If you were paying attention, this shouldn’t come as a big surprise i.e. Healey’s new proposals to bring some fiscal and policy sanity to the state’s right-to-shelter law, via new residency requirements and other reforms that could limit, if not end, temporary housing for just-arrived migrants. … I wish the recommended residency requirement was more than three months. But at least it’s a step in the right direction. … Healey has been hinting at fundamental changes for months now, so I’m not so sure Republicans can claim they were the first to call for new residency rules, etc. … My mind hippity-hops to the old only-Nixon-could-go-to-China adage. In this case, it’s only-a-progressive-could-reform-the-shelter-law. And give Healey credit for trying to do so. … Note: This is an odd one, via WBUR: “Questions swirl around departure of Healey’s shelter chief.”
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‘Are We Sleepwalking Into Autocracy?’
I admire President Biden for warning in his farewell address that an ‘oligarchy’ of ultrarich threatens the future of democracy in the U.S. But there’s something off about his assertion. Are only the ultrarich (i.e., tech titans, financiers, etc.) the threat? … The last time I checked, Steve Bannon was a grifter, not a billionaire, and ditto for many others of his illiberal ilk. … Anyway, here’s a much scarier and more accurate description of the right-wing tactics and types who threaten democracy across the world, one of whom, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, is a frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago. The illiberal Orbán has bragged he’s trading tips with Trump’s team on ‘policy’ and ‘governance’ issues.
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‘How the Ski Business Got Too Big for Its Boots’
It’s not just hospital chains. Private equity firms are also screwing up the ski industry, writes Daniel Block at the Atlantic. … He points to Vail and Alterra as major resort owners who are transforming the industry – and not for the better. … Fyi: the two firms own or affiliate with a number of New England ski resorts, including Stowe Mountain, Mount Snow, Mount Sunapee, Stratton and Sugarbush, etc.
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‘Modern food deserts’ Part 2
Speaking of monopolies, here’s another piece on how failure to enforce anti-trust measures led directly to closures of small food stores in many rural and urban communities. … The Atlantic had a similar piece on ‘food deserts’ last month.
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Biotech buyouts | LA fire politics | Shelter residency requirement | Celts malaise
Some random thoughts on recent news items:
Local biotech buyouts spree
If three examples really do make a trend, then we have a local biotech mergers trend underway, based on newly announced deals here and here and here. … Granted, the annual JPMorgan health care conference is underway in San Francisco, prompting publicity-minded firms to make their big M&A announcements in and around this week. … Still, the recent merger activity tends to confirm that the biotech industry as a whole is slowly but surely on the rebound, as the Globe’s Larry Edelman noted the other day. … The sector may be improving, but not enough to fill all the empty lab space around Greater Boston. Not even close.
Update — And more from the Globe (scroll down): “Eli Lilly acquires $2.5 billion cancer program from Scorpion Therapeutics”
‘LA fire statistics: Area burned is larger than city of Boston’
This kind of puts the scale of the tragedy into local perspective, doesn’t it?
The politicization of the LA fires
Speaking of the LA tragedy, ideological warfare has broken out over its cause, as you may have noticed. It’s mostly been Trump and other usual suspects on the right blaming Dems for something we used to attribute to an act of God. … But now Elizabeth Warren appears to be getting into the act, in a slightly different way. … It reminds me of the politicization of Hurricane Katrina so many years ago. The same damn thing is happening today.
Update — Scott Van Voorhis’s Contrarian Boston is hosting a chat Wednesday at noon. [I initially got the chat’s day and time wrong. It’s now correct.] The topic: “Another blue state disaster or just more of them same old blame game.” … You know where I stand. I.e., the exact same ideological/partisan hacks we’ve seen in the past take the exact same sides we’ve seen in the past and make the exact same blown-out-proportion arguments we’ve seen in the past. …
Healey open to shelter residency requirements, says ‘original intent’ of shelter law is important
This is potentially big. The governor is at least talking about possible program reforms that could effectively exclude recently arrived migrants from the state’s right-to-shelter program. … She’s not putting it that way. But that’s what a residency requirement would effectively do: exclude just-arrived migrants. … She’s also talking about possibly “aligning” the right-to-shelter law with its “original intent,” which is a nod to the fact that the right-to-shelter law was initially intended to help find housing for homeless residents of Massachusetts, not for migrants arriving from around the world.
Ed Flynn’s mayoral candidacy crashes before it takes off
All that George Regan advice for naught. The Herald has more. … And so does the Globe.
A second Republican eyes long-shot bid for governor
Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis sure sounds like he’s mulling a run for governor. … Former Baker cabinet member Mike Kennealy has already said he’s eyeing a bid too.
‘Outworked and unfocused, Celtics have slipped into being just another contender’
I know the local sports story of the day is the hiring of Mike Vrabel as head coach of the Pats, which is great news. But right now I’m concerned about the Celts. They started the season looking like a juggernaut destined to win a second straight banner. They don’t look that way now, as Gary Washburn notes.
