Massachusetts Politics

Here’s a thumbs-up to the legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. Last week, the committee rightly gave a favorable report to Senate Bill 1284 mandating a study of how to keep prisoners and correction officers from taking their own lives. Every human life is of inestimable value. The bill, sponsored by Acton state senator Jamie Eldridge, would set up a 10-member commission whose responsibilities would include: Examining and evaluating the state of jail and prison suicide prevention policies Examining and evaluating suicide prevention training for correctional facility staff Providing recommendations to improve observation and treatment plans for inmates identified as suicidal Examining how prisons and jails can reduce stress, anxiety and depression among correction officers Such study and evaluation are long overdue.   The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has reported that, between 2009 and 2013, there were 20 suicides in the state of per...

The official celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in Boston came mercifully to a close with the parade yesterday in Southie. What, if anything, will halt the forces transforming South Boston (and other parts of the city) into precious, amenity-filled enclaves for the winners in today’s knowledge economy? Meanwhile, some folks haven’t gotten over that gay groups are now welcomed, never mind allowed, into the parade. A group called MassResistance issued a press release this past Monday, March 14, saying it was joining the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts in calling for “an end to the use of St. Patrick’s name in the formerly traditional Irish-Catholic parade.” MassResistance believes the inclusion of OUTVETS and Boston Pride in the parade “is a disgrace to the Catholic saint, who is regarded as a spiritual reformer in Ireland, and is in direct opposition to Catholic doctrine on homosexual behavior.” MassResistance demands that the Allied War Veterans Council, the parade sponsor/or...

If you’re in a construction trade, you’re probably not too happy with Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, the only person standing between Steve Wynn and his dream of a $2 billion casino in Everett. Yet I have to believe that even the most diehard union carpenter or electrician silently admires how Curtatone is standing up so forcefully to the crowd that wants to get on with building the casino, which was renamed yesterday by Wynn as “Wynn Boston Harbor.”   (Previous name: “Wynn Everett.”) The typical union guy would likely use a different short word for courage but I’m sure he's crediting the mayor for having guts …and getting a boot out of the mayor’s in-your-face style.   Curtatone told the Boston Globe in late-February that he expects Wynn’s “armada of lobbyists, lawyers and consultants” to attack him personally, but vowed that “no amount of public theater and political harassment will stop me.”   For emphasis, the one-time competitive weightlifter declared, “I’m not ...

As he was speaking yesterday morning in Utah, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney must have known he was not the best one to deliver the message that Donald Trump is “a fake,” and that a “business genius he is not.” He must have known every reporter would dig up what he’d said in February, 2012, when Trump endorsed him for President, which was, one, “I’m so honored and pleased to have his (Trump’s) endorsement,” and, two, “I spent my life in the private sector. Not quite as successful as this guy (Trump), but successful none the less.” Why did Romney give that speech?   My guess he could not help himself: he could no longer contain his disgust for Trump.   Of course, everything he said about Trump was dead-on accurate. “If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee,” Romney said, “the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished.” Check. “If Donald Trump’s plans were ever implemented,” he said, “the country would sink into prolonged recess...