

Today's News

Rosenberg to UMass?

The Lowell Sun’s Peter Lucas thinks the best possible candidate to run UMass Boston in the wake of Chancellor J. Keith Motley’s departure may be Senate President Stan Rosenberg. The Amherst Democrat, Lucas writes, is well-versed in both the UMass system and state finances. “The point is that Rosenberg knows revenues and budgets. He could be counted upon to bring financial order to UMass Boston.” And he'd likely see a significant pay increase, too.

Lowell Sun

Warren will have conservative company on book tour

Calling the tour supporting her new book a “soft launch of her presidential campaign,” the America Rising PAC says it plans to follow U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s every move as she promotes it, Laura Dezenski of Politico reports. America Rising says it will do opposition research on the senator, send staffers to capture her appearances on video and deploy rapid response communications to counter her arguments as Warren seeks to build buzz behind her new book, “This Fight is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class,” which drops on Tuesday.

Victoria McGrane of the Globe previews the book, which is Warren’s 11th, and finds she steers clear of any dissection of the party infighting and divisions that many believe helped lead to the Democrat's 2016 presidential defeat and instead produces a policy-focused look forward. Warren tells McGrane she avoided some of the potentially juicy topics—including any mention of whether she was asked to join the Clinton ticket—because she sees little value in looking back.

Politico

Why Boston should love Marathoners

On the occasion of the 121st running of the Boston Marathon, the Boston Business Journal’s Joe Halpern reports that the 30,000-plus runners and 600,000 spectators expected to line the 26.2-mile route today will pump $192.2 million into the local economy. That includes $15 million in media and sponsorship spending and $100 million from the runners themselves, including $4,000 dropped in and around Boston by each of the 6,000 international athletes registered to run. http://bit.ly/2nUnX0C

Also: Keep an eye out for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jay Gonzalez, who confirmed on Twitter he will be among the pols making the trek from Hopkinton to Boston today; and Rep. John Velis of Westfield, who Shira Schoenberg of MassLive reports will be attempting to finish his second marathon in just three days.

Boston Business Journal

Treasurer Timilty: Democrat to leave Senate for county role

In news that broke on Good Friday, Sen. James Timilty says he will step down from his seat to become Norfolk County Treasurer. The Walpole Democrat, who served 13 years at the State House, will be paid $124,000 a year to oversee $725 million in pension funds, The State House News Service’s Andy Metzger reports. The departure opens a second vacancy in the Senate following the death of Sen. Kenneth Donnelly earlier this month and creates the prospect of another special election later this year. It is also an interesting jump for Timilty, who chaired the Senate’s public safety committee, not exactly a hotbed for investment issues. (paywall)

The Herald’s Matt Stout offers some interesting details on the rapid time frame behind the move: Outgoing Treasurer Joseph Connolly submitted his resignation on Wednesday, effective April 28. Norfolk County commissioners voted 3-0 that same day to appoint Timilty, who had previously expressed interest in the job. Timilty waited until noon Friday to announce the new of his new job on Twitter, just as the State House was shutting down for the holiday weekend, Stout notes. Apparently, no other candidates were considered.

Boston Herald

GE’s Immelt ready for his close-ups

GE CEO Jeff Immelt gets the in-depth magazine-profile treatment from Michael Damiano at Boston Magazine, who focuses on Immelt’s rise within GE, his bold bets on the industrial giant’s digital business and the call from some investors to replace him.

Meanwhile, the Globe’s Shelly Leung compares Immelt’s bid to remake GE to that of Steve Jobs’ triumphant remaking of Apple and suggests that if successful, GE could help make Boston ground-zero for a burgeoning economy built around the Internet of things.

Boston Magazine

The ‘R’ word: Redistricting talk heating up early

The next Census is still three years away but it is apparently never too early to talk about redistricting, a subject with a, well, colorful history in Massachusetts, which coined the phrase “gerrymandering” and even forced past House speakers to resign their positions. Now, the Associated Press reports lawmakers on Beacon Hill will hold a hearing on Thursday on a proposed constitutional amendment that would strip the legislature of its redistricting powers and place it in the hands of an independent commission. Supporters say the process has become too politicized, which may be the understatement of the century.

