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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
NEW HOUSE MEMBERS ON CAMPUS FOR FRESHMAN ORIENTATION — Newly-elected members of Congress are in Cambridge today for a traditional bipartisan orientation program at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.
"It's really going to take a high-level approach in terms of issues confronting our country, all the way down to more innovative ways for interacting with constituents and core functions of the office," Congresswoman-elect Lori Trahan told me on Monday afternoon. Speakers include former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao.
Beyond the programming, Trahan said she's looking forward to getting to know her fellow lawmakers in a more laid-back environment. The past couple of weeks in D.C. have involved lengthy leadership elections, a scramble for office space, job interviews for staffers and briefings.
"What I'm excited about going into this week is the opportunity to have meaningful conversations with my new and my future colleagues," Trahan said. "Even after two weeks of orientation, I still haven't met everybody, never mind get to know folks and their stories."
Each lawmaker will receive a Harvard-branded tote bag upon arrival, and the newly-elected members of the Massachusetts delegation plan to share a taste of the state with their fellow freshmen. Trahan is putting cookies from Lowell bakery Sweet Lydia's in the tote bags, and Congresswoman-elect Ayanna Pressley is including gift cards to minority-owned bakery Petsi Pies, which has locations in Cambridge and Somerville.
Pressley also plans to talk to the press Tuesday afternoon with Dr. Paul Farmer, co-founder of the nonprofit Partners In Health organization, about the "urgent need for a bold, progressive policy agenda" in the upcoming congress.
New members will stay at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge for the duration of the program, which ends Thursday.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker hosts the State House tree lighting with First Lady Lauren Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. Departing House lawmakers say their goodbyes in the House Chamber. Massachusetts ACLU Executive Director Carol Rose talks with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on WGBH. Gold Star families are at the State House to dedicate a tree with the Bakers, Polito and the Military Friends Foundation.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is a keynote speaker at a Boston Women's Workforce Council conference. Baker and Rep. Stephen Lynch attend a ribbon cutting at Siemens Healthineers Manufacturing Facility in Walpole. The Women's Suffrage Celebration Coalition of Massachusetts Inc. lights the Prudential Purple and Gold to commemorate women getting the right to vote. Newly-elected members of Congress, including Congresswomen-elect Ayanna Pressley and Lori Trahan are at the Harvard Kennedy School.Pressley and Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in Health talk to the press about a progressive agenda. WCVB Channel 5 raises money for people impacted by the Merrimack Valley gas explosions.
Teamsters Joint Council 10 New England Women's Committee members joins Massachusetts Veterans Affairs Secretary Francisco Ureña to mail 330 packages to U.S. service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Boston City Council Committee on Small Business and Consumer Affairs holds a public hearing on marijuana business licensing and applications processes. The Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy hears testimony on a state Rep. Jim O'Day bill regarding the National Grid lockout.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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CHARLIE'S BAKER'S TEPID HOUSING SOLUTION!
- "A year after Baker's push for more housing, it's still in limbo," by Tim Logan, Boston Globe: "Governor Charlie Baker's Act to Promote Housing Choices looks like a modest proposal. It would allow communities to change some zoning rules with a simple majority vote, instead of requiring — as state law now does — two-thirds of a local government's council or town meeting to agree. ... But a year after Baker pitched the rule change, it remains in legislative limbo, having fizzled out at the end of the formal session this summer. Now its backers, including Baker, are trying to move it through informal sessions — when a single 'no' vote can torpedo a bill."
- "Baker calls for Newton judge to be pulled from bench amid probe," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Governor Charlie Baker on Monday called on court officials to remove Newton District Judge Shelley M. Joseph from hearing criminal cases amid a federal grand jury investigation into whether court personnel helped an undocumented immigrant evade federal immigration officials. ... The comments follow a Globe report on a federal investigation into whether Joseph and court staff broke the law in helping a man with an immigration detainer leave court following a hearing in April."
- "JONES SEES CHALLENGE FOR REP. DURANT SERVING AS PARTY CHAIRMAN," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service:"Gov. Charlie Baker, the foremost figure of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said Monday he was not 'yet' getting involved in the contest to lead the party apparatus into the next election cycle, but House Minority Leader Brad Jones said he does have a preferred candidate in the race. Asked if he would seek to influence the party's selection of a new chair, Baker said, ' We haven't gotten involved yet.'"
- "DiZOGLIO FEELING 'SENSE OF FREEDOM' AS SHE JUMPS TO SENATE," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "DiZoglio, now a state representative poised to join the Senate in January, said Monday that people have quipped to her recently that she should prepare again for culture shock as she moves down the hall. Fielding a question about the transition as she spoke at a Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus breakfast, DiZoglio described herself as "sort of a maverick in the House" and said she expected ' positive differences' in the Senate."
