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By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan

10/09/2017

Ignored warnings | Rotary madness | JOB BOARD MONDAY

Happening Today

Columbus Day, Revere parade, Garden party

-- Monday is Columbus Day, a federal holiday.

-- Monday also marks General Pulaski Day in the city of Northampton, where Senate President Stanley Rosenberg will attends the Pulaski Day Mass at 10 a.m. at Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, 99 King St., 10 a.m., then marches in the Pulaski Day Parade at 11 a.m.

-- Attorney General Maura Healey helps canvass for Bristol and Norfolk Senate candidate Paul Feeney, 393 North Main St., Mansfield, 10 a.m.

-- Gov. Charlie Baker joins Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo to march in the Revere Columbus Day Parade, Revere City Hall, 281 Broadway, Revere, 1 p.m.

-- The Brookline Democratic Town Committee holds its annual garden party at the home of Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez expected to attend, 37 Hyslop Rd., Brookline, 3 p.m.

-- Immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco, a former Democratic Congressional candidate, guest-hosts ‘NightSide,” WBZ NewsRadio 1030, 8 p.m.

Today's News

Report: T ignored repeated warnings about police officer’s excessive-force conduct

This is a disturbing piece about how the T mishandled, before and after, the now infamous incident involving a transit police officer accused and convicted of pepper spraying and beating a bystander as she called 911 to report the officer’s rough treatment of another woman, as the Globe’s Shelley Murphy, Kay Lazar and Evan Allen report. Read the story. It’s a jaw dropper. The former officer, Jennifer Garvey, now serving six months in jail, previously had numerous formal complaints lodged against her for using excessive force and the initial investigation into the pepper-spraying incident was an absolute farce.

Boston Globe

Poor Dr. Seuss, Part II

They’re going at it in Springfield over recent controversies centered around Dr. Seuss books and a controversial mural. Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno is not happy with the decision by the The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum’s decision to pull a mural that three authors say contained a “jarring racial stereotype” of a Chinese man, reports Ray Kelly at MassLive. Meanwhile, Dr. Seuss fans and others are going after one of the authors, who himself stands accused of authoring books with questionable ethnic stereotypes in them (follow the links – the critics of the author have a point), as reported in a separate story by Ray Kelley at MassLive. And a city council member is upset that Sarno has invited President Trump to Springfield, following a prior controversy sparked by a Cambridge librarian who rejected Dr. Seuss books donated by First Lady Melania Trump.

MassIve

The Great Columbus Day Debate

They were waving tricolor flags from the old country yesterday in the North End, as Italian Americans in Boston and elsewhere celebrated Columbus Day, as reported at the Herald. But there’s also been Columbus Day protests and debates galore this year, especially after events in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the Globe, Roland Merullowrites about the ‘sad marriage’ between Italian Americans and Christopher Columbus. At the NYT, John M. Viola, president of the National Italian American Foundation, says it’s OK to debate whether to celebrate Columbus, but vandalizing statues is not the way to advance dialogue. At the Herald, the paper’s editorial board says holiday critics simply don’t want to acknowledge the “nuances and complexities” involved. Bottom line: Happy Columbus Day, everyone!

Sign of the times: New billboard ads for pot dispensaries

Today may be Columbus Day, but it also marks the first time billboard ads for marijuana dispensaries will be seen along roadways in Massachusetts. The Globe’s Dan Adams has the details.

Boston Globe

Is the Baker administration’s new transportation study merely a delaying action?

As they say, if you have to ask the question, you probably already know the answer. In this case, Michael Widmer, the former head of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, wonders if the Baker administration’s recent commitment to study the state’s transit system needs is merely a delaying action to avoid the question of new revenues.

CommonWealth

Experts on the North-South rail link: They like it, they actually like it

CommonWealth Bruce Mohl has a piece on how transit experts from around the nation and overseas view Boston’s transit system. Hint: They’re not terribly impressed. But they do generally like the idea of a North-South rail tunnel. Bruce has the details.

