Healey tells data centers: not without the town's blessing.

Governor Maura Healey signed an executive order Tuesday that effectively hands Massachusetts communities veto power over big data centers — the electricity-guzzling, water-hungry facilities powering the AI boom that have become the "not in my backyard" fight of the moment. Any project pulling more than 25 megawatts (enough to power roughly 20,000-25,000 homes) can't get a state permit unless it first signs a community benefits agreement with its host town. The order also bans the secretive NDAs that have let some of these deals get negotiated in the dark.

This is Healey's third swing at the industry since June, when she paused tax breaks for data centers and rolled out a framework requiring developers to bring their own clean power instead of straining the grid. The timing isn't subtle — she's running for reelection against Republican Mike Minogue, and energy costs are shaping up to be the defining pocketbook issue of the race. "Unless a community says yes to a data center, we're saying no," Healey said at Tuesday's press conference, which is the kind of line that plays well on a lawn sign and also happens to reflect genuine, bipartisan local anger from Devens to the South Shore about facilities that promise little in local jobs while demanding huge amounts of power and water.

What happens next: developers now have to actually win over local officials and residents before the state will even look at their paperwork, which could slow the pipeline of proposed projects considerably. Expect the tech industry and its lobbyists to push back hard, and watch whether legislators try to codify (or undercut) this executive order once the Legislature returns to session. Full story at Boston Globe →

Recount begins in the Brownsberger-Lander state Senate race. Longtime Senator William Brownsberger holds a razor-thin 34-vote edge over challenger Daniel Lander, the Mayor Wu-backed political newcomer, in a Suffolk-Middlesex district race that's become a referendum on Wu's clout outside City Hall. Election officials start the official recount today. Boston Globe →

Springfield schools stay closed after a "severe" cyberattack. Mayor Dominic Sarno says the district is dealing with a "level 4" incident that's knocked out access to student health records, transportation data, and email. Schools were shut Tuesday and Wednesday, with officials warning they may stay closed longer while the district works to contain the breach. WBUR →

Healey won't say Tompkins should get his old job back. Asked about Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins' plans to return to work following his acquittal on federal extortion charges, the governor stopped well short of an endorsement, telling WBUR he "needs to think about what's in the best interest of constituents." Tompkins stepped away at Healey's request over a year ago. WBUR →

Lindsay Clancy's lawyer wants the case tossed — permanently. After last week's mistrial in the Duxbury murder case (jurors split 11-1), defense attorney Kevin Reddington says he'll file a double jeopardy motion on Sept. 29, arguing there wasn't sufficient "manifest necessity" to declare a mistrial in the first place. WBZ / CBS Boston →

Old South Boston bank gets new life as a courthouse. The Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved Cedarwood Development's plan to convert the 1948 South Boston Savings Bank building at 460 West Broadway into the new home for South Boston District Court, complete with a two-story rear addition and bike parking. Universal Hub →

Minogue says his $2 billion campaign filing was a joke. Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue is walking back the eye-popping spending figure his campaign disclosed in required public-financing paperwork, calling it sarcasm aimed at drawing attention to a lawsuit over a Springfield courthouse project. His finance chair says "sarcasm requires a fact sheet" now, apparently. Boston.com →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

PACs

• Forward MA Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Massachusetts Freedom Fighters Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Compassionate Care Coalition — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Clean Air Cashback Public Policy Question Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

OCPF →

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Springfield's schools are closed today — and the reason should worry every district in the state.

All Springfield Public Schools buildings are shut down today after what officials are calling a "cyber incident" interrupted systems needed for basic school operations. Superintendent Dr. Sonia Dinnall has ordered every staff member and every student with a district-issued laptop to stay off district networks entirely until officials figure out what happened. After-school programs are canceled too. The central office is open, but even phone service may be spotty.

Here's the part that should really get your attention: this is at least the fourth time in recent years a Massachusetts school district has been hit hard enough by a cyberattack to shut down entirely. Nantucket schools closed after a ransomware attack, and Fall River's South Coast-area district went dark this spring for the same reason. School districts are increasingly soft targets — they hold troves of student and staff personal data, often run on underfunded and outdated IT infrastructure, and don't have the cybersecurity budgets of a hospital or a bank. Springfield is the state's third-largest district, serving roughly 24,000 students, so this isn't a small blip.

What happens next: expect a slow, cautious reopening as investigators determine the scope of the breach — whether it's ransomware, a data exfiltration, or something else — and whether any student or employee data was compromised. If history is a guide, that determination could take days, and parents should watch district communications closely for updates on when (and how) school resumes. The bigger question for Beacon Hill: when does the state start treating school cybersecurity as core infrastructure funding rather than an afterthought?

Full story at WBUR →

New Bedford's license-plate camera scandal just got worse. Internal affairs records show one New Bedford police officer ran her ex-girlfriend's license plate through the department's Flock camera system more than 650 times, then ran her ex's new partner's plate over 200 times — logging the searches under false pretenses like "traffic infraction." Another officer ran his girlfriend's plate nearly 70 times. Chief Jason Thody has recommended both officers be fired, and the department's entire Flock system remains suspended following a public backlash. New Bedford Light →

A new coalition wants to undo the state's abortion law — via the ballot box. The Compassionate Care Coalition, backed by Massachusetts Citizens for Life and Massachusetts Family Action, filed paperwork with Secretary of State Bill Galvin's office to try to repeal the law Governor Maura Healey signed in August, which removed restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks in cases of serious medical complications. The effort would target the 2028 ballot, meaning this fight is just getting started. CommonWealth Beacon →

State Police bring in outside monitors after recruit's death. Nearly two years after 25-year-old recruit Enrique Delgado-Garcia died following a boxing exercise at the State Police Academy, the department has hired PFM Group Consulting to independently track its progress on 103 recommended reforms over the next five years. Four troopers face criminal charges in connection with Delgado-Garcia's death. A new recruit class — delayed from its original June start — will finally begin training in late October. WBZ / CBS Boston →

UnitedHealth executives are pouring money into Rep. Katherine Clark. More than 40 UnitedHealth officials and board members — led by CEO Stephen Hemsley and his wife — have donated over $100,000 to Clark's campaign this cycle, far more than any other federal candidate has received from the insurer's leadership. The timing isn't subtle: Clark is the No. 2 House Democrat, and the industry clearly sees her as a firewall against progressives pushing Medicare for All. Boston Globe →

Rockland is running out of water, literally. Under an ongoing Level 4 emergency water restriction, Rockland's Select Board is weighing whether to join the MWRA regional water system — a move that would solve the town's chronic shortage but come with a steep, multi-decade price tag. The town's water utility, run jointly with Abington, is also juggling a new PFAS treatment plant and reservoir expansion while housing growth adds even more pressure to a strained supply. South Shore News →

Plymouth's preservation money has a paperwork problem. A town audit found 44 Community Preservation Act–funded properties — parks, historic sites, affordable housing — are missing legally required deed restrictions, some dating back over two decades. The revelation set off a tense Select Board meeting over whether the town should freeze future CPA grants until the paperwork catches up. South Shore News →

Today: New Hampshire holds its primary, with a wide-open Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and a bruising Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District featuring Shaheen's own daughter, Stefany. Results should start rolling in tonight. WCVB →

Today: Governor Healey is set to hold a news conference on the state's data center industry — worth watching given how much land, energy, and local pushback these projects are generating across Massachusetts. WWLP Western MA →

Tomorrow: Rhode Island holds its primary for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and Providence mayor — a rare four-way marquee ballot for our neighbors to the south. Boston Globe →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

PACs

• Forward MA Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Massachusetts Freedom Fighters Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Compassionate Care Coalition — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Clean Air Cashback Public Policy Question Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

OCPF →

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THE MASS BRIEF

Monday, September 07, 2026

Good morning. Hope your Labor Day involved fewer than $4.15/gallon in gas purchases. Let's get into it.

The Lead

Kids are back in classrooms across Massachusetts this week, but the phones in their pockets are still very much part of the lesson plan — because Beacon Hill hasn't figured out what to do about them. A statewide cellphone ban for schools, which had near-universal support among lawmakers and a genuine sense of urgency behind it, is stuck in the same legislative purgatory as roughly a dozen other bills — the product of a rules change that lets lawmakers negotiate major policy behind closed doors with no real deadline pressure until January.

This isn't just an inside-baseball process story. Districts like Newton, Brockton, Fall River, Methuen, and Ipswich have already rolled their own bans out, at real cost and effort — Newton Superintendent Anna Nolin calls implementation "a huge lift, no matter what you do." Without a statewide standard, you get a patchwork: some districts locking phones away for the day, others doing nothing, and families and teachers stuck guessing what the rules even are depending on which side of a town line their kid's school sits on. More than a dozen other states have already acted. Massachusetts, despite bipartisan agreement that phones are a problem in classrooms, is watching the school year start without one.