Associated Press

Let the budget amendment games begin

The House Ways and Means Committee this week will begin weeding through – and weeding out – a grand total of 1,210 budget amendments filed by lawmakers looking for dollars for various pet projects and causes, the State House News Service reports. The amendments to the state’s proposed $40.3 billion budget include everything from extra crime lab money to arts programs.

State House News Service (paywall)

Pot arrests persist

Massachusetts voters may have legalized recreational marijuana in November, but that hasn’t stopped police from making arrests for possession of the drug, Christian Wade reports in the Eagle-Tribune. Although statewide numbers are not available, at least 41 people have been arraigned in Essex County courts since mid-December on pot-related charges. Legal-weed advocates say part of the blame for confusion among law enforcement falls at the feet of lawmakers who have pushed back the arrival of recreational marijuana shops to give themselves time to tweak the law and set up a regulatory framework.

Eagle-Tribune

Holliston eyes pot shop ban

The town of Holliston, meanwhile, could be one of the next to ban pot shops outright well before they become legal. Selectmen there voted to put a ban before voters in the town’s upcoming election, Bill Shaner of the MetroWest Daily News reports. Holliston has a lot in common with Westborough, where voters in March made that town the first to adopt such a policy. But there is one significant difference that could make the small town an interesting test case: While Westborough voters were against the November referendum, Holliston voters supported legalizing weed by an 8 percentage point margin.

MetroWest Daily News

Rate hike may have silver lining for electric cars

Eversource’s push for a big rate hike has not exactly endeared it to ratepayers and consumer advocates. But the furor over the proposed rate increases has obscured what could be a significant step forward for electric cars in Massachusetts, Larry Chretien argues in Commonwealth Magazine. Chretien, executive director of the Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance, notes that embedded in the rate increase is a modest proposal to build electric vehicle charging stations at transit stations, office buildings and apartment complexes across the state.

CommonWealth Magazine

Tiny Cuttyhunk seeks off-island students

Officials on Cuttyhunk are mulling a plan that would enable off-island students to spend a semester in the island’s tiny school, which faces the prospect of being closed in a couple years when the youngest of its students graduates from the eight grade, Ethan Genter of the Cape Cod Times reports. Officials hope the program could not only save the school but help bring new residents to the island, which has only occasional ferry service during the offseason.

Cape Cod Times

‘Melanie’s Law’ goes largely unused

Passed with great fanfare in 2005, Melanie’s Law, which mandated a five-year jail sentence for anyone convicted of manslaughter by motor vehicle in connection with drunken driving deaths, has been used just eight times since in such cases, Sean P. Murphy of the Globe reports. Instead, most drivers plead to lesser charges and spend far less time behind bars.

Boston Globe

Cambridge, Pittsfield protests demand Trump taxes

About 2,000 turned out in Cambridge Saturday to join a nationwide protest calling for President Donald Trump to release his tax returns, Marc Levy of the Cambridge Day reports. Unlike violent scenes that played out in Berkeley, Calif., the local protest was largely peaceful, with Rep. Mike Connolly introducing a litany of speakers.

Cambridge Day

Should the state revisit 72-hour hold on overdose patients?

Some lawmakers want the state to reconsider requiring hospitals to hold overdose patients for up to three days, a proposal that was dropped from an omnibus opioids bill last year, Todd Feathers of the Lowell Sun reports. One impetus for the revisiting: The man arrested last week for an attempted carjacking at a Tewksbury gas station had been revived from an overdose by police using the drug Narcan just days before.

Lowell Sun
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Today's Headlines

Metro

Boston Teacher’s Union president speaks out on teacher contact with media - WGBH

Six quick facts about the Boston Marathon’s economic impact - Boston Business Journal

GE CEO Jeff Immelt is all in - Boston Magazine

Boston police officers say new record management system is a nightmare - Boston Globe

Massachusetts

In drunken driving cases, Melanie’s Law rarely used - Boston Globe

UMass Memorial program for opiate-dependent newborn care a model - Telegram & Gazette

Cuttyhunk looking for ‘foreigners’ to fill its schoolhouse - Cape Cod Times

Pot arrests continue even after legalization - Eagle-Tribune