09/18/2017 06:54 AM EDT
By Lauren Dezenski (ldezenski@politico.com; @LaurenDezenski) and Rebecca Morin (rmorin@politico.com; @RebeccaMorin_)
GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Patchy fog and mostly cloudy today with a high of 72.
RICHIE WANTS CHARLIE ON THE LINE - As Senate Republicans gear up to attempt another repeal of Obamacare in Washington, one of DC's most plugged-in Democrats will start this week with a call to Gov. Charlie Baker. Rep. Richard Neal plans to enlist Baker to help stop fellow Republicans from moving forward on the Graham-Cassidy health care bill this week, and will reach out to Baker about it first thing today, Neal told attendees at his town hall in Pittsfield on Friday night.
Baker has "been a good ally on this stuff," Neal told me afterward. "He's been really very, very, helpful to us on this and he's overwhelmingly sided with us on these complex parts of the health care debate."
Neal's got a point since Baker has already gone on the record against Graham-Cassidy. Baker panned the proposal earlier this month, saying it would have "dramatically negative" effects on Massachusetts while testifying in front of the Senate.
As for criticism from Massachusetts Democrats that Baker isn't making his voice heard loudly enough in the health care debate, Neal disagreed. "He's been very assertive," he said.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: ldezenski@politico.com.
TODAY - Gov. Charlie Baker attends a Republican Governors Association event in Chicago. Acting Gov. Karyn Polito hits two events in Worcester including the Metropolitan Area Planning Council's Municipal Conference - Sen. Ed Markey holds a press conference on Donald Trump's visit to this week's UN General Assembly - Attorney General Maura Healey heads to western Massachusetts for events including a roundtable discussion on the opioid epidemic in North Adams.
WEATHERWATCH: JOSE LATEST - "Forecast: Jose Brings Some Rain Later This Week," by David Epstein, WBUR: "Beginning Monday, our weather will dominated by what is currently Hurricane Jose which will weaken to a tropical storm as it moves north closer to New England and over colder water. Eventually the storm will stop impacting the area, likely later Wednesday or Thursday."
** A message from PhRMA: Ever wonder who decides what you pay for your medicines? It's not who you might think. Biopharmaceutical companies set the list prices for their medicines, but it's your insurer that decides how much you pay out of pocket. More than one-third of the list price is rebated back to middlemen, but these savings aren't always shared with patients. http://onphr.ma/2uiAQVk **
DATELINE BEACON HILL -
- "Environmental Police director's staff overhaul draws scrutiny," by Todd Feathers, Lowell Sun: "Four months into his tenure as director of the Massachusetts Environmental Police, Col. James McGinn sent word to his superiors that he was planning a shakeup of the agency's management. ... The changes, which included several moves that appear to violate the department's own policies, set off a flurry of emails and meetings between McGinn, senior staff in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, lawyers, human resources staff, and the Civil Service Commission."
- "Bus mechanics slam bonus for MBTA boss," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "The T is soliciting offers from private companies to take over three of the agency's nine bus garages, saving about $12 million a year. The plan would cut 20 percent of the mechanics' workforce and has sparked protests from union workers, who have called on officials to instead reduce costs by renegotiating their labor contract."
- "Speaker Robert DeLeo backs Suffolk Downs for Amazon HQ," by Shira Schoenberg, Masslive.com: "House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, is urging Amazon to consider building its second headquarters at Suffolk Downs in Boston. DeLeo made his comments to the Revere Chamber of Commerce in his hometown, then repeated in a tweet: 'Highly educated workforce makes MA the ideal place for @amazon. As I said @reverechamber, I encourage Amazon to consider Suffolk Downs site.'"
TRUMPACHUSETTS -
- "Region shunned in White House appointments," by Christian M. Wade, Salem News: "But as President Donald Trump moves to fill vacancies in his administration, Bay State politicians from both parties are mostly getting the cold shoulder. Of more than 200 nominees to top administration posts sent to the Senate for confirmation since Trump took office in January, four are from the Bay State, according to a review of White House nominations to date. All are Republicans."
THE WARREN REPORT -
- "Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey introducing bills in reaction to Equifax data breach," by the Associated Press: "Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation aimed at giving control over credit and personal information to consumers and preventing credit reporting agencies from profiting off of consumers' information during a freeze. Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey joined with Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse to introduce a bill giving consumers the right to stop data brokers from selling personal information for marketing purposes."
