AUDIT OR NOT IT — It’s been 756 days since state Auditor Diana DiZoglio was sworn into office and 708 since she first attempted to launch an auditof the Legislature.
But despite an early (unsuccessful) effort to bring the case to court followed by a monthslong (successful) ballot question campaign, DiZoglio’s campaign promise has remained out of reach amid pushback from Democrats in the Legislature.
At this rate, it might stay that way until DiZoglio is on the ballot again next year.
Several Democratic senators met Tuesday with members of DiZoglio's office to kick off the conversation about the scope of her probe, which voters overwhelmingly approved in November’s election — but which legislators contend violates the state’s constitution.
The meeting was one of the first times senators expanded deeply on their concerns (and laid out possible legal arguments) — and they had a lot.
Sen. Joanne Comerford questioned whether an audit coming from DiZoglio could be objective , considering she recently served as a state senator herself and was a member of the House before that. Sen. William Brownsberger prodded DiZoglio’s staff about the extent of her probe. And Sen. Cindy Friedman warned of a constitutionally “slippery slope” that could come from giving the executive branch office the power to audit the Legislature.
“I let you do one thing, do you do the next? We don’t know,” said Friedman, the chair of the temporary committee the Senate set up to address the audit question.
Neither side made much effort to mask their frustration throughout the meeting, which was marked by verbal jousting and tense back-and-forths over questioning. And by the end of the meeting, a consensus still seemed far off.
"It was a productive discussion," Stephen Lisauskas, a deputy auditor in DiZoglio's office told reporters afterwards, though it "certainly got heated at times."
The debate didn't end once the meeting wrapped. DiZoglio took to X, later in the day accusing senators of “asking auditors to explain and justify their audit questions and attempts to do their jobs in accordance with the law.”
“Senators got their afternoon of political theatrics, while auditors got a glimpse into how the Legislature behaves in comparison with every other state entity,” she wrote.
And Friedman shot back later Tuesday night, reiterating senators' concerns about potential constitutional overreach and conflicts of interest.
"These key concerns remain, and are not and should not be referred to as ‘theatrics,’" Friedman said in a statement. "We look forward to answers from the auditor’s staff about how they propose to proceed with objectivity and in compliance with the Massachusetts Constitution.”
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS . Expect a busy day for the Senate today. It could begin debate on it's new rules package and a version of the $425 million supplemental budget that would add new restrictions for the state's emergency shelter system.
TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey has no public events. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll chairs a Governor’s Council meeting at 2 p.m. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” at 11 a.m. Rep. Ayanna Pressley hosts a press conference introducing reparations legislation 1:30 p.m. in D.C.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@politico.com.
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DATELINE BEACON HILL
— “Massachusetts reports spending nearly $500M so far in FY25 on state-run shelters,”by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has spent nearly $500 million on the state-run shelter system in fiscal year 2025, according to state data released more than a week after budget writers said they ran out of cash to pay for the emergency assistance program. The cost of running shelters for local and newly arrived pregnant women and families with children has ballooned over the past several years migrants from other countries arrived in Massachusetts and applied for taxpayer-funded housing.”
PAYWALL BOSTON HERALD RAG
— “Sen. Velis-led panel on antisemitism tangles with teachers union reps over pro-Palestinian resources,”by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “Over the course of two hours Monday at the State House in Boston, legislators sitting on the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism presented numerous pro-Palestinian exhibits — resources that educators might use in their classroom — drawn from a members-only section of the Massachusetts Teachers Association website. For Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, who co-chairs the special commission, the exhibits all discuss the plight of Palestinians, but none show the Jewish or Israeli perspective, despite the complexities of understanding the geopolitical realities of the Middle East.”
"R" VOTERS NEED TO SCRUTINIZE CANDIDATES!
JOHN GASKY HAS A READING COMPREHENSION PROBLEM! THE APPEALS COURT DECISION IS WIDELY AVAILABLE & PERTAINED TO HAND GUNS!
JOHN GASKY RAN UN-OPPOSED!
BIG MISTAKE FOR THIS CLOWN!
HAND GUNS!
Federal law banning handgun sales 18- to 20-year-olds is unconstitutional, appeals court rules
STUDIES INDICATE THAT THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS FAVOR STRONG GUN LAWS THAT PROTECT THE PUBLIC
ARTICLE WORTH READING!
The 10 States With the Highest Gun Death Rates
excerpts: At the same time, 60% of U.S. adults viewed gun violence as "a very big problem," and data illuminates why: There were more than 48,000 gun deaths across the U.S. in 2022, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s down slightly from the year before but still amounts to more than 130 people dying from a gun injury each day, frequently in connection with suicide or homicide.
THE MAJORITY OF VOTERS SUPPORT GUN REFORM! SUPPORT THOSE GROUPS!