What happens next is the real question. There's no hard deadline forcing lawmakers' hands until the new internal rule's early-January cutoff — which means this could easily slide into winter while a full school year passes under a non-policy. Watch whether House and Senate leadership feel any heat this fall to move faster, especially as more districts either act on their own or start asking loudly why the state hasn't. Full story at Boston Globe →

What Else You Should Know

Encore Boston Harbor strike drags into a second holiday. More than 1,300 workers — housekeepers, dealers, cooks, bartenders — walked off the job Friday and are still picketing this Labor Day, with UNITE HERE Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25 at an impasse with Wynn Resorts over wages, healthcare, and pensions. The casino says the average union employee earns $95,000 in wages and benefits; workers say that math doesn't reflect what they're actually taking home. WCVB →

AG Campbell's office collected $12 million in wage theft fines. Attorney General Andrea Campbell's annual Labor Day report shows her office cracked down hard on unpaid wages and workplace violations this past fiscal year, with construction among the top targeted industries. It's a reminder that "wage theft" isn't an abstraction — it's real money workers across the state didn't get paid. WBUR →

One dead, seven wounded in Taunton house party shooting. Police responded to Weir Street around 12:35 a.m. Sunday to find eight gunshot victims, all in their 20s. Zirovick Depina, 22, of Brockton, died; District Attorney Thomas Quinn III says a homicide investigation is ongoing and police believe additional victims fled the scene for treatment elsewhere. WBUR →

476 apartments could replace a Back Bay office tower — and displace several consulates. A New York developer wants to convert 31 St. James Ave., the historic 1923 Park Square Building, from offices into nearly 500 apartments, complete with a rooftop "penthouse" deck. The catch: several foreign consulates currently based there will need to find new homes. It's another sign of Boston's office-to-residential pivot accelerating. Universal Hub →

Duxbury hits pause on its Verizon cable deal. The Select Board unanimously delayed a public hearing on a proposed five-year cable franchise renewal after discovering no written contract materials had actually been given to the board or public ahead of time. Officials want comparative regional pricing data and an in-person Verizon rep before signing off — a small but telling example of local government refusing to rubber-stamp a corporate contract. South Shore News →

Halifax restores teaching jobs just in time for the first bell. A $200,000 town allocation let Halifax Elementary rehire three general education teachers — in grades 2, 5, and 6 — after budget strains threatened to leave the district short-staffed for oversized classes, including a 92-student third grade cohort. Classes start Wednesday. South Shore News →

Worth Your Attention

Duxbury's Verizon cable hearing reconvenes Sept. 14 — expect a Verizon rep to actually show up this time. South Shore News →

Rhode Island's primary is Tuesday, Sept. 9, with Governor Dan McKee fighting to avoid becoming the first RI governor to lose a primary in 30-plus years against challenger Helena Foulkes. Worth watching even from across the border — it's a bellwether for anti-incumbent energy in New England. WBUR →

New Hampshire's GOP Senate primary is also Tuesday, pitting comeback candidates John Sununu and Scott Brown against each other in a race that will shape the general election matchup this fall. WBZ/CBS Boston →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

PACs

• Forward MA Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Massachusetts Freedom Fighters Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Compassionate Care Coalition — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Clean Air Cashback Public Policy Question Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

OCPF →

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Good morning. Hope your Labor Day weekend involved fewer crashed taxis than the Green Line's did. Let's get into it.

Encore Boston Harbor workers walk off the job — and the strike is a preview of a bigger labor fight brewing across the state.

More than 1,300 workers at Encore Boston Harbor in Everett — housekeepers, cooks, bartenders, dealers, warehouse staff — are on strike this Labor Day weekend after contract talks between UNITE HERE Local 26, Teamsters Local 25, and Wynn Resorts collapsed. The casino's staying open, but anyone walking that picket line, whether they're a guest, a delivery driver, or a replacement worker, is getting an earful. Workers say their pay hasn't kept pace with the cost of living in a state where rent alone can eat half a paycheck, and they're not buying management's claims of tight margins at a five-star property that pulls in billions.

This lands at an interesting moment for organized labor in Massachusetts. Just look at the split happening one state over: New Hampshire's local Teamsters just endorsed Democrat Chris Pappas for U.S. Senate, while national Teamsters president Sean O'Brien — a Boston-area guy himself — personally cut a check to Scott Brown, the former Massachusetts senator now running in the Republican primary. That's the same O'Brien who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention. The labor movement isn't speaking with one voice anymore, and the Encore strike is a real-time test of how much muscle unions still have on the ground here, regardless of what's happening at the top.

Watch for how long Wynn is willing to let this drag into the fall convention and tourism season — that's real revenue bleeding out with every canceled event. Full story at WCVB →

State Police academy reboots in October — with an outside watchdog this time. Nearly two years after recruit Enrique Delgado-Garcia died following a boxing exercise at the academy, State Police say they're bringing in PFM Group Consulting to independently monitor all 103 reform recommendations from a scathing May assessment that found an "overwhelmingly punitive" training culture. The 93rd Recruit Training Troop starts Oct. 26, and PFM will publish public progress reports annually for five years. Boston Globe →

Nine ballot questions, $18 million and counting. This November's ballot ties the record for most questions in a single year (last matched in 1994), and the money is already staggering — at least $17.9 million raised combined, with unions pouring in cash and more expected before Election Day. The fights range from applying public records law to the governor and Legislature to banning recreational marijuana sales to scrapping party primaries altogether. Boston Globe →

Marshfield's records mess boils over. The Select Board voted unanimously to seize control of the town's public records portal after Town Clerk Narice Casper argued her duties as Records Access Officer ended when her $12,000 stipend got cut. The fallout: weeks of unanswered public records requests, including financial data residents wanted ahead of a $7 million override vote. Town Administrator Ted Langill now holds the keys. South Shore News →

Hingham schools go long-range on budgeting. The School Committee is moving to a three-year budget forecasting model — a shift from the usual year-to-year scramble — while also chasing extra funding to speed up design work on a new Hingham High School. Superintendent Katie Roberts is pushing the multi-year approach as a way to get ahead of big capital costs before they hit. South Shore News →

More T shutdowns are coming this month. The MBTA has a fresh round of partial closures planned across the Green and Orange Lines in September — on the heels of a Saturday night incident where a taxi jumped the tracks near Allston Street on the B Branch, forcing a temporary suspension and bus substitution. If you're wondering why Bostonians have such a complicated relationship with the T, this is basically it in miniature. MassLive →

Central Mass. district bans door-to-door fundraising. A school committee voted to end door-knocking sales pitches for student fundraisers and barred schools from requiring kids to fundraise at all for extracurriculars — a small policy shift that speaks to bigger questions about equity and what families are quietly expected to pay for. MassLive →

Track all bills →

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Eliseu Desousa (Republican) — House, 13th Bristol — Filed: 8/31/2026

PACs

• Forward MA Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Massachusetts Freedom Fighters Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Compassionate Care Coalition — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Clean Air Cashback Public Policy Question Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

OCPF →

The Mass Brief publishes every morning. See you tomorrow.

The Mass Brief • Powered by South Shore News

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Massachusetts politics, development, and daily life — straight to your inbox.

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Good morning. It's a recount kind of week — two, actually — plus a federal court win on mail voting, a mail voting fight that's headed to yet another round, and a whole lot of Healey administration press releases dropping right before a long weekend. Let's get into it.

Trump's immigration court shake-up lands in Massachusetts, and the new judges barely know immigration law

Four new immigration judges just got appointed to Massachusetts courts, and here's the thing that should give you pause: none of them have meaningful immigration law backgrounds. One was a military lawyer in Ohio. One worked for the IRS in Florida. One was a Bristol County ADA. One worked gaming enforcement for the state AG's office. Now they'll decide whether people get to stay in this country or get deported — cases involving families, asylum seekers, longtime Massachusetts residents — with essentially no specialized training in the law they're being asked to interpret.

This isn't random. Migration Policy Institute fellow Muzaffar Chishti put it bluntly: the administration wants judges who'll follow instructions rather than exercise independent judgment, and appointing people without deep immigration law expertise is one way to get there. It fits a broader pattern — ICE arrests in Massachusetts hit 572 in July, part of a nationwide surge toward 2,000 daily arrests, even though our numbers are still dwarfed by Texas (12,000-plus) and Florida (7,400) that same month. The strategy nationally seems to be: flood the courts with sympathetic judges, flood the streets with agents, and speed up removals on both ends.

What happens next: these judges start hearing cases immediately, and immigration attorneys across New England will be watching closely for patterns — how often continuances get denied, how quickly cases move, whether due process gets squeezed. Expect legal challenges if patterns emerge that look like rubber-stamping. This is a slow-moving story, but it's one that will quietly reshape thousands of lives before most people notice it's happening.

