| With ‘REAL’ driver licenses rolling out, you’ll now need more documentation for renewals – and expect long lines |
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| The state officially adopts the new “REAL” driver’s license in Massachusetts, starting Monday, and it’s going to require motorists to provide much more documentation to prove their citizenship and legal status in the country, reports SHNS’s Andy Metzger (pay wall) and MassLive’s Jim Kinney. Over the next few years, the extra in-person procedures could lead to longer waits at RMV offices to renew licenses, state officials acknowledge.
Blame the feds for the switchover to ‘REAL’ licenses: “Starting Oct. 1, 2020, regular Massachusetts driver’s licenses will no longer suffice for people trying to fly domestically, enter federal buildings or access nuclear facilities.” |
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| RMV going dark for a few days |
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| As it prepares to roll out the new REAL IDs next week, the Registry of Motor Vehicles is also effectively shutting down starting Thursday at 7 p.m. through Monday morning, meaning people won’t be able to do online transactions, etc., reports Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine. RMV is installing new software both for its general use and to comply with the new fed ID law. Motor vehicle inspections will also be suspended during the three days, according to other published reports. |
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| Time for the feds to throw in the extortion-case towel? |
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| Has a federal judge just wrecked the federal City Hall corruption case or has he merely called federal prosecutors’ bluff? We’ll soon see. From O’Ryan Johnson at the Herald: “The feds were dealt a blow in their case against City Hall yesterday when the judge refused to alter jury instructions which prosecutors claim, ‘will preclude the government from proving its case.’ … Earlier this month, prosecutors told federal Judge Leo T. Sorokin that the jury instructions must change for their case to succeed. Yesterday, Sorokin declined to change the instructions.” |
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| Is no-bid pizza contract a slice of larger problem at BPS? |
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| The Boston Public Schools says that a half-million-dollar contract to deliver pizza to students every Friday — via a pizza chain with a politically active owner—without competitive bidding was an oversight. But records and the recent, scathing audit of the district’s finances suggest it may be part of a larger problem, Isaiah Thompson reports at WBGH. |
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| House advances bill that would tax and regulate Airbnb and other short-term rentals |
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| The House yesterday advanced legislation that would tax and regulate short-term rental operations like those offered by Airbnb, reports MassLive’s Shira Schoenberg and SHNS’s Katie Lannan. After winning initial approval yesterday, the House is expected to approve the legislation tomorrow. Airbnb is not happy, calling the House plan “onerous and overly burdensome” on those renting out their homes. Both Gov. Charlie Baker and the Senate have their own Airbnb tax-and-regulation bills and lawmakers are hoping final agreed-upon legislation can be passed this spring. |
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| Inmate suicides spike in Massachusetts |
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| From Chris Burrell and Jennifer McKim of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, writing at WGBH: “Fourteen inmates died by suicide in Massachusetts prisons and jails in 2017, the highest such number of deaths since 2014, according to state and county data. Those who died include four who hanged themselves in state prisons and 10 who died in county jails that together house about 20,000 prisoners, according to data collected by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting.” |
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| SJC to review nurse-staffing ballot question |
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| From Bob McGovern at the Herald: “A ballot initiative that could have a drastic effect on how hospitals assign patients to nurses has come under fire, and next month the state’s highest court will consider whether voters should have a chance to consider the controversial proposal. Four voters have asked the Supreme Judicial Court to decertify the Patient Safety Act, arguing that Attorney General Maura Healey improperly certified it for the November ballot. The voters, who have received the backing of Steward Health Care System LLC, say it violates the Massachusetts Constitution.” |
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| ‘Mayor Walsh, let’s build our own wall—to protect Bostonians from Trump’ |
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| As President Trump yesterday railed against sanctuary cities in Massachusetts, Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program for the ACLU of Massachusetts, says in a MassterList op-ed that it’s time Massachusetts officials, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, take a firmer stand against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. “If cities really want to guarantee ‘sanctuary’ for their residents, they must be willing to throw sand in the gears of the federal deportation machine – and progressive city leaders must back up their promises with policy.” |
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| Baker: ‘We’re going to outlaw people from Wellesley from working in the administration?’ |
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| In an apparently testy exchange with reporters, Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday gave a “vigorous defense” of his budget chief’s past hiring of Wellesley pals, associates and country club members at the Department of Revenue, reports Matt Stout at the Globe. “Every single one of those people was qualified to do their job,” Baker said. “So we’re going to outlaw people from Wellesley from working in the administration?”
As Stout notes, the governor’s remarks yesterday were in contrast to his comments on the campaign trail in 2014, when he vowed “strong medicine” on patronage hirings, etc. The Democratic Party, typically, is calling for an investigation into the DOR matter. Why always an investigation? They should be just swinging away at the hypocrisy and having a political joie-de-vivre time on this one. SHNS’s Katie Lannan (pay wall) has more. |
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