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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Happy Monday.
ROLLINS AND BAKER HASH IT OUT — Supporters of Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins gathered in Dorchester yesterday afternoon, where Rollins said she and Gov. Charlie Baker cleared the air with a phone call after a high-profile spat over the weekend.
Baker's safety chief Thomas Turco III sent a letter to Rollins last week criticizing a 65-page memo her office released last month saying it would not prosecute low-level offenses. Turco suggested the new policies could endanger people in the state. The priorities in the memo mirror Rollins' campaign pledges, which hinge on raising the bar for prosecuting some crimes.
Things shifted into high gear Friday when Rollins fired back , and suggested Baker's son benefited from his family's privilege after being accused of sexual assault last year. Rollins explained Sunday she took issue with the letter because it was sent to her and the press at the same time, without a heads-up to her office first.
"This is an example when someone slaps you in the face and thinks you're going to turn away and cry, you take your earrings off, roundhouse kick them right in the face and punch them right to the ground," Rollins said. Baker and Rollins hashed out their differences in a phone call on Saturday.
Beyond exposing differences in criminal justice reform approaches, the flare up showed a divide in state politics and peeled back the curtain on the kind of debate that usually happens behind closed doors on Beacon Hill, as the Globe's Adrian Walker puts it. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Boston City Councilors Kim Janey and Andrea Campbell and state Rep. Liz Miranda were among the politicians to issue statements of support for Rollins. "I haven't heard a thing from the attorney general," Rollins said, pointing out Attorney General Maura Healey was a recipient of Turco's letter.
Rollins is the first black woman to hold the Suffolk DA position, and she was supported by a number of newly-elected women of color in state and federal government. In wrapping her remarks on Sunday, the district attorney emphasized she was elected to bring change.
"People who think they understand our community but don't have a single black secretary in their cabinet? You're not going to have a job pretty soon. Know that," Rollins said. "I'm not here to fight with people, but get out of my way. We are changing the system," Rollins said.
NOTE GUV CHARLIE BAKER'S ABSENCE - HE DIDN'T EVEN ATTEND THE HEARINGS REGARDING THIS COLUMBIA GAS TRAGEDY.
MARKEY AND TRAHAN'S NEW PIPELINE BILL — More than six months after gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley killed one person and displaced thousands more, Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Lori Trahan will introduce a bill today that aims to close regulatory loopholes and increase safety for gas pipelines and the utilities that control them.
The legislation is named the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act to honor Leonel Rondon, who was killed in the September disaster. Markey and Trahan will hold a press conference to discuss the bill with Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera and members of Rondon's family later this morning.
The new bill calls on utilities to create written procedures for responding to over-pressurization issues, use professional engineers for gas plans, update equipment at regulator stations and plan emergency response coordination. The legislation would also raise civil penalty limits to deter wrongdoing, Markey's office said.
Later this week, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing as it considers reauthorization of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's pipeline safety program. Markey will push for this bill's provisions to be included in that package. And as lawmakers call for changes in utility procedure, there's more change afoot at Columbia Gas, the utility that controls the gas lines that erupted. Columbia Gas President and CEO Steve Bryant plans to retire in May.
Lawmakers grilled executives from Columbia Gas and its parent company NiSource at a field hearing in November, where Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Seth Moulton called on company leaders to resign. Provisions in the new bill are based on findings from an investigation into the disaster led by Markey and Warren.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — Boston Mayor Marty Walsh attends the "Meeting the Challenge: Global Innovations in Urban Housing" conference and speaks at the Army Week kickoff at City Hall Plaza. Rep. Seth Moulton visits The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. Rep. Joe Kennedy III speaks on a panel at Wellesley High School. The Criminal Justice Task Force on Juvenile Age meets. State Sen. Patrick O'Connor speaks at a Millennials for 100% Renewable Energy lobby day. The Joint Committee on Elder Affairs holds a hearing.
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 | FROM THE HUB |
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- "Uber doesn't want to be kicked from curb," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "UBER, NOT HAPPY about a Massport proposal that would kick its drivers from the terminal curbs at Logan International Airport, is proposing a series of alternative measures the company believes would accomplish the same goal of reducing congestion at far less cost. Each of Uber's proposals would allow the ride-hailing app's drivers to continue picking up or dropping off passengers near the terminal curbs. Under Massport's proposal, all Uber and Lyft drivers would drop off and pickup at a newly created space on the first level of the central parking garage, which is about a 7 to 10 minute walk from the terminals."