Full story at Boston Globe →

Mail voting survives another Trump challenge — for now. US District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction blocking Trump's executive order that would've forced the Postal Service to reject ballots not matching a USPS-generated voter list. Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and 25 other AGs sued to stop it, and Talwani agreed it illegally intrudes on states' constitutional authority over elections. This almost certainly isn't the last stop — expect an appeal, possibly all the way up. Boston Globe →

Two legislative primaries are headed to recounts. In one of the closest races in recent memory, Senator William Brownsberger trails challenger Daniel Lander by just 3 votes out of over 24,000 cast in their northwest Boston-area district. Down on the South Coast, in the 9th Bristol House district, Edward Pacheco leads Stephen Medeiros by a mere 13 votes — both candidates have filed the paperwork to make it official. These recounts will decide who Democrats send into November. CommonWealth Beacon → and New Bedford Light →

Trump denies Massachusetts disaster aid — again. The administration rejected Governor Maura Healey's appeal for federal disaster funding tied to February's blizzard, which dumped up to 37 inches of snow and knocked out power to 290,000 households. Healey says the administration "overruled" its own NOAA and FEMA field assessments to deny the claim, part of a pattern of denials hitting Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island alike. Boston.com →

Curaleaf opens downtown Boston, and equity advocates aren't thrilled. The $2.6 billion cannabis giant's new Milk Street shop has reignited debate over whether the city is oversaturating neighborhoods with pot shops at the expense of small, Black- and Latino-owned social equity operators. Former City Councilor Tito Jackson, who owns a nearby dispensary, says it "cannibalizes other businesses" and undercuts the whole point of equity licensing. Boston Globe →

Cyclospora cases hit a 10-year high in Massachusetts. State health officials logged 244 cases this year — more than triple last year's count — tied to a nationwide outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce that's sickened nearly 19,000 people and caused two deaths. A Harvard nutrition expert says it's not a major concern here compared to norovirus, and the season typically wraps by month's end. GBH News →

Healey breaks ground on a century-old bridge fix at North Station. The Draw One Bridge Replacement Project will overhaul rail infrastructure over the Charles River that's nearly 100 years old, adding tracks and signal upgrades while creating more than 15,000 jobs. It's a big-ticket win for commuter rail and Amtrak riders who've been white-knuckling it across that bridge for years. State House News Service →

• Recount paperwork deadlines are moving fast in both the Brownsberger-Lander and Pacheco-Medeiros races — watch the Secretary of State's office for scheduling in the coming days. CommonWealth Beacon →

• Sean Cassidy's federal arraignment is set for September 16 in US District Court, on charges connected to the former Barrington Christian Academy teacher's alleged exploitation of multiple girls. Boston Globe →

• September 11 commemorations begin next week — Healey is calling for a statewide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, with the State House lit red, white and blue the nights before. State House News Service →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Eliseu Desousa (Republican) — House, 13th Bristol — Filed: 8/31/2026

PACs

• Forward MA Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Massachusetts Freedom Fighters Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Compassionate Care Coalition — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Clean Air Cashback Public Policy Question Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

OCPF →

The Mass Brief publishes every morning. See you tomorrow.

The Mass Brief • Powered by South Shore News

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A four-vote nail-biter is about to become Massachusetts' most closely watched recount.

State Senator William Brownsberger, the chamber's third-ranking Democrat and a 19-year incumbent, is trailing first-time candidate Daniel Lander by just four votes in their primary for the Suffolk & Middlesex district — a seat covering parts of Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and Belmont. Out of roughly 24,261 ballots cast, the margin is thinner than the crowd at a Tuesday-morning town meeting. Both campaigns filed for a districtwide recount ahead of Thursday's 3 p.m. deadline, and local election officials in all four communities now have until 5 p.m. next Friday, Sept. 11, to sort it out.

This race is about more than a State House seat. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu threw her political weight behind Lander, her own top adviser, in an unusually direct bid to reshape Beacon Hill's balance of power — and a Lander win would be read as proof that Wu's brand of insurgent, City Hall-aligned politics can topple entrenched incumbents even in their own backyard. Both sides have lawyered up for the fight: Lander's team hired John Gannon, a veteran of Massachusetts recounts, while Brownsberger brought back Dennis Newman — who, fittingly, also worked the Florida recount in 2000. Nobody's using the words "hanging chad" yet, but give it a week.

Full story at Boston Globe →

Elderly Chinese woman shoved to ground in South End; councilor wants hate crime probe. An 80-something woman was crossing West Canton Street Wednesday morning when a stranger walked up and shoved her to the pavement for no apparent reason, per surveillance video. Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn is pushing police to have their civil rights unit investigate whether racial bias was a factor — police haven't classified it as a hate crime, but the suspect, 38-year-old Kaitlyn Ann Quick, was arraigned Thursday on assault charges and held on $1,500 bail. Boston Globe →

Swastikas painted on a Newton playground. Two swastikas and a Nazi phrase turned up on playground equipment at The Aven apartment complex in Newton Highlands Wednesday night. Police call it an isolated incident with no ongoing threat, but they're actively trying to identify who did it. Boston Globe →

Revere officer back on duty after using police cameras to stalk his ex. Marissa Todisco stood outside Revere City Hall Thursday and accused Officer Michael Tiso of years of verbal and physical abuse — and accused the department of ignoring her complaints. Tiso, who accessed the city's Flock license-plate camera system more than a dozen times to track Todisco, served just a three-day suspension and is already back on the job. Her lawyer is calling for an independent city investigation. Boston Globe →

Anti-abortion activists file to put new abortion law on 2028 ballot. Just weeks after Governor Maura Healey signed a law removing restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks, opponents filed a referendum petition aiming to pause the law and let voters repeal it in 2028. The law is set to take effect Nov. 8 — activists now need to gather signatures this fall to force the question. WBUR →

ICE arrests climbing in Massachusetts, but the state remains a relative outlier. Immigration agents made 572 arrests in the Bay State in July, one of the highest monthly totals since last September's enforcement surge. That's a real increase — but it's dwarfed by Texas (12,000+) and Florida (7,400) that same month, underscoring how much local and state cooperation shapes enforcement levels. WBUR →

Tufts facilities workers authorize a strike. About 100 groundskeepers, tradespeople, and maintenance workers across Tufts' Medford and Boston campuses voted unanimously to empower their bargaining committee to call a strike at any time. They've been without a contract since July 1 — this doesn't mean a walkout is imminent, but it does mean Tufts is now negotiating under real pressure. State House News Service →

Recount deadline crunch: Local clerks in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and Belmont must complete the Brownsberger-Lander recount by 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11 — worth watching how quickly ward-by-ward numbers trickle out. CommonWealth Beacon →

Nine ballot questions this November — tying a 32-year record — and CommonWealth Beacon has a useful primer on what actually happens if voters approve them (short version: Beacon Hill can still tinker). CommonWealth Beacon →

A South Coast recount is also brewing in one of the state's most competitive House districts — details still emerging as petitions get filed. CommonWealth Beacon →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Eliseu Desousa (Republican) — House, 13th Bristol — Filed: 8/31/2026

PACs

• Forward MA Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Massachusetts Freedom Fighters Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Compassionate Care Coalition — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/3/2026
• Clean Air Cashback Public Policy Question Committee — N/A, N/A — Filed: 9/3/2026

OCPF →

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Markey's landslide win is bigger than Markey.

Senator Ed Markey didn't just beat Congressman Seth Moulton on Tuesday — he trounced him, and the way he did it tells you something important about where Massachusetts Democrats, and maybe national Democrats, are headed. At 80 years old, Markey ran as arguably the most unapologetically progressive Senate candidate in the country: full-throated Medicare for All (not the watered-down "universal health care" branding Moulton preferred), calls to abolish ICE, support for a third Trump impeachment push that party leadership has been trying to avoid, and an aggressive embrace of transgender rights that became a defining contrast after Moulton's controversial 2024 comments about trans athletes.

Why this matters beyond Massachusetts: Markey's win is being read on Beacon Hill and well beyond it as evidence that the primary electorate wants sharper elbows, not cautious triangulation — a data point Democratic strategists will be citing heading into 2028 presidential jockeying. Markey now cruises toward a third full term against Republican John Deaton in November, but the more interesting story is what his coalition — young voters, LGBTQ+ activists, climate organizers — signals for who's next in line to inherit that energy.

It wasn't the only test of progressive muscle this week. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu spent months and real political capital trying to oust two of her Beacon Hill antagonists, state Senators Nick Collins and William Brownsberger, over their role in killing her commercial property tax shift. Collins won comfortably. Brownsberger's race against Wu's former aide Daniel Lander is separated by roughly 20 votes and headed for a recount — a result that, win or lose, suggests Wu's influence outside City Hall has real limits, even as democratic socialist Erika Uyterhoeven's romp in the Somerville-based Senate seat shows the further left flank is very much alive in Greater Boston.

Full story at Boston Globe →

Suffolk Sheriff Steve Tompkins acquitted on extortion charges. A federal jury cleared Tompkins of pressuring cannabis entrepreneur Frank Perullo for stock in his company before it went public. Tompkins, who'd been on leave from his elected post, gets his job back; his attorney called it simply "the correct result." GBH News →

State Police ordered to reveal Flock camera locations. A Suffolk Superior Court judge sided with the ACLU of Massachusetts in a five-year fight, ruling State Police must disclose where its license-plate-reader cameras are and how often troopers search the database. It's the latest blow to Flock Safety amid a wave of towns opting out and officers being investigated for misuse. Boston Globe →

Djuna Perkins wins Norfolk DA primary. Perkins, a former state prosecutor, edged out six rivals in a race shadowed by outgoing DA Michael Morrissey's handling of the Karen Read and Sandra Birchmore cases. She'll face independent Joe Pagliarulo in November with no Republican in the race. Boston.com →

Healey and Minogue set the tone for the fall campaign. Governor Maura Healey, unopposed in her primary, is framing her reelection as a referendum on Trump. GOP nominee Mike Minogue, fresh off a landslide win over Brian Shortsleeve, wants voters to instead judge Healey's own record. Expect that split screen to define the next two months. Boston Globe →

MBTA's new fare pilots kicked in this week. Riders can now transfer unlimited times within a two-hour window across bus, subway, and ferry, and express bus fares dropped from $4.25 to $1.70 — a change the T says could save daily express riders up to $500 over the six-month pilot. Boston.com →

The two-year gap failing Massachusetts toddlers. Kids who age out of Early Intervention services at 3 but don't qualify for an IEP can fall into a support vacuum until kindergarten — sometimes six months or more with no services at all, as one Boston mother's story shows. It's a quiet but consequential gap in the state's safety net for kids with developmental delays. CommonWealth Beacon →

Today, a federal judge in Boston hears arguments on whether to block the U.S. Postal Service from imposing Trump-ordered changes to mail balloting before the midterms — a ruling that could affect how states nationwide handle mail ballots this fall. WBUR →

Sept. 9: Rhode Island holds its primary, with the attorney general's race drawing eye-popping self-funding — Keith Hoffmann has loaned his own campaign $760,000 so far for a job that pays $147,000 a year. Boston Globe →

Ongoing: Watch the Brownsberger-Lander recount in the Suffolk/Middlesex state Senate primary — a 20-vote margin that will likely need an official recount to settle. Boston.com →

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Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

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Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Eliseu Desousa (Republican) — House, 13th Bristol — Filed: 8/31/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Committee for Keep Cannabis Legal, Vote No on 8 — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/28/2026

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Good morning. If you fell asleep before the polls closed, welcome back — a lot happened while you were out. Here's your primary night hangover cure, one cup at a time.