CommonWealth

From rotaries to ‘roundabouts’ …

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is now committed to a policy of retrofitting our lovably loathed traffic rotaries into “roundabouts,” as part of attempt to make them more sane and safe, reports Billy Baker at the Globe. But changes to the rotary at Exit 40 off Interstate 95 aren’t exactly wowing motorists. “This is my theory about the rotary at Exit 40: The insane traffic flow we all now deal with was created by a highway worker with a paint brush in one hand and a pint of Crown Royal in the other,” Bob Holmes wrote on Wakefield Patch, as quoted by the Globe.

Boston Globe

Oops: Alleged Tyngsboro tax-collection embezzler had previously served time for forgery

The former Tyngsboro assistant tax collector who is accused of stealing as much as $450,000 in cash tax payments and doctoring the town’s books to cover her tracks had a felony conviction on her record for forgery at the time she was hired, Amaris Castillo and Robert Mills of the Lowell Sun report. The official who hired her admits that no criminal record check was done before hiring Nancy Dutton in 2002, a review that would have turned up her 1997 conviction, for which she spent a year on probation and was ordered to pay back nearly $8,000.

Lowell Sun

In Lawrence, non-endorsement sparks talk of back-room deal

Lawrence is at it again. As the city preps for a mayoral showdown between incumbent Daniel Rivera and former mayor William Lantigua, the decision by the third-place finisher in the recent preliminary election not to endorse either candidate has sparked talk of a back-room deal. Keith Eddings of the Eagle-Tribune lays out the facts, which include moves by Mayor Rivera to settle a long-pending wrongful termination suit by a former city worker with ties to the campaign of third-place finisher Jorge Jaime. Lantigua tells Eddings he was expecting an endorsement from Jaime that never arrived.

Eagle Tribune

‘You know how the state says private contractors are so much better than T workers?’

WCVB reports that two MBTA subcontractors, working for MANCON LLC, were arrested and charged with effectively looting copper wire, connecting cables and other items from a MBTA facility. We liked Universal Hub’s headline, which quickly gets to the point regarding the privatization angle of this story: ‘You know how the state says private contractors are so much better than T workers?’

WCVB

Elizabeth Warren gives charity $5,000 in donations received from disgraced Hollywood mogul

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats are quickly dumping donations given to them by Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein, a long-time Democratic donor who is now accused of being a serial sexual harasser of women, reports the AP at Boston.com. Warren spokeswoman Kristen Orthman said the senator is giving $5,000 to Casa Myrna, Boston’s largest provider of services to domestic violence victims.

Btw: We didn’t think it possible, but a reporter for the NYT, Brooks Barnes, and the Herald’s Howie Carr are on the same page when it comes to the Harvey Weinstein scandal: The silence out of Hollywood is deafening. From Barnes: “Welcome to Hollywood, where people love to wag self-righteous fingers — over the past year, awards shows have become a platform for industry bigwigs to rail against the Trump administration — but run for cover whenever the topic casts show business in an unflattering light.”

Boston.com

Breaking news: The Wehrmacht invades Stow -- again

The Wehrmacht unleashed a steady barrage of gunfire and Allied forces were forced to retreat in a battle for a vital airfield in Stow over the weekend. But fear not: Our boys always prevail in this now annual WWII re-enactment that’s become surprisingly popular over the years. Jeff Malachowski at Wicked Local has the details.

MetroWest Daily News

Healey files suit over Trump’s new contraceptive rule

From Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive: “Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is suing President Donald Trump over new rules allowing companies to opt out of contraception coverage. ... ‘The Trump administration's actions today are a direct attack on women's health and the right to access affordable and reliable contraception,’ Healey said in a statement. ‘By gutting this mandate, the religious belief of employers will replace the basic right of a woman to care for herself and her family," Healey added.’”

