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Politico
a day ago
- Business
- Politico
Tax talks in Boston mayor's race
TAX TALK — Recent polling shows Michelle Wu crushing the competition in Boston's mayoral race. Her campaign is still keeping up the pressure. A gaggle of campaign surrogates held a press conference outside the JFK federal building Tuesday, calling on Josh Kraft, Wu's main competition in the race, to release his tax returns. 'He wants to be the mayor of Boston, and we're asking him to be totally transparent about where all of his money and all of his interests are going,' state Sen. Lydia Edwards said. 'He's not Trump, … but he's acting Trump-like when you don't disclose where your money's going. All we're asking for is a fundamental, basic level of transparency.' Wu wasn't there herself — she's in Maine until Sunday with family, according to her office — but she chimed in via a video she posted to social media. A spokesperson for Kraft said he applied for an extension for his 2024 tax return and will be releasing information before the Sept. 9 preliminary election. Yesterday's call for Kraft to disclose his financial details was in line with other attacks Wu and allies have leveled against Kraft, the son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, in a campaign that's become heavily focused on money. Wu has accused him of trying to buy the office and regularly points out that the super PAC backing him is funded in part by Republican donors. The Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll that was released this week shows those attacks seem to be sticking. Wu led Kraft 60-30 percent in the survey, and more than 42 percent of likely Boston voters said they had an unfavorable view of Kraft. The results prompted columns in both the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe questioning how Kraft can forge a path forward. Kraft went on the offensive early. His campaign, at least for now, is sticking with the strategy. In response to the Wu campaign's calls to release his tax returns, a Kraft spokesperson sent a lengthy statement knocking Wu over transparency within City Hall. 'Rather than talk about the issues that people actually care about and how she has failed to make the city work for everyone, from housing to schools to making City Hall more transparent and responsive to residents' concerns, Michelle Wu is trying to change the conversation while overseeing the least transparent City Hall in generations,' Kraft's spokesperson Eileen O'Connor said in a statement. GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@ TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey chairs a Governors Council meeting at noon at the State House. Rep. Ayanna Pressley holds a press conference defending DEI at noon in D.C. THE MONEY VEEP WATCH — Vice President JD Vance raised $3 million at his Nantucket fundraiser Tuesday night, per the New York Post, a record for a fundraising event on the island. SPOTTED — at the fundraiser: Stefan Passantino, Mike Minogue Colin Greenspoon, Henry Howard, Kristan Nevins and Ozzie Palermo. DATELINE BEACON HILL — Healey says officials need to 'live within our means.' She's also giving managers in her administration $10 million in raises. by Matt Stout, The Boston Globe: 'When she signed Massachusetts' $61 billion state budget, Governor Maura Healey touted taking several cost-saving steps amid 'tight and uncertain' times, including halting a planned January pay hike for executive branch managers. … Left unsaid at the time: Healey is giving those same managers — 3,600 in total — a separate raise this month, a 2 percent increase her administration estimates will cost roughly $10 million this fiscal year. Members of Healey's Cabinet, most of whom were making more than $202,000 a year, are also eligible for the increase, which would boost their pay by more than $4,000 apiece. The raise would mark the second time in six months Healey has given administration managers and Cabinet members a salary bump.' FROM THE HUB — Massachusetts revenue commish disputes claims that Boston is 'secretly penalizing' commercial properties with tax spikes by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: 'The head of the state's Department of Revenue said he's found no evidence to support claims raised by a watchdog group that the City of Boston has been increasing the assessed value, and taxes, of commercial properties that file appeals. DOR Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder said he directed his staff to look into the matter following a letter his department received late last month from the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation requesting an investigation into what the watchdog alleged were and unconstitutional' assessment practices by the city.' — Business groups oppose ban on 'captive-audience' meetings by Christian M. Wade, The Eagle-Tribune: 'Business leaders are strongly criticizing a proposal on Beacon Hill to ban mandatory employer-sponsored meetings on religious and political matters, arguing it would infringe on free speech rights and lead to costly