- "Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins again speaks out about Baker administration," by Maddie Kilgannon, Boston Globe: " A day after Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said she had nothing further to say about the series of tense exchanges between her office and Governor Charlie Baker's office, she again lambasted what she described as an atmosphere of misogyny during a Dorchester rally organized in her support Sunday. "It's so funny that when all of the male DAs before me had this discretion and were moving towards mass incarceration, the governor did not give a [expletive] about that," Rollins told about 200 people gathered at Prince Hall Grand Lodge. 'But miraculously now that this DA wants to end mass incarceration, you want to question the discretion that we have? No, you are not.'"
- "Pay soars at Massport as agency awaits new CEO," by Joe Dwinell, Boston Herald: "The payroll at Massport is soaring, with raises handed out across the board and one newly promoted executive awarded a more than 80 percent pay boost, all as the decision on the next chief executive looms, a Herald analysis shows. Acting Massport CEO John Pranckevicius, who's been on the job since former chief Thomas Glynn stepped down in November, had what is listed as a merit pay raise from $284,000 to $297,000 this year, records show."
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| DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Veep's Massachusetts connection," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "SEN. ERIC LESSER of Longmeadow knows what's going to happen this season on Veep, but he's keeping it to himself. Lesser has been working since 2011 as a consultant for the HBO political satire starring Julie Louis-Dreyfus as vice president turned train-wreck-in-chief. Even with a comedy, HBO wants to keep it real, and Lesser was hired to make sure the politics doesn't veer too far from reality."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Here's how Elizabeth Warren is trying to outmaneuver Bernie Sanders," by Liz Goodwin, Boston Globe: "Senator Elizabeth Warren lobbed another policy grenade into the Democratic primary Friday, announcing she supports drastically changing the Senate by eliminating its legendary filibuster to give her party a better chance of implementing its ambitious agenda. The move puts her campaign rivals on the spot to explain how they would pass their own ambitious legislative priorities if the Senate keeps its rule in place requiring a 60-vote supermajority to advance most bills."
- "Elizabeth Warren: Democrats' message must be more than 'not-Trump,'" by Scott Sonner, Associated Press: " Democrats running for president will have to do more than campaign on an anti-Trump message if they want to take back the White House in 2020, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Saturday. "If your message is 'not-Trump,' it's not going to work," the Democratic presidential hopeful told about 500 supporters who packed a rally at a high school gymnasium in Reno. "Our job it to talk about our vision." The Massachusetts senator blasted President Donald Trump's economic and environmental policies and touted her plan to invest $500 billion over the next 10 years to build, preserve and rehabilitate affordable housing units for low-income families."
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| DATELINE D.C. |
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- "Congressional delegation questions state's use of new federal money for low-income children," by Kay Lazar, Boston Globe:"The state's congressional delegation is in a tiff with the Baker administration over whether the state is misusing millions of federal dollars intended to expand early education to thousands of low-income children. Congress last year significantly increased funding for low-income child care programs, boosting the annual amount Massachusetts receives from roughly $110 million to $140 million. In a letter to the governor signed by all nine House members, the delegation said Massachusetts used $14 million of those new federal funds to replace state spending on child care programs for poor families, rather than to supplement it."
- "Can a Re-Structured Rules Committee Help Heal Congress?" by Matt Szafranski, Western Mass Politics & Insight: "On the television across US Representative James McGovern's Rules Committee office was Georgia Congressman John Lewis. McGovern watched respectfully as his colleague, a civil rights icon who marched with Martin Luther King, made a final pitch for H.R.1, a sweeping reform of ethics, campaign finance and election laws. The For the People Act, which the House passed later that day, continues the spirit of Lewis' lifelong cause. However, the terms of its debate came together in the Rules Committee. As that panel's chair, McGovern also hopes to change the tone in the institution he has served much of his adult life."
