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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