litigation. The proposal, filed by state Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, D-Somerville, would prohibit mandatory 'captive-audience' gatherings by public and private employers and allow workers to file lawsuits if they are fired or disciplined for reporting or speaking out about any violations of the proposed rules.' FALL RIVER FALLOUT — Fall River fire caused at one of two points of origin by Dan Medeiros, The Herald News: 'State Fire Marshal Jon Davine said one of two factors caused the deadly fire at Gabriel House assisted living facility on July 13. Davine said, based on the available evidence, the fire began with either an electrical or mechanical failure with an oxygen concentrator, or the improper disposal of smoking material, and began in a second-floor bedroom on the left side of the building. Davine said the room contained an oxygen concentrator 'and numerous smoking materials.'' MIGRANTS IN MASSACHUSETTS — Federal spending data shows Massachusetts companies that work with ICE by Daniel Jackson, MassLive: 'Tactical vehicles, law enforcement badges, a 24/7 transcription and language interpretation service — these are some of the goods and services Massachusetts companies have provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. About a dozen companies across the Bay State, stretching from Pittsfield to Plymouth, work with ICE in some capacity, federal records show. A list of companies working with ICE from around the country, drawn from federal spending data, was recently compiled on a map as part of a website called which accuses Citizens Bank of funding a pair of private prisons.' DAY IN COURT — Judge dismisses more than 100 cases amid lawyer work stoppage by Sean Cotter, The Boston Globe: 'Defendant after defendant on Tuesday heard the same message from Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Tracy-Lee Lyons: ;This case shall be dismissed without prejudice today.' All told, 102 people who had been charged with a wide range of crimes, from the petty to the violent, saw their cases dropped because the government had been unable to provide them a lawyer. Tuesday's hearing marked a remarkable step underscoring the ongoing crisis created by a work stoppage by the private court-appointed attorneys known as bar advocates, who represent most of the state's indigent defendants who otherwise can't afford lawyers. The charges, read out in quick succession by court clerks, spanned from shoplifting and driving on a suspended license to domestic violence, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and drug trafficking.' — Officials face down Republic in court by Caroline Enos, Gloucester Daily Times: 'Leaders of Gloucester, Beverly, Peabody, Canton, Danvers and Malden appeared in court Tuesday afternoon over against Republic Services' lacking service during the ongoing Teamsters' strike. Their lawyers asked a Salem Superior Court judge to issue a preliminary judgement demanding that Republic carry out all contracted services in these communities, as the company has routinely left trash to sit in dumpsters and on curbs days past scheduled collection dates during the strike. Republic has also failed to pick up any recycling in most of these towns since the strike began July 1.' FROM THE DELEGATION — Warren, Social Security chief to meet over agency concerns by Stephen Neukam, Axios: 'Social Security commissioner Frank Bisignano will huddle with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in Washington on Wednesday amid deep Democratic concerns about the agency's cuts to services, Axios has learned. … Warren will have the chance to air grievances about everything from staffing cuts to phone wait times in a meeting that follows incessant pressure from Democrats on Capitol Hill.' FROM THE 413 — Amherst Regional falls short on mandated learning time by 100 hours by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: 'Amherst school officials are being required by the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to take corrective action after the agency determined Amherst Regional High School students this past school year fell nearly 100 hours short of the required 990 hours of structured learning time.' THE LOCAL ANGLE — City Councilor Haxhiaj to be arraigned Wednesday for assault, interfering in ICE arrest by Toni Caushi, Telegram & Gazette: 'The Northwestern District Attorney's Office will prosecute the Worcester Police Department's charges against District 5 City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj related to the May 8 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation on Eureka Street. Haxhiaj's arraignment for the counts of an assault and battery on a police officer and interfering with police is slated to take place Wednesday, July 23, at Worcester District Court.' — Who's running for mayor in Fall River? by Emily Scherny, The Herald News: 'Incumbent Mayor Paul Coogan is seeking his fourth term as the city's top executive. He has been mayor since being first elected in 2019. Previously, he served on the School Committee. Running against Coogan are Gabriel 'Boomer' Amaral, Carlos Cesar, Christopher Silvia and Michael J. Vandal.' — Salem City Council approves ordinance to regulate condominium conversion by Michael McHugh, The Salem News. MEDIA MATTERS — GBH to lay off 13 employees from PBS history program 'American Experience' due to federal funding cuts by Aidan Ryan, The Boston Globe: 'GBH is laying off 13 employees from its PBS history program, 'American Experience,' due to 'severe cuts in federal funding for public media,' GBH chief executive Susan Goldberg told staff Monday night. 