| Galvin docks the pay of three aides who performed campaign work while on the state clock |
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| Three employees within Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s office are being “stripped of some pay” after an internal review found they performed campaign work on behalf of their boss while on state-government time, reports the Globe’s Matt Stout. That’s far short of the 19 employees the Globe recently identified as possibly crossing the line between government work and political chores. We have a hunch we’ll be hearing more on this. |
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| Mount Ida College president hires ex-Sen. Brian Joyce’s attorney |
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| He’s obviously taking seriously Attorney General Maura Healey’s investigation into the closure of Mount Ida College. The BBJ’s Max Stendahl reports that Mount Ida president Barry Brown is being represented by Howard Cooper, the same controversial lawyer representing ex-Sen. Brian Joyce in a federal corruption case. |
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| Walsh to the UMass-Boston rescue? |
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| It was relatively all quiet on the UMass-Boston front yesterday, a few days after the brouhaha over the faculty’s inglorious role in getting three finalists to withdraw their names from consideration to be the next chancellor of the school. Still, the Globe’s Adrian Walker writes that UMass ought to take up the offer by Mayor Marty Walsh, a former labor negotiator, to help defuse tensions at the Dorchester school. Meanwhile, the Globe’s Shirley Leung can’t make up her mind about who deserves the most blame for the turmoil at UMass Boston. Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive reports that Gov. Charlie Baker is ‘disappointed’ with how the chancellor search ended. |
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| House to vote on ‘red flag’ gun bill today amid strong opposition and ‘hysteria’ |
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| Democrats wouldn’t be holding the vote today if they didn’t think the so-called ‘red flag’ gun bill would pass. Still, gun-rights activists are mounting a spirited campaign against the legislation, prompting bill sponsor Rep. Marjorie Decker to say opponents are spreading “hysteria” surrounding the bill. The Herald’s Kathleen McKiernan and SHNS’s Matt Murphy have the details. |
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| ICE says it’s no longer targeting immigrants at government offices |
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| This is a significant development in the ongoing battles over immigration. From Maria Cramer at the Globe: “Federal agents in Massachusetts have halted the controversial practice of arresting undocumented immigrants who are visiting government offices in hopes of gaining legal status, an immigration official told a federal judge Tuesday. The decision represents a reversal by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and follows sharp questioning by a federal judge in Boston over the practice.” |
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| Got milk? Not in Lynn … but the city will get a new high-end apartment building |
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| Lynn city leaders say they were blindsided by the decision of Garelick Farms to close a plant in the city and eliminate scores of jobs, Thomas Grillo reports in the Lynn Item. The company says long-term trends away from milk-drinking are behind the decision to shutter the plant, which has operated in Lynn since 1928. Mayor Thomas McGee said the city has reached out to Garelick’s parent company, Dean Foods, to “get our hands around what’s happened.”
Still, Lynn also got some good economic news when a developer unveiled plans to build an $80 million, 189-unit high-end apartment building in downtown, the first project of its type in at least a generation, Grillo reports. The developer believes the units can attract workers from the Boston area pushed out of the urban core by rising rents. |
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| Over the objections of Warren, Congress approves partial rollback of Dodd-Frank financial reforms |
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| Despite a last-minute Twitter appeal from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren to oppose the legislation, the U.S. House yesterday sent to President Trump’s desk a bill that partially rolls back the Dodd-Frank financial reforms passed in the wake of the Wall Street meltdown ten years ago. The rollback applies to small- and medium-sized banks, but some fear the loosening of restrictions for larger banks is next on the agenda. The NYT has the details. |
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| Why the State Police no-show scam festered undetected for so long: Retaliation against honest troopers |
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| If true, this partly explains why it took so long to uncover the no-show scam and other controversies at the State Police. From Dan Glaun at MassLive: “A retired Massachusetts State Police Trooper says he was targeted with a campaign of retaliation for reporting a sergeant’s on-shift absence from his barracks in 2014, including a frivolous disciplinary report, a fabricated workplace violence allegation and the denial of a hardship transfer to be closer to his dying father.” |
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| Globe editor Brian McGrory accused of sexual harassment by former reporter |
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| And you thought the #MeToo movement was petering out. From Jack Sullivan at CommonWealth magazine: “A former reporter for the Boston Globe is claiming Brian McGrory, the paper’s current editor, sent her an unsolicited, sexually suggestive text. Hilary Sargent, who started at the Globe in 1999 as a 19-year-old intern before leaving and being recruited back 15 years later, posted an undated text message on Twitter on Mondaythat she says came from McGrory. The context was unclear, but Sargent appeared to be seeking advice about a story she was writing.”
Emily Rooney at WGBH cautions there are still many unknowns tied to the charge. “Regardless,” she writes, “the Boston Globe cannot ignore this. A credible accusation has been levied against the editor.” Rooney’s piece is accompanied by a video of last night’s ‘Greater Boston’ show in which Rooney, media critic Dan Kennedy and host Adam Reilly discuss the matter. Fyi: McGrory has declined comment and the Globe in an email statement would only say it’s aware of Sargent’s charge and has no further comment. |
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| Meanwhile, star economist at Harvard also accused of sexual harassment, barred from his think tank |
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| Shera S. Avi-Yonah and Angela N. Fu at the Crimson report that Harvard economics professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr. is being investigated separately by Harvard and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination after sexual-harassment and discrimination complaints were filed against him by a woman. Fryer, who denies the allegations, has since been barred from the EdLabs think tank that he founded last decade. The Globe’s Deirdre Fernandes has more. |
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| Report: Cops say sex traffickers are selling state foster kids on the weekends |
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| Let’s hope this report is wrong, if only because it’s too terrible to contemplate if true. From Eric Rasmussen and Erin Smith at Fox 25: “Sex traffickers are selling foster kids on the weekends, 25 Investigates has uncovered. Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen found cases of kids in foster care pimped out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then returned to their taxpayer-funded group homes on Monday. Records obtained by 25 Investigates reveal a female staff member working with foster kids at the Eliot Atlantic House in Saugus is suspected of convincing a then 16-year-old girl at the group home to sell herself for sex on the weekends.” |
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| So what makes a pimp a pimp? The SJC will decide |
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| Still on the ugly subject of alleged pimps, the Supreme Judicial Court has decided to review a prostitution and human trafficking case that could decide once and for all: What exactly is a pimp? The Herald’s Brian Dowling has more on what a defendant claims is a very vague law on what constitutes a pimp and pimp-like actions. |
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