By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan

08/18/2018

Name changes | GOP's super move | Felix is back

Pre-rally Interfaith gathering, Diehl and Walsh on the air

American Red Cross hosts Worcester's first Battle of the Badges, in which Worcester police officers and firefighters compete to see who can recruit the most people to donate blood, DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Worcester, 10 a.m. ... State Rep. Geoff Diehl, a candidate for U.S. Senate, is the scheduled guest on ‘Boston Public Radio,’ WGBH-FM 89.7, 11:30 a.m. ... Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, U.S. Rep. James McGovern, and state Rep. Peter Kocot are scheduled to attend the Northampton Senior Center's 10th anniversary cookout, 67 Conz St., Northampton, 11:30 a.m. ... Boston Mayor Martin Walsh is a guest on ‘Boston Public Radio,’ WGBH-FM 89.7, 12 p.m. ... Greater Boston Interfaith Organization holds a gathering to ‘send a message of unity and diversity in the face of hate’ ahead of Saturday's right-wing rally on Boston Common, 477 Longwood Avenue, Boston, 5 p.m. ... Former Treasurer Tim Cahill guest-hosts "NightSide," WBZ NewsRadio 1030, 8 p.m.

Today's News

Red Sox seek name change for Yawkey Way, citing racist legacy of past owner

Saying he’s “haunted” by the racist legacy of his legendary predecessor Tom Yawkey, current Red Sox owner John Henry said he’s open to renaming Yawkey Way next to Fenway Park, reports the Herald’s Michael Silverman. The name change, which would need city approval, comes amid racial turmoil over right-wing violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Trump’s much criticized response to the events in Charlottesville and a right-wing rally planned for this weekend on Boston Common. The Globe’s Mark Arsenault has more on Henry’s thoughts on a name change and the Sox’s legacy of racism tied to Yawkey.

Boston Herald

Rename Faneuil Hall? Its namesake was a slave owner, after all

As Red Sox owner John Henry moves to rename Fenway’s Yawkey Way due to the past racism of ex-team owner Tom Yawkey, Kevin Peterson, of the New Democracy Coalition, has another idea: He’s urging the city of Boston to drop the name of Faneuil Hall because its namesake, Peter Faneuil, was a slave owner and trader and it’s an “embarrassment to this city,” reports WCVB. MassLive reports that Mayor Walsh didn’t reject Peterson’s idea, before apparently ducking for cover while muttering that he was busy with other stuff.

Btw: Protesters are demanding that a statue of Teddy Roosevelt be taken down in New York, the Guardian reports. Teddy was a racist, though not a slave holder, critics say. So he was more like a Tom Yawkey than a Peter Faneuil. Then again, so was Abraham Lincoln, described in this NYT piece as a racist, albeit an “anti-slavery white supremacist.” We’re merely pointing out where all this logic leads to eventually and inevitably.

WCVB

KKK leader says Klan members will be at tomorrow’s rally

This isn’t good. Christopher Gavin at Wicked Local and Dan Atkinson at the Herald report that the national leader of the Ku Klux Klan is saying members of the Klan will be showing up at tomorrow’s planned “free speech” rally on Boston Common, even though organizers of the right-wing event say their rally isn’t about white supremacism.

Meanwhile, the Globe’s Travis Andersen takes a look at the four controversial “headliners” who are expected to attend the rally, while the Globe’s Nestor Ramos writes about how one local guy, who may or may not attend the event, was recently outed online as a prominent participant in last weekend’s violent right-wing rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. One person who probably won’t be showing up: A white supremacist from Keene, N.H. who is wanted for arrest on charges in Virginia, the Globe reports.

Tens of thousands of counterdemonstrators poised to rally and march tomorrow

The Globe’s Meghan Irons has a good roundup of the planned counterdemonstrations this weekend in Boston, with potentially tens of thousands of people participating in a march and protests in opposition to the controversial “free speech” rally being organized by right-wing groups.