PAY ATTENTION BECAUSE A SMALL ACTIVE GROUP OF WELL FUNDED GUN ZEALOTS OPPOSE THOSE EFFORTS!
OTHER STATES ALLOW GUN PURCHASES WITH NO PERMITS, NO BACKGROUND CHECKS & NO LIMITS THERE IS NO TRACKING OF THOSE GUNS THAT ARE FLOODING OUR STREETS
— “Proposal would lower firearm purchase age to 18,”by Christian M. Wade, The Eagle-Tribune: “Gun rights advocates are pushing to lift a state ban on the sale of handguns to anyone age 18 to 20 in response to a recent federal appeals court ruling that struck down a federal ban. A proposal filed by state Rep. John Gaskey, R-Carver, would allow individuals 18 and older to apply for a Firearm Identification Card without restrictions and for a License to Carry Firearms, under the same conditions set for those 21 and older. It would essentially repeal a state law restricting firearm access for that age group.”
PAY WALL
NOVEMBER 18, 2024 POLL
Majorities Still Back Stricter Gun Laws, Assault Weapons Ban
— “Spencer Republican plans to file bill that would repeal gun law Healey signed last summer,”by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “Sen. Peter Durant of Spencer said he is preparing six different pieces of legislation that target a gun law top Beacon Hill Democrats have hailed as a key measure to save lives, create safer communities, and maintain responsible ownership of firearms but critics argue impede fundamental Second Amendment rights. Durant said one bill will call for a full repeal of the law while the rest will take aim at sections of the statute covering gun registrations, a ban on automatic rifles and shotguns, live fire training requirements, a nonresident ban on semiautomatic magazines, and a ‘pre-ban’ on magazines.”
MASS GOP CLOWNS RUSHED TO ENDORSE THE FASCIST DESANTIS IGNORING HIS FAILURES IN FLORIDA!
POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook:
DESANTISLAND — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis picked up another two backers in the Bay State after this week's debate: Republicans state Sen. Ryan Fattman and state Rep. Kelly Pease .
MASS GOP RUSHED TO ENDORSE DESANTIS - YOU DISCREDIT YOURSELVES WHEN YOU ENDORSED SUCH DIM WITS!
FLORIDA HAS A LIMESTONE BASE THAT MAKES IT SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLOODING - DESANTIS SLASHED FUNDING!
POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: DESANTISLAND — One of GOP state Rep. Peter Durant ’s first big actions as state senator-elect: endorsing Ron DeSantis for president, per the Florida governor's campaign.
THIS IS THE CLOWN THAT PETER DURANT ENDORSED: NOTE: GREAT BARRINGTON DECLARATION is a DIRTY ENERGY KOCH funded think tank - it's a SCAM!
Ron DeSantis' New Surgeon General Appeared in 'Demon Sperm' Doctor's COVID Conspiracy Video
excerpt: One of the video's main speakers, Dr. Stella Immanuel, is a physician who operates a medical clinic in a Texas strip mall next to her church, Firepower Ministries. In the video, she called hydroxychloroquine a "cure" and said, "You don't need a mask" to prevent the virus' spread.
Immanuel has claimed that ovarian cysts and endometriosis are caused by "demonic seed." Demons insert sperm into sleeping individuals when they have sex in their dreams, Immanuel claimed in articles on her church's website.
Ladapo has also promoted the anti-parasite medication ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 symptoms. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised against using ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment.
In October 2020, Ladapo signed the Great Barrington Declaration, a statement that called for developing societal herd immunity to COVID-19 through natural infection.
****TRUMP promoted DR. STELLA IMMANUEL! That defines STUPID!****
EUROPEAN NATIONS PROVIDE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE & CONDUCTED TESTING IN HOSPITAL SETTINGS OF THESE BOGUS CURES WHERE THEY COULD INTERVENE IN CASE OF ADVERSE REACTIONS & DETERMINED THAT THEY WERE WORTHLESS!
SCIENCE, FACTS & MEDICAL STUDIES MATTER! NOT DIMWITS PROMOTING BOGUS MEDICAL INFORMATION!
"R" VOTERS ignore FACTS & fail to research CANDIDATES!
RYAN FATTMAN WHITE WASHED HIS EGREGIOUS VIOLATIONS OF LAW & PRETENDS IT WAS 'POLITICAL' !
TYPICAL REPUBLICAN EXCUSE FOR HIS CRIMES THE ENTIRE FAMILY PARTICIPATED IN!
Massachusetts GOP couple agree to state’s largest settlement after campaign finance investigation
The settlements to be paid by Republican state Sen. Ryan Fattman, Worcester County Register of Probate Stephanie Fattman and others total hundreds of thousands of dollars — the largest amounts ever paid by candidate committees to the state to resolve cases after campaign finance investigations, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, a Democrat.
