Senate Ways and Means Chair Sen. Karen Spilka, Education Committee co-chair Rep. Alice Peisch, Massachusetts Association of School Committees Executive Director Glenn Koocher and Nathanael Shea, chief of staff to Education Committee co-chair Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, are scheduled speakers at an education-funding event hosted by the Suburban Coalition, Newton Marriott, 2345 Commonwealth Ave., Newton, 7:30 p.m.
| Today's News |
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| ‘Kissing the ring’ |
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It was all nicey-nice when former Gov. Mitt Romney and President-elect Donald Trump met yesterday in New Jersey, with Mitt heaping fulsome praise on the same Trump he’s lambasted for most of the past year. All for a job. Here’s the Globe’s version of the story and the Herald’s version. The Globe’s Renee Graham nails it: “Mitt Romney should have said no. He should have declined to meet with Donald Trump.” But Mitt apparently really wants that secretary of state post. |
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| All that for nothing: After Harvard defends Bannon invitation, Bannon cancels |
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Harvard officials went out of their way yesterday to defend their decision to invite Steve Bannon, the controversial alt-right chief strategist for Donald Trump, to a Kennedy School event, a move that angered some students who were planning to protest Bannon’s visit. But Bannon, a Harvard Business School grad, has since cancelled his appearance, reports the Globe’s Steve Annear, in a move that mercifully spares students from the traumatic experience of hearing from people with differing views.
Boston Globe |
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| Rosenberg to push Hampshire College to raise Old Glory again |
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Senate President Stan Rosenberg said he’s disappointed by Hampshire College’s decision to remove the American flag from its campus and plans to meet with college leaders in the hopes "better sense will prevail," reports SHNS’s Andy Metzger at MassLive. "It's really disappointing to see what's happened out there,” Rosenberg said. “There are many ways of expressing dissent in our society. It is very hurtful to a lot of people to center dissent around the flag, and just because you can doesn't mean you should."
Until the flag is flying again, veteran groups are vowing more protests in coming weeks, MassLive reports. Meanwhile, MassLive also reports that state Rep. John Velis, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, was ripping into Hampshire College yesterday on Fox News, calling the decision not to fly the flag an “absolute disgrace." |
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| Lynch, Moulton and other rebels learn their fates today |
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U.S. House Democrats hold a secret-ballot vote today on leadership, i.e. on Nancy Pelosi, who, if conventional wisdom is right, should win re-election, though her rival, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, says people “are going to be surprised” by the vote, reports The Hill. But for locals the real issue is what happens to U.S. Reps. Steve Lynch and Seth Moulton, both of whom have endorsed Ryan (Moulton officially threw his support behind Ryan just yesterday, the Globe reports). And both have acknowledged they may face “ramifications” if Pelosi prevails, i.e. the loss of key committee assignments.
| Granby takes on marijuana legalization |
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Even small towns like Granby, pop. 6,100, located in western Massachusetts, are grappling with how to deal with the sudden legalization of marijuana in the state, so it’s set up a special seven-person committee to figure out its options, including possible changes to town bylaws and personnel policies, reports Jim Russell at MassLive. The list of towns and cities taking the lead on the pot issue, as opposed to what’s happening on Beacon Hill, gets longer by the day.
MassLive |
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| Warren goes after Wells Fargo over a slippery arbitration clause |
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Wells Fargo is trying so hard to come across as seeing the ethical light, after its now notorious fake-bank-accounts scandal. But U.S. Senator Elizabeth has pounced on a small settlement clause she noticed that seeks to force victims of the scam to go through arbitration instead of suing, according to a report at the BBJ. She described the arbitration option as a “closed-door, industry-friendly” process favorable only to Wells Fargo. She doesn’t miss much, does she? Wells Fargo is only learning this now.
BBJ |
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| And Warren also goes after sweeping health bill |
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Warren is fired up over another issue, the Globe’s Victoria McGrane reports: “Senator Elizabeth Warren launched an all-out assault this week on a sweeping $6.3 billion bill aimed at boosting medical innovation, claiming the legislation, after two years of bipartisan effort, has been hijacked by greedy pharmaceutical companies.” The local biotech folks are hot happy at all with Warren’s stand.
Boston Globe |
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| Thanks, board of trustees: Suffolk University’s enrollment continues its ignominious slide |
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It just keeps getting worse at Suffolk University. From the BBJ’s Greg Ryan: “Suffolk University has again suffered a decline in enrollment as it deals with financial pressures and major instability in its leadership ranks.” Nothing like incompetent management to destroy a good thing.
