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Wait: Biden no longer on top?
Speaking of Elizabeth Warren and polls, a new Emerson
survey shows Bernie Sanders now leading the Democratic pack for
president, overtaking former Vice President Joe Biden. So maybe the
touchy-feely controversy has indeed hurt Biden? Btw: Warren is still far
back in the pack at 7 percent.
Memo to Moulton: Start cranking up your fundraising if
you’re serious about running for president
With two Massachusetts pols now in the race for
president (Warren and Weld), the Herald’s Hillary Chabot writes that the
third Bay State politician thinking of running, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton,
might want to glance at his campaign bank statements before making any
announcement. He has only $722,000 in his coffers, not nearly enough to
run a credible campaign, Chabot writes.
‘Stop and Strike,’ Part III: The stores are mighty
quiet
Steph Solis at MassLive reports that U.S. Sen. Ed
Markey is predicting that striking Stop & Shop workers are “gonna
win” in the end. Why? Because Stop & Shop’s stores are either closed
or largely empty, as patrons appear to be honoring picket lines, Markey
says. And he seems to be right. Some samples from around the region – Patriot Ledger: “Stop & Shop stores quiet as
strike continues.” Cape Cod Times: “Stop & Shop customers flock to
Cape competitors.” South Coast Today: “Striking Stop & Shop workers
picket stores in Dartmouth, Fairhaven and New Bedford.”
Still, Janelle Nanos at the Globe reports on why Stop & Shop seems
to be digging in its heels on this one, to wit: It’s the last union
grocery chain in the region – and it’s competitively hurting the company.
Then again, union members are digging in their heels precisely because
it’s the last union supermarket chain in the area. Btw: Ex-Bruins star
Ray Borque was recently caught shopping at a S&S – and he’s
apologizing profusely, reports Universal Hub.
Notre Dame fire: ‘We will rebuild this cathedral’
The Washington Post has a good, straight-forward report
this morning on what was saved and not saved as a result of the shocking
inferno that consumed the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris yesterday.
The Boston Globe also has photos and videos of the heartbreaking fire that had so
many glued to their TV, cell and computer screens yesterday. Some good news
amid the sorrow: Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been pledged
to rebuild Notre Dame. … Now on to all things local.
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Warren’s latest policy-wonk proposal: Protecting public
lands and seas
U.S. Elizabeth Warren continues to set the public-policy
pace in the Dem contest for president, yesterday unveiling a major proposal
to protect public lands and block offshore drilling, reports the NYT. The Globe’s Jess Bidgood notes Warren’s latest policy-wonk
proposal comes as she heads to Colorado and Utah to campaign. She may
not be doing well in polls, but we continue to believe these proposals will
help Warren in the long run. We’ll see.
Report: One
of three MBTA retirees last year was under 55
This is one
of the many reasons why the T desperately needed massive reforms. From
the Globe’s Matt Stout: “Nearly one-third of the employees who retired
from the MBTA last year were under the age of 55, and dozens were still
in their 40s, adding to the flow of younger retirees state lawmakers
had hoped to stem years ago.”
Eventually,
a state law passed in 2009 will reduce and eliminate this ridiculous
outrage. But we’ll be paying for it for yet a few more years, it seems.
The Boston
Marathon: Campaign started for a stamp honoring Martin Richard’s words
The Globe’s
Brian MacQuarrie and Andy Rosen report on the wet and dramatic
finish to yesterday’s Boston’s Marathon. But we wanted to draw your
attention to a new campaign started for a U.S. stamp to honor the words
of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old who was killed six years ago by
terrorist bombers at the marathon, as reported by Universal Hub. Check
out the proposed stamp. It’s simple, elegant and poignant.
State
expanding treatment for addicts and mentally ill
From the Globe’s Felice J. Freyer: “Massachusetts health officials
are significantly expanding addiction treatment, adding nearly 400
long-term recovery beds devoted to people who suffer from both
addiction and mental illness. The recent move aims to address a major
failing of the current system: Addiction programs typically lack the
expertise to also treat the depression, anxiety, and trauma that often
underlie and perpetuate drug use.”
Shark buoy
project clearly bit off more than it could chew
Donors who
kicked in $36,000 for a crowd-funded effort to deploy an Australian
shark-detection system off Cape Cod beaches will be getting their money
back after the project ran into schedule and logistics hurdles, Doug
Fraser reports at the Cape Cod Times. Organizers wanted to raise
$250,000 by April 8 in order to get the buoy-based system up and
running this summer. They also faced reluctance from local communities
who worried about liability issues.
The Boston
Herald: Tilting toward the ‘older, pro-Trump crowd’?
The BBJ’s
Don Seiffert takes a look at the Boston Herald’s new pay wall for its
online content – and a few media watchers wonder if the struggling
Herald’s next move will be to crank up news coverage appealing to the
“older, pro-Trump crowd.” Well, desperate times require desperate
measures, as they say.
In
Washington, they see subway-car spies too
It’s not
just state Rep. Shawn Dooley who’s concerned about potential
espionage tricks pulled by the Chinese maker of the T’s new Orange Line
subway cars. Lawmakers in the Washington D.C. area are concerned about
the same thing with the Metro’s new subway cars – and they’re trying to
block funding for new cars made by China Railway Rolling Stock Corp., reports
Drew Hanson at the BBJ. Lawmakers have other concerns as well, it
should be noted.
Congestion
pricing gains momentum
Here they
come, sticking it exclusively to Pike and Tobin drivers again, leaving
the vast majority of motorists to drive for free and contributing
nothing to solving the congestion problem. From Sean Phillip Cotter at
the Herald: “Momentum is building for congestion pricing as lawmakers
say the traffic heading into downtown Boston is backing up into their
neighborhoods and paralyzing their roads ‘Doing nothing for this
problem is only exacerbating this problem,’ said state Sen. Joseph
Boncore, D-Winthrop, the Senate chairman of the Joint Committee on
Transportation.”
Home sweet
home: Stop trashing affordable manufactured housing
Jack
Sullivan, a former reporter at CommonWealth magazine, takes umbrage to
John Oliver’s recent pot shot at manufactured homes, formally known as
mobile homes. Sullivan and his wife retired to one in Florida – and
love it. And he says a lot of other people in Massachusetts who can’t
afford ‘stick’ homes would love them too – if more were built in
Massachusetts as part of the solution to the affordable housing crisis
here.
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