The Office of Campaign and Political Finance investigated contributions funneled from Ryan Fattman’s senate campaign committee through state and local Republican committees to Stephanie Fattman’s register of probate committee during her 2020 reelection campaign.
In 2020, Ryan Fattman’s campaign donated money to the Republican State Committee and the Sutton Republican Town Committee, which used the money to help fund more than 500,000 mailers to support Stephanie Fattman’s reelection campaign, according to investigators.
The contributions, totaling more than $160,000 — of which $137,000 flowed through the Republican State Committee — far exceeded the legal limit of $100 on contributions from one candidate to another, Campbell said.
Under the settlement both Stephanie Fattman and the Stephanie Fattman Committee must pay out the full amount of the impermissible contributions funneled to the committee through the Republican State Committee — $137,000. Ryan Fattman must pay $55,000.
Donald Fattman, former treasurer of the Ryan Fattman Committee and Ryan Fattman’s father, must pay $10,000.
“We are grateful to put this matter behind us, and are appreciative of the outpouring of support we received along the way. The professionalism we experienced from the Attorney General’s Office was noteworthy. They treated us with respect, conducted business with decorum, and ultimately agreed that there was no liability or wrongdoing attributed to us,” Ryan Fattman said in a statement.
He also said he and his wife were “targets of political persecution from an outgoing political appointee” and that successful Republicans are held to a different standard than Democrats in the heavily Democratic state.
Last month the attorney general’s office reached a settlement agreement with the Massachusetts Republican State Committee in the same campaign finance violation case. The Committee has agreed to pay a total of $15,000 by December.
The Sutton Republican Town Committee also entered into an agreement, paying the remains of its committee bank account to the state, more than $5,200. As part of the agreement, Anthony Fattman, Ryan Fattman’s brother and chair of the Sutton Republican Town Committee, will resign.
— “City will ask state help for rebuild of Madison Park High,”by Seth Daniel, The Dorchester Reporter: “Mayor Wu said Tuesday that her administration will seek state approval and funding to help build a new or heavily renovated facility for the aging Madison Park Technical Vocational High School campus in Roxbury. In a letter to city councillors on Monday, the mayor requested council approval to begin the application process with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) before a filing deadline in April. There is no guarantee that the state authority will approve the city’s funding request, although the city of Boston has seen success in recent grant cycles.”
— “Indicted Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson scrambles to avoid state campaign finance law violation,”by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Indicted Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson headed off an enforcement action from state campaign finance regulators Tuesday, with the late filing of a report that detailed more than $4,000 in political contributions and spending. Fernandes Anderson, who paid $1,750 to settle prior violations of the state’s campaign finance law last fall and was federally indicted weeks later on six public corruption charges, was warned last week by the Office of Campaign and Political Finance that its legal department would step in if she failed to file the report.”
PAYWALL BOSTON HERALD RAG
THE RACE FOR CITY HALL
THE NEWTON NEBBISH JUST BLABBERS! JOSH KRAFT HAS NO PUBLIC POLICY EXPERIENCE, NO DETAILS. TOTALLY UNINFORMED & INEXPERIENCED!
A GREAT DEAL HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT HOUSING AFFORDABILITY - JOSH KRAFT SHOULD READ THOSE STUDIES & INFORM HIMSELF!
THERE ARE SOLUTIONS THAT THE NEWTON NEBBISH IGNORED!
THERE ARE COMMUNITIES THAT HAVE WORKED TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS!
JOSH KRAFT IS JUST A BRAIN DEAD OPPORTUNIST HISTORICALLY SURROUNDED BY THOSE WHO STROKED HIS EGO & THINKS FAULT FINDING IS A SOLUTION! HE'S SUCH A LOSER, WE'VE CONTRIBUTED TO MAYOR WU'S CAMPAIGN! BOSTON CAN'T AFFORD THIS CLOWN!
— “To jumpstart housing, Kraft vows to cut down affordability mandate,”by Greg Ryan, Boston Business Journal: “As part of his housing plan, Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft is proposing to allow real estate developers to subsidize fewer apartments and condos in order to push stalled market-rate projects toward construction. Kraft on Wednesday unveiled more details for the housing plan he floated during his campaign kickoff last week, including a voluntary form of rent control. If landlords agree to keep annual rent increases to no more than 5% plus any change in the consumer price index for a decade, they would get a 20% property-tax rebate, Kraft proposed Wednesday. To be eligible, renters would need to make no more than twice the area median income.”
