| Alkermes’s Bay State connections: Donations, lobbying and lots of big promises |
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WGBH’s Gabrielle Emanuel has an excellent piece summarizing Alkermes PLC’s controversial marketing blitz of its opioid-treatment drug, a campaign that has largely focused on lobbying and donating funds to pols and law enforcement officials here and elsewhere. Those who have received donations or hired as lobbyists read like a who’s who of Massachusetts politics: Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Bob DeLeo and Senate President Stan Rosenberg (donation recipients) and former Lt. Gov. Tom O’Neill (lobbyist), among others, reports Emanuel, who, besides her own reporting, has synthesized recent investigative reports on Alkermes by the New York Times and NPR. Good stuff.
WGBH |
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| Scholarly brawl over whether a total clean-energy future is possible |
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As Massachusetts lawmakers and others across the country push for a complete transition to clean-energy sources later this century, MIT Technology Review and the New York Times are reporting on a major fight among scholars over whether such a future is feasible. We’ll let the two publications sort out the arguments, but the NYT’s Eduardo Porter is clearly siding with critics who say an all-clean-energy future isn’t in the technological and economic cards. |
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| Pollack: Hurry up on climate change response |
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Mass. Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack told the Boston Mobility Summit that more urgent action is needed on the transportation front to help the state react meaningfully to the threat of climate change, Bruce Mohl of CommonWealth Magazine reports. “We’re not moving fast enough,” she said. Governor Baker, are you listening?
CommonWealth |
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| UMass eyeing tuition increase of 2 to 3 percent |
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It’s smaller than last year’s tuition increase, but it’s still a tuition increase expected to draw more than a little attention. SHNS’s Stephanie Murray has the details on the likely 2 to 3 percent tuition hike at the University of Massachusetts.
SHNS (pay wall) |
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| ‘Baker had no choice’ |
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Even though he’s previously expressed qualms about the state declaring “winners and losers” via targeted economic-incentive packages, Gov. Charlie Baker succumbed to the inevitable by embracing a new $500 million package for the biotech industry, writes the Globe’s Shirley Leung. “The reality is that Baker had no choice but to extend Patrick’s winning strategy. Had he not, it would have been like Bob Kraft not renewing Tom Brady’s contract.” She also notes Baker is running for re-election.
Boston Globe |
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| The T’s double-dipping union bosses and six-figure interim GM |
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The Herald’s Matt Stout reports how top officials at the Boston Carmen’s Union recently started collecting lucrative T pensions – even while still holding down lucrative full-time union jobs. Meanwhile, CommonWealth’s Bruce Mohl reports that the T is now paying its new interim GM $260,000 a year, a hefty figure “intended to show potential candidates for the permanent job that the T is willing to appropriately compensate a new general manager.” |
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| Everett’s 29-year-old Wonder Woman |
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A 29-year-old realtor from Brazil is trying to shake up perhaps the most hard-core old boy’s club in Massachusetts: The Everett City Council. The Globe’s Stephanie Ebbert has to the details.
Boston Globe |
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| Walsh brushes aside Jackson’s call for a debate |
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Behind in the polls and fundraising, Boston mayoral candidate Tito Jackson is calling for a debate with Mayor Marty Walsh, who, needless to say, is brushing aside the demand, reports the Herald.
Boston Herald |
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| ‘Banana Republic’ |
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Think things are bad here with the state facing a half-billion-dollar shortfall and the T having a $1.2 billion unfunded liability? At least we’re not Illinois, where the governor is referring to his state as a “banana republic” and where lawmakers are grappling with $130 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, $13 billion in unpaid bills, the lowest credit rating in the country and, soon, it might even forego Lottery winning payouts for Powerball and Mega Millions.
Fox News |
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| Huh? WGBH News sponsors content on MassLive |
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There’s nothing wrong here. It’s just sort of, well, interesting, i.e. WGBH News running sponsored content (under the headline ‘You’ll Never Believe What Your Digital Footprint Can Reveal’) at MassLive. The content, designed to look like a news story, is accompanied by ads for WGBH News. We knew WGBH and WBUR, both local NPR stations, have been competitively going at it lately. But we had no idea. ... Fyi: The content was clearly marked as sponsored and there’s a tagline at the end identifying it as “advertiser paid.”
MassLive (sponsored ad) |
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| Brockton finds funds to reduce pink-slip count |
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File under: Still bad, but not as bad. The Brockton School Committee has voted to add 52 of the 179 teachers previously pink-slipped back on the payroll after finding some additional funds, Anna Burgess of the Enterprise reports.
Enterprise |
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| Lowell’s $336M high school finally gets the nod |
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After a long and divisive debate, the Lowell City Council voted, 5-4, to build a new five-story, $336 million high school at Cawley Stadium, moving the school away from the city’s downtown, Todd Feathers reports in the Lowell Sun. Fyi: the $336 million figure is not a typo.
Lowell Sun |
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| NTSB takes a pass on ferry crash |
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The National Transportation Safety Board has decided not to launch a formal investigation into the Martha’s Vineyard ferry crash that injured several passengers on Friday, Madeleine List of the Cape Cod Times reports. The Steamship Authority says weather, including “strong winds and choppy seas,” was to blame for the mishap.
South Coast Today |
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