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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
ORANGE LINE CARS — Gov. Charlie Baker and his top transportation officials will debut the first group of new Orange Line trains this morning at Wellington Station in Medford.
The upgraded trains are a much-needed bright spot as the state of transportation in Massachusetts continues to be a pressing problem. The last time the MBTA put new Orange Line trains on the tracks was almost 40 years ago, which is when Jimmy Carter was president.
It's been a summer of bad headlines for transportation in Massachusetts, and that's not counting the scandal unfolding within the RMV. Last week, a Green Line car derailed in Newton, marking the sixth MBTA derailment this year. Also last week, a congestion study commissioned by the governor found that rush hour traffic has worsened over the last several years. One lowlight: Peak traffic within Route 128 lasts for 14 hours a day. If you've driven in or around Boston lately, you already knew rush hour begins at 3 p.m. The big question is how to fix it.
Officials say Red Line repairs to deal with another derailment will last into the fall, and commutes should return to normal in October . The repairs come after a June derailment that paralyzed the Red Line morning commute the day it happened, and has lengthened travel time for riders since. Some MBTA lines and sections will close down on some weekends to speed-up the repair process across the system.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker, Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack and MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak introduce new Orange Line cars at Wellington Station in Medford. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh attends a preservation celebration for the Newcastle/Saranac Apartments.
Rep. Seth Moulton campaigns in Missouri. Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigns in Franconia, N.H. Sen. Ed Markey holds a Green New Deal town hall in New Bedford with Mayor Jon Mitchell and state Reps. Antonio Cabral, Paul Schmid and Chris Hendricks.
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DON'T MISS #TRIBFEST19— Some of POLITICO's top journalists are heading to downtown Austin on September 28 for the 2019 Texas Tribune festival—one of the nation's largest, most buzzworthy political gatherings. Join us for big-thinking conversations with top leaders and experts on a range of issues - from immigration to trade, fixing America's broken politics to the playbook for Trump's reelect. Learn more about the festival HERE. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Email Us for details.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Former House Speaker Sal DiMasi, fighting lobbying ban, continues to dispute incriminating details from federal corruption case," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "When former Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi gave his first post-prison interview in December, he denied wrongdoing in the federal corruption case landed him behind bars and said he wanted to put the matter behind him. Yet, that case hovers over DiMasi as he tries to appeal a ban keeping him from registering as a state lobbyist. His attorney and the commonwealth have spent the last few months discussing his 2011 conviction for steering state contracts to Cognos, a Burlington-based software company, in exchange for kickbacks."
- "Mass. education official leaves post after being included on list of clergy sex abuse claims in St. Louis," by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: "An associate commissioner for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has left his position after he was included on a list of 61 former Catholic priests in Missouri credibly accused of child sex abuse allegations, officials said. Keith Westrich was on a list released last month by the St. Louis Archdiocese that included "substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a minor made against them in connection with incidents alleged to have occurred before 2003," Jacqueline Reis, a state education spokeswoman confirmed in an e-mail to the Globe Tuesday. The archdiocese released the list on July 26, and Westrich was immediately placed on leave once officials learned of the allegations, Reis said."
- "Vineyard Wind review could extend into 2020," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: " WITH A CRITICAL permit for the Vineyard Wind project on hold so the federal government can launch a new study of the burgeoning offshore wind industry and its potential consequences, the agency conducting that study said Tuesday its review could stretch into 2020. The US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Tuesday put more detail to a plan it first announced Friday, when it sent shockwaves through the industry with its plan to hold off on developing the final environmental impact statement for Vineyard Wind while it studies the wider impacts of an offshore wind industry that is hoping to quickly ramp up along the Northeast and mid-Atlantic coastline."
- "Baker And Pence Discussed Trade Deal In Nantucket," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "Shortly after Vice President Mike Pence touched down on Nantucket last weekend, he and Gov. Charlie Baker had a conversation about the trade deal the Trump administration negotiated with Mexico and Canada. The governor greeted Pence on Saturday morning at Nantucket Memorial Airport when the vice president and former governor of Indiana arrived to attend a fundraiser. Baker's office said the two talked about the stalled Vineyard Wind project and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Boston Council revisits safe injection sites amid tensions over South End sweep," by Milton J. Valencia, Boston Globe: "A week after tensions over open drug use and disorderly conduct boiled over in a South End neighborhood, city councilors revisited the potential for safe injections sites in Boston, even as many municipal and state officials remain skeptical of the idea. Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George, chair of the council's committee on homelessness, mental health, and recovery, said she plans to tour an injection site in Toronto in two weeks while researching the type of recovery services that city offers. Essaibi-George added, however, that a similar trip to Vancouver last year left her with concerns that the city was offering few recovery services in favor of a place to safely inject heroin."