- "BAKER ALONE WITH OPTIMISM OVER AIRBNB BILL," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "Lawmakers last week breathed new life into a consumer credit protection bill that was left unfinished when formal legislative business ended in July, but the near-term prospects for a home rental regulation bill that also came up short in July appear less bright. Lawmakers on Beacon Hill have been struggling for years to develop a system to tax and regulate short-term rentals through websites like Airbnb."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Sororities, fraternities sue Harvard over social club crackdown," by Laura Krantz, Boston Globe: "Four sororities filed a pair of lawsuits on Monday against Harvard University, claiming the school's crackdown on single-gender social clubs discriminates against women. Two fraternities as well as three individual male students also are part of the suits, which also allege that Harvard, using threats and intimidation, discourages students from exercising their rights of free association by penalizing those who join single-gender clubs."
- "Student sues Harvard over its investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman off campus," by Dialynn Dwyer, Boston.com: "An undergraduate student at Harvard is suing the school for undertaking an investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman, claiming the university is overstepping its authority by taking up a campus disciplinary process against him since the alleged rape took place "hundreds of miles away" and doesn't involve another Harvard student."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Tom Brady talks Kareem Hunt, Bill Belichick's criticism, and playing golf with President Bush," by Hayden Bird, Boston Globe: "Brady was asked about was the recent death of former President George H.W. Bush, and told a story about playing golf in Maine with former Presidents Bush and Bill Clinton. 'That was a great experience for me,' Brady said. "I got invited up there in 2006 to Kennebunkport in the summer. It was during OTAs, and I asked Coach Belichick if I could go and he allowed me to miss a day of practice. I flew up there and landed on their property and played golf with President Clinton and President Bush and Jim Nantz, who's a really good friend of President Bush's.'"
- "New report suggests Mass. revisit forgotten community college funding formula," by Ellie French, Boston Business Journal: "Massachusetts' community colleges are some of the most poorly funded in the country, but a new report suggests that a funding formula is the solution to ensure adequate money keeps flowing. 'The community college funding formula held great promise for distributing funds more rationally and with greater accountability, but we will never know if its intended results were achievable because the formula was not in place for a sufficient amount of time nor did it fully take hold as designed,' says Eileen McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation."
- "Boston area easy pickings for holiday front 'porch pirates,'" by Marie Szaniszlo, Boston Herald: "Boston may be a city of superlatives — think Patriots championships or Red Sox World Series wins — but a recent ranking put the metro area on a Top 10 list only the Grinch could love: most at risk for having holiday packages stolen."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Healey rejects several local moratoriums on marijuana businesses," by Dan Adams, Boston Globe: "The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has rejected attempts by three towns to extend their moratoriums on marijuana businesses into 2019, a setback for municipalities that have pushed the limits of state law in their efforts to delay the opening of cannabis firms. Healey's Municipal Law Unit on Monday struck down measures passed by Natick, Plympton, and Rochester that would have extended freezes on pot shops and other licensed marijuana facilities in those towns into 2019."
- "Marijuana lessons learned from Leicester: As pot shops roll out, Mass. communities brace for customer 'onslaught,'" by Eli Sherman, WickedLocal: "Plan. Plan. Plan. That's the advice Leicester Police Chief James J. Hurley is giving leaders in other communities after a barrage of marijuana-seeking out-of-towners descended on his Central Massachusetts town, knotting traffic and frustrating local residents."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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- "Red Sox accept invitation to visit the White House," by Peter Abraham, Boston Globe: "The World Series champion Red Sox have accepted an invitation to visit the White House, team president Sam Kennedy said Monday night. No date has been set. It could be in February, March or April. 'We're just starting to look at that now,' Kennedy said. 'We've accepted.' No Red Sox players will be required to attend an event that has become politically charged during the Trump presidency."
- NOT MASSACHUSETTS, BUT CLOSE ENOUGH: "Bill Gardner, 'keeper of the N.H. primary,' may be poised for a fall, thanks to Trump," by James Pindell, Boston Globe: "America's longest-serving state secretary of state and four-decade New Hampshire fixture is in the political battle of his life. But the question of whether Bill Gardner can hold on to his job next week is bigger than the fate of one politician. Some say it may also open the door for a challenge to the state's ironclad grip on the nation's first presidential primary, which makes this one small contest worth watching."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Dems' 2020 problem: Too many candidates, too few minority staffers," by Daniel Strauss, POLITICO: "Potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates in the early stages of assembling campaign staffs are running into an uncomfortable truth: Among the already small pool of capable operatives, there's an even smaller pool of nonwhite campaign managers and senior advisers. ... The emerging campaigns of some would-be candidates have tried to get a jump on the problem, compiling spreadsheets of potential minority staffers and holding discussions with the candidates about the need to assemble diverse teams. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown and Kirsten Gillibrand have had African-Americans in senior-level positions in their past campaigns, putting them in position to reactivate them if they run for president."