PAYWALL
MIGRANTS IN MASSACHUSETTS
— "How mass deportations would affect New Bedford’s economy,”by Grace Ferguson, The New Bedford Light: “One in five residents of New Bedford, or about 20,000 people, were born outside the U.S, compared to one in seven nationwide, according to recent Census estimates. That includes immigrants of any legal status, including the city’s large Portuguese population. There are no exact tallies of how many undocumented immigrants are here, but the Immigrants’ Assistance Center estimates there are about 10,000 such people in the city. The Migration Policy Institute estimates the total number in Massachusetts is 209,000. Removing them would cause massive disruptions to the local economy, academics and advocates say: the city would lose an irreplaceable supply of workers and customers, and that could cause businesses to raise prices or leave.”
excerpts:
“Wide-scale deportation, and decimating the labor force in so many different parts of our local economy, certainly would have an impact on everyone,” said Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center.
Representatives of the city’s business community say they’re watching Trump’s policies, but they didn’t want to speculate about what may or may not happen.
“There’s definitely a concern that all of a sudden you could have people that make a good living removed from the economy,” said Mike O’Sullivan, CEO of the One SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce. “There’s a lot of unknowns.”
One in five residents of New Bedford, or about 20,000 people, were born outside the U.S, compared to one in seven nationwide, according to recent Census estimates. That includes immigrants of any legal status, including the city’s large Portuguese population.
There are no exact tallies of how many undocumented immigrants are here, but the Immigrants’ Assistance Center estimates there are about 10,000 such people in the city. The Migration Policy Institute estimates the total number in Massachusetts is 209,000.
Removing them would cause massive disruptions to the local economy, academics and advocates say: the city would lose an irreplaceable supply of workers and customers, and that could cause businesses to raise prices or leave.
The immigration surge has propped up the Massachusetts economy — otherwise, the state would be losing workers as they move away or retire, a Boston University study found. Immigrant labor is vital to the state’s economy, the study said.
The state’s population of international immigrants increased by about 90,000 from 2023 to 2024, according to a UMass Donohue analysis of recent Census data. That contributed to an overall increase in the state’s population, even as Massachusetts lost residents who moved away — state-to-state moves resulted in a population loss of 27,000 people.
“Massachusetts is much more reliant on immigrant labor and immigrant entrepreneurship than other states,” said Mike Goodman, a professor of public policy at UMass Dartmouth. “We are positioned to disproportionately feel the pain of these [immigration] policies.”
What do immigrants do in New Bedford’s economy?
New Bedford’s foreign-born population is a vital part of its workforce, academics and advocates said.
Undocumented immigrants in New Bedford tend to work in low-wage, low-skill jobs, they said, and these workers are spread across a broad range of industries. Many are construction workers, landscapers, restaurant workers, nursing assistants, cranberry harvesters, and cleaners.
In New Bedford, the country’s top-earning commercial fishing port, a significant number of undocumented immigrants process and package seafood on the city’s waterfront, advocates said.
“I’m always thinking of the fish houses,” said Helena DaSilva Hughes, president of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center. “That would be an easy target.”
Bob Vanasse, executive director of the seafood industry advocacy group Saving Seafood, disputed that claim. He said many large seafood companies are now using a federal tool to verify workers’ status.
“I don’t think the industry is at risk,” he said.
New Bedford Ocean Cluster Executive Director Jennifer Downing declined to comment.
Many immigrants who are working without authorization still have state and federal taxes withheld from their paychecks, advocates said. Undocumented immigrants contributed hundreds of millions in tax dollars, advocates said, even though they aren’t eligible for benefits from Social Security or most of the safety net programs that their tax dollars help to fund.
Are immigrants taking jobs from U.S. citizens?
Fish cutters work in smelly warehouses, using dangerous equipment. Construction workers and landscapers do manual labor in the heat and cold. Dishwashers scrub dirty plates all night. Nursing assistants help patients eat, bathe, and use the bathroom.
“This is really hard work, and I really don’t think these jobs are going to be fulfilled by Americans,” DaSilva Hughes said.
Goodman, the UMass Dartmouth policy professor, pointed out that many of those jobs are available today, but U.S.-born workers are not leaping at the opportunity to fill them.
“American workers are only displaced by foreign-born workers when there are American workers available and willing to take on those jobs,” he said.
If immigrants were pushing American workers out of their jobs, the number of unemployed people might spike. But that hasn’t happened in New Bedford, even as immigration to Massachusetts surged in recent years. The average number of people unemployed in New Bedford fell from 4,625 in 2018 to 3,934 in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The current immigration surge is not expected to slow wage growth for American workers over a long period of time, according to a Congressional Budget Office report from July.
The report found that wages will grow more slowly for workers who didn’t finish high school from 2024 to 2026, because immigration will increase the supply of workers for low-skill jobs. But that slowdown is short-lived, researchers said.