The Lead

The generational-change movement crashed into Massachusetts and mostly lost.

Nationally, 2026 was supposed to be the year Democratic voters started clearing out their elders. It happened in Connecticut last month. It's rattling incumbents in Rhode Island right now. But in Massachusetts, 80-year-old Senator Ed Markey didn't just survive Congressman Seth Moulton's "time for a new generation" challenge — he demolished him, winning roughly 65 percent of the vote and carrying all but 12 municipalities in the state, including Salem, which Moulton calls home. Markey's margin actually topped his 2020 blowout of Joe Kennedy III. Up and down the ballot, the pattern repeated: Congressman Stephen Lynch beat back a progressive challenger in the 8th District, Congressman Richard Neal cruised to a 19th nomination in the 1st, and Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden turned back both a police-union-backed opponent and his old boss-turned-rival, former DA Rachael Rollins.

Why does this matter beyond bragging rights? Because it tells you something real about the Massachusetts electorate: an aging, deeply loyal Democratic base still rewards incumbency and progressive branding over youth and "fresh start" messaging — at least when the alternative doesn't offer a sharply different governing vision. Moulton ran as the pragmatic moderate insisting Markey was too old to fight Trump; voters said, essentially, we'll take the guy who's been fighting since before you had a driver's license. That's a signal to every Beacon Hill veteran nervously eyeing a primary in two years, and it's a gut check for the national "boot the boomers" theory, which just hit a wall in deep-blue New England.

Not every incumbent had it so easy — South Boston's Nick Collins survived a Mayor Michelle Wu-backed challenge from Latoya Gayle, but Senator Will Brownsberger's race against 35-year-old Daniel Lander remained a nail-biter, with Brownsberger clinging to roughly a 61-vote lead as of Wednesday morning. That's recount territory, and it's the one race from Tuesday that isn't over. Meanwhile, the general election field is now set: Markey faces Republican John Deaton and independent socialist Joe Tache in November, and Governor Maura Healey — unopposed in her own primary — will face self-funding Republican Mike Minogue, a former medical device CEO who's already dropped $15 million of his own money into the race.

Full story at Boston Globe →

What Else You Should Know

Wu's Beacon Hill gambit had mixed results. Mayor Michelle Wu took the unusual step of publicly backing primary challengers against two sitting state senators, Nick Collins and Will Brownsberger, arguing they'd voted against their constituents' interests. Collins held her off with 54 percent; Brownsberger's race is still too tight to call, meaning Wu's real influence on Beacon Hill remains an open — and now closely watched — question. CommonWealth Beacon →

Norfolk County gets a new top prosecutor — and it took all night to find out who. Djuna Perkins edged out former federal prosecutor Adam Deitch by about 3,000 votes to win the seven-way Democratic primary to replace retiring DA Michael Morrissey, whose handling of the Karen Read and Sandra Birchmore cases loomed over the entire race. Perkins had trailed at midnight before the count flipped in her favor overnight. Boston Globe →

Dan Koh finally gets his congressional seat. After losing a close 2018 recount in a different district, the former Marty Walsh chief of staff won the crowded five-way primary to succeed Moulton in the 6th District, topping state Rep. Tram Nguyen by 12 points. If he wins in November, as expected, Koh would become Massachusetts' first Asian American member of Congress. CommonWealth Beacon →

The GOP ticket for governor is set, awkwardly. Minogue trounced Brian Shortsleeve in the Republican primary, but his preferred running mates were both knocked off the ballot over signature issues — so he's now paired with Shawn Oliver, a New Bedford city councilor who spent the whole campaign on Shortsleeve's team. They're calling it unity. WBUR →

A Brockton addiction treatment nonprofit got hit with $1.15 million in fines after Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office found Adult & Teen Challenge Northeast used program participants as unpaid labor for outside for-profit companies — cleaning offices, shoveling snow, prepping food — work Campbell says had nothing to do with recovery. Hundreds of participants are owed back wages topping $850,000. WBUR →

Rhode Island's political establishment may be next on the chopping block. One state over, Governor Dan McKee, Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos, and Providence Mayor Brett Smiley are all facing real odds of losing their September 9 primaries — a scenario that would be an unprecedented shakeup of Ocean State politics, driven partly by lingering anger over the Washington Bridge closure. Boston Globe →

Worth Your Attention

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Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Eliseu Desousa (Republican) — House, 13th Bristol — Filed: 8/31/2026
• Charles Bailey (Republican) — Senate, Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex — Filed: 8/27/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Committee for Keep Cannabis Legal, Vote No on 8 — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/28/2026

OCPF →

One More Thing

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Today's the day: Markey vs. Moulton finally goes to voters.

Polls are open right now (7 a.m. to 8 p.m.) for what's become the most-watched Democratic primary in the country, and it's a race that's really a referendum on generational change wearing a Massachusetts costume. Senator Ed Markey, 80, is trying to hold off Congressman Seth Moulton, 47, who's spent the campaign arguing that five decades in Washington is enough — regardless of how progressive Markey's record is. Moulton doesn't have much daylight from Markey on policy; his entire pitch is "it's time," buoyed by a national Democratic mood that's increasingly impatient with incumbents who won't step aside.

Markey stumbled badly in a recent debate on an AI question that went viral for the wrong reasons — a real gift to Moulton's argument that Congress needs sharper, younger leadership on issues like tech regulation. But Markey has countered by rounding up endorsements from younger stars like Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, betting that progressive bona fides matter more than a birth year. It's a rerun, in some ways, of Markey's 2020 fight against Joe Kennedy III — except this time the challenger is making the age argument explicit instead of implicit.

Whoever wins faces Republican John Deaton in November, but Tuesday's result will send a real signal about whether Massachusetts Democrats are as restless as national polling suggests, or whether incumbency and progressive credentials still carry the day here. Also on the ballot: a wide-open Democratic primary for Seth Moulton's soon-to-be-vacated 6th District seat (six candidates, one late dropout — more below), the Suffolk DA primary between Kevin Hayden, Rachael Rollins, and Linda Champion, and the Republican governor primary between Brian Shortsleeve and Mike Minogue. Full story at GBH News →

Harvard's morning scare. A shelter-in-place order sent out around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday warned of a person armed with a knife or machete near 124 Mount Auburn Street. Police from Harvard, Cambridge, and the state detained a suspect within about an hour, and the order was lifted — just in time for classes to start Wednesday. WBUR →

Three teens shot near Lawrence High School at dismissal. Gunfire broke out around 3 p.m. Monday near a Lawrence Housing Authority property adjacent to the school, sending students running as classes let out. Police say the shooting wasn't random and are searching for one suspect; the FBI, State Police, and Essex County Sheriff's K-9 unit are all assisting. Boston.com →

The Burren lives. Somerville developer Copper Mill has scrapped its plan for a 500-unit, 26-story tower on the site of the beloved Davis Square Irish pub after intense neighborhood pushback. Owner Tommy McCarthy, reached by phone from Ireland, said he saw it coming based on resident feedback — a case study in how hard it still is to build density in Massachusetts even with housing shortages driving up rents everywhere else. WBUR →

A Democratic drop-out and endorsement in the 6th District. With Moulton vacating his North Shore seat to run for Senate, veterinarian and former congressional aide Mariah Lancaster exited the crowded five-way primary days before the vote and threw her support to state Representative Tram Nguyen. Nguyen, Bethany Andres-Beck, John Beccia, Jamie Belsito, and Dan Koh remain on the ballot Tuesday. Boston.com →

Suffolk sheriff trial gets personal. In the federal corruption trial of Sheriff Steven Tompkins, star witness and cannabis executive Frank Perullo read aloud years of intimate texts and emails between the two men — including "I love you" exchanges — while prosecutors argued the closeness makes Tompkins's alleged $50,000 stock shakedown even more damning. Tompkins, on leave and facing extortion charges, maintains his innocence. WBUR →

Springfield's $2 billion courthouse fight isn't over, but it's closer to done. Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office is moving to dismiss a lawsuit from losing bidders Jeb Balise and Dinesh Patel, who alleged conflicts of interest in how the state picked developer Liberty Junction. A judge already found "no legal or logical support" for those claims last week when he denied an injunction. CommonWealth Beacon →

• Polls close at 8 p.m. tonight across Massachusetts — if you moved within the last six months and haven't re-registered, you can likely still vote at your old address. WBUR →

• September 2 is the deadline for Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office to rule on whether a proposed 2028 ballot question limiting data center approvals can move forward. Boston.com →

• Tompkins' extortion trial continues in federal court this week, with more testimony expected from witness Frank Perullo. WBUR →

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Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Eliseu Desousa (Republican) — House, 13th Bristol — Filed: 8/31/2026
• Charles Bailey (Republican) — Senate, Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex — Filed: 8/27/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Committee for Keep Cannabis Legal, Vote No on 8 — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/28/2026

OCPF →

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Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Eliseu Desousa (Republican) — House, 13th Bristol — Filed: 8/31/2026
• Charles Bailey (Republican) — Senate, Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex — Filed: 8/27/2026

PACs

• Western Mass Republicans, a Pol Action Comm — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/25/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Committee for Keep Cannabis Legal, Vote No on 8 — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/28/2026

OCPF →

THE MASS BRIEF

Markey and Moulton go into the final stretch, and the star power says everything about the strategy.

