It was likely impossible not to hear the news Friday that a Plymouth County judge declared a mistrial in the case of Lindsay Clancy, a Duxbury mother who was charged with strangling her three children in 2023. The high-profile case has received international attention, bringing conversations about maternal mental health to the forefront. After seven days of deliberations and a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court, jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether Clancy should be held criminally responsible for the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz says his office will make a decision on a retrial "soon," WBUR's Deborah Becker reports. Deb has been covering this harrowing case since 2023. She shares what it's been like inside the courtroom in the first episode of a special WBUR podcast series. You can listen here. Now, to today's news: Fair work, fair wage: Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office has doled out more than $12 million in fines for unpaid wages and other workplace violations, WBUR's Zeninjor Enwemeka reports. That's according to data from the AG office's annual Labor Day report, which was published this morning. Looking at the last fiscal year, the most common violation was failure to make timely payment of wages, Lauren Moran, chief of fair labor division at the AG's office, told Zeninjor. Employers were also disciplined for denying earned sick time, misclassifying employees and child labor violations. - Areas of enforcement: Moran said of the over 1,100 employers that received fines, the most common industries were construction, restaurants, hotels and healthcare (including home healthcare and nursing homes). "And then industries like landscaping, cleaning, janitorial and other sort of places where you might expect that there's more vulnerable workers," she added.
- While workplace violations occasionally happen by mistake, Moran said there have also been instances of "someone threatening immigration or retaliating" after receiving a complaint — and federal immigration polices have made people more afraid to report these violations. Workers can always anonymously file complaints through the AG's website, she added.
On strike: Hundreds of workers at Encore Boston Harbor are expected to spend the day on the picket line. WBUR's Dan Guzman reports more than 1,300 employees represented by two unions walked off the job Friday, including housekeepers, drivers and bartenders. They're pushing for contracts with higher wages and better job security. "A lot of people will go to family houses and have cookouts and celebrate Labor Day, and I think sometimes we lose sight of why everybody has a day off," Nancy Campbell, business agent for the Teamsters Local 25, one of the unions involved in the strike, told Dan. "But what's better than an actual strike line on Labor Day?" - Management at Encore says its current pay scale is comparable to other businesses in the region. Officials plan to keep the hotel and casino open during the strike.
Free family fun: For select days in September and October, children in Boston and their chaperones can participate in professionally guided walking tours of Boston's Freedom Trail and the Innovation Trail, as well as tours highlighting women's history and Black history. It's thanks to the newly expanded "Boston Family Days" program, WBUR's Suevon Lee reports. Families interested in the free programming must sign up for a pass to join. P.S. — Before you head out, check out our post on what's open and closed across Massachusetts today in observance of Labor Day. Most government offices, as well as libraries, are closed. The MBTA's subway, buses and shuttles will run on a Sunday schedule, while the commuter rail will run on a weekend schedule. |