After 2026, the report projects that higher productivity triggered by immigration will slightly increase wage growth for workers who aren’t part of the surge.
“That increase in productivity boosts wage growth for all groups of workers in the longer term, more than offsetting short-term reductions in wage growth for some groups,” the report said.
The surge is expected to increase the country’s gross domestic product by 3% over the next decade, mainly because immigrants will increase the country’s population of workers and consumers. In other words, immigrants are expected to make the U.S. economy healthier and more productive.
Of course, the report was written before Trump was elected. Its authors acknowledge that policy changes could affect the trends.
In the meantime, immigrants have become scapegoats for Americans’ broader economic frustrations, Williams said.
“Part of the history and the tapestry of the city has been waves of immigrants who have reinvented and reinvigorated local communities, and to think that the most recent group of people are not part of that legacy is just really disappointing,” she said.
What would happen if a large number of immigrants are deported from New Bedford?
Large-scale deportations of undocumented immigrants would likely disrupt New Bedford businesses, academics and advocates said. But the exact impact on the city’s fishing industry is disputed.
The lack of labor would put New Bedford at a disadvantage compared to other ports, Goodman said, which could make it difficult for seafood companies to keep doing business here.
The effects of that downturn would ripple beyond seafood processing companies, he added. Local businesses that supply gas for fishing boats or repair nets would also suffer if the seafood industry shrank here, he said.
“When one piece in that supply chain breaks down, it disrupts everyone,” Goodman said.
But Vanasse, the seafood industry advocate, said the potential impact to the seafood industry has been exaggerated.
He said he had spoken to people close to the administration who told him they plan to target immigrants who entered the country illegally and have criminal histories — only a subset of the broader immigrant population.
“If that is what they do, I think suggesting that the seafood industry is on the verge of leaving New Bedford is absurd,” he said.
Still, experts said deportations could exacerbate existing staffing shortages in other industries.
“Everybody is short-staffed,” said O’Sullivan, the chamber of commerce CEO.
O’Sullivan said a deeper worker shortage could slow down the city’s manufacturing or increase waits at restaurants.
“But it’s not only the workers, it’s the customers,” said Lisa Knauer, a UMass Dartmouth anthropology professor who has studied the local immigrant population.
Immigrants spend most of their paychecks locally, she said. They shop at the grocery store, fill up at the gas station, and buy medicine at the pharmacy, Knauer said. That means New Bedford businesses could lose revenue if large-scale deportations happen.
Most immigrant households in New Bedford have mixed immigration status, advocates said. It’s common, they said, for a person who is undocumented to live with a partner who does have permanent residency and a child who is a U.S. citizen.
Removing some members of a household could increase financial pressure on the remaining members as they try to pay for rent and other necessities with less income, advocates said. And the economic pressure may extend beyond a single household, Williams said.
“The way that a lot of immigrant families survive over generations is networks of families, networks of households, that depend and rely on each other,” she said.
How would deportations affect the housing market?
New Bedford has a severe housing crisis — costs have skyrocketed in recent years because the supply of homes has not kept up with the city’s population growth. So, would removing a large number of people take some pressure off the market?
Academics and advocates are skeptical that mass deportation would lower housing costs, and there’s evidence it could deepen the housing crisis.
Undocumented immigrants tend to live in low-priced, low-quality units, and often aren’t in a position to complain about poor conditions, Goodman said. He doubted that Americans would be eager to move into the types of apartments most deported immigrants would leave behind.
Besides, he added, the recent surge in immigration is not a primary driver of New Bedford’s long-brewing housing crisis.
“I think our primary problem with regards to housing affordability is related to an inadequate amount of housing production over an extended period of time, rather than too many people,” Goodman said. “This is not the way to solve the housing problem.”
Deportations might open up some apartments, DaSilva Hughes said, but she agreed with Goodman that it would probably not make enough of a difference to lower prices.
Deporting workers might worsen the housing shortage because it reduces the supply of construction workers, a recent study found.
Knauer and Williams were concerned that deportation could cause foreclosures that will destabilize neighborhoods, exacerbating a problem New Bedford has struggled with since the Great Recession. Some undocumented immigrants have been in the country long enough to become homeowners, they said. Some landlords could face a sudden loss of revenue if their tenants are deported.
How are immigrants responding to the threat of deportations?
Immigrants are anxious, advocates say. DaSilva Hughes is encouraging families to have a plan for what to do if one of them is deported.
“We’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” she said.
Goodman said that rumors of enforcement action could cause immigrants to stay home from work, which would decrease productivity. But immigrant advocates said they aren’t seeing that yet, because immigrant families need the income to survive.
But Trump’s deportation threats are already having a chilling effect on other economic activities, Williams said. The immigrants she works with are mainly going straight to work and coming straight home. “They’re not wanting to go out shopping or out for recreation,” she said.