Senator Ed Markey spent Saturday surrounded by the biggest names in progressive politics — Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ayanna Pressley — at a Dorchester union hall, betting that a full-throated defense of his 50-year record beats Seth Moulton's argument that it's simply time for someone new. Moulton, 47, was two towns over at Maria's Restaurant in Haverhill, making his generational-change pitch directly to voters over dinner rather than borrowing celebrity. It's a split-screen that tells you almost everything about this race: Markey is running on institutional muscle and progressive bona fides, Moulton is running against the idea that seniority equals value.

This isn't just about who represents Massachusetts in the Senate — it's a proxy fight over what the Democratic Party wants to be right now. Markey, 80, is essentially asking voters to view his age as a feature, not a bug, leaning on Sanders (84) and the argument that experience translates into leverage on climate and health care. Moulton is wagering that after watching the same cast of septuagenarian and octogenarian leaders for two decades, Democratic primary voters — especially younger ones — are ready for a change election, even against a fellow Democrat with a strong progressive record.

Whoever wins faces Republican John Deaton, who's running unopposed, in November. But Tuesday's outcome will send a signal well beyond Massachusetts about whether "generational change" is a winning message inside the party or just a talking point that sounds better than it polls. Watch turnout in places like Lynn and Haverhill — that's where this race gets decided. Full story at WBZ / CBS Boston →

A late endorsement scrambles the 6th District race. Mariah Lancaster, a veterinarian and former congressional staffer, dropped out of the crowded Democratic primary Saturday and threw her support behind state Rep. Tram Nguyen of Andover, calling her the candidate best positioned to fight for progressive values. It's the latest in a string of momentum for Nguyen, who's also picked up backing from Reps. Lori Trahan and Ayanna Pressley and Attorney General Andrea Campbell — all set to appear with her at a Salem rally today. Boston Globe →

A man died trying to help a woman at Forest Hills Station. Two 19-year-olds, both carrying Caribbean flags on their way to the Caribbean Festival at Franklin Park, were waiting for an Orange Line train Saturday when the woman lost her balance and fell onto the tracks. The man went down to help her and landed on the electrified third rail; he died from his injuries, and the woman was critically hurt. It's a gutting reminder of how unforgiving those platforms can be — and worth a hard look at whether MBTA stations need better barriers or faster emergency response. Universal Hub →

Rockland schools trim a $1.9 million deficit down to $1.6 million — but it cost real programs. The district eliminated health classes and building substitutes at the high school, cut librarian positions across the board, and rescheduled elementary specialists to close the gap, even after the town shifted employees to a new health insurance plan to save money. The silver lining: two new state literacy grants worth over $224,000 and an expanded Career Pathways program are giving Superintendent Jane Hackett something to point to besides cuts. South Shore News →

Marshfield's brand-new town administrator gets a to-do list — six days into the job. Ted Langill faced the Select Board this week as members hashed out first-year priorities focused on fiscal discipline, department efficiency audits, and rebuilding public trust, all against the backdrop of a September 1 override vote that will determine how much money the town actually has to work with. Chair Rick Smith and the board are clearly trying to set the tone early, before the override results scramble everyone's plans. South Shore News →

Two arrested after a tense SWAT standoff in Plymouth. Police say a man fled to a West Plymouth fire station early Saturday claiming he'd been slashed with a knife and held at gunpoint inside a Marc Drive apartment. When the alleged suspects wouldn't come out, Metro-LEC SWAT was called in and the building evacuated; both were eventually taken into custody without further incident. WATD →

A Roslindale gun arrest becomes a test case for Boston police's new drone. A gang-unit officer spotted Javeon Phillips, 23, of Roxbury — a man he recognized as wanted — crossing Washington Street Friday evening. When Phillips ran through backyards, police brought in a drone the department just started testing to track him down, and found him carrying a loaded gun. Universal Hub →

Tuesday, September 1: Massachusetts holds its statewide primary — polls open 7 a.m., close 8 p.m. — deciding the Markey-Moulton Senate race, the crowded 6th District primary, and other down-ballot contests. WBZ / CBS Boston →

Tuesday, September 1: Marshfield voters also decide a high-stakes override question at Marshfield High School's gym, which will shape the town budget the new administrator has to work with. South Shore News →

Today, Sunday: Rep. Tram Nguyen holds a rally in Salem with Reps. Lori Trahan and Ayanna Pressley, AG Andrea Campbell, and newly-endorsing former rival Mariah Lancaster, days ahead of the 6th District primary. Boston Globe →

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Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Charles Bailey (Republican) — Senate, Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex — Filed: 8/27/2026

PACs

• Western Mass Republicans, a Pol Action Comm — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/25/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Committee for Keep Cannabis Legal, Vote No on 8 — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/28/2026

OCPF →

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Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Charles Bailey (Republican) — Senate, Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex — Filed: 8/27/2026

PACs

• Western Mass Republicans, a Pol Action Comm — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/25/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Committee for Keep Cannabis Legal, Vote No on 8 — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/28/2026

OCPF →

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Cambridge wants to release police shooting video. State law says it can't — yet.

A week after Cambridge police fatally shot 64-year-old William Woodworth in Central Square, the city's entire political leadership — City Manager Yi-An Huang, the mayor, city councilors, and even a sister of the man killed — are all asking for the same thing: let the public see the body-camera footage. And they can't get it, because Massachusetts' inquest process requires that footage stay under wraps until a judicial inquest wraps up, which can take months or longer.

This is the exact scenario Cambridge residents feared when they pushed for a body-camera program after the 2023 shooting of Sayed Faisal. The promise was transparency — that next time, cameras rolling would mean answers came fast. Instead, the cameras exist, the footage exists, and everyone with the power to release it is legally barred from doing so. Huang's public statement Thursday — "the timely release of Body Worn Camera footage is critical to public trust" — reads less like a policy position and more like a plea to Beacon Hill.

Here's what happens next: expect this to become a live legislative issue. Cambridge officials will likely lean on state lawmakers to revisit the inquest statute, and other cities watching this play out — ones with their own body-camera programs — have a stake in how it resolves. Meanwhile, Woodworth's family is stuck waiting alongside everyone else, wondering what the footage actually shows. Full story at Boston Globe →

Massachusetts voters are quitting both parties. More than 46,000 people have dropped their Democratic registration and over 15,600 have left the GOP since early last year, according to Secretary of State Bill Galvin's office. Unenrolled voters now make up 67% of the state's electorate — a new high — while Republicans have sunk below 8%, their lowest share since at least 1948. Boston Globe →

Mail it? Don't. Galvin says more than 100,000 mail-in ballots are still out there, and with Tuesday's primary bearing down, he's telling anyone who hasn't sent theirs back to use a drop box or vote in person instead — the postal service can't guarantee delivery in time. Early voting wraps today. WBUR →

Wu's fingerprints are all over two Senate primaries. Mayor Michelle Wu is campaigning hard for Daniel Lander and Latoya Gayle, who are challenging incumbents William Brownsberger and Nick Collins, complete with a Wu-aligned super PAC dropping real money into the races. It's given both challengers a lift — but also opened them up to accusations, especially from Collins, that they're City Hall proxies rather than independent voices. Boston Globe →

Healey's climate chief is heading for Vermont. Melissa Hoffer, the nation's first Cabinet-level state climate chief, is stepping down to become president of Vermont Law and Graduate School starting December 1. She helped launch the state's climate bank and its first youth climate council — but she's leaving at a moment when Trump-era rollbacks have stalled parts of the state's climate agenda and Healey's own reelection message is pivoting hard toward affordability. CommonWealth Beacon →

Kingston daycare owner turns herself in on child abuse charges. Karen Rezendes, 51, who ran "Oh Nana's Daycare" out of her home, allegedly shoved, struck, and even locked toddlers in her attic. She was arraigned Friday, pleaded not guilty, and is held on $75,000 bail with a pretrial hearing set for Sept. 4. Police are asking any parents whose kids attended the daycare to come forward. WCVB →

Markey and Moulton make their final pitch. With days left before the primary, Sen. Ed Markey, 80, is leaning into his fight-Trump energy, while Rep. Seth Moulton, 47, is framing the race as a generational reckoning — "a new generation of leadership because we have a new generation of challenges." It's one of several Democratic primaries nationally being fought along exactly this line. WBUR →

• Today is your last day for early in-person voting ahead of Tuesday's primary — polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 1. Boston.com →
• A candlelight vigil for flood victims in Nepal will be held Saturday at 6 p.m. at River Green Park in Everett, organized by the Greater Boston Nepali Community, which is also raising funds for disaster relief. GBH News →
• Barbara Lynch's frozen bank accounts could set up a court fight as Boston tries to collect nearly $1 million in back taxes from the celebrity chef's defunct restaurant empire — worth watching if you've followed her business collapse. Universal Hub →

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Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Charles Bailey (Republican) — Senate, Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex — Filed: 8/27/2026

PACs

• Western Mass Republicans, a Pol Action Comm — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/25/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Committee for Keep Cannabis Legal, Vote No on 8 — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/28/2026

OCPF →

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MassHousing's own investigators just confirmed what the Globe's Spotlight Team found: a top executive lied, repeatedly, about a conflict of interest that funneled $1.4 million in taxpayer money to developers who sold him his house at a steep discount.