'American Experience' will air its 37th season — which includes a documentary about Henry Kissinger — this fall as planned, but next year will focus on rebroadcasting the program's best documentaries to give GBH time to 'reinvent, create, and ramp up' the series with a focus on digital platforms, Goldberg said in a Tuesday interview with the Globe.' HEARD 'ROUND THE BUBBLAH HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former state Sen. Kathleen O'Connor-Ives, Meg Montgomery, Vasundhra Sangar, Jeremy D. Goodwin, Mariane Pearl, the Telegram & Gazette's Kinga Borondy, Reynolds Graves, Jane Rayburn of EMC Research and Massachusetts Playbook alum Lisa Kashinsky.
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Climate
- Boston Globe
Another beauty of a day: Boston and New England will continue to enjoy refreshing summer air and sunshine Tuesday
Tuesday brings us a delightful stretch of calm weather with mostly sunny, blue skies stretching from Boston to all of New England. High pressure continues, settling winds and holding dry air across the region. Advertisement Highs will build to a comfortable upper 70s after a morning start in the low 60s. The region stays clear into the evening with lows slipping to the 50s for some. The setup — quiet and bright High pressure continues to reign supreme over the Northeast to set up a beautiful Tuesday. The difference on Tuesday versus Monday is that the wind will be calm as high pressure keeps skies blue across the entire New England region. The bit of haze on the horizon from Monday will also have faded away come Tuesday. High pressure will keep mostly sunny skies in place across New England. Boston Globe The commute in will be refreshingly cool, with temperatures in the low 60s across the region. The afternoon will likely push into the mid- to upper 70s. Without the strong northwesterly flow from Monday, a sea breeze could keep Boston and the North and South Shores closer to the mid-70s. Advertisement Highs on Tuesday will reach the upper 70s for most of New England. Boston Globe The thing we all might notice, and enjoy, most is the comfortable air. The cooler Canadian air is very dry, dropping dew points to the 40s and low 50s across the region. We have only seen dew points this low just a few times this summer. The dry air will allow for easy evaporative cooling of the surface at night, allowing temperatures to slip to the 50s for most, for a really comfortable evening. Dew points will stay low for the next couple of days before returning to muggy levels later in the week. Boston Globe Overnight low temperatures Tuesday will fall to the mid-50s for most. Boston Globe On Wednesday, we'll see a flip to a southerly flow as high pressure drifts to our south. The region stays dry with mostly sunny skies, but the heat and humidity will start to climb. By Thursday, the 90s will be back in play with dew points pushing into the noticeable 60s. Friday may likely be a heat alert type of day, with highs in the low to mid-90s with high enough dew points to make 'feels-like' temperatures closer to the triple digits. Coincidentally, Friday afternoon will likely be our next chance for widespread rainfall with afternoon showers and thunderstorms possible. Weekend sneak peek This weekend is looking a touch unsettled as Friday's front will likely slow down when meeting the strong North Atlantic Bermuda high. This will leave a storm track just to the south of the region for the weekend, prompting a round of scattered showers or thunderstorms on both Saturday and Sunday, mainly in the afternoon. Highs are tracking closer to 80 degrees for both weekend days. Wednesday's breakdown Greater Boston: Mostly sunny and nice. Highs in the mid- to upper 70s. More like the mid-70s along the North and South Shores. Staying clear at night. Lows to the upper 50s, low 60s. Advertisement Southeastern Mass.: Sunny with highs in the mid-70s, a touch cooler along the coast. Staying clear at night with lows in the low 60s. Central/Western Mass.: Bright and lots of sunshine. Highs in the upper 70s, mid-70s in the Berkshires. Clear at night with lows in the upper 50s and low 60s. Cape and Islands: Clear and bright. Highs to the low and mid-70s. Staying clear at night with lows in the 60s. Rhode Island: Sunny with highs in the mid- to upper 70s. Staying clear at night. Lows in the 60s. New Hampshire: Bright with highs in the low to mid-70s. Lows in the 50s under clear skies. Vermont/Maine: Mostly sunny across both states. Highs into the mid- and upper 70s. Lows in the low 50s under partly to mostly clear skies. A look at the forecast weather across Boston for the next seven days. Boston Globe for our , which will arrive straight into your inbox bright and early each weekday morning. Ken Mahan can be reached at