Williams is also concerned that the chilling effects could make immigrant workers even more vulnerable to exploitation. Wage theft is rampant on the waterfront, she said. Immigrants are entitled to be paid for their work and they can submit complaints about wage theft to the state attorney general, Williams said, but they might be less likely to do that now.
Memories of the 2007 Michael Bianco Inc. raid, a large-scale U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation targeting a South End factory, are echoing in immigrant advocates’ minds. The community isn’t ready for another raid like that, DaSilva Hughes said.
“It’s a wound that has not healed,” she said.
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
— “NTSB combing track and train inspection records in probe into Green Line trolley crash,”by Nick Stoico, The Boston Globe: “Federal transit investigators are gathering track and train inspection records and will conduct a 72-hour background of the crew as they probe a collision on the Green Line last weekend in Somerville, officials said. The crash about 12:30 a.m. Sunday at the East Somerville Station sent four train operators to the hospital, but none were admitted. A passenger was also taken to the hospital with a reported neck injury and was later released. The collision occurred when a train with five passengers on board hit a stationary train that was out of service. One car on each of the two-car trains derailed, according to the MBTA.”
South Coast Rail will have 32 total trips between Boston and the SouthCoast every weekday, with 26 on weekends.
This is an increase in service from when the service was initially planned in 2019.
A new shuttle service between East Taunton and Fall River and New Bedford will give commuters flexibility in schedules.
Residents were mainly excited, though those living near railroad intersections say noise is a problem.
FREETOWN — “Try the train.”
MBTA Chief Operating Officer Ryan Coholan pitched a sizable crowd assembled at Freetown Elementary School on the benefits of South Coast Rail, adding, “I can tell you it took an hour and 48 minutes for me to drive from Boston to here tonight — so I highly recommend the train.”
One New Bedford visitor to the meeting noted that a full trip from end to end will take an hour and a half — “90 minutes is a long time,” he said.
“Have you been on [Route] 24?” said Jean Fox, spokeswoman for the project.
A detailed timetable has still not been released, but Coholan said that “would be finalized very early in March” so people could start to make plans.
MBTA: South Coast Rail service will have more trips than originally planned
Coholan and other MBTA officials, including General Manager Phillip Eng, noted that the commuter rail service being delivered will be better than what was initially planned when shovels were put in the ground in 2019.
Though 26 daily trips were in the original plan, the MBTA will now deliver 32.
Fall River was originally due to have 13 daily trips, which has been increased to 15, both to and from Boston; New Bedford, originally scheduled to have 13 daily trips, will have 17.
“Weekend service, there were originally no commitments,” Coholan said.
South Coast Rail service will now have 26 weekend trips to and from Boston.
Consistent with service elsewhere on the commuter rail, service will probably start around 4:30 or 5 a.m., he said, and there will be late-night departures from South Station back to the SouthCoast for visitors who want to use the service "to see a sporting event, a show, or just spend the night in Boston.”
Shuttle service planned between East Taunton, Fall River, New Bedford
South Coast Rail extends the existing Middleboro/Lakeville line to East Taunton, where it splits – one fork goes to Fall River and the other fork continues to New Bedford.
In addition to the direct one-way service to Boston, the MBTA will run additional local trains from East Taunton to either end in Fall River or New Bedford, running back and forth. The idea, "unique" to the MBTA, is to give commuters more options to hook up with a ride to or from Boston, Eng said.
“There'll be trains that may not run full distance, but they could get you to a point where you could connect up with the train coming from the other way,” Eng said.
For example, if someone is in Boston headed home to New Bedford, but the soonest available train goes to Fall River, they could take that train, get off at East Taunton, and board a shuttle back to New Bedford.
“If you really want the direct train, single seat, then you just have to adjust your schedule to meet that,” Eng said. “But if by chance you miss it, it gives you flexibility to have more options.”
New Bedford pedestrian bridge almost ready
South Coast Rail project manager Karen Antion said New Bedford’s pedestrian bridge, which spans Route 18 and leads to the Whale’s Tooth parking lot, is 85% complete.
“The elevator shaft is an art piece,” Antion said. “It’s got drawings of each season in New Bedford, on each of the four glass walls.”
That elevator is largely responsible for the bridge’s delay in construction — originally scheduled to be complete by the end of 2024, the bridge is now expected to be opened when rail service begins in March.
The demolition of New Bedford’s old pedestrian bridge will begin in the spring.
South Coast Rail project is decades in the making
Though the MBTA expressed confidence in the March 24 start date, that opening is still dependent on approval from the Federal Railroad Administration, which is pending. However, officials said they've been working closely with the FRA for the past three years and don’t anticipate any further hangups.