Early candidate for Story of the Week: ‘Diary of a Dead North Korean Soldier’
Finally, here’s a pretty amazing WSJ article (which actually ran last week) on the heavy casualties the North Koreans are suffering at the hands of the Ukrainians. The headline suggests the story is about a diary the Ukrainians captured but the article is really about how the NKs are faring in the war in general — and it’s pretty ugly.
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‘Human Remains Found at Medford Square Development Site’
It’s a headline that certainly caught my attention. … The skeletal remains might be from the former Cross Street Cemetery that once lay in the path of I-93 and that were supposed to have been removed in the late 1950s. But Medford Historical Commission members suspect not all bodies were removed, B&T’s Steve Adams reports. … An archeological consultant is now investigating.
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The higher-ed blob | Office market crisis deepens | Mass. population soars (really) | Karl’s Sausage to close
Some random thoughts on recent news:
The Blob: Higher ed’s ever expanding ‘administrative bloat’
The Globe’s Diti Kohli has an excellent story on the relentless growth of administrative staff at local colleges and universities. … If they were government workers, we’d call them bureaucrats, but we’ll have to settle for ‘administrative staff’ for now. … Harvey Silverglate has long blasted higher-ed’s administrative bloat, saying it’s helped colleges become increasingly unaffordable. … You know you can’t resist: The Blob (starring a young Steve McQueen.)
Boston office market is arguably getting worse, not better
Despite back-to-office orders and high-profile office-space renewals by firms, the office vacancy rate in Boston continues to rise to record levels, as the BBJ reports. … And now Class A office space is starting to feel the pinch, B&T reports. … This ain’t good for Boston’s downtown, that’s for sure.
Despite what you’re hearing, Mass.’s population is actually rising at a rate not seen since the Baby Boom years
Amid all the recent articles on the state’s outmigration woes, did you know that the state’s population actually hit a record high last year – and that last year’s state population growth was the largest annual increase since the Baby Boom ended in 1964? It’s true. Thanks to immigration, as SHNS reports at B&T. … Btw: The state’s outmigration has recently slowed, as the Globe’s Jon Chesto reports
Meanwhile, the NYT calls for common sense immigration reforms
Speaking of immigration, the NYT nails it on the need for immigration reforms. Read it. The editorial bashes both left and right. And, no, they’re not engaging in bothsidesism. Both parties are to blame for the chaotic immigration mess we have today. …
Healey acknowledges that no background checks were conducted on migrant shelter residents
Speaking of chaotic immigration messes, the shelter-incidents story keeps getting worse. … The right-to-shelter law may be noble in intent, but it has to be one of the most poorly managed programs in state government. … I feel like I always need to add the following caveat: I support immigration. It’s a net economic plus for the nation, especially for Massachusetts. (See related population-growth and NYT posts above.) I’m also against mass deportations of law-abiding migrants. But the chaos at the border, the out-of-control spending on migrant housing, the refusal to cooperate with the arrests of known migrant criminals? It’s as if the most ardent supporters of immigration are secretly conspiring to sabotage public support for immigration.
‘Iconic Karl’s Sausage Kitchen to close after ’67 unforgettable years’
It’s not as well known as Woodman’s, Regina Pizzeria or Kelly’s Roast Beef, but Karl’s Sausage Kitchen in Peabody is indeed an iconic establishment, as WCVB reports.
Bruins to play outdoor hockey game in … Florida?
Huh? … Yes, next year’s Winter Classic involving the Bruins will be played outdoors in Florida. It’s a first for the NHL. … And you know our local boy, Jeffrey Vinik, had something to do with it.
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‘There’s nothing worse than the language police’
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton tells NPR station WBUR that it needs to sound a little less like an NPR station … And he’s right (again). … Scroll down to the bottom of the Q&A for the language-police part. .. The rest of the interview mostly covers familiar ground, including Moulton’s defense of his prior trans-athletes comments, etc.
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‘This could be the beginning of the end for fire insurance in California’
These are truly historic days for the city of Los Angeles, as the L.A. Times make abundantly clear about the firestorms (not just fires) now raging in and around the city. … Today’s infernos may yet rank as one of the nation’s worst natural disasters if they don’t get control of fires soon. … The obvious immediate concern is the safety of residents. But a huge looming business question is: Can California’s insurance industry survive many more such blazes? Politico has more.. … Politico piece via News Items.
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Shelter reality: ‘Drug arrests, domestic violence, rapes: More than 1,000 serious incidents’
When the Globe gets into the act, you know it’s finally become a major story. … This is ultimately the result of bad state policy that allowed the right-to-shelter program to veer from its original intent of helping the homeless of Massachusetts to providing housing for recently arrived migrants. The state needs to fix the program, not repeal it. … Fyi: The Herald had the incidents story earlier this morning. See post immediately below.
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