By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan

07/21/2017

Tribal concerns | Next up? | Royal duel

MassWorks, senior housing, celebrating a bureau

U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, and Rep. Kevin Honan are expected to attend Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly’s groundbreaking for its new senior housing building, 30 Wallingford Road, Brighton, 10:45 a.m. ... Gov. Charlie Baker joins House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Winthrop Town Manager James McKenna for an announcement ‘relative to the MassWorks program,’ 46 Woodside Avenue, Winthrop, 12 p.m. ... Mayor Marty Walsh is a guest on ‘Boston Public Radio,’ WGBH-FM 89.7, 12 p.m. ... Consumer advocacy group MASSPIRG holds a press conference to celebrate the sixth anniverary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Irish Famine Memorial Park, Corner of School and Washington Streets, Boston, 1 p.m. ... Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito meet with Nantucket town officials, Nantucket Police Department, 4 Fairgrounds Rd, Nantucket, 3:30 p.m. ... Health Policy Commission Deputy executive director Coleen Elstermeyer joins Hebrew SeniorLifeexecutives to launch Hebrew SeniorLife's R3 initiative, Hebrew SeniorLife, 1550 Beacon St., Brookline, 3 p.m.

Today's News

Lawmakers pass pot compromise. Next up: Legal challenge?

As expected, the Massachusetts House and Senate yesterday overwhelming voted to approve a controversial marijuana-regulations bill that Gov. Charlie Baker is expected to sign. But the Senate’s top Republican, Bruce E. Tarr, railed against a local-oversight provision within the legislation, saying it might prompt lawsuits that could lead to “the incapacitation of this statute” and set a “very dangerous precedent, reports the Globe’s Joshua Miller. SHNS’s Colin Young at Wicked Local has much more.

Boston Globe

The Duke of Mattapan taunts King Robert the Eternal to a duel

The dust-up between state Rep. Russell E. Holmes, who was ousted from his House leadership post earlier this week, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, showed no signs of abating yesterday, with Holmes comparing DeLeo to President Donald Trump, as reported by Kathleen McKiernan and Matt Stout at the Herald. Meanwhile, Sir Scot Leigh at the Kingdom of the Globe detects growing insecurity by King Robert the Eternal of Beacon Hill, surrounded as he is by lesser subjects, including Prince Stanley of the Righteous Amherst Realm.

Rosenberg on 4 a.m. casino liquor licenses: ‘Hate it’

Gov. Charlie Baker has already signed a provision, tucked into the new state budget, that would allow Massachusetts casinos to serve liquor until 4 a.m. Even though his chamber went along with the plan, Senate President Stan Rosenberg is still no fan of the 4 a.m. perk for casinos. "I hate it," Rosenberg said during an interview on Boston Herald Radio, as the Herald's Dan Atkinson reports. Mayor Marty Walsh and a lot of local restaurant and bar owners also hate it.

Boston Herald

Tribe considers asking state for casino license

This could get messy in a hurry. Mark Arsenault of the Globe reports the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has discussed the possibility of asking state regulators to issue it a casino license—something lawmakers envisioned when they drafted the state’s gaming law. Going the state route could help the tribe bypass the thorny federal process, but such a move would likely draw its own legal challenges.

Boston Globe

Auditor appears poised to slam Cape county over legal 'irregularities'

The office of Auditor Suzanne Bump is finalizing a report on the financial operations of Barnstable County and the result is not expected to be kind, Geoff Spillane of the Cape Cod Times reports. A draft of the report obtained by the paper finds “a series of legal and procedural irregularities” especially in the area of leasing county-owned property.

Cape Cod Times

Baker’s tightrope act on immigration

Gov. Charlie Baker was carefully walking the tightrope yesterday on immigrations matters. Regarding the controversial ICE detention of an MIT janitor, Baker said Francisco Rodriguez doesn’t appear to fit the profile of who ICE should be going after (i.e. criminals), reports Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive (with video). Meanwhile, a Saugus cop (and the Boston Herald) keep hammering away at Baker for allegedly being “soft” on illegal immigrants using fake IDs for nefarious purposes. Bottom line: It’s not easy being a Republican in Massachusetts.

Former DEP commissioner to head MassDevelopment

Three months after ousting Patrick-appointee Marty Jones, MassDevelopment, now controlled by the Baker administration, has tapped former Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Lauren Liss to head the day-to-day operations at the economic development agency, according to a report at the Lowell Sun. Liss, who was appointed environmental chief by then Gov. Paul Cellucci in 1999, has been a partner at Rubin and Rudman since leaving government early last decade.

Lowell Sun

Lawmakers send pregnant-workers bill to governor’s desk

They finally did it. From Katie Johnston at the Globe: “A bill guaranteeing protections for pregnant workers was sent to the governor Thursday, part of a groundswell of support for pregnant workers’ rights that would make Massachusetts the latest in a long line of states to pass similar legislation in recent years.”

