THE MASS BRIEF

Saturday, October 31, 2026

Good morning, and happy Halloween. Plenty of scary stuff on the ballot and in the news, but also some candy. Let's get into it.

The Lead

Harvard has a $50-plus billion endowment and a labor problem it can't seem to shake.

More than 7,000 Harvard workers are either on strike or about to be. Graduate students walked out Tuesday, their second job action this year. Researchers and non-tenure-track faculty have set a Nov. 10 strike deadline. And dining hall workers could walk at any moment. That's three unions potentially hitting the picket line at the same time at the richest university on earth.

The grievances are strikingly concrete. A dining hall pot washer earning $28 an hour says that's less, adjusted for inflation, than his starting wage 20 years ago. A postdoc at Harvard Medical School says colleagues with kids can burn through as much as three-quarters of their salary on day care, while tenured professors get far more generous financial help. A PhD student says part-time teaching fellows earn about half what peers in research assistant roles make. The common thread is a sense of a two-tier institution.

Harvard's argument is that it's tightening its belt amid federal funding turmoil and political pressure from Washington. But "we're under siege" is a tough pitch to workers watching the endowment number. Watch the Nov. 10 deadline: if the postdocs and researchers join the grad students and dining workers, Cambridge could see an unusually broad campus shutdown during the semester's busiest stretch, and the administration will face pressure to settle on more than one front at once.

Full story at Boston Globe →

What Else You Should Know

Boston police fatally shoot man in mental health crisis in Brighton. Officers responding to Selkirk Road around 7 a.m. Friday spent roughly 20 minutes trying to de-escalate a man with a very large knife who was threatening to harm himself. Police Commissioner Michael Cox said the man then charged at officers on the porch and was shot once in the stomach; he later died at the hospital. Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden is investigating, including reviewing body-camera footage. Cox said other officers on scene carried Tasers but it's unclear whether the shooter did. WBUR → | CBS Boston →

Scituate is under a boil water order. A Tuesday water sample tested positive for E. coli, and a second sample Friday came back positive for a different bacterium, so residents need to boil water for at least one minute or use bottled. Supply is already tight: one resident said they drove to Quincy to find water and described Thanksgiving-level lines. Restaurants like Mill Wharf are scrambling, with staff barred from using soda guns and ice machines. WBZ / CBS Boston →

Ex-state trooper gets dishonorable discharge. Stephen P. Smith, a roughly three-year veteran assigned to the Weston barracks, resigned during an internal affairs probe into several consecutive traffic stops of the same motorist. State Police referred preliminary findings to the Middlesex County District Attorney for independent criminal review. His law enforcement certification lapsed in August. Boston Globe →

Immigrant foster youth are being ordered deported. After the Trump administration rescinded a Biden-era policy that deferred deportation proceedings for young people seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile status, many Massachusetts foster youth have received removal orders. One 17-year-old from Central America, who has had nearly two years of stability here, told GBH she fears losing the chance to keep studying. An attorney at Worcester's Ascentria called it a "systematic attack" on these youths' rights. GBH News →

Teachers' union sues over student loan forgiveness delays. The American Federation of Teachers filed a class action against the Education Department, claiming some borrowers have waited nearly two years for paperwork to be processed for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, while others had earned credit erased. President Randi Weingarten announced the suit in Boston. The Education Department didn't respond to WBUR's request for comment. WBUR →

Western Mass. towns push back on MWRA's Quabbin request. Shutesbury's Select Board voted 3-0 to oppose the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's bid to draw an additional 20 million gallons a day from the reservoir. The town's letter calls it a "blank check," since no receiving communities are identified. Leverett and several legislators have raised concerns too. Daily Hampshire Gazette →

Worth Your Attention

• Election Day is Tuesday. Early voting ended Friday, and there are nine binding ballot questions, the most in over three decades, covering everything from public records to guns to marijuana policy. Read up before you're in the booth: CBS Boston's ballot question guide →
• Gov. Maura Healey vs. Republican Mike Minogue tops the ticket. For context on how unpredictable the corner office has been, WBUR mapped every town's governor vote since 1970: WBUR →
• Nov. 10: Harvard's researchers and non-tenure-track faculty strike deadline. 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

• Robert Barcellos — Mayoral, Fall River — Filed: 10/30/2026
• Daniel Wong (Democratic) — City Councilor, Somerville — Filed: 10/27/2026

Ballot Question Committees

• Voter Choice for Massachusetts — N/A, N/A — Filed: 10/27/2026

Change of Purposes

• Luz Villar — Mayoral, Brockton → City Councilor, Brockton — Filed: 10/29/2026

OCPF →

One More Thing

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