“I have a groundbreaking shovel for this project that was given to me by then-Gov. Paul Cellucci in October of 1998,” said state Sen. Michael Rodrigues of Westport. “It’s a good prop to show you how long we’ve been working on this.”
“It’s going to tie in perfectly with our development along [Route] 79 and our waterfront,” said Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan in an interview before the meeting. “A number of residential units are going to be developed in that strip, and that means you can walk out your back door and walk right over to the train station and hop a ride to Boston.”
Coogan said when he was an educator at B.M.C. Durfee High School, “we had a ton of kids going to school in Boston, and now they’ll have another opportunity to get there without sitting in traffic.”
Many residents excited, but those living near tracks say their property 'unsellable'
The majority of visitors to the meeting expressed support for the service, and had questions about the ticket payment process, parking ($4 per day on weekdays, $2 on weekends), and safety.
One resident described the meeting in the mid-1930s of a young woman who “commuted to Boston from New Bedford five days a week," who often rode the same train as a young medical student from Taunton.
“Traveling together, they fell in love. When he got his M.D., the grandmother gave her permission to marry, and I came along nine and a half months later,” he said.
Not everyone was as happy. Freetown resident Billy Guay, who lives at a railroad crossing, told MBTA officials, “It’s a little bittersweet for me. I get it for a lot of people it’s a great thing. For me, it’s made my house unsellable.”
Guay cited the noise of dinging bells and train horns from trains passing through crossings, and was concerned about having to hear those noises from early in the morning to late at night.
“Everybody in here is like, ‘This is puppies and unicorns,’” he said.
Guay, who said he worked with Mass. Electric Construction on MBTA rail lines, said later that he knew his house was near railroad tracks when he bought it.
“And I also knew, from working on the T, that I never thought the T would go through with it,” he said. “I never thought it would.”
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“Donald Trump ran on a promise to bring down costs for everyday people. But didn’t have a plan for it, but said he would,” Pressley said Monday at a rally. “Well, Donald, how’s that going?”
“I’ll ask you all,” she continued, addressing the public. “How’s it going? Are your eggs cheaper? Is your housing more affordable?”
The crowd, gathered to protest the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), shouted back, “No!”
The demonstration Monday was organized by CFPB workers outside their headquarters in Washington. They are protesting tech billionaire Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) aim to slash federal spending.
In recent weeks, officials at DOGE have gained access to various federal departments and agencies, looking to overhaul the federal government’s budget. Democrats are sounding the alarm about Musk, an unelected official, having access to Americans’ confidential information, including tax records.
“Last week, I saw a sign in the crowd that said ‘DOGE stands for Dangerous Oligarchs Grab at Everything,’” Pressley said at the rally. “And I said it then and I’ll say it again, that Elon Musk needs to keep his … greedy, grubby hands off our government.”
She expressed concern for her daughter’s generation and the future they will have as the federal government undergoes changes that may have years-long impacts.
The CFPB was created by Congress after the 2008 financial crash as a way to protect people from getting swindled by various companies.
Fellow Massachusetts lawmaker Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) was also at the rally, expressing concern the Trump administration will shut down the CFPB to benefit Musk and his payment platform “X Money.”
“CFPB is there to make sure Elon Musk’s new project cannot scam you and steal your personal data,” she said, adding that’s why Musk was targeting the agency.
TRUMPACHUSETTS
— “Mass. groups among plaintiffs suing over ICE church enforcement policy,”by Sean Cotter, The Boston Globe: “Two Boston-based clergy groups have joined a lawsuit to stop the recent federal immigration policy change that allow ICE agents to conduct enforcement in places of worship. Shortly after taking office last month, President Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security to throw out a 15-year-old internal policy not to arrest migrants at sensitive locations such as schools or churches. The policy immediately drew criticism from clergy organizations. On Tuesday, 20 Christian and Jewish groups from across the country sued in federal court in Washington, D.C., asking a judge to order the federal government to reinstate the policy. If agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement make arrests in places of worship, the groups argue in the lawsuit, it will infringe on congregants' right to freedom of religion and expression.”
— “'Litigate,' 'legislate,' 'mobilize': House Minority Whip Katherine Clark on Democrats' plan to fight Trump,”by Scott Tong and Will Walkey, WBUR: “Democrats have been scrambling to counter President Trump’s blitz of executive orders the last three weeks. But in Congress, their options are limited. So what will the minority party's resistance look like in budget talks and debates over executive power? ‘What we have seen from day one in office is that Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress have betrayed the American people,’ says House Minority Whip Democratic Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. ‘They ran on decreasing costs, making life more affordable, easier, safer, and they have done just the opposite.’”
The fate of paper straws is in jeopardy, but will they still exist in Massachusetts?
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday, Feb. 10 banning the federal use of paper straws, saying they “don’t work,” the Associated Press reported.