The report, released Thursday and prepared by lawyers at the Mintz firm, lands on former MassHousing executive Tony Richards II like a gavel. Richards, who resigned in June after the Globe started asking questions, oversaw a grant program meant to fix up crumbling affordable housing in Massachusetts mill towns — the kind of unglamorous, essential work that keeps working-class housing stock from falling apart. Instead, investigators say Richards was steering money to developers Gary Acquah and Reggie Woods, the same two men who'd sold him a West Roxbury home in December 2022 for $204,000 under its original asking price. Months later, their projects got public grant money. Richards, per the report, was "untruthful" about how well he actually knew them.

This matters beyond one bad actor. MassHousing is a quasi-state agency that finances a huge chunk of the affordable housing this state desperately needs — and this scandal broke before investigators found apparent fraud in how the developers spent the grant money itself. The case has now been referred to the state Ethics Commission, meaning Richards could face real consequences beyond a resignation letter. Watch for whether Governor Maura Healey's administration uses this as a pretext to tighten oversight across all of MassHousing's grant programs — because right now, the agency's credibility on affordable housing spending is exactly what's on the line, at the worst possible moment for a state trying to convince developers and taxpayers that this money is well spent. Full story at Boston Globe →

Mail it now, and it might not count. Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin says more than 100,000 mail-in ballots for Tuesday's primary still haven't come back — and if you mail yours today, there's a real chance it won't arrive in time. His advice: use a drop box, or just vote in person. Early in-person voting ends Friday. GBH News →

New Bedford's city council wants those surveillance cameras gone — but the police chief doesn't have to listen. The council voted unanimously to demand the removal of 20 Flock license-plate cameras after an officer allegedly used them to track a former romantic partner. Problem: authority over the cameras rests with the mayoral-appointed police chief, not the council, so this is largely symbolic pressure for now. WBUR →

Boston Public Schools blew $857,000 skirting basic contracting rules. A state inspector general report found school employees routinely hired vendors without valid contracts, then used other companies as pass-through middlemen to pay them — including one $96 book order that came with a $211 shipping charge for a three-block trip. No fraud was found, but real money that should've reached classrooms didn't. WBUR →

Kratom sellers are suing to stop the state's ban before it even starts. Four retailers — including shops in Salem, Quincy, North Billerica, and Bellingham — argue DPH Commissioner Robbie Goldstein overstepped his authority with an emergency order classifying all kratom products as Schedule I drugs, set to take effect Friday. No hearing date yet, so the ban's fate is genuinely up in the air heading into the weekend. Boston Globe →

Old offices, new apartments. The Healey administration handed out $15.3 million in tax credits to convert vacant commercial buildings into nearly 860 rental units across Boston, Dedham, Springfield, Westford, and Worcester — including a historic Financial District building becoming 255 apartments. It's a small but real dent in the state's housing crunch, using empty office space nobody wants anymore. CommonWealth Beacon →

ICE arrests are speeding up inside New Bedford's own courthouse. Attorneys say federal agents have detained at least eight people there this year, three in a single week in August, with a shift toward quieter, plainclothes tactics rather than confrontational sweeps. Some defense lawyers are now advising clients not to post bail at all, since walking out the courthouse door can mean walking straight into custody. New Bedford Light →

Saturday brings Boston's J'ouvert parade and Caribbean Carnival, with Police Commissioner Michael Cox urging attendees to skip the weapons and alcohol after 2023's parade ended in eight people shot. Boston Globe →

Friday is the last day for early in-person voting statewide ahead of Tuesday's primary — after that, it's mail (carefully) or show up on September 1. WCVB →

Tuesday, September 1 is primary day itself, with the marquee race being Ed Markey vs. Seth Moulton for U.S. Senate — plus six Democrats scrambling for the open 6th District congressional seat. Boston Globe →

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Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Charles Bailey (Republican) — Senate, Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex — Filed: 8/27/2026

PACs

• Western Mass Republicans, a Pol Action Comm — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/25/2026

Change of Purposes

• Christopher Chan — City Councilor, Quincy → Mayoral, Quincy — Filed: 8/21/2026

OCPF →

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Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Gabriel Greenspan (Republican) — Senate, Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Anthony Baez — City Councilor, Boston — Filed: 8/20/2026

PACs

• Western Mass Republicans, a Pol Action Comm — N/A, N/A — Filed: 8/25/2026

Change of Purposes

• Christopher Chan — City Councilor, Quincy → Mayoral, Quincy — Filed: 8/21/2026

OCPF →

THE MASS BRIEF

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

The Lead

A mystery that gripped Worcester for a week came to a grim, expected end Monday: police confirmed the body found in the woods near Coes Pond is almost certainly Karen Solomon, the mental health advocate wanted in the death of her husband, longtime Worcester police officer Kurt Solomon. Chief Paul Saucier called it a "tragic murder-suicide" — a phrase that closes one investigation but opens a much harder conversation.

What makes this story land so hard isn't just the tragedy itself, it's the irony sitting right at its center. Karen Solomon spent years pushing for better mental health support for first responders — the very system that, by every account, failed her own household. Saucier was emphatic Monday that there was no history of domestic abuse in the family, which only deepens the question everyone in Worcester is now asking: how does a 31-year veteran officer and the advocate who championed his colleagues' wellbeing end up here? A gun was recovered near her body — not a service weapon — and investigators are still working to determine ownership, though Saucier said Kurt Solomon was "probably" the owner. Services for Kurt Solomon are being held today and Wednesday at Our Lady of the Angels Church, and the Solomon family, through Saucier, described themselves as "heartbroken and rudderless." Expect renewed scrutiny in the coming weeks on how police departments — not just officers, but their spouses and families — are supported when the badge comes home every night.

Full story at Boston Globe →

What Else You Should Know

Flock cameras keep falling out of favor. Douglas police pulled the plug on their license-plate-reading Flock Safety cameras Monday after three of the town's seven units were vandalized — the latest of roughly a dozen Massachusetts communities to drop or suspend the controversial surveillance system amid statewide concerns about misuse, including officer suspensions in Lynn, New Bedford, and Stow. Boston Globe →

Cambridge police shooting victim identified — and it's complicated. William Woodworth, 64, of Watertown, was fatally shot Friday after allegedly pointing a gun at officers in Central Square. Court records show Woodworth had been arrested in the same neighborhood three years ago on a gun charge that was later dropped because police lacked a warrant to search his car — a detail that's already fueling calls from Cambridge officials for quick release of body-camera footage. Boston Globe →

Springfield's $2 billion courthouse survives a legal challenge. A Hampden County judge rejected a bid by losing bidders to block the massive courthouse redevelopment project, calling their conflict-of-interest argument a "convoluted theory." The ruling clears the way for the winning team, Liberty Junction, to move ahead with lease negotiations even as questions linger from weeks of political drama. Boston Globe →

A drunk-driving crash killed a father and his 8-year-old daughter. Samir Naili and his daughter Kashmira were stopped at a red light in North Reading Saturday night when police say Matthew Sweeney, 21, of Paxton, slammed into them at 100 mph. Sweeney's lawyer says he has no memory of the crash and a documented history of psychiatric hospitalizations — he reportedly asked police, "Who did I kill?" after the crash. Boston Globe →

Healey administration issues ICE guidance for schools. Ahead of the new school year, the state rolled out guidance implementing the PROTECT Act, which bars ICE from making civil arrests on school or licensed daycare grounds without a judicial warrant. Districts are being told to designate points of contact, involve legal counsel, and notify families if agents show up. WCVB →

O'Brien-Goldberg feud is back in court. Former Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O'Brien is suing Treasurer Deb Goldberg and the CCC, alleging whistleblower retaliation, civil rights violations, and invasion of privacy tied to her ouster. Goldberg's office says O'Brien is rehashing old, already-litigated grievances for attention. CommonWealth Beacon →

Worth Your Attention

• Sept. 1 is primary day in Massachusetts — early voting is already underway (started Aug. 22), and nine statewide ballot questions, the U.S. Senate race, and DA contests are all on the line. Boston.com →
• Question 3 on all-party primaries is drawing comparisons to California's system — worth understanding before you vote this fall. CommonWealth Beacon →
• Sept. 2 is Governor Dan McKee's deadline to name two nominees to Rhode Island's Superior Court — a reminder for South Shore and Blackstone Valley readers who track cross-border courts and commuters. Boston Globe →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Gabriel Greenspan (Republican) — Senate, Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Anthony Baez — City Councilor, Boston — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Serena Taylor (Democratic) — City Councilor, Somerville — Filed: 8/19/2026
• Brendalee Smith (Republican) — House, 10th Bristol — Filed: 8/19/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Vote YES on 4 Election Day Registration — N/A, No office — Filed: 8/19/2026

Change of Purposes

• Christopher Chan — City Councilor, Quincy → Mayoral, Quincy — Filed: 8/21/2026

OCPF →

One More Thing

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Suffolk Sheriff Steven Tompkins goes on trial today — and the outcome could reshape Boston's political landscape.