MassLive

‘A watershed moment for African-American women’

Joyce Ferriabough Bolling celebrates the recent political successes of African-American women in preliminary elections in Boston and Framingham, declaring: “You can definitely call this primary election a watershed moment for African-American women.”

Boston Herald

The Democratic Party’s quiet civil war: Liberals versus liberals

The NYT had a big piece over the weekend about how the ‘Resistance’ movement is now challenging the liberal establishment within the Democratic Party – and it’s starting to get six- and seven-figure donations from major liberal donors. “The tug of war — more than the lingering squabble between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — foreshadows a once-in-a-generation reorganization of the American left,” writes Kenneth P. Vogel.

NYT

Nassour: Republicans should target Corrections as part of criminal-justice reform

Jennifer Nassour, former chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party and a board member at MassINC, make a lot of good points why Republicans should embrace criminal-justice reform on Beacon Hill as it applies to the Department of Corrections and those who are suffering from addiction and mental illness within the system. What she says is largely true about how Democrats have used the department, particularly Probation, as a patronage playpen over the years. But Republicans need Democratic support to reform Corrections, so if she’s serious about getting reform results, you have to wonder if bashing Dems is the best way to get that support.

Boston Herald

Walsh has been anything but a doormat for unions

Despite the union-related controversies swirling around the Walsh administration, Mayor Walsh, a former labor leader, has been anything but a doormat for city unions, butting heads with labor on a number of issues, reports Milton Valencia at the Globe.

Boston Globe

Shaheen calls for hearing on Russian hackers’ use of Kaspersky Lab software to steal U.S. secrets

New Hampshire’s U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is calling for a hearing on reports that antivirus software produced by Kaspersky Lab, the Russian software firm whose US headquarters are in Woburn, was used by hackers working for the Russian government to steal details on how the U.S. government defends against cyberattacks, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. “The breach is the first known incident in which Kaspersky software is believed to have been exploited by Russian hackers to conduct espionage against the U.S. government,” the WSJ reports.

WSJ (pay wall)

State backs off rule changes to adult health centers

From Priyanka Dayal McCluskey at the Globe: “State health officials have committed to changing a plan to implement new rules for day health centers for sick and frail adults after drawing a torrent of concerns that their plan risked cutting critical services for thousands of people. MassHealth, which covers the state’s poor and elderly residents, proposed new rules several weeks ago in an effort to tighten oversight and ensure ‘program integrity.’ But the proposal caused a backlash in the adult day health industry.”

Boston Globe

The grandeur and the glory: Worcester’s renovated Union Station becomes OD hot spot

This is definitely not what city and state leaders had in mind when they poured $30 million into the renovation of Union Station in the heart of downtown Worcester less than a decade ago: Mark Sullivan of the Telegram reports the station leads the city’s count of opioid-related overdose locations, with 16 incidents reported in the past year.

Meanwhile, the UK’s Daily Mail takes a look at Boston’s own battle with public drug use along the ‘methadone mile’ near Boston Medical Center.

Tanglewood enriches Berkshire homeowners to the tune of $2 million, via Airbnb

The summer season at Tanglewood has been very, very good to Berkshires homeowners who use Airbnb, Clarence Fanto of the Berkshire Eagle reports. Airbnb says 1,000 homeowners in a dozen communities rented rooms to some 10,000 tourists, staff and musicians connected to Tanglewood during its summer festival season.

Berkshire Eagle

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Today's Headlines

Metro

Harvard in a stealthy courtship to find its next leader - Boston Globe

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and challenger Tito Jackson make their cases in Dorchester - WGBH

Massachusetts

Growing number of craft beer breweries opening on South Shore - Patriot Ledger

Report: Tanglewood season nets $2 million for Berkshires homeowners - Berkshire Eagle

Mount Auburn CEO out-earned every hospital exec in state last year - Boston Business Journal

State Senate race: Most candidates back online lottery - Lowell Sun

Nation