| State tax collections off to fast fiscal-year start in July |
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| More good news on the fiscal front. From SHNS’s Colin Young at the Lowell Sun: “On the heels of a tax windfall in fiscal 2018 that left Massachusetts with a surplus, fiscal year 2019 got off to a solid start for state tax collections in July. The Department of Revenue said tax collections of $1.899 billion last month were up $102 million or 5.7 percent over July 2017 and came in $7 million above the monthly benchmark.” |
| Union may pursue ballot question to repeal Sunday-holiday pay provisions in ‘grand bargain’ bill |
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| For your post-November election planning. From Greg Ryan at the BBJ: “One of the state’s largest labor unions plans to push for legislation — and possibly a ballot initiative — that would restore time-and-a-half pay for retail workers on Sundays and holidays, a perk that is set to be phased out in Massachusetts under the recent ‘grand bargain’ law. … The United Food and Commercial Workers union, a member of the Raise Up coalition, was opposed to the grand bargain because of its elimination of premium time-and-a-half pay.” |
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| How Dems can beat Baker by emphasizing true reforms |
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| Liam Kerr, Massachusetts director of Democrats for Education Reform, has some advice for the state’s two Democratic candidates for governor, Jay Gonzalez and Bob Massie: Run on reforms, such as those implemented by former Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, and bring up as often as possible the State Police scandals, cushy police construction-site details and law-enforcement union endorsements of Gov. Charlie Baker. |
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| Margaret Heckler, RIP |
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| She was one of the original glass-ceiling breakers. From the Globe’s Brian MacQuarrie and Travis Andersen: “Margaret M. Heckler, a former Republican diplomat, secretary of US Health and Human Services, and eight-term Massachusetts congresswoman who advocated for women’s issues for decades, died Monday at a hospital in Arlington, Va. She was 87. ‘She was an inspiration to all who knew her,” a family statement said of the daughter of Irish immigrants who eventually became ambassador to that country.”
From the Washington Post: “Throughout much of her career, Ms. Heckler was a groundbreaking figure who often forged her way in law and politics as one of the few women in the male-dominated fields. In 1966, she unseated a former speaker of the House to win the Republican nomination for her district in suburban Boston. She was the first woman elected to Congress in her own right from Massachusetts and, when she took office in 1967, was one of only 11 women in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Of course, many of us fondly recall the tale of Heckler downing the remainder of President Reagan’s mug of beer during his visit to Dorchester’s Eire Pub in 1983. It was indeed an “impressive” performance, as was her entire career. |
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Back to the future: Boston’s return to ‘intensely segregated’ schools |
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| For both education and political reasons, this is a big story. The Globe’s James Vaznis reports on how 60 percent of Boston’s schools now meet the definition of being “intensely segregated,” up from 42 percent two decades ago, largely due to allowing “more students to attend schools in their neighborhoods as they did prior to court-ordered busing.”
We’d be curious to see how today’s school and academic numbers fare against those in the pre-court-ordered busing era more than four decades ago, not just two decades. They might tell us how much busing has, or hasn’t, changed things. |
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| Meet the new boss: William Gross |
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| Speaking of the city’s racial history, Boston’s newest police commissioner — and the first-ever African-American commissioner — will be sworn in today and Quincy Walters of WBUR reports that those who know him best say William Gross is perfect for the job, given his 33-year career of building bridges between the department and residents.
The Globe’s Milton Valencia profiles the 54-year-old Gross, tracing his career from his days walking a beat and his deep roots in the Mattapan neighborhood, where he’ll be sworn into office today. |
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| With the legislative session out of the way, Baker revs up his re-election engine |
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| The Globe’s Matt Stout reports that Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, now that the legislative session is over, is starting to focus more on his re-election campaign, bulking up on staff, reserving multimillion-dollar ad campaigns and landing more than a little financial help from a Republican-backed super PAC.
Meanwhile, the two Democratic candidates for governor, Bob Massie and Jay Gonzalez, are sharpening their attacks on the governor, reports Jordan Graham at the Herald.
Baker does, of course, have a primary challenger of his in the form of Scott Lively, but as Christian Wade reports in the Salem News, the state GOP has long been looking past Sept. 4. The party broke with its own tradition to back Baker in the primary and is now running a Facebook survey that completely ignores Lively. |
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| And, yes, Baker really is a Republican … |
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| Ed Lyons, a longtime Republican activist and a regular contributor to WBUR, writes at CommonWealth magazine that, sure, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has signed a lot of legislation pushed by Democrats. But they would have been far worse bills if Baker wasn’t sitting in the corner office, Lyons writes, arguing Baker is indeed using a ‘creative friction’ strategy to protect GOP interests. |
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| Is there a PawSox-to-Worcester deal waiting to be announced? |
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| Reporters from the Telegram and Worcester Magazine tweeted over the weekend that a deal to bring the Pawtucket Red Sox to Worcester will be announced next week. But neither outlet has yet published a story to that effect. Telegram baseball writer Bill Ballou wrote that an “unveiling” of a deal is imminent and Worcester Magazine followed suit. Seems like news to us, but the lack of actual published stories makes us wonder if they got a little too far ahead of the story.
In the meantime, it’s back to reading the tea leaves, including the decision by Minor League Baseball to apply for trademarks around the name “WooSox,” which the AP reports via Boston.com says happened in late July.
Also, some in Lowell are starting to wonder and worry about what such a move could mean for its own minor-league team and whether having a Triple-A so close will hurt the hometown Spinners, the Red Sox’ single-A affiliates. |
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| Warren: Criminal justice system is ‘racist … front to back’ |
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| From the Associated Press at WBUR: “Senator Elizabeth Warren has a message about the U.S. criminal justice system. Speaking at Dillard University in New Orleans, a historically black college, she delivered what she called ‘the hard truth about our criminal justice system: It’s racist … front to back.’” She made the remarks at the liberal gathering of Netroots Nation.
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| In national spotlight, Patrick keeps 2020 options open |
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| Not yet. Former Mass. governor Deval Patrick told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that he is “not ready to be a candidate” for president in 2020 just yet. But despite his insistence he is focused on boosting Democrats in the looming midterm, Kenneth Singletary reports in the Globe that Patrick also served up several answers that sure make it sound like he’s running.
In the CNN interview, Patrick defended his work at Bain, saying he’s never had to leave his conscience at the door. He also called Medicaid-for-all a “terrific idea” and declined an opportunity to call for the abolition of ICE, CNN reports. |
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| Baker proposes changes to civics bill to head off potential partisanship |
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| We were wondering what Republican Gov. Charlie would do with the recently approved civics-lesson bill – and now we know. Late last week, Baker sent back the bill with an amendment that he says makes it more non-partisan and protects the rights of students with minority viewpoints, reports Shira Schoenberg at MassLive.
Without saying so, Baker appears to share the conservative Pioneer Institute’s concern that bill’s emphasis on student-led civics projects is nothing more than an “exercise in progressive educational propaganda and vocational training for how to be a political activist.” Btw: Bianca Vazquez Toness at WGBH reports on how some teachers are eager to start emphasizing civics in classrooms. |
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