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| THE TSONGAS ARENA |
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- "Tsongas to host her own farewell event," by Chris Lisinski, The Lowell Sun: "As her farewell tour winds down, U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas will host an event of her own to commemorate more than a decade in office. Tsongas will welcome supporters to a brunch at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell -- the hockey arena in Lowell named for her late husband, Paul -- at 11 a.m. on Dec. 9. The event will 'celebrate all that we've accomplished together,' Tsongas herself wrote in a digital invitation."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- Markey backs Green New Deal with Ocasio-Cortez ... Sen. Ed Markey, on Twitter: "So excited to have a partner in the House in @Ocasio2018 who is ready to work on the bold, transformational action on #ClimateChange and #CleanEnergy we need. America needs a #GreenNewDeal, and we have the Congressional leadership to do it. Tweet.
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| DATELINE MERRIMACK VALLEY |
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- "With more plumbers, could Lawrence have seen faster gas service?" by Milton J. Valencia, Boston Globe: "By late October — five weeks after gas fires and explosions rocked the Merrimack Valley — the struggle to restore gas service to tens of thousands of residents was moving at a snail's pace. Hundreds of plumbers had been brought in, but they were reconnecting only 50 or so homes a day. Only about 500 of the 8,000 affected customers of Columbia Gas had seen their service restored. With cold weather fast approaching, the mayor of Lawrence and the town managers of Andover and North Andover gathered at North Andover Town Hall for a meeting. They needed a Plan B."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "TRUE LOYALTY," — Globe: "Harvard's policy hurts women, lawsuits say," "Baker seeks to penalize judge," "A PRESIDENTIAL REFLECTION." |
| ALL ABOARD |
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- "Finally, gate opens to connect Red Line and Quincy neighborhood," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "With less than 500 feet of pedestrian infrastructure, thousands of commutes around Greater Boston are set to soon improve. It started Monday morning on the South Shore, where a 200-foot walkway between the Quincy Adams Red Line station and the next-door neighborhood was opened to pedestrians for the first time in three decades."
- "Aiello on the state of the T, new revenues," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: " The head of the MBTA's oversight board says the hoped-for transformation of the transit agency has a long way to go yet. 'We're still at the very beginning,' says Joseph Aiello, the chair of the MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board. He says the collapse of the T during the winter of 2015 exposed the sorry state of the agency. 'We were probably in as dark a hole as you can possibly be in,' he says."
- "Is a fire just a mechanical issue? How the MBTA alerts riders about problems," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "A train's engine catches fire? That's a mechanical issue. A wheel falls off a coach, causing a derailment? That's a disabled train. MBTA officials have had their hands full on the commuter rail recently, with two major incidents, on the Fitchburg and Kingston lines. But amid the concerns about delayed trips and failing equipment stood another criticism from riders: The T was not offering enough detail through its service alerts about what, exactly, was going on."
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| NO PLACE LIKE THE CITY OF HOMES |
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- "Passage of Springfield 'welcoming' law for immigrants still on hold after 2-hour debate," by Peter Goonan, Springfield Republican: "The City Council gave second-step approval on Monday to an ordinance intended to create Springfield as a 'welcoming community' for immigrants regardless of their legal status, but it still needs another vote Dec. 17, for passage, and then faces a threatened mayoral veto."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire, which claimed lives of 6 firefighters, remembered 19 years later," by Melissa Hanson, MassLive.com: "The beginning of December is a somber time for the city of Worcester and its firefighters. Dec. 3 is the anniversary of the 1999 Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire, a massive blaze that claimed the lives of six Worcester firefighters."
- "Why can't we build affordable apartments?" by Joshua Solomon, Greenfield Recorder: "Five years ago a report warned the county: Make affordable housing a priority or else see your communities suffer. In the five years since that Franklin Regional Council of Governments report, and a similar white paper by Massachusetts Housing Partnership, the writing on the wall has only gotten darker: without investing in more affordable housing, a host of economic and social perils will ensue."
TRANSITIONS - Katherine Howitt was named director of the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute, a program of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. Howitt previously worked at Community Catalyst.
- Sherin and Lodgen partner Bethany A. Bartlett will chair the firm's newly-announced Renewable Energy Practice Group, focused on renewable energy and energy storage industries.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Marina McCarthy, Springfield state Rep. Angelo Puppolo and the Dorchester Reporter's Maureen Forry.
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