Boston Globe

Hey, lay off the president. He’s down to only 4.6 false or misleading statements per day

The Washington Post’s Fact Checker team has crunched the numbers and found that President Trump has made 836 false or misleading claims in his first six months in office, an average of 4.6 per day. But that’s down from 4.9 per day during the president’s first 100 days in office.

Washington Post

Hey, lay off the president, Part II

Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, is no fan of President Trump, but he thinks that he still has rights and that too many people are rushing to prosecute Trump.

Boston Globe

The Great Mystery: Who killed the east-west rail study?

Well, we know the butler didn’t do it. So who did kill Sen. Eric Lesser’s east-west rail study proposal? It takes a while to get there, but eventually the finger is pointed squarely at Peter Picknelly, the mild-mannered chief executive of Peter Pan Bus Lines and big-time political donor, who swears he didn’t do it, though he did make a call to Sen. Don Humason. Dan Glaun and Gintautas Dumcius have more at MassLIve.

MassLive

Ryan in Lawrence: Where was Charlie?

US House Speaker Paul D. Ryan was in Lawrence yesterday to tout tax reform. He was met by local demonstrators and Democrats trying to tie House GOP policy initiatives to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, reports the Globe’s Jim O’Sullivan. But Baker wasn’t around to welcome his fellow Republican to the Bay State. He was busy inspecting a local bridge project somewhere, reports the Herald’s Chris Cassidy.

Tito courts Pelosi aides and friends

Mayoral candidate Tito Jackson, trailing badly on both the polling and fundraising fronts, held a meet-and-greet with aides to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in Washington, D.C, reports the Herald’s Dan Atkinson. Whether the meet-up was successful is questionable, in terms of money and support raised. Pelosi remains a big Marty Walsh backer, reports Atkinson.

Boston Herald

On your mark, get set … and they’re already off in Haverhill

The special election to fill former Rep. Brian Dempsey’s seat has been set for Nov. 7. The Globe’s Claire Parker has an update on an already crowded field of candidates angling to succeed Dempsey, who officially resigned Wednesday for a lobbying gig at ML Strategies. This much is known: City Councilor Thomas Sullivan will not be a candidate, reports the Eagle Tribune.

Three’s a crowd in 1st Berkshire District

Race on! Kevin Towle, a former aide to late state Rep. Gail Cariddi, became the third Democrat to announce he’ll run for the seat previously held by Cariddi. Towle could have an insider’s advantage—he’s still staffing Cariddi’s North Adams office and says he’ll work to advance economic development legislation that Cariddi had brought forward.

Berkshire Eagle

Operator of medical marijuana firm charged with insider trading

Harold Alvater, who operates Delta 9 Medical Consulting, a medical marijuana firm in Metheun and Malden, has been criminally charged with trading on inside information about Ariad Pharmaceuticals that he obtained from his wife, a former senior employee at the Cambridge biotech, reports Max Stendahl at the BBJ.

BBJ

BofA’s Annie Finucane to head Uber?

As far-fetched as it may sound, Boston-based Bank of America vice chairman Anne Finucane has reportedly been contacted about possibly heading Uber, the embattled ride-sharing firm accused of having a corporate culture just shy of being labeled an Animal House. The Globe’s Jon Chesto and Adam Vaccaro have more. In related news, Uber has promoted the former head of its Boston office to oversee the firm’s North American operations, reports the Herald.

Sunday public affairs TV

Keller at Large, WBZ-TV Channel 4, 8:30 a.m. Guests: Rep. Mark Cusack and Sen. Pat Jehlen, co-chairs of the legislature’s Marijuana Policy Committee, who discuss with host Jon Keller the compromise pot bill hammered out by lawmakers this past week.

This Week in Business, NECN, 10 a.m., Greater Boston Chamber CEO Jim Rooney on the state budget, the new marijuana law and the local impact on the failure to kill the ACA; John Valverde, chief executive of the non-profit YouthBuild; and Boston Business Journal editor Doug Banks on the top local business stories of the week.

CEO Corner, NECN, 10:30 a.m. Red Hat executive vice president Paul Cormier on the firm’s recently opened Boston office and the company’s work with Fortune 500 companies.

On the Record, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 11 a.m. This week’s guest: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Setti Warren, who talks with anchor Ed Harding and co-anchor Janet Wu.

CityLine, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 12 p.m. With host Karen Holmes Ward, this week’s focus: Where does Puerto Rico Stand?

Today's Headlines

Metro

FCC issues warnings to unlicensed radio stations in Dot, Mattapan - Dorchester Reporter

Daughter of detained MIT janitor asks Baker to intervene - Boston Globe

Massachusetts

FBI, investigators eye ‘imposter ID’ program - Boston Herald

New study to examine possible seasonal rail travel between Pittsfield and NYC - MassLive

$50 fine facing panhandlers without permits in proposal from Holyoke councilor - MassLive

Worcester counseling center co-owner allegedly received funds improperly - Telegram & Gazette

Framingham: Towner manager gets new role in city government and a raise - MetroWest Daily News

Manchester beach revenues not stalled by MBTA shutdown - Gloucester Times