Jury selection begins this morning in federal court for Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, the 69-year-old Suffolk County sheriff who's spent years as one of Greater Boston's most recognizable political figures. Federal prosecutors allege Tompkins used his office to extort a cannabis company — Ascend Mass — not once but twice: first pressuring the company for early access to buy $50,000 in stock, then leaning on them again to get his money back after the stock cratered. His attorney, Martin Weinberg, says it's nothing more than a business deal between old friends that had nothing to do with Tompkins's badge.

Here's why this matters beyond the courtroom drama: Tompkins has held the sheriff's post since 2013, overseeing the Nashua Street Jail and South Bay House of Correction, and he's been a fixture at every ribbon-cutting and campaign event in the city for over a decade. A conviction wouldn't just end a career — it would trigger a scramble for one of the more powerful, patronage-rich offices in Massachusetts government, one that's largely escaped public scrutiny for years. The case also lands at an awkward moment for Democrats statewide, as Governor Maura Healey works overtime to burnish her own public-safety credentials against two Republican challengers ahead of November. A corruption trial involving a sitting Democratic sheriff is not the backdrop anyone in the party wanted heading into election season.

Watch for how prosecutors handle the "quid pro quo" question — Weinberg's defense hinges entirely on convincing jurors this was a legitimate financial transaction, not official corruption. That's a high bar for prosecutors, but juries in extortion-under-color-of-official-right cases can be unpredictable. Expect this trial to run for weeks and dominate Boston political conversation through the fall.

Full story at Boston Globe →

Healey leans into public safety as GOP rivals circle. With two Republicans challenging her reelection bid, Governor Healey has spent recent months pushing a former prosecutor onto the Parole Board and touting crime-decrease ad campaigns from allied nonprofits — all while insisting none of it is about the campaign. Her record as a career prosecutor is becoming her shield against attacks that Massachusetts is soft on crime. Boston Globe →

Early voting is underway — but it might not matter much anymore. Massachusetts kicked off its early voting window for the state primary this weekend, running through Friday, August 28. Secretary of State Bill Galvin says turnout at physical polling sites has cooled as more voters shift to mail-in ballots, which they can fill out from home on their own schedule. Find your options at VoteInMA.com. WBZ / CBS Boston →

Federal election monitors are heading to New Bedford — and some officials aren't thrilled. Boston has hosted Department of Justice election monitors for decades without much fuss, but New Bedford's addition to the list this cycle is raising eyebrows among state officials. The move comes amid broader national tension over federal involvement in local elections. MassLive →

Quincy's religious statue plan hits a wall at the state's highest court. The Supreme Judicial Court unanimously sided against Mayor Thomas Koch's push to install 10-foot bronze statues of St. Michael and St. Florian outside the city's public safety building, finding the imagery too overtly religious to pass constitutional muster. The ACLU sued on behalf of 15 Quincy residents last year, and the case now heads back to a lower court where those residents are considered likely to prevail. Boston.com →

Marshfield's Select Board just reshaped how the town funds its schools. In a contentious 2-1 vote, the board approved a new revenue-sharing agreement guaranteeing Marshfield Public Schools 68.5% of shared town revenue, tied to a "no new override" pledge, alongside new efficiency audits. The board also opened the warrant for an October 19 special town meeting and welcomed new Town Administrator Ted Langill on his first day — a lot of change for one Monday night meeting. South Shore News →

Norwell rewards its superintendent for steering through a brutal budget year. The Norwell School Committee unanimously gave Superintendent Matthew Keegan a 3.5% merit raise after a year defined by staff cuts and belt-tightening following a failed override vote. Committee members praised his multi-year financial planning as the district also awaits word on a Massachusetts School Building Authority feasibility study for a new Norwell High School. South Shore News →

Tonight, 7-8 p.m.: WATD hosts a live candidate forum for the 9th Congressional District Democratic primary, featuring incumbent Congressman Bill Keating and challenger Craig Swallow. Submit questions by noon today. WATD →

Through Friday, August 28: Early voting continues statewide for the September primary — check hours and locations for your city or town before they close out the week. WBZ / CBS Boston →

This week in federal court, Boston: Jury selection and opening arguments are expected in the Sheriff Tompkins extortion trial — one to watch if you follow Suffolk County politics. Boston Globe →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Gabriel Greenspan (Republican) — Senate, Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Anthony Baez — City Councilor, Boston — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Brendalee Smith (Republican) — House, 10th Bristol — Filed: 8/19/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Vote YES on 4 Election Day Registration — N/A, No office — Filed: 8/19/2026

Change of Purposes

• Christopher Chan — City Councilor, Quincy → Mayoral, Quincy — Filed: 8/21/2026

OCPF →

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Massachusetts politics, development, and daily life — straight to your inbox.

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Kevin Hayden went from accidental DA to establishment favorite — and that's exactly the problem for his critics.

Four years ago, almost nobody outside Boston legal circles knew Kevin Hayden's name. Charlie Baker plucked him from the Sex Offender Registry Board to fill Rachael Rollins' old seat, and Hayden barely survived a bruising 2022 election against a scandal-ridden opponent — a win most people chalked up to "not being the other guy" rather than any grand vision for the office. Now, heading into the winner-take-all Democratic primary on September 1, Hayden is the guy Mayor Michelle Wu is backing, and he's running as the incumbent with a full record to defend rather than an appointee hoping voters don't notice him.

That's a genuinely strange turn for a Republican-appointed prosecutor to pull off in deep-blue Boston, and it's exactly why this race is worth watching. Rollins herself is back in the mix trying to reclaim the office and the progressive platform she built it on, while Linda Champion is positioning herself as the true change candidate, arguing neither Hayden nor Rollins actually fixed what's broken in Suffolk County's justice system. The dynamic here isn't left-vs-right — it's a fight over what "progressive prosecution" even means anymore in a city where crime, policing, and public trust in the DA's office have all shifted since 2022.

Whoever wins this primary essentially wins the general election in heavily Democratic Suffolk County, so September 1 is the real Election Day. Watch turnout in Boston's early voting numbers this week — if it's soft, that favors the candidate with the more mobilized base, which right now looks like Hayden's institutional coalition. Full story at Boston Globe →

A former protégé is trying to unseat Middlesex DA Marian Ryan — from the inside. David Solet spent 20-plus years working under Ryan before resigning to challenge her, and he's picked up police union backing while arguing she hasn't been tough enough on public safety. It's an unusually collegial-turned-tense race for a county with low crime and no scandal driving it — just old colleagues disagreeing on direction. Boston Globe →

Cambridge police fatally shot a man in his 60s near Central Square Friday night. Officers responding to a report of suspicious activity behind businesses on Temple Street say the man got out of his car and pointed a loaded gun at them; they tried to disarm him before opening fire. Middlesex DA Marian Ryan's office is investigating, and all responding officers wore body cameras. Universal Hub →

Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians just authorized their first strike in the ensemble's 145-year history. The vote isn't a strike itself, but it's a serious escalation after management rejected the union's request to bring in a mediator. Tensions have been simmering since the board abruptly decided in March not to renew conductor Andris Nelsons' contract, and the musicians' current deal expires Sunday night. WBUR →

Two more towns are ditching Flock license plate readers. Grafton and East Bridgewater pulled the plug this week, joining more than a dozen Massachusetts departments that have backed away from the controversial surveillance cameras amid privacy concerns — and in Grafton's case, actual vandalism of the devices. It's becoming a genuine statewide trend, not just isolated pushback. Boston Globe →

Small Massachusetts farms are getting squeezed by fuel costs tied to the US-Iran conflict. At Barrett's Mill Farm in Concord, fuel costs are up 76% with no relief in sight, forcing farmers to absorb costs they can't easily pass on to customers who are also feeling the squeeze. Add in Massachusetts' already-high land and labor costs, and it's a tough summer for local agriculture. Boston Globe →

Worcester's search for Karen Solomon continues into another day. Solomon, considered armed and dangerous, remains missing after her husband — off-duty Worcester Patrolman Kurt Solomon — was found dead following a domestic incident. DA Joseph Early Jr. says the search won't stop until she's found, and several recreational areas remain closed. WCVB →

• Early voting runs through Friday, August 28 ahead of the September 1 state primary — find your location at VoteInMA.com. WBZ / CBS Boston →

• Springfield residents can weigh in on the city's draft housing strategy at public open houses Tuesday and Wednesday, August 25-26. WWLP →

• The Markey-Moulton Senate primary and the GOP governor's race between Michael Minogue and Brian Shortsleeve head to voters September 1, though Secretary of State Bill Galvin doesn't expect either to drive big turnout on its own. Boston Globe →

Track all bills →

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Gabriel Greenspan (Republican) — Senate, Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Anthony Baez — City Councilor, Boston — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Brendalee Smith (Republican) — House, 10th Bristol — Filed: 8/19/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Vote YES on 4 Election Day Registration — N/A, No office — Filed: 8/19/2026

Change of Purposes

• Christopher Chan — City Councilor, Quincy → Mayoral, Quincy — Filed: 8/21/2026

OCPF →

Get The Mass Brief every morning

Massachusetts politics, development, and daily life — straight to your inbox.