BBJ |
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| Hey, why not open a ‘Boston House’ recruitment center in the heart of Silicon Valley? |
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Boston City Council president Michelle Wu wants to attract disgruntled Silicon Valley techies to the Boston area and BostInno’s Galen Moore explains what she has in mind: “Rob May, a serial tech entrepreneur who migrated here from Louisville, Ky., and Michelle Wu, the newly minted president of the Boston City Council, have an idea they've been discussing: Build a meeting space like (Boston’s) District Hall, somewhere in San Francisco, and call it ‘Boston House’--or something like that--anything to bring Boston to the forefront of people's minds.” They don’t have a clue how to pay for it. But here’s a suggestion: Perhaps team up with local universities and tech firms? And rent, instead of build.
BostInno
| Healey to supporters: Donate money so I can sue Trump every step of the way |
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From SHNS’s Michael Norton at the Globe: “In a new fundraising appeal, Attorney General Maura Healey is trying to rile up donors by promising to take President-elect Donald Trump to court. ‘Donald Trump plans to roll back much of the progress we've made in Massachusetts and as a nation,’ Healey wrote in an email to supporters Tuesday. ‘A lot of people are asking, 'What can be done?' When the federal government overreaches, state attorneys general have an enormously important role to play.’” And then she pledges to sue away on a wide range of issues and asks for campaign money.
Boston Globe |
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| Healey’s legal action against ExxonMobil is costing taxpayers $44K -- and counting |
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Speaking of Healey, money and legal actions every step of the way, her battle with ExxonMobil and a Texas federal judge is running up a hefty tab, as reported by the Herald: “Attorney General Maura Healey’s office has shelled out $44,000 and counting to a high-powered Texas law firm a judge dubbed the ‘most expensive’ in the Dallas area as she fights an order to appear in the Lone Star State over her probe of Exxon Mobil.”
Boston Herald |
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| All aboard: Foxboro backs Gillette rail plan |
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Foxboro selectmen voted Tuesday night to allow the MBTA to launch a pilot program that would add four daily commuter trains from the Gillette Stadium stop to Boston's South Station, Daniel Libon reports on Patch. The action clears the way for the T to test daily trains to and from the stadium stop, a proposal that is drawing criticism from some residents and one that a lawmaker recently slammed as being a “pet project” of Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Patch |
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| Keolis focuses on improving dismal Worcester line |
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Meanwhile, the T’s commuter rail operator, Keolis, is trying to address woeful service on the Worcester line, Cyrus Moulton of the Telegram reports. Keolis recently formed an internal Rapid Action Group to foster ideas for improving performance on the line, where just 61 percent of trains were on time in a recent 30-day period. Gov. Baker tells the paper that long-deferred investments finally being made in the T will show up over time in improved performance.
The Telegram
| Sen. Eldridge arrested at McDonald’s protest, as minimum wage battle heats up |
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State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat and co-chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, was among those arrested outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Cambridge yesterday as protesters pushed for higher wages for fast-food and other service workers, according to a Boston magazine report. The protest, part of a nationwide effort to put pressure on companies to raise wages, comes as many expect a Beacon Hill battle next year over raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, reports Benjamin Swasey at WBUR. |
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| Rural Dems say the party has abandoned them |
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Rural Democratic strategists, among them long-time state activist Matt Barron, are hatching plans to get the national Democratic Party to address the concerns of rural voters after the recent disastrous election for the party, reports Alex Roarty at Roll Call. “They’re not campaigning here,” Barron, a western Mass. resident, said of pols. “They’re not showing up. And they’re not addressing stuff that’s important to us.” Note: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Democratic governor of Iowa, is also alarmed at the loss of support for Dems among rural voters and has launched a sort of one-man crusade to change the party’s focus, the Washington Post reports.
Roll Call |
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| State to nursing homes: Stock Narcan, train staff |
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State regulators are telling nursing home operators to stock overdose-reversing Narcan and train staffers on how to handle overdoses, in the latest sign of how far-reaching the opioid crisis has become, Kay Lazar of the Globe reports. The issue has also presented a new problem for nursing home managers, raising questions about whether they can search residents’ rooms for evidence of drug use.
Boston Globe |
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| Cambridge ready to absorb Trump funding hit |
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Officials in Cambridge say the city is ready to absorb a gut shot to its budget if President-elect Trump makes good on threats to pull funding from cities that offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants, Chloe Reichel of Cambridge Day reports. City Manager Louis DePasquale estimates the city will lose as much as $14 million in federal backing, an amount that can be worked around within a $575 million annual budget.
Cambridge Day |
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| Brockton approves tax deals for apartment projects |
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Two projects that could add 75 housing units to downtown Brockton, partly via a major building conversion, got a boost this week when the City Council voted to approve local tax increment financing plans, Marc Larocque of the Enterprise reports. Quickie note: Besides Brockton, there's a lot of other conversions of older industrial buildings going on in Gateway Cities, including in Lawrence and Lowell. More, please. We need the housing. The conversions also look great when done.
Enterprise |
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