- "Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Democrats working with President Donald Trump on DACA: 'Yay!,'" by Shira Schoenberg, Masslive.com: "What does U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive Democrat from Massachusetts, think about Republican President Donald Trump collaborating with Democratic leadership on immigration? 'Yay!' exclaimed Warren, when asked by a reporter in Boston on Friday."
ON THE STUMP -
- "Democrats hope to use charter school campaign against Baker," by Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press: "Democrats looking for a political toehold in their campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Charlie Baker in next year's election have seized on the revelation that Baker's education chairman made a previously unacknowledged donation totaling nearly $500,000 to a group supporting last year's charter school ballot question."
- "Democratic candidates make cases to WMass voters, take aim at Gov. Charlie Baker at 1st gubernatorial debate," by Shannon Young, Masslive.com: "Despite making the case for their respective gubernatorial campaigns, Democrats seeking the corner office on Beacon Hill offered a unified front in their party's effort to defeat incumbent Republican Gov. Charlie Baker in November 2018. Meeting for the first debate of the gubernatorial contest, Democratic hopefuls Jay Gonzalez, a former CEO of CeltiCare Health and ex-budget chief for former Gov. Deval Patrick; Robert K. Massie, an environmentalist and entrepreneur; and Newton Mayor Setti Warren squared-off over economic, transportation and other issues."
- "Our Revolution drops Somerville mayoral candidate's endorsement," by Frank Phillips, Boston Globe: "Payton Corbett's long-shot ambitions to replace Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone got a bit longer this week. After the Boston Globe published some of Corbett's politically incorrect Facebook posts from several years ago, Our Revolution Somerville - the Bernie Sanders-affiliated activist group - pulled its endorsement of the local Teamster official."
- "Vargas announces Boston fundraiser in quest for state seat," by Peter Francis, Eagle-Tribune: "In his pursuit of the Democratic nomination for the special election for the 3rd Essex District seat, City Councilor Andy Vargas is getting support from outside the city. On Monday, Sept. 18, three of the heaviest hitters in Boston politics - state Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, and Boston City Council President Michelle Wu - will be chairing a campaign event for the 24-year old councilor at Market Restaurant in Boston."
- "Rep. Kevin Kuros to challenge longtime Register of Deeds Anthony Vigliotti," by Susan Spencer, Worcester Telegram: "State Rep. Kevin J. Kuros of Uxbridge plans to challenge longtime Worcester Register of Deeds Anthony J. Vigliotti next year, saying it's time to bring a fresh perspective to the position. Mr. Vigliotti, 74, a Democrat, was first elected to the position in 1972, bringing his tenure to 46 years by the fall 2018 election."
WOOD WAR - Herald: "ACID ATTACKS STRIKES BC STUDENTS ABROAD," "RUNAWAY!" "SEAN SPICES UP EMMYS" - Globe: "Four BC students attacked in France," "Local effort snuffing out push for legal pot," "Boston's problem properties," "26 city schools at risk of facing state overhauls," "MARCHING OVER SAINTS," "The ravenous appetite for our data, Web habits."
THE LOCAL ANGLE -
- "The marijuana war has gone local, and pot advocates are losing - badly," by Dan Adams, Boston Globe: "Last November, a well-funded and well-organized coalition of advocates led by the national Marijuana Policy Project persuaded more than 1.7 million Massachusetts voters to approve Question 4 and establish a system of regulated cannabis commerce. Since then, though, a new front has opened over legalized marijuana - dozens of fronts, actually, in cities and towns across the state, where voters and local officials have already imposed moratoriums and bans on licensed pot firms or are set to vote on similar measures this fall. So who is battling them? Almost no one, it seems."
- "California marijuana services firm sets up shop in Boston, joins Chamber of Commerce," by Dan Adams, Boston Globe: "Weedmaps, one of the country's larger and more established marijuana firms, is going all-in on Massachusetts and its new recreational pot market. The California company, which sells software to licensed cannabis operators and publishes a popular online directory of dispensaries for consumers, is finalizing a lease for a downtown Boston office to accommodate its sales and lobbying team."
