John Barros may have “divested” himself from the controversial $2 billion courthouse development deal in Springfield, as the Herald and SHNS (WBUR) report. But U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s ex-convict husband, Conan Harris, is apparently still in line for the big taxpayer-funded payout tied to the state contract. … Can someone please explain what exactly the husband of a sitting U.S. congresswoman did to earn a slice of the taxpayers’ money for this project? The optics stink, especially when you consider Harris’s familiarity with courthouses is limited to his past legal woes that brought him before the bench once too many times. 

The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld is bashing Gov. Healey’s handling of the courthouse controversy (and other matters):

The state awards a massive courthouse contract to two incredibly politically connected bidders and she says the process was totally above board? How could she not anticipate questions about this contract? And what does Barros know that we don’t know that caused him to jump ship from a lucrative pay day?… 

Some slightly off-the-beaten-path stories you may have missed over the past week:

— I wasn’t aware any of them were still around: “One of state’s few remaining Howard Johnson Inns up for auction” (BBJ)

— Do you think the November elections had something to do with this?: “MBTA extends commuter rail discounts into the fall, lowers some bus and subway costs” (GBH)

— Industrial space is back, baby: “This Chinatown Tower Is Returning to Its Industrial Roots” (B&T)
— He’s an expert on housing, all right: “Michael Minogue campaigned on understanding the housing crisis. He also owns a $31m home in an ultra-exclusive Montana club.” (Globe)

— Jon Keller isn’t feeling the anti-insurgency vibe in this year’s state elections: “The winds of change – not” (MassterList)

— Pass the popcorn. It’s either going to be a spectacular success or spectacular flop: “Fusion power darling Commonwealth Fusion Systems raises another $1B” (Tech Crunch)

— Remember when many newbie lawyers not so long ago couldn’t even find an unpaid internship?: “Law firm first-year pay jumps to $235K in Boston; recruiting starts earlier” (BBJ)

— An excellent look at the consequences of a top-down idea that looked great on paper until it was tried: “‘Like an earthquake’: Mass General Brigham fumbled hospital merger, former executive says” (Globe)

— Leaders in Burlington, Vt., and elsewhere should read this article before embarking on ‘harm reduction’ programs, but they won’t: “The Cities that Said Yes to Drugs” (The Atlantic)

— Just an interesting summer read: “We’ve all but wiped out wild oysters. Bringing them back could help solve some big problems” (WBUR)

— The crazy economics of rent control: “A Surprising Portion of Rent-Stabilized Apartments Go to NYC’s Wealthiest Renters’ (WSJ)

Or should it be ‘Straight of Hormuz Held Hostage’? Anyway, it should be sort of obvious by now that the Iranians have pulled out their old 1979 hostage-crisis playbook and are just stringing out the current showdown with the U.S. for maximum political purposes. … And just like 47 years ago, our current president seems trapped by today’s crisis. … 

Fyi: The above video is ABC’s very first “America Held Hostage” special report in ’79, featuring Frank Reynolds, not Ted Koppel, as some people might think. Koppel famously took over ABC’s hostage-crisis coverage at a later point.

It’s a small quibble. But it’s a routine small quibble worth pointing out now , i.e., political stories in the Globe written completely from the lopsided perspective of excitable progressives, with little or no outside perspective. Example from today’s Globe: “‘I’m jealous.’ For Wu fans, a mounting case of Mamdani envy.” Another recent example: “Young progressive candidates are energizing Democrats nationwide. It’s giving some Massachusetts liberals serious FOMO.” And another: “Campbell has sued Trump more than 50 times. Democrats say they hear ‘a future governor or senator.’”

Ok, ok. I know. The Globe’s more than capable of running stories about the non-progressive political species inhabiting our dear deep-blue state, such as this smart piece from Chris Van Buskirk: “Massachusetts’ southeastern corner is turning into a Republican ‘hotbed.’” But the paper too often comes across as pandering to progressives, even though they make up only a faction within a party that represents just 25 percent of enrolled voters in Massachusetts. … Maybe one day the Globe will publish a story with the headline: “For most voters, a mounting case of non-Wu and Mamdani envy.” But don’t hold your breath.