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Roger Norrington, iconoclastic British conductor, dies at 91
He led both period-instrument and modern orchestras, using the same interpretive principles, and though some of his performances drew criticism for their brash iconoclasm, many listeners regarded them as insightful and refreshingly original. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'As ever, with his highly idiosyncratic conducting style, one gets, in addition to a Haydn symphony, the Roger Norrington show,' Boston Globe critic Jeremy Eichler wrote in a review of a Handel and Haydn Society's performance of Haydn's Symphony No. 44 in 2008. 'He seems to delight in exuding his own personality at the orchestra through the medium of the music.' Advertisement Mr. Norrington served as an artistic director of the Handel and Hayden Society from 2006 to 2009. 'The organization feels more interesting when he's around,' Eichler wrote. Lanky, bespectacled, bearded and balding, Mr. Norrington projected both affability and authority, and he loved making the case for his ideas -- not only in interviews but also in seemingly off-the-cuff comments at his concerts. He often cited centuries-old treatises as well as his delight in the 'pure' sound, as he put it, of strings playing without vibrato. He once famously referred to vibrato as 'a modern drug.' Advertisement 'It's not about consecrating a sacred object,' Mr. Norrington said about conducting. 'It's about exploring and being curious and having fun.' Rachel Papo/The New York Times Stu Rosner Stu Rosner Toward the end of his career, he preferred to conduct while seated, usually on a high swivel chair that allowed him to turn to the audience to smile conspiratorially at a light moment within the music, and even to encourage applause. He was known to tell audiences that they could applaud between the movements of a symphony or a concerto, a common practice in the 18th and 19th centuries that is frowned on today. He reveled in being provocative. In a 2021 interview with The Telegraph, he referred to his 2007 recording of Mahler's Second Symphony as his 'last hand grenade.' International fame came late to Mr. Norrington. He had built a solid reputation as a choral conductor in the 1970s, when he made a series of well-received recordings with the Heinrich Schütz Choir, an amateur group he formed in 1962 and named after the German baroque composer. He was also the founding music director of the Kent Opera, England's first regional opera company, established by singer Norman Platt in 1969. Yet he was scarcely known outside Britain until 1987, when he released revelatory recordings of the Beethoven Second and Eighth symphonies. They were the first installments of a complete cycle with the London Classical Players, a period-instrument ensemble that Mr. Norrington founded in 1978 and led until 1997. 'I was happy to take things slowly,' he told The Telegraph in 2021. 'I didn't conduct a Beethoven symphony until I was 50. So when I finally stood up in front of the great orchestras of America and Europe as a guest conductor, I actually knew what I wanted. And this meant I could relax and treat music-making as something that is full of love and laughter. Advertisement 'It's not about consecrating a sacred object,' he continued. 'It's about exploring and being curious and having fun.' Mr. Norrington's first Beethoven recordings were striking in their adherence to the composer's metronome markings, which most conductors have considered impossibly fast or, in a few cases, impractically slow. The recordings immediately found a large audience, and by the time the cycle was complete, in 1989, Mr. Norrington's career was white hot. Roger Arthur Carver Norrington was born in Oxford, England, on March 16, 1934. His father, Arthur Norrington, worked for Oxford University Press and later became president of Trinity College, Oxford, and the vice chancellor of the University of Oxford. Roger's mother, Edith Joyce (Carver) Norrington, was a gifted amateur pianist. Roger studied the violin as a child and sang in choirs as a boy soprano. When he auditioned for a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Iolanthe,' he won the lead role. 