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| KENNEDY COMPOUND |
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "1st Massachusetts farmers moving toward approval to grow marijuana outdoors," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "So far, all the marijuana sold in Massachusetts' legal market has been grown indoors. But that could change. The Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday approved the first two provisional licenses for companies that plan to grow marijuana outdoors in the Berkshires. The licenses went to Theory Wellness and BCWC, both medical marijuana companies that are also growing indoors."
- "Massachusetts legal pot sales sparking illicit marijuana market," by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: "Massachusetts police say they are seeing a thriving underground marijuana market, which is booming four months after the launch of legal pot sales — as dealers take advantage of the heightened demand and short supply — and compete with cheaper weed, while using the legalization laws as cover. Police chiefs say their concern that legalizing pot would actually fuel the illicit market — leading to an explosion of illegal marijuana sales in Massachusetts — is coming true."
- P.S. If you use medical marijuana or CBD (or if you're a health professional who has worked with it), we want to hear from you. Tell us your story and a reporter might reach out.
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| ALL ABOARD |
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- "Milton T riders prefer function over charm of vintage trolleys," by Joe DiFazio, Patriot Ledger: "On a drizzly Wednesday morning Brendan McCarthy waited for the trolley at the Capen Street station in Milton on the first leg of his journey into work. Around the corner chugged, not a modern train, but an orange and cream colored 1940s-era trolley, a moving museum. With trolleys that are more than 70 years old and worn infrastructure, the MBTA is looking at what comes next for the Mattapan High Speed Line, while riders say they are torn between the charm of the old trolleys and a reliable way to get to work."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "POT JAM" — Globe: "She was so sweet, she loved everything." "Nielsen quits as security secretary." |
| FROM THE 413 |
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- "UMass President Meehan opens up about talks with Hampshire College," by Dusty Christensen, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "In February, the Gazette obtained emails that shed light on conversations between high-ranking officials at Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, including a request from Hampshire leaders to expedite an agreement to partner. Until now, state education leaders have been quiet about the extent of those talks."
- "Plan for stables at Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge in Hadley brings protest, legal action -- and hope for research on saving barn swallows," by Greg Saulmon, Springfield Republican: "Depending on who you ask, the project is either a promising avenue of inquiry into conservation strategies for a species that's common but in decline — or, it's a way for the federal agency to sell a misguided push to demolish the nearby Bri-Mar Stable building, home to what is believed to be the largest barn swallow colony in the state."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "5 staff suspended from Haverhill school," by Kiera Blessing, The Salem News: "Five staff members at the Alternative School have been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation by the Department of Children and Families. Schools Superintendent Margaret Marotta confirmed Friday that one staff member was placed on leave on March 29, and four more were placed on leave the following Tuesday. Though Marotta declined to identify the employees who were suspended, two staff members and School Committee member Maura Ryan-Ciardiello confirmed that one of those suspended is Alternative School Principal John DePolo."
- "Wind farm commits to fisheries monitoring," by Mary Ann Bragg, Cape Cod Times: "Vineyard Wind has announced that it will adopt research measures recommended by a local university to monitor the effects on fisheries of the 84-turbine offshore wind farm, which when operational could be the first industrial-sized installation in the country. The company, which intends to begin construction later this year of an 84-turbine wind farm south of Martha's Vineyard, entered into a multi-faceted agreement in 2017 with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology. Part of the agreement was for the school to design an approach to research that would be capable of monitoring the effects on fisheries of the one-time construction of the wind farm."
WEEKEND WEDDING -- "Roxanne Bras, Stephen Petraeus" - N.Y. Times: "Mrs. Petraeus, 32, is an associate of McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm in Boston. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and received a master's degree in international relations from Nuffield College, Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes scholar. ... Mr. Petraeus, 32, is studying for a joint law degree and M.B.A. from Harvard. He graduated from M.I.T. He is the son of Hollister Knowlton Petraeus and David H. Petraeus of Arlington, Va." With a pic.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Melissa Wagoner Olesen and Jackie Kessel, managing director at 617MediaGroup.com.
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY: to Ricardo A. Sánchez, who celebrated Saturday and Zak Doenmez, who celebrated Sunday.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes and no! The Red Sox beat the Diamondbacks 1-0. The Magic beat the Celtics 116-108.
Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you're promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
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