- "Meth has finally taken hold in Massachusetts," by Felice J. Freyer, Boston Globe: "Methamphetamine, an illegal drug that has long plagued the West and Midwest, has finally taken hold in Massachusetts, posing a daunting new challenge to a state still grappling with the opioid crisis. Meth caught the public eye last week when it was blamed for aggressive behavior by street drug users in the South End. But the effects of methamphetamine, which has become increasingly popular in Massachusetts over the past year or two, go beyond the annoyances caused by users bathing in public fountains or congregating in front of restaurants. Meth is a body-revving stimulant like cocaine, but its effects last longer and can be at least as addictive. Those who fall into its clutches suffer persistent physical and mental damage, and face huge hurdles if they want to break free of it."
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| ON THE STUMP |
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- "GOP challenger Weld denounces Trump's 'pathetic' boasting in El Paso," by Kadia Tubman, Yahoo News: "Bill Weld, a former Massachusetts governor and now a Republican presidential candidate, called President Trump "pathetic" for bragging about crowd sizes while visiting victims and medical staff at a hospital in El Paso, Texas, after a mass shooting left 22 dead and dozens injured. "He went out, as he should have, to the sites of the shootings and he said, 'Boy, you should have seen the respect that was paid to the office of the president of the United States. People were really looking up to me because I came and visited these people in the hospital.' He has to hear that praise. If he doesn't hear it from the people sitting in the table around him, he'll praise himself," Weld said."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "State's Highest Court Reverses Itself, Reinstating Pay For Mass. Judge Accused Of Helping Immigrant Evade ICE Arrest," by Shannon Dooling, WBUR: "A suspended Newton district court judge accused of helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest at a courthouse will now be paid after a decision issued Tuesday by the state's Supreme Judicial Court. The ruling essentially reverses the SJC's original order issued the same day as the judge's indictment. It is unclear whether Joseph's $181,000 salary is guaranteed for the duration of her trial, as the court order leaves further notice up to the discretion of the SJC. Judge Shelley Joseph was charged by federal prosecutors with obstruction of justice on April 25. Later that day, the SJC announced Joseph was suspended without pay from her position on the bench."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Police group blasts Warren over Ferguson comments," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "ELIZABETH WARREN IS IN HOT WATER over a comment marking the fifth anniversary of the Ferguson, Missouri, police shooting of Michael Brown. Warren tweeted that Officer Darren Wilson "murdered" the 18-year-old black man in 2014. The state's largest police association quickly voiced its displeasure, the second time in just over a year that the organization has ripped the state's senior US senator over a comment related to the criminal justice system."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "LIZ CROSSES BLUE LINE ... AGAIN!" — Globe: "Amid Mass. opioid crisis, meth moving in," "Trump puts off new levies on China," "RECIPE FOR HAPPY CAMPERS: TEACH THEM HOW TO COOK." |
| NO PLACE LIKE THE CITY OF HOMES |
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- "The Smith and Wesson calling for assault weapons ban are not the iconic Springfield gun maker," by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "Smith and Wesson are calling on their state and federal representatives to ban military-style assault rifles in the wake of recent shootings in Texas and in Ohio. But this Smith and Wesson — Los Angeles City Council members Greig Smith and Herb J. Wesson Jr. — share only their names with the famous Springfield gun maker and its founders: Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson. LA television station CBS Los Angeles reported on the councilors initiative, and noted the irony."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "It's code red for EEE in nine communities south of Boston," by Johanna Seltz, Boston Globe: "There will be no more evening concerts on the lawn at Middleborough Town Hall this summer - forget about hearing the Vegas Valentinos — and all outdoor activities, including youth football, have been canceled in Carver from dusk to dawn. Similar restrictions are in place throughout Southeastern Massachusetts until the first frost eliminates the danger of contracting the dangerous mosquito-borne disease Eastern equine encephalitis in what state officials are calling a "really bad year" for the disease. The virus had been found in 232 mosquito pools tested south of Boston as of Aug. 12, and the state Department of Public Health has designated nine communities as "critical areas" where people are most at risk: Acushnet, Carver, Freetown, Lakeville, Marion, Middleborough, northeastern New Bedford, Rochester, and Wareham."
TRANSITIONS - Dorey Scheimer has started as a producer for "On Point" at WBUR in Boston. She previously was senior producer at Cox Media Group's Washington bureau.
- Andrew E. Bensson joins Sherin and Lodgen LLP as an associate in the firm's real estate department.
- Kathy Pham, a founding product and engineering member of the U.S. Digital Service at the White House, and Brandi Collins-Dexter , senior campaign director at Color Of Change, have been named Joan Shorenstein Fellows at the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
- Elizabeth Ganz joins state Sen. Julian Cyr's office as legislative director and general counsel. Link.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to POLITICO's Peter Canellos and Dani Rodrik.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Red Sox beat the Indians 7-6.
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