Powered by South Shore News

Good morning. Early voting kicks off today, a Worcester manhunt is still underway, and Cambridge is reeling after police fatally shot a man last night. Let's get into it.

Voters can register and vote — same day, in person — starting today. Take advantage of it.

Here's a quirk of Massachusetts election law worth knowing about: Saturday, August 22 is the one and only day this cycle when you can walk into your city or town hall, register to vote for the first time (or re-register after a move), and cast a ballot on the spot. It's the overlap between the voter registration deadline and the first day of in-person early voting for the September 1 primary — a scheduling coincidence that effectively creates same-day registration, just for 24 hours.

Why does this matter beyond the trivia value? Because this primary actually has stakes. Senator Ed Markey and Representative Seth Moulton faced off Thursday night in their final debate before the vote, sparring over age, Iran, transgender rights, and — improbably — iPad apps. It was feisty enough that it's clearly not a coronation for either side. Meanwhile, progressive candidates across the state, from Cambridge's Evan MacKay to contenders on the North Shore, are explicitly trying to import Zohran Mamdani's affordability-focused, small-donor playbook from New York City into Massachusetts races. Whether that translates outside a place like Cambridge is one of the more interesting subplots of this primary season.

Turnout for early in-person voting has cratered in recent years — clerks in Belmont and Brookline say only 5-10% of voters use it now, with mail-in ballots dominating. But if you're unregistered or you moved recently and haven't updated your address, today is genuinely your only shot to fix that and vote in one trip. Check your town's specific hours; not every municipality is open all seven days of the early voting window. Full story at GBH News →

Cambridge police fatally shoot a man on Temple Street. A man in his 60s allegedly got out of his car and pointed a loaded gun at officers responding to a report of suspicious activity near Central Square Friday night. Several officers were hospitalized as a precaution and released; the man died at the scene. Middlesex DA Marian Ryan's office is investigating, as is standard in police shootings. Boston Globe →

The hunt for Karen Solomon continues. Worcester police have issued an arrest warrant for the wife of slain officer Kurt Solomon, a 31-year veteran found dead in their Wildwood Avenue home Tuesday from injuries caused by a "sharp object." Dive teams and searchers have combed a nearby pond and closed off recreational areas for the weekend; DA Joseph Early Jr. says they won't stop looking. Solomon's funeral is set for August 26. WCVB →

White Stadium construction can keep going, SJC rules. Boston's highest court unanimously sided with the city, clearing the way for the Franklin Park stadium rebuild — a joint project between Boston Public Schools and the pro women's soccer team Boston Legacy — to proceed without further delay. Mayor Michelle Wu celebrated at a press conference near the site, though opponents from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy say their concerns about size, cost, and park impact haven't gone away, just lost in court. CommonWealth Beacon →

Shannon O'Brien sues Treasurer Deb Goldberg — again. The former Cannabis Control Commission chair, who was fired, reinstated, and then removed a second time after lawmakers restructured the agency, filed a $3 million lawsuit alleging retaliation and reputational harm. Goldberg's office calls it a rehash of already-litigated grievances timed to her reelection fight against Republican Elizabeth Dionne. Boston Globe →

Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden's staff collected his ballot signatures on the clock. Records show three of Hayden's taxpayer-funded employees submitted his nominating paperwork to clerks' offices during normal business hours. Hayden's office insists they used personal time — vacation days or unpaid lunch breaks — and broke no laws, though ethics watchers say the practice blurs lines that shouldn't be blurry. Boston Globe →

Teachers union pushes back on a new school tax credit. The Massachusetts Teachers Association is urging Governor Maura Healey to opt out of the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, which lets people donate up to $1,700 a year to scholarship organizations in exchange for a dollar-for-dollar tax break. Supporters say it funds tutoring and enrichment programs; the MTA's Matt Bach warns it could gut public school funding by as much as 12%, hitting rural and urban districts hardest. WBZ / CBS Boston →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Gabriel Greenspan (Republican) — Senate, Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Anthony Baez — City Councilor, Boston — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Brendalee Smith (Republican) — House, 10th Bristol — Filed: 8/19/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Vote YES on 4 Election Day Registration — N/A, No office — Filed: 8/19/2026

Change of Purposes

• Christopher Chan — City Councilor, Quincy → Mayoral, Quincy — Filed: 8/21/2026

OCPF →

The Mass Brief publishes every morning. See you tomorrow.

The Mass Brief • Powered by South Shore News

Get The Mass Brief every morning

Massachusetts politics, development, and daily life — straight to your inbox.

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THE MASS BRIEF

Friday, August 21, 2026

The Lead

The Markey-Moulton fight is entering its final, ugliest stretch — and the polls suggest it might already be over.

Senator Ed Markey and Congressman Seth Moulton met Thursday night in Needham for their third and final debate before the September 1 primary, and if you were hoping for new ground, you didn't get much. Moulton, 47, kept hammering the 80-year-old incumbent on age and a 50-year record he says hasn't delivered — his Green New Deal, Moulton argued, "did not pass" and "was not enough." Markey kept hammering back on Moulton's Iraq and Iran war votes and, notably, forced Moulton to apologize again — three times — for comments he made after the 2024 election about transgender athletes and his daughters. Markey said flatly that trans athletes should be allowed to compete; Moulton hedged toward "a discussion" about fairness and safety. That exchange, more than any wonky energy-policy back-and-forth, is probably what cuts through to voters trying to decide who's the "real" Democrat here.

But the subtext of the whole night was a poll released this week showing Markey with a substantial lead — which explains why Moulton needed a knockout moment and didn't really get one, and why Markey could afford to spend the debate coasting on endorsements, including a fresh one from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that dropped hours before he took the stage. If the numbers hold, this primary — which looked genuinely competitive a few months ago — may already be decided. Watch for how aggressively Moulton spends the final two weeks; a candidate who believes he's within striking distance doesn't usually go this negative this late unless he thinks he has no other choice.

Full story at Boston Globe →

What Else You Should Know

Stephen Lynch has a real primary on his hands, and he's acting like he doesn't. The 71-year-old South Boston congressman is facing a genuine "toss-up," per some polling, against 39-year-old attorney Patrick Roath — but Lynch has skipped most debate invitations and is running a low-key, sign-waving campaign while still managing to drop nearly $700,000 since July. Whether that confidence is earned or complacent gets answered September 1. Boston Globe →

Boston is one of three finalists for the 2028 Democratic National Convention. Denver and Philadelphia are the other contenders after Atlanta and Chicago got cut Thursday — a decision that drew accusations from Atlanta's mayor that the DNC is "abandoning Black voters." Boston would host at TD Garden; a final call comes later this year. GBH News →

Mayor Wu got her win on White Stadium. The Supreme Judicial Court rejected a years-long legal challenge from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and neighborhood residents, clearing the last hurdle for the $325 million stadium overhaul that will host Boston Public Schools athletics and pro women's soccer team Boston Legacy FC. Wu called it "full steam ahead" at a Thursday press conference in Franklin Park. Boston Globe →

Quincy's Catholic saint statues are staying in storage. The SJC unanimously upheld an injunction blocking Mayor Thomas Koch's plan to install 10-foot bronze statues of St. Michael and St. Florian outside the city's new $175 million public safety building, with justices signaling the underlying lawsuit against the city is likely to succeed. Koch says he'll keep fighting anyway. CommonWealth Beacon →

Flock camera misuse keeps spreading. Two Lynn police officers are on paid leave after an internal audit flagged "a concerning pattern" in how they used license-plate-reader technology — joining similar controversies in New Bedford and Stow, where officers allegedly looked up personal info on a victim and an ex-girlfriend. Lynn has now restricted Flock access to lieutenants and above. Boston Globe →

Springfield teachers are fighting an AI classroom pilot before it starts. Kiley Prep, part of the Springfield Empowerment Zone, wants to bring in Alpha School's AI-driven model — which replaces traditional teachers with "guides" — for one sixth-grade class this fall. The teachers' union is threatening legal action to stop it. WBUR →

Worth Your Attention

• Early in-person voting opens Saturday ahead of the September 1 primary — its tenth anniversary, though usage has dropped as mail-in voting has surged. WBUR →
• Brownsberger vs. Lander, the Wu-backed challenger, faced off in a Watertown-focused debate over whether the veteran Senate pro tem is too slow to move legislation. GBH News →
• November ballot fight brewing: an unusual coalition of both major parties, progressives, and labor unions is uniting against Question 3, which would replace party primaries with an all-party "jungle primary." CommonWealth Beacon →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Gabriel Greenspan (Republican) — Senate, Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Anthony Baez — City Councilor, Boston — Filed: 8/20/2026
• Brendalee Smith (Republican) — House, 10th Bristol — Filed: 8/19/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Vote YES on 4 Election Day Registration — N/A, No office — Filed: 8/19/2026

OCPF →

Get The Mass Brief every morning

Massachusetts politics, development, and daily life — straight to your inbox.

Powered by South Shore News