Trump argued that paper straws don’t last very long, and insisted that the government only use plastic straws.
“It’s a ridiculous situation. We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump said as he signed the executive order, according to the AP.
The order, which deemed paper straws to be “nonfunctional,” directed the federal government to stop buying paper straws and ensure they are no longer offered in federal buildings.
It also required the development of a “National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws” within 45 days of the order’s signing, the document reads.
The move by Trump — who has long railed against paper straws and whose 2019 reelection campaign sold Trump-branded reusable plastic straws for $15 per pack of 10 — targets a Biden administration policy to phase out federal purchases of single-use plastics, including straws, from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.
Trump declared President Joe Biden’s policy “DEAD!” in a social media post over the weekend.
While plastic straws have been blamed for polluting oceans and harming marine life, Trump said Monday that he thinks “it’s OK” to continue using them.
“I don’t think that plastic is going to affect the shark very much as they’re eating, as they’re munching their way through the ocean,‘’ he said at a White House announcement.
Several U.S. states and cities have banned plastic straws, and some restaurants no longer automatically give them to customers.
In September 2023, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order eliminating the purchase of single-use plastic bottles in Massachusetts.
The order applied to beverages in a sealed plastic bottle with a capacity of 21 fluid ounces or less. Beverages included water, juice, milk, and soft drinks. Healey said the effort was intended to help Massachusetts move “to sustainable alternatives.”
As a result of the order, the Operational Services Division started working with vendors to determine if they could provide more environmentally friendly alternatives such as paper cartons or aluminum cans.
Then in June 2024, the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill that banned single-use plastic bags statewide. Despite the legislation passing by a vote of 38-2, it was never signed into law. The bill was sent to the state House, but died before coming to a vote.
The bill, titled “An Act to reduce plastics,” intended to make straws and plasticware in the state only available by request.
The legislation would have prohibited the use of carry-out plastic bags in retail stores statewide and required stores to charge 10 cents for recycled paper bags, five cents of which will be given to environmental protection measures.
The bill would have also prevented plastic utensils and straws from automatically being given to consumers, halted the purchase of plastic bottles by state agencies and created a statewide program for recycling large plastic objects.
“In Massachusetts, we take pride in being a leader when it comes to protecting our environment and people’s health, and this bill continues that leadership” Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, said in press release announcing the passing of the bill in the Senate.
“Limiting our plastics use means less trash in our water ways and on our streets, and giving our kids the green, clean planet they deserve to inherit,” Spilka said. “This is a crucial part of achieving the Commonwealth’s climate goals.”
So far, there is no word as to how Massachusetts lawmakers plan to respond to Trump’s executive order. MassLive has reached out to Spilka for comment.
The President claims this order will help promote a clean and healthy environment for the country, citing the disadvantages to using paper straws.
The order mentioned how paper straws are made with chemicals that could carry certain health risks — more specifically, polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.”
Being exposed to certain levels of PFAS can cause several health issues including increased risk of some cancers, higher cholesterol levels and developmental effects or delays in children, according to the EPA.
Paper straws are also more expensive to manufacture than plastic straws, have a larger carbon footprint and typically come wrapped in plastic, which undermines “the environmental argument for their use,” the order states.
“President Trump’s policies are promoting economic growth, while still maintaining standards that allow Americans to have among the cleanest air and water in the world,” the order reads. “This marks a sharp contrast from the previous Administration, which wasted American taxpayer dollars on virtue signaling instead of implementing effective solutions.”
THE LOCAL ANGLE
— “Cambridge becomes first city in Mass. to eliminate single-family zoning,”by Andrew Brinker, The Boston Globe: “The Cambridge City Council Monday night passed a dramatic overhaul of the city’s land-use rules, broadly allowing buildings up to six stories in neighborhoods across the city. The plan makes Cambridge the first city in Massachusetts to eliminate single-family zoning, meaning there’s no longer anyplace in the city where only single-family homes can be built. That has long been the standard in many communities, but has greatly constricted the construction of new housing. That does not mean single-family homes are no longer allowed in those neighborhoods, but rather that something as tall as six stories could be built on nearly any lot as well. Supporters hope the change will generate thousands of new units over the next decade in what is already one of the most densely populated — and most expensive — cities in the U.S.”
— “Worcester City Council votes to declare city as sanctuary for transgender people,” by Adam Bass, MassLive: “The Worcester City Council voted Tuesday in favor of a resolution that declares Worcester a sanctuary city for those who are transgender and gender diverse. The council voted 9-2 on the resolution, with Councilors-at-Large Morris Bergman and Donna Colorio voting against it.”
HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Emma Powers, Falmouth state Rep. David Vieira and Reggie Zimmerman.
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