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By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan

11/09/2017

Blame Donald | Lynn scramble | Trooper-gate

Happening Today

Gaming commission, SJC hearing, health-care debate

-- Massachusetts Technology Collaborative executive director and CEO Tim Connelly presents at Bay Path University's Cybersecurity Summit., 588 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow, 8:30 a.m.

-- Treasurer Deborah Goldberg speaks at the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board Investor Client Conference, College of the Holy Cross, Hogan Campus Center, 1st floor, 1 College St., Worcester, 8:45 a.m.

-- The Supreme Judicial Court will hear two impounded cases as well as Shannon Ewing v. Patty Davenport-Mello, a pro se case that involves medical treatment at correctional facilities, John Adams Courthouse, Courtroom One, Second Floor, Pemberton Square, Boston, 9 a.m.

-- The MassDevelopment board of directors holds its monthly public board meeting, with Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash attending, 99 High St., Boston, 9 a.m.

-- Gaming Commission is scheduled to vote on 2018 racing license applications, receive a quarterly report from Wynn Boston Harbor and a report about a newly designed MassGaming.com, 101 Federal St., 12th floor, Boston, 10 a.m.

-- Attorney General Maura Healey participates in the Greater Boston Food Bank's annual Chain of Giving event. (Thursday, 70 South Bay Ave., Boston, 10 a.m.

-- The Senate continues debate on a health care reform bill, Gardner Auditorium, 11 a.m.

-- Inspector General Council meets with Inspector General Glenn Cunha attending, Inspector General's Office, One Ashburton Place, Room 1311, Boston, 11 a.m.

-- US Senate candidate Rep. Geoff Diehl holds a ‘major press conference being the first candidate to announce a coalition and a major policy plan,’ Braintree DAV, 788 Liberty St., Braintree, 11 a.m.

-- House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets holds an oversight hearing on the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Hearing Room B-1, 1 p.m.

-- Deadline for representatives to file their amendments to a criminal justice bill the House plans to take up next week, 5 p.m.

-- Action for Boston Community Development inducts U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and state Rep. Byron Rushing into the ABCD Hall of Fame and recognizes 22 ‘outstanding community heroes’ at a dinner and awards ceremony, 110 Huntington Ave., Boston, 6 p.m.

Today's News

Credit Trump for local election wins by women?

It’s a little bit of a stretch to say it all traces back to Donald Trump. But it’s not that big of a stretch. The Globe’s Stephanie Ebbert takes a look at the strong showing of female candidates across the state on Tuesday, connecting more than a few dots between here and 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Ruthanne Fuller, elected Newton’s first female mayor Tuesday, tells the Boston Herald her election victory was all about inclusiveness and local issues. The Globe’s Joan Vennochi is marveling at what happened in Boston’s district races. “For Boston, just having a critical mass of six female councilors represents a dramatic sea change,” she writes.

Credit Trump with future GOP losses across the country?

The Globe’s Astead Herndon has a good piece on how the Trump political formula didn’t exactly pan out as planned in Virginia and elsewhere on Tuesday. The New York Times reports on how “American suburbs appear to be in revolt” against Trump and how Democrats are beginning to think they may yet recapture control of the U.S. Senate next year. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports on the “ferocious debate across the Republican Party on Wednesday over whether President Trump’s unorthodox behavior and polarizing agenda are jeopardizing the GOP’s firm grip on power in Congress, governors’ mansions and state legislatures.”

The big local question: How will all of this impact Republican Gov. Charlie Baker's bid for re-election next year?

Contenders line up for McGee’s senate seat

It’s always about the next election. Now that state Sen. Thomas McGee is mayor-in-waiting in the city of Lynn, talk of who will seek to replace him in the Senate is heating up quickly. Thomas Grillo of the Lynn Item reports that state Rep. Brendan Crighton, a Lynn Democrat, says he is in and that Mayor Judith Flanagan, a Republican who McGee crushed in Tuesday’s election, has also suggested she might run.

Lynn Item

But mayor-elect Paul Heroux won’t resign House seat out of fear a ‘very popular’ woman might win it

Attleboro’s new mayor-elect, none other than state Rep. Paul Heroux, says he’s hanging on to his legislative job through next year’s elections, in part to give Democrats a better chance of holding the seat, reports SHNS’s Andy Metzger at the Telegram. So who is he nervous about possibly winning the seat? Apparently Republican City Councilor Julie Hall, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who Heroux, without naming her, admits is “very popular.” Fyi: Metzger points out how the future two-jobs Heroux made public pay an issue during the the mayoral race.

SHNS (pay wall)

Maps, stats and more …

Here’s a statewide roundup, with numbers, of Tuesday’s major election results from across Massachusetts, via the Globe. Zeroing in on Boston, here’s a neighborhood map of mayoral election results, via WBUR. The Globe has a precinct-by-precinct results map, for all the hard-core number crunchers. WGBH’s Peter Kadzis has some thoughts on Tuesday’s huge win for Marty Walsh. We liked this one: “Only in Boston is the size of a loss big news.” From the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld: “Mayor Martin J. Walsh needs to use his sweeping election mandate to step up his efforts to deliver affordable housing, crack down harder on corruption and take a more hands-on approach to the city’s schools.” Got that, mayor? Get on it.

Rest, relax, then get ready for a busy 2018 election year

Contests for governor, the U.S. Senate and House, legislative seats and contentious statewide ballot questions will all be decided by voters next year across Massachusetts, not just in 73 communities, like Tuesday’s elections, and so rest up, folks. It’s going to be a hectic political year indeed. SHNS’s Matt Murphy at Wicked Local has the details.

