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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. It’s October! MAIL-IN VOTING LIKELY TO BEGIN NEXT WEEK — Secretary of State Bill Galvin said ballots for the Nov. 3 election could reach Bay State voters as early as next week and predicted record-setting turnout during an interview on WBUR yesterday. After President Donald Trump cast doubt on the security of mail-in voting during the presidential debate, the Massachusetts elections chief promised a fair election. Trump has repeatedly raised unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in the run-up to the election but Galvin said dwelling on the president's comments was a waste of time during an interview on WBUR yesterday. "Most elections administrators are honest people, they want accurate results," Galvin said. "If we're gonna spend all of our time from now to Nov. 3 reciting the realities of the world compared to the lack of reality of the world that he lives in I think we're just wasting our time and taking time away from doing a good job." More than a million voters have requested mail-in ballots for next month's election, and ballots will start to hit mailboxes next week, Galvin said. Early in-person voting begins Oct. 17. The state is planning for record turnout. Galvin said he expects voters to beat the 2016 record, when 3.3 million voters cast ballots. A high volume of ballots, particularly via the mail, could provide a challenge for elections officials who can't begin counting the votes until polls close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. "I think we'll have a pretty good idea [who won] the night of the election," Galvin said, though that's not much of a surprise in a heavily Democratic state. Unlike the Sept. 1 primary, mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day will still count as long as a ballot is postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by officials up to three days later. Former congressional candidate Becky Grossman had sued Galvin during the primary to make a similar accommodation, but the Supreme Judicial Court tossed the lawsuit. That change creates some breathing room for voters. Nearly 18,000 ballots were rejected in the September primary, approximately half because they were mailed but arrived too late to be counted, according to the Boston Globe. A smaller portion were rejected because voters did not sign the envelope required to return their ballot. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: ATTORNEYS GENERAL TO BOOST BIDEN — Attorney General Maura Healey and a trio of her predecessors will raise money for Democratic nominee Joe Biden's presidential campaign next week. Healey and former Attorneys General Scott Harshbarger, Jim Shannon and Frank Bellotti will speak at a virtual fundraiser on Oct. 6. Suggested donations for the "Massachusetts Lawyers Virtual Reception" range from $500 to $25,000. Also on the guest list are Biden for President counsel Dana Remus and Biden's deputy campaign manager Rufus Gifford, the former ambassador and congressional candidate. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com. TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker speaks at a conference hosted by the Massachusetts Assisted Living Association. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius visit Ellis Elementary School in Roxbury. | ||||
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HAPPENING TODAY - SOLVING THE DRUG PRICING PUZZLE: The cost of prescription drugs is top of mind for millions of Americans and a motivating factor in the upcoming election. Join POLITICO today at 10 a.m. EDT for a conversation exploring ideas to make prescription drugs more affordable, including patent reform, how the FDA can build on its recent record of fast-tracking generic approvals, and the role of international price benchmarking. REGISTER HERE. | ||||
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– “Massachusetts reports 510 new COVID cases, 32 new deaths Wednesday amid nearly 50% jump in cases over the last week,” by Tanner Stening, MassLive.com: “State health officials confirmed another 510 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the statewide total to at least 129,753. Officials also announced 32 new COVID-related deaths, bringing the statewide death count to 9,242.” – “List Of Mass. Communities At 'High Risk' For Coronavirus Swells to 23, Includes Boston,” by Roberto Scalese, WBUR: “Boston and 10 other Massachusetts cities and towns are now listed by the state as ‘high risk’ for COVID-19 infection. The designation is made when a community has a rate at or above eight people per 100,000 infected, averaged over 14 days.” | ||||
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– “Massachusetts ends fiscal 2020 with $700 million budget hole,” by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: “Massachusetts ended 2020 with a nearly $700 million budget gap, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday, as he filed a proposed closeout budget with the Legislature. Baker, in his filing letter, wrote that tax collections for the fiscal year that ended July 30, 2020, were $693 million below expectations, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of this was due to lower-than-anticipated sales tax revenues, as economic activity ground to a halt from mid-March to mid-May and only gradually rebounded.” – “The state once used this measure to calculate coronavirus test positivity. Here’s what it says now,” by Dasia Moore and John Hilliard, Boston Globe: “The state has used two different ways to look at the state’s coronavirus test positivity rate. This chart shows the results from each — and illustrates why some experts say the state needs to be cautious in going forward with reopening.” | ||||