'I realized I had some sort of gift,' he told The Guardian in 2007. But, he added, 'I thought I would be like my parents and spend my life doing music in my spare time.' When he entered Clare College, Cambridge, after completing his national service in the Royal Air Force, it was to study English literature. Nevertheless, he performed with -- and, in his final year, conducted -- student ensembles. Advertisement After graduating, Mr. Norrington became an editor at Oxford University Press. But he continued to sing in choirs and to play violin in orchestras and chamber groups. When a new edition of choral works by Heinrich Schütz was published in 1962, he became so eager to conduct the music that he formed the Heinrich Schütz Choir. Despite the choir's name, its repertoire extended from the Renaissance through the 20th century, and it quickly won enthusiastic reviews and a following. It was not until Oxford sent him on a six-month posting to Nairobi, Kenya, late in 1962 that he resolved to devote himself fully to music. When he returned to Britain, he left his job and enrolled at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied composition, music history and conducting (with Adrian Boult) and played percussion in the orchestra. Recordings by Austrian period-instrument specialist Nikolaus Harnoncourt led Mr. Norrington to reconsider his ideas about conducting and orchestral sound. They also inspired him to read treatises by 17th- and 18th-century musicians and to seek out musicologists such as Thurston Dart, who shaped his ideas about the performance of early music. Norrington's success with the Schütz Choir led to his appointment as music director of the Kent Opera in 1969. In 1986, he established the Early Opera Group with choreographer Kay Lawrence. He and Lawrence married that year. A previous marriage, to Susan McLean May, ended in divorce in 1982. After his Beethoven recordings won him a large international audience, Mr. Norrington began performing regularly in the United States. He made his New York debut in 1989 at Carnegie Hall, leading the Orchestra of St. Luke's, a modern-instruments orchestra. Writing in The New York Times, Will Crutchfield described his performance of Beethoven's Eighth Symphony as 'exhilarating, witty, precise, full of verve and subtlety, fully convincing as to tempo (using Beethoven's markings with some modification for practicality's sake, rather than throwing them out as most conductors do) and wonderfully played.' Advertisement In addition to novel tempos and the absence of vibrato, Mr. Norrington considered a balance of intuition and scholarship essential to his interpretations. He rebelled against the notion that one could re-create historical performance styles by merely playing what was written on the page. And he inveighed against those who treated performances as museum pieces. 'A performance is for now, and one instinctively tailors it for today,' he said in 1989, adding, 'To say that you don't put your personality into it is rubbish.' In November 2021, after Mr. Norrington conducted his farewell concert -- leading the Royal Northern Sinfonia, in northern England, in an all-Haydn concert -- The Guardian called him 'arguably the most important British conductor of the last half century.' Kay Lawrence died in November. Mr. Norrington leaves his son, Thomas; two children from his marriage to May, Ben and Amy Norrington; three grandchildren; a sister, Pippa Sandford; and a brother, Humphrey. 'My story, from 1962, has been one of knocking down wall after wall and seeing what happened,' Mr. Norrington told The Guardian in 2007. 'So to discover right at the end that these great traditional European and American orchestras can be part of it as well has been wonderful. Now even they are beginning to realize you don't need to put vibrato on everything, like sugar.' He added: 'So if, on the day I die, the world is playing without vibrato, of course I will be delighted. But even if they aren't, I'll still be delighted because at least I did.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in
NBC Sports
5 days ago
- Politics
- NBC Sports
Report: Text message critical of JC Tretter is being "shared among" NFL players
With NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell out, it's more than fair to be curious about the future of NFLPA chief strategy officer JC Tretter. And we're not the only ones who have curiosity. Tretter served as NFLPA president when a top-secret process resulted in Howell being hired. Then, after Tretter was no longer eligible to serve as NFLPA president, Howell hired Tretter into the newly-created position of chief strategy officer. Early Friday, long-time NFLPA security officer Craig Jones raised, in poetic fashion, internal questions about Tretter. Via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, a text message questioning Tretter is 'being shared among NFL players.' Here's the text of it: 'When will the players rise up and hold Tretter accountable for all this? Tretter is the common denominator in all these scandals. We know Tretter: 1) Bent the rules to hire Howell; 2) Covered up Howell's background check; 3) Had knowledge of Howell's financial arrangement with Carlyle Group; 4) Kept the Arbitration decision (Drory [sic]) from his members; 5) Kept the Arbitration decision (Moreland) from his members that found he blatantly violated the CBA.' The text message is being circulated at a time when there's talk, we're told, that some members of the NFLPA executive committee want to name Tretter the interim executive director. It would be a stunning move, if it happens. It would also be the latest in a string of objectively stunning moves that are far more understandable once it's understood that enough players are not paying attention to union business to allow a small handful of them to do whatever they want.