- "Four BC Students Attacked With Acid in Marseille; Released From Hospital," by Connor Murphy, Boston College's The Heights: "Four Boston College students were injured early on Sunday in Marseille, France after being sprayed with acid, University Spokesman Jack Dunn confirmed Sunday. They were all hospitalized at Hôpital de la Timone in Marseille, but have since been released. The students have been identified as Courtney Siverling, MCAS '19; Charlotte Kaufman, LSOE '19; Michelle Krug, MCAS '19; and Kelsey Kosten, CSOM '19."
- "26 Boston schools at risk of being declared 'underperforming,'" by James Vaznis, Boston Globe: "More than two dozen schools in Boston with low standardized test scores are at risk of being declared "underperforming" by the state, an action that can lead to the removal of principals and teachers, according to a School Department analysis. The 26 schools are spread across nearly every neighborhood, from East Boston to West Roxbury. Officials are expected to learn the fate of each school when the state releases the latest round of MCAS data at the end of October."
- "Marty Walsh keeps church, state apart in flag flap," by Dan Atkinson, Boston Herald: "Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he'll continue to block a Christian group from raising a religious flag at City Hall Plaza despite the threat of a lawsuit, citing separation of church and state - and saying he wouldn't use the spot to support his own faith. Christian group Camp Constitution has asked to raise its flag - which has a white background and a red cross framed by a blue square - on City Hall Plaza, but was denied by officials saying the city has a policy against flying non-secular flags."
- "For Boston, deeper waters to mean deeper pockets," by Jordan Graham, Boston Herald: "A $350 million project to deepen Boston Harbor for giant container ships, years in the making, has finally begun, and setting the stage for billions of dollars in added economic impact, officials said. 'The container companies are using bigger ships. If we can't handle the bigger ships, they're going to go elsewhere,' Massport chief executive Thomas Glynn said [Friday]. 'The Army Corps (of Engineers) estimates, if we do the dredge, then we might be able to double the number of containers from what it is now.'"
- "MGH Team In Texas To Treat Patients Hit by Harvey And by Chronic Health Problems," by Craig Lemoult, WGBH: "A medical team from Massachusetts General Hospital is in the small city of Rosenberg, Texas, about 45 minutes southwest of Houston. The city was badly flooded during Tropical Storm Harvey when the Brazos River overflowed. In the weeks since the storm, the MGH team has set up a mobile clinic in a local church. And the team is finding the storm exacerbated health problems that already existed in the low-income community."
- "Oh, man! Town might change Board of Selectmen to Selectwomen," by the Associated Press: "Brookline Town Meeting member Michael Burstein tells NECN under his proposal all members of the board, whether male or female, would be referred to as selectwomen. A second proposal would create gender-neutral language for the board and its members. Board members will take up the proposals at their November meeting."
MEDIA MATTERS - "It's been one problem after another for Globe presses," by Mark Arsenault, Boston Globe: "At 9 o'clock one recent weeknight at The Boston Globe's new, $75 million printing plant, the powerful hum of one of the massive presses abruptly wound down to an anxious silence. Something had gone wrong, again. A worker had to hit the red 'stop' button. And one more time, a team of veteran pressmen would spend the next 27 minutes fixing a problem and restarting the machinery, a time-consuming endeavor at a point in the night when every minute of the complicated journey from journalists' fingertips to subscribers' houses is vital."
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to New Boston Ventures Director of Operations Kathryn Burton, Torrisi Strategic Advisors Principal and former state Rep. David Torrisi, and Dan Koh for Congress' Jen Migliore.
DID THE HOME TEAMS WIN? Yes! - The Patriots beat the Saints 36-20 and the Red Sox beat the Rays 3-2.
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** A message from PhRMA: Are middlemen really holding down the cost of medicines? Ever wonder who decides what you pay for your medicines? It's not who you might think. Biopharmaceutical companies set the list prices for their medicines, but it's your insurer that ultimately determines how much you pay out of pocket. More than one-third of the list price of a medicine is rebated back to middlemen, like insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). These rebates and discounts create savings of more than $100 billion, but these savings aren't always shared directly with patients. Patients share the costs. They should share the savings. http://onphr.ma/2uiAQVk **
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olice responding to a call about a domestic disturbance shot and killed a 19-year-old engineering student and a 55-year-old mother of five, and authorities acknowledged late Saturday that the woman had been shot by accident.
uns take more than 30,000 lives in America each year.