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– “Amid rising covid rate, Boston won’t move into next reopening phase,” by Katie Trojano, Dorchester Reporter: “Boston’s positive covid-19 test rate has climbed to 3.5 percent this week— an increase from 2.7 percent last week, Mayor Walsh said today, adding that Dorchester’s 02125 and 02121 zip codes are among the worst hit, at 7 percent. The mayor warned that the increase will likely put the city back in ‘the red zone’ for covid danger— and will prevent Boston from phasing into the next part of the state’s re-opening sequence.” – “Can a cop be in two places at once?” Yawu Miller, Bay State Banner: “In these cases and in 124 others between 2016 and 2019, multiple Boston police officers appear to make arrests, traffic stops and FIOs, sometimes miles away from the nearest courthouse, while at the same time collecting overtime for hours-long court appearances.” – “Pilot program will offer early morning childcare in Boston,” by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: “Christina Morris and her partner, Boston residents who are both union carpenters, are raising four children ages two to 10. On the days they have to be at work by 7 a.m. – some days it’s earlier — the adults wake up at 4 a.m. at their Hyde Park home to get ready and pack lunches, then they wake the kids up at 4:45.” – “Protesters, Counter-Protesters Clash At Pro-Police, Pro-Trump Rally In West Roxbury,” by Tori Bedford, GBH News: “Shouting matches erupted when a small group of about 10 protesters at a West Roxbury rally in support of President Donald Trump and the Back the Blue, or pro-police movement, were met with more than 100 counter-protesters Wednesday afternoon. The two groups chanted ‘blue lives matter’ and ‘Black lives matter’ at one another from across the Holy Name rotary, over barricades of police officers, toward individual counter-protesters.” – “Families Of Students With Special Needs Walk A Tightrope Between Safety, Falling Behind In Remote Learning,” by Marilyn Schairer, GBH News: “Parents of children with special education needs say they are torn between how to best keep their children's education on track while also keeping them safe during the pandemic. In the case of the Guerrero family of Lawrence, two of their sons receive special education services. Yesenia Guerrero told GBH News her son Javi, 9, has severe autism, and that he is struggling with remote learning in his third-grade class.” – “‘In the dark.’ Suffolk DA Rollins wants more information on troubled Boston officers,” by Evan Allen, Andrew Ryan and Milton J. Valencia, Boston Globe: “Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins read the newspaper in late June with rising frustration: A captain in the Boston Police Department had been the subject of 20 different internal affairs investigations, including six open cases, and had still received a commendation for his conduct.” – “School Bus Companies, And Drivers, Face COVID's Financial Fallout,” by Liz Neisloss, GBH News: “When schools reopen fully, many will count on those familiar yellow buses to be ready to roll. But local bus companies — which make up an estimated 40 percent of the country’s school transport — are facing financial threat. Even when buses are idle, companies have fixed costs to pay, including insurance, maintenance and paying drivers. The School Transportation Association of Massachusetts (STAM) said more than a dozen local companies are in financial trouble.” – “First day attendance in Boston schools was high, data show,” by Meghan E. Irons, Boston Globe: “Attendance was high on the first day of school in Boston this year, with 76 percent of the city’s public students logging into classes, which began fully remotely on Sept. 21, according to attendance and enrollment data released Wednesday by the office of Superintendent Brenda Cassellius.” | ||||
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– “Long-shot rail? DOT study gives passenger service scant chance of winning U.S. dollars,” by Larry Parnass, The Berkshire Eagle: “ The concept of daily passenger rail service between Pittsfield and Boston survives, after local elected officials succeeded in banishing use of buses for the last leg. But, as a long state Department of Transportation study wraps up, those leaders face a new fight: overcoming math that assigns a relatively low value to the statewide project. And as a result, gives it scant chance of securing essential federal backing.” | ||||
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– FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: “UAW, Massachusetts Building Trades, and SEIU 1199 Endorse Ed Markey for United States Senate, from the Markey campaign: “Massachusetts Building Trades (MBT), United Auto Workers (UAW), and SEIU 1199 United Healthcare Workers East today endorsed Senator Ed Markey in his campaign for re-election to the United States Senate. The union support follows the endorsements of AFL-CIO and Massachusetts Nurses last week.” | ||||
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– “Salem-based Satanic Temple sues company that rejected group’s billboards,” The Associated Press: “A lawsuit filed by the Satanic Temple alleges that an advertising company unfairly refused to display some billboards promoting a ritual offered by the group to help people bypass abortion rules in some states. The group, based in Salem, Massachusetts, announced “ Wednesday that it has sued Lamar Advertising in Arkansas state court.” – “Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe subpoenaed for third time in ongoing federal probe; Investigators now seeking records related to stalled Region C casino project,” by Tanner Stening, MassLive.com: “A limited liability corporation owed by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that oversees the stalled Taunton casino project has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, MassLive has learned. Federal investigators have requested that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority, a five-member board charged with overseeing the First Light Resort & Casino, hand over documents, records and communications pertaining to contracts and agreements it entered into with the tribe’s casino architect.” | ||||