Boston Globe

Beacon Hill leaders condemn the rise of right-wing extremism

Beacon Hill’s Big Three were standing shoulder to shoulder yesterday in opposition to the rise of right-wing extremism. From Shira Schoenberg at MassLive: “Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate President Stan Rosenberg and members of the Massachusetts House and Senate signed resolutions on Thursday condemning white nationalism and neo-Nazism in the wake of violence at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginian.” The Globe’s Jim O’Sullivan has more on the united condemnation by State House leaders. Here’s the actual state proclamation.

MassLive

Baker and Walsh slam Trump’s ‘defense of white supremacists’ and giving ‘rhetorical aid’ to Nazis

In a joint globe op-ed, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, and Mayor Marty Walsh, a Democrat, say they’re taking every precaution to make sure violence doesn’t break out during this weekend’s planned right-wing rally on Boston Common and assert their commitment to civil rights. But they also take a strong shot at President Trump. “We were shocked by the president’s failure to take a clear stand in the aftermath of the events in Charlottesville, and we are disturbed by his subsequent defense of white supremacists. It is a sad state of affairs when the leader of a nation that went to war to defeat Nazism gives rhetorical aid and comfort to its latter-day domestic adherents.”

Boston Globe

He’s back (almost): Felix D. Arroyo to return to Suffolk register’s post

After serving a long paid suspension, Felix D. Arroyo, register of Suffolk County Probate Court, will be returning to his job later this fall, reports both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. But the return of Arroyo, suspended in February amid questions about his job performance, comes with administrative restrictions from the state Trial Court – and Arroyo isn’t happy about that, writes Jan Ransom at the Globe.

UMass Memorial Health Care pulls out of Baker’s Medicaid restructuring program

The Baker administration is pushing ahead with plans to vastly expand the internal restructuring of the state’s massive Medicaid program, via a new “accountable care” model of services that will affect more than 850,000 MassHealth enrollees, reports SHNS’s Michael Norton (pay wall). The administration yesterday announced the 17 health care organizations that will take part in the rollout next year. But UMass Memorial Health Care won’t be among them, opting to drop out of the program due to its fear the financial risks are too great, the Globe’s Priyanka Dayal McCluskey reports.

UMass online courses set records, eclipses $100M in revenue

We had no idea. From David Harris at the BBJ: “The University of Massachusetts said it set new records for online course enrollment and revenue in fiscal 2017. UMassOnline course enrollments reached 75,565 for that fiscal year, up 6.6 percent from the previous year, while revenue surpassed $100 million for the first time ever, up 9.2 percent from fiscal 2016.”

BBJ

Mass. Republicans push ‘super delegate’ idea that could help Baker – and hurt Diehl

Isn’t this roughly what national Democrats did last year to ensure that Hillary Clinton was the party’s nominee for president? We could be wrong. Anyway, the Globe’s Frank Phillips reports that the Massachusetts Republican Party is eyeing the idea of doubling the number of “super” delegates at its April convention, in a move that would give party insiders more clout in shaping the U.S. Senate primary and state ticket next year. That would help Gov. Charlie Baker, who wants a more moderate GOP ticket, and potentially harm state Rep. Geoff Diehl, a conservative running for U.S. Senate. The Diehl camp isn’t happy.

Boston Globe

Harvard study: North South Rail Link won’t cost as much as many think

From Don Seiffert at the BBJ: “A new study conducted by Harvard University students and faculty, due to be released Thursday, says the North South Rail Link could be built for as little as $3.8 billion for a slimmed-down version or as much as $5.8 billion for a larger one — both significantly smaller than the most recent previous cost estimates for the project.”

BBJ

Thousands sign petition demanding the firing of Springfield cop who mocked Charlottesville crash

Back to the post-Charlottesville fallout, via Dan Glaun at MassLive: “Over 2,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the firing of Conrad Lariviere, a Springfield police officer under fire for mocking the anti-racist demonstrators run down by a car during protests in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday. ‘Hahahaha love this, maybe people shouldn't block roads,’ Lariviere (wrote).”

MassLive

Dudley highway chief put on leave after posting racial slur on Facebook

Can the news on the local racism front get any worse? Unfortunately, the answer is probably yes. Daniel W. Gion, highway administrator for the town of Dudley, was put on paid leave earlier this week after becoming infuriated watching a CNN broadcast and later referring to an African-American guest on CNN, Symone Sanders, as a “stupid porch monkey.” Michelle Williams at MassLive has the details on the latest social-media warrior who apparently watches way too much cable news.