Irish Daily Mirror
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Paranormal investigator dies suddenly while on tour with haunted Annabelle doll
The supernatural community is mourning the loss of esteemed ghost hunter Dan Rivera, who was also the guardian of the notoriously haunted Annabelle doll. Sadly, Rivera died at the age of 54 at the weekend while touring with the doll. The respected investigator was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on on Sunday evening. Rivera was in town for a sold-out event as part of his Devils on the Run tour, a controversial cross-country series showcasing the real Annabelle doll, an object infamous for its connections to demonic possession and its role in The Conjuring film series. Australian horror filmmaker James Wan, who catapulted Annabelle into global fame through his 2013 blockbuster 'The Conjuring' and its 2014 spin-off, paid tribute to Rivera on social media. He expressed his sadness over the sudden passing of Rivera, which occurred shortly after the death of Wan's close associate, producer Jason Constantine. The "Annabelle" doll (Image: Boston Globe via Getty Images) While the official cause of Rivera's death has not been disclosed, emergency dispatch records confirmed a CPR-in-progress call was made for a man fitting his description. Rivera was a lead investigator with the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), and the organisation has confirmed his death, reports the Mirror. Rivera's untimely death has triggered a wave of grief from fans and fellow investigators worldwide. A cult figure in the paranormal world, Rivera had amassed a loyal following through his investigations. Annabelle, the notorious Raggedy Ann doll that allegedly terrorised people in the 1970s, has returned to public attention. Renowned for its spine-chilling behaviour, including stalking its owners throughout their residence and unnervingly positioning itself near the entrance to welcome them home from work, the doll has remained synonymous with supernatural activity. The possessed plaything even allegedly scribbled unsettling messages, leaving the inhabitants so frightened they called for outside help to address the disturbing communications. American ghost hunters Lorraine and Ed Warren A psychic medium informed the horrified owners that the doll housed the soul of a departed six-year-old girl called 'Annabelle'. Believed to be under demonic control, Annabelle was ultimately handed over to renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who established NESPR in 1952. The Warrens, persuaded that the doll served as a gateway for evil entities, secured it within a glass enclosure inside their personal Occult Museum, where it stayed for years. Though earlier this year, Rivera and NESPR transported the terrifying relic on a travelling exhibition. Metro reported that a Pennsylvania State Police document, released by Trooper Megan Frazer, confirmed that 'nothing unusual or suspicious was observed at the scene'. The paranormal investigator died on Annabelle haunted tour (Image: dan_rivera_nespr/Instagram) The official statement explained: "Members from PSP Gettysburg responded to a hotel in Straban Township, Adams County for a report of a deceased [man]. The decedent was discovered in his hotel room by workers." Abrams County Coroner Francis Dutrow disclosed to People Magazine that Rivera had been socialising with colleagues on Sunday morning but had complained of feeling poorly and opted to retreat to his room. The specifics of his ailment and its cause are still unclear as investigations continue. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