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– “Ocasio-Cortez and Warren Pull Out of New Yorker Festival,” by Katie Robertson, The New York Times: “Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have pulled out of next week’s New Yorker Festival, the star-studded annual event held by The New Yorker magazine, in solidarity with unionized editorial staff members, who are planning a digital picket line.” – “A group of top CEOs pledged to change the way they do business for the common good. Elizabeth Warren says they haven’t.” by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com: “Remember when a group of nearly 200 high-profile CEOs announced last year they were redefining the purposes of their businesses to prioritize not just short-term stockholders’ interests but the greater social good? Sen. Elizabeth Warren does.” – “Opioid epidemic did not pause for Covid; we must act to save lives,” by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Dorchester Reporter: “Long before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the United States, the country was already battling another large-scale public health crisis: the opioid epidemic. Like the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid epidemic has disproportionately hit Black, Brown, American Indian, and Alaska Native communities.” | ||||
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– “Massachusetts ranked No. 1 on Google Trends for ‘how to apply for Canadian citizenship’ search after presidential debate,” by Tom Matthews, MassLive.com: “Apparently, a lot of Massachusetts residents are exploring a move up north. Massachusetts ranked number one on Google Trends for the search ‘how to apply for Canadian citizenship’ after Tuesday night’s first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.” | ||||
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– “For swing-district Mainers, the debate wasn’t a turning point. It was an ‘embarrassment,’” by Matt Stout and Victoria McGrane, Boston Globe: “In Maine’s northern reaches, the chaotic, norm-breaking event did little to alter the opinions of voters who could help swing the presidential race, their feelings for either former vice president Joe Biden or President Trump seemingly hardened by the televised 90-minute spectacle, according to interviews Wednesday.” | ||||
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— Herald: “SCARLET LETTER," "SILENT TREATMENT,” — Globe: “With Trump on attack, it was no debate.” | ||||
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– “‘Politically motivated loud voices’: Lawyer for city pans lawsuit to restore Springfield’s civilian police commission,” by Stephanie Barry, Springfield Republican: “A lawsuit set to be filed by the City Council against Mayor Domenic Sarno over a long-running dispute about police oversight is “bad public policy,” according to an attorney representing the city .” | ||||
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– “Second 'Unplanned' Gas Release At Weymouth Compressor This Month,” by Miriam Wasser, WBUR: “For the second time this month, something triggered the Weymouth Natural Gas Compressor Station's emergency shutdown system and caused an ‘unplanned release’ of at least 10,000 standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas into the nearby area. The venting happened around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and occurred in a ‘controlled manner,’ according to the company that operates the compressor, Enbridge.” – “Eversource Energy expects state OK for Columbia Gas acquisition next week,” by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: “Eversource Energy expects to receive state approval next week for its $1.1 billion purchase of Columbia Gas' Massachusetts operations, which includes facilities in Springfield, Brockton and Lawrence. The deal will also make Eversource an energy utility monopoly in Springfield and other cities, controlling both electricity and gas.” – “Central Mass. residents react to presidential debate performance,” by Craig S. Semon, Telegram & Gazette: “While most people randomly approached Wednesday on the streets declined to share their thoughts about two politicians behaving badly, the ones willing to talk seemed to agree that the debate was a ‘total mess,’ ‘very unprofessional,’ and ‘terrible.’ And, despite their political leanings before going into the debate, they didn’t seem to be swayed over to the other side by anything said or left unsaid.” – “Attleboro area viewers say first presidential debate muddled by interruptions, insults,” by Kayla Canne, Sun Chronicle: “Local viewers said they were largely unimpressed by the first debate in the 2020 presidential election, frustrated by a back-and-forth that included constant interruptions and name-calling from both candidates.” – “Rivera unveils $400K child care fund,” by Jill Harmacinski, Eagle-Tribune: “Mayor Dan Rivera regularly describes Lawrence as a ‘workforce of the Merrimack Valley,’ with residents employed in essential jobs throughout the pandemic. As they do so, however, finding and paying for daycare is a big challenge, Rivera said. He pointed to an incident over the summer when police shut down what they described as an illegal child care enterprise being run out of a Bromfield Street apartment.” TRANSITIONS – Jaclyn Reiss joins the New York Times as an assistant editor on the news desk/homepage team. Reiss was an editor for the Boston Globe. Tweet. – Andrew Taverrite joins Senate Judiciary Dems as comms director. He previously was New Hampshire comms director for Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign and is a Planned Parenthood alum. HAPPY BIRTHDAY – to Ethan Case, Kim Isleib and Jon Niedzielski. NEW EPISODE: YES WE CAMPBELL – On this week’s Horse Race podcast, hosts Jennifer Smith and Steve Koczela discuss Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell’s entrance into the 2021 mayoral race, and Rebecca Hart Holder of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts talks about the Supreme Court and reproductive rights. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com. | ||||
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