Healey sues Purdue Pharma, saying it misled public about dangers of opioids

By
South Boston Today Staff
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Attorney General Maura Healey opened a new legal front yesterday against pharmaceutical makers of opioids, filing a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma in state court and alleging the firm and its executives knew of the lethal dangers of opioids when pitching its products to doctors and consumers. The BBJ’s Jessica Bartlett and the Globe’s Joshua Miller have more. Fyi: Republican Gov. Charlie Baker is backing the Democratic Healey’s move against Purdue Pharma.

 

AFL-CIO backs Capuano, teachers union endorses Gonzalez
 
Two endorsements that actually matter: The AFL-CIO is backing U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in his tough primary battle against City Councilor Ayanna Pressley (Boston Globe) and the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts is supporting Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez.

 

Mass. firms nervous about Canadian trade
 
Proving that all politics (and economics) are indeed local, the G-7 events in Quebec this past weekend are being felt in these parts. From Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive: “Massachusetts companies are anxious as US leaders in the midst of a trade dispute are lobbing insults at Canada, New England’s number one trading partner, Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday. ‘There’s a tremendous amount of goods and services that go back and forth across that border,’ Baker told reporters after a meeting with leaders in the Massachusetts House and Senate. ‘And I’ve talked to plenty of employers and companies here in the commonwealth that are worried about the lack of clarity associated with that relationship at this point in time.’”

The Bay State’s trade with Canada is indeed huge – with state exports to Canada running at about $3.7 billion a year, more than twice the amount of our next largest trading partner, Mexico, according to Wiser data at the Mass. Export Center.
 
 
It’s not nice to upset Amazon: Seattle repeals tax opposed by tech giant
 
Here’s a cautionary tale for those pining for Boston to get Amazon’s HQ2: Seattle officials were in total retreat yesterday, repealing a new city tax on major employers (i.e. Amazon) to raise funds for homeless and affordable housing. The tax was vehemently opposed by Amazon. The NYT has more on the tax rout.
 
 
Trump groupies prevail in primaries in South Carolina and Virginia
 
For all you political animals out there: The Republican base is doubling down on Donald Trump, handing pro-Trump candidates big victories in yesterday’s primaries in South Carolina and Virginia, the NYT reports. How this impacts the mid-term elections is anyone’s guess. But our hunch is that it doesn’t bode well for Democrats. It shows the GOP-Trump base is energized and ready for battle.
 
 
Maine’s ‘ranked voting’ results could take days to untangle
 
In other primary news, Maine made history yesterday by holding a first-in-the-nation “ranked voting” election yesterday – but it may take a few more days to figure out the final results for the Democratic gubernatorial race, reports the Portland Press Herald. Still, the new system is being credited with generating a large voter turnout yesterday – and Maine voters appear to have decided in a referendum to keep the new voting system, the Press Herald also reports.

 

T’s latest service debacle: ‘It’s the same issues over and over again’
 
A damaged overhead wire wreaked havoc on the Green Line yesterday, forcing thousands of commuters to find other means of transportation and raising the eternal question yet again: When will the T ever get its act together? CommonWealth’s Bruce Mohl and the Globe’s Adam Vaccaro have more. Btw: The Baker administration seems to be moving the service-improvement goal posts, saying it will take a decade or more to see the positive results of reforms, as Vaccaro reports.

One thing was clear yesterday: Massachusetts Democrats were quick to blame the T fiasco on Baker, reports Fox 25. Sooner or later, the T criticism is going to stick to the governor. People are getting fed up.
 
 
Uber and Lyft represent ‘existential threat’ to the T and other public transit agencies
 
We thought the T represented an existential threat to itself. But James Aloisi, a former state secretary of transportation and a board member at TransitMatters, thinks otherwise, saying it’s actually Transportation Network Companies, i.e. Uber and Lyft, that represent an auto-centric “existential threat to public transportation” and policymakers must move “decisively to protect, rebuild, and renew our public transit system.”
 
 
Look out: AT&T-Time Warner mega-merger could be just the beginning
 
How fitting: Only days after net neutrality officially came to an end, a federal judge has approved the controversial $85 billion mega-merger between AT&T and Time Warner, a move expected to open the flood gates for similar mega-mergers, reports the Washington Post. The Herald’s Jessica Heslam reports that some think the deal will actually be good for consumers. But here’s a rough rule of thumb in these matters: When someone argues that another monopolistic-like company is needed to counter other monopolistic-like companies, consumers usually lose.
 
 
The good news and bad news for Scott Lively’s lawsuit against state GOP
 
The good news for conservative firebrand Scott Lively is that Shira Schoenberg at MassLive has caught Gov. Charlie Baker’s re-election campaign playing political footsie with the state GOP over use of its email list. The bad news for Lively, a gubernatorial candidate who’s filed a lawsuit against state Republicans for favoring Baker in the GOP primary, is that a former state attorney general is on the verge of being hired to defend the party against Lively and the case has been assigned to a judge appointed by Baker only six months ago, reports Frank Phillips at the Globe.

 

 

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