Wicked Local

Trooper-gate: Bennett denies ordering police report to be changed

The Baker administration now finds itself in a classic who-knew-what-and-when controversy. From Brian Dowling at the Herald: “The state’s public safety chief is denying he ordered embarrassing comments scrubbed from a police report detailing the arrest of a Worcester County judge’s daughter on drug and drunken driving charges. Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Secretary Daniel Bennett ‘never asked, nor was he ever asked to do anything with the police report in question,’ office spokesman Felix Browne said yesterday in a statement to the Herald.”

The Herald’s Howie Carr: “How far up does this ‘Do-you-know-who-I-am’ cover-up go? Pretty far up would be my guess.” Here’s the original Globe story detailing the allegations.

Boston Herald

Former WCVB anchor Heather Unruh drives another nail in Kevin Spacey’s career coffin

Actor Kevin Spacey’s career was already in near ruins due to multiple accusations that he was a sexual predator. Then along comes former WCVB anchor Heather Unruh, with perhaps the most detailed allegation yet. From Spencer Buell at Boston Magazine: “Unruh in a press conference revealed that her son has filed a report with the Nantucket Police Department alleging that the House of Cards star groped him at the Club Car Restaurant in Nantucket in July of 2016, sticking his hand down her 18-year-old son’s pants and grabbing his genitals after buying him several drinks at the upscale eatery.”

Boston.com has a video of her televised press conference. The Boston Globe and MassLive and Hollywood Reporter and the BBC and Huffington Post (you get the idea) have more.

Boston Magazine

House approves birth-control mandate

This was expected but still important. From Danny McDonald at the Globe: “House lawmakers Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ensure access to free birth control in the state and shield state residents from changes to federal law regarding contraceptive coverage requirements. ... The measure includes a provision requiring health insurers to continue offering coverage — without co-payments — for prescription contraceptives regardless of changes in federal policy.” The bill now heads to the Senate.

Boston Globe

Baker to seek more funds for influx of Puerto Rican students

From SHNS’s Matt Murphy at SouthCoast Today: “Gov. Charlie Baker plans to request additional school funding from the Legislature to help cities pay for the education of hundreds of children who have arrived from Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria battered the Caribbean island in September.”

SouthCoast Today

Sound retreat: New owner of WBZ now says it will keep employees, recognize union

IHeartMedia officials swaggered into WBZ-AM’s offices last week like corporate bigshots on an Office Space mission. Today, they appear a little more humble, reports the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld.

Boston Herald

Could Fenway Park become UMass football’s home away from home?

We thought Gillette Stadium was UMass football’s home away from home. But Fenway Sports Management apparently has other ideas, assuming it continues with its current “Fenway Gridiron Series,” as Mark Chiarelli reports at MassLIve. The upcoming FGS look pretty damn good, btw: Dartmouth vs Brown (Friday), UMass vs Maine (Saturday) and BC vs Maine (next Saturday).

MassLive

Wynn eyes purchase of T repair shop in Everett

This is interesting. From Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine: “Wynn Resorts is interested in purchasing a massive MBTA repair facility adjacent to the Everett property where it is building a $2.4 billion hotel and casino, but so far has made no formal offer. Several sources confirmed Wynn and state transportation officials have kicked around the idea of the Las Vegas casino developer purchasing the property.”

CommonWealth

State Street’s CEO-in-waiting regrets law-school plagiarism incident

This is not the type of headline a corporation wants to see a day after it announces its new CEO-designate. In this case, it’s State Street Corp. and Ronald O’Hanley having to address a plagiarism incident dating back to when O’Hanley was in law school. State Street and O’Hanley say he previously told the company about the controversy – and State Street is standing by him. The Globe’s Beth Healy has the details.

Boston Globe

Leominster write-in candidate may seek recount

Back to the subject of Tuesday’s elections: Recount alert! Kenneth Ricker, who lost to incumbent Mayor Dean Mazzarella by 210 votes on Tuesday, has pulled papers for a possible recount, Paul Owen reports in the Telegram. Ricker was a write-in candidate against the mayor, who is slated to to start his record 13th term in office in January.

Election results mean Lowell high-school siting controversy far from over

As the dust settles from Tuesday’s election in Lowell, results show a majority of City Council and school board members now support keeping Lowell High School downtown, despite the city’s official stance that it wants to build a $300 million school at Cawley Stadium, Todd Feathers of the Lowell Sun reports. A non-binding referendum on the school siting issue also found a strong majority of voters in favor of keeping the school downtown.

Lowell Sun

Affordable housing lands on would-be casino site in Milford

Almost four years after Milford voters busted a plan to put a Foxwoods-backed casino on a former quarry site near I-495, the owner of the property has come forward with a plan to erect a 300-unit affordable housing complex on the site, Zachary Comeau of the Worcester Business Journal reports. The town will begin review of the proposed 40B project next month.

WBJ

Together again: Panera to buy Au Bon Pain, nearly twenty years after selling it

Panera Bread, which once owned Boston’s Au Bon Pan before selling it off in 1999, has announced it is effectively buying the chain back for an undisclosed sum, reports the BBJ’s David Harris. There’s yet another connection: Ron Shaich, Panera’s founder, chairman and CEO, and his late partner Louis Kane created Au Bon Pain Co. Inc. in 1981.

BBJ

Today's Headlines

Metro

Sexual misconduct reported among professors at Berklee College of Music - WBUR

Report: Boston venture capital on fundraising tear - Boston Business Journal

Massachusetts

Time for state to catch up on Airbnb tax - CommonWealth Magazine

Mass. House approves co-pay-free conception - WGBH

7 takeaways from Worcester’s municipal election - Telegram & Gazette

Cape’s regional government sidetracked by #metoo controversy - Cape Cod Times

Women now a majority on Attleboro City Council - Sun Chronicle

Nation