MassLive

Virtual slavery: Labor trafficking in Massachusetts

Gerry Tuoti at Wicked Local has the third installment of a series on human trafficking in Massachusetts, this story focusing on labor trafficking that frankly borders on a form of slavery, unless you don’t think that forcing an immigrant couple, at gunpoint, to work 100 hours per week and paying them only $3,600 over the course of 15 months isn’t a form of slavery.

Wicked Local

Polito sticks it to Rhode Island: ‘I think Worcester is a great city’ for the PawSox!

They must be fuming down in Little Rhody, after Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said Worcester and other Massachusetts cities would make terrific host cities for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Melissa Hanson at MassLive has the details.

MassLive

DPH Commissioner: Spike in opioid deaths the most lethal medical phenomenon since the HIV/AIDS epidemic

The latest report from the Baker administration on the opioid crisis is indeed grim. From Mark Herz at WGBH: “Five times as many opioid-related deaths last year as in 2000— that’s just one of the grim findings from the new report. And the state’s Department of Public Health says that number may still be an underestimate. ‘Not since the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 80s and 90s has Massachusetts seen such a sharp increase in a single category of deaths,’ said Dr. Monica Bharel, the commissioner of the DPH.”

WGBH

Representatives: Baker’s detention bill a page out of Trump’s playbook

State Reps. Byron Rushing, Denise Provost, Mike Connolly and Antonio Cabral, all four of them Democrats, co-author an opinion piece at CommonWealth magazine in which they blast Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed immigrant detention bill: “The governor’s legislation would, in effect, enact President Trump’s plan to expand the scope of who will be detained and deported here in Massachusetts. Baker claims his legislation is limited to violent offenders but in practice his bill would allow the detention of people that the police would otherwise have no justification to keep in custody.”

CommonWealth

Massachusetts can no longer brag its economy is stronger than the U.S. economy

First the good news: The state’s unemployment rate held steady last month, after consistent increases through the first half of the year. Now the disappointing news, via the BBJ: “For the first time in nearly a decade, Massachusetts residents are no more likely to be employed than their peers across the country. The state’s unemployment rate stayed at 4.3 percent last month, while the U.S. rate dropped slightly to 4.3 percent.” To be fair: 4.3 percent is still considered “full employment,” so we can’t complain too much.

BBJ

Sunday public affairs TV

Keller at Large, WBZ-TV Channel 4, 8:30 a.m. Guest: U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, who talks with host Jon Keller about the Charlottesville aftermath, the infrastructure, tax reform and local politics.

This is New England, NBC Boston Channel 10, 9:30 a.m. With host Latoyia Edwards, this week’s topics: Charlottesville, solar eclipse and Guam

This Week in Business, NECN, 10 a.m. Greater Boston Chamber CEO Jim Rooney talks about the CEO response to Donald Trump’s remarks Charlottesville, the new MBTA general manager, plans for the BCEC, and the North South rail link; Boston Lyft general manager Tyler George on the company’s major growth spurt; and Boston Business Journal editor Doug Banks discusses the top local business stories of the week.

CEO Corner, NECN, 10:30 a.m. Charles Trevail, the CEO of C Space, talks about how the international branding business aims to make companies more human.

On The Record, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 11 a.m. This week’s guest: Mayor Marty Walsh, who speaks with anchor Ed Harding and co-anchor Janet Wu.

Today's Headlines

Metro

Red Sox seek name change for Yawkey Way - Boston Herald

Locals, KKK group to attend, protest Boston Free Speech Rally - Wicked Local

Tens of thousands of counterdemonstrators may turn out to protest rally - Boston Globe

Rename Faneuil Hall? Leader suggests change due to slavery ties - WCVB

Harvard study: North South Rail Link would cost less than thought - BBJ

Suffolk Register of Probate to return from suspension - Boston Globe

Massachusetts

2,000 people sign petition calling for firing of Conrad Lariviere, Springfield cop who mocked Charlottesville crash - MassLive

Mass. officials slam President Donald Trump, sign resolution condemning Nazism - MassLive