Here we go again. The Globe is boldly urging lawmakers to show some spine by imposing congestion pricing for cars entering the city’s downtown – and then mentioning that a non-courageous “quick and easy” approach would be to let DOT bureaucrats raise Mass Pike tolls even higher than they are now while making no mention of possible tolls on I-93, Route 1 and 2, etc. (“You just flip the switch,” says one enthusiast of raising Pike tolls). … Way to show spine, Globe editorial board! … Any Worcester area, central Mass. or Metrowest lawmaker (and that includes you Karen Spilka) who goes along with this cockamamie plan to further stick it to Pike drivers alone – commuters who are already paying for the Big Dig and maintenance of other non-Pike drivers’ roadways – ought to be voted out of office, pronto … Btw: a suggested new battle cry: No I-93 tolls, no Congestion Pricing!

Some slightly off-the-beaten-path stories you may have missed over the past week:

— He’s obviously not a big fan of his successor: “Ex-Boston Mayor Marty Walsh backs Brownsberger, a senator Mayor Wu is trying to defeat” (Boston Herald)

— Most people get watches when they retire. BU honchos get mortgages to buy multimillion-dollar condos: “Boston University backed six-figure loans for former president, two administrators” (BBJ)

— Jon Keller goes after ‘bike supremacists’ who are using a tragic death to try to reimpose radical bike-lane policies: “Mayor Wu’s biker backlash” (MassterList)

— It’s part of the new station owner’s attempt to rebuild the brand: “NECN hires former WCVB reporter Matt Reed as anchor, eyes relaunch in September” (Globe)

— AI firms are throwing money around: “Where Did All the Computer-Science Professors Go?” (The Atlantic)

— Is the Middle Kingdom going the way of 1990s Japan, i.e. an overly hyped and feared economic rival? “China’s Moment of Weakness” (Foreign Affairs)

— The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine admirably stands firm: “Orange-stained pardon can’t keep cop-punching Jan. 6 doc from losing her right to practice medicine” (Universal Hub)

— Spot-on advice that too many don’t want to hear: “If the Democrats Actually Want to Win, This Is What They Have to Do” (NYT)

— Meanwhile, an old-school conservative lets the VP have it: “The endlessly pliable JD Vance has no aversion to conversions” (Washington Post)

— Unfortunately, both military and Ivy League types look on him as a sort of freak for choosing to serve: “I’m an Army general. My education shouldn’t be unexpected.” (Washington Post)

Isn’t this just great. U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern rips Republicans for hurling accusations of “communists” against Democrats and then turns around and hurls accusations of “fascists” against Republicans. … And so goes our two parties’ polarized political discourse. Unfortunately, Heather Cox Richardson seems to think McGovern’s denunciation of extreme rhetoric with extreme rhetoric is somehow OK. … Anyway, all of this kind of proves Kristen Soltis Anderson’s point in the NYT that the “rigid alignment” of our two parties in Congress doesn’t come close to reflecting the more complex reality of the American electorate.

The Globe has a big story this morning on the good, bad and ugly surrounding Cambridge’s new pro-housing zoning rules. The number of new units being built in the city is quite impressive. The new rules are definitely working in that regard. But there’s also a growing backlash to this laissez-faire, Houston-like approach to new housing construction, as the Globe story also makes clear. My hunch is the backlash is going to get worse. Sooner or later, a developer is going to really overstep, and the uproar will lead to changes. Hopefully, those changes will entail common-sense tweaks to recent reforms, not all-out repeal. … See prior post below for related thoughts, complaints, and links, etc.

Good news on the housing front: State House lawmakers are mulling legislation that would allow ‘duplexes by right’ in most single-family neighborhoods, as the Globe and B&T report. It’s a great idea yours truly wrote about last fall. … Meanwhile, this is sort of good news, in the sense it might avert bad news caused by good intentions: B&T is separately reporting that Cambridge is thinking of rolling back some of its more radical pro-housing measures that have risked backlashes against zoning reforms, something I’ve also written about before here and here and here. But it seems Brookline’s YIMBYs are determined to repeat some of the same mistakes made in Cambridge, as B&T reports in the same piece. Sigh. …

Finally, all the above housing articles and a B&T column by Scott Van Voorhis point to how pro-housing lawmakers on Beacon Hill are switching their legislative  tactics a bit, from pushing big hard-to-pass housing bills with lots of items in them to smaller easier-to-pass housing bills focusing on just one or two issues. It’s a smart move. As Scott notes, smaller victories add up over time.