In the aftermath of the Orlando massacre, fingers are being pointed and questions asked about why federal law enforcement officials didn’t detain — or at the least keep track of — Omar Mateen after interviewing him not once, not twice, but, now officials acknowledge, three times.
After those interviews, conducted after tips from others about Mateen’s declarations of terrorist connections, FBI agents were convinced that Mateen was little more than a wannabe, boasting of ties that were contradictory and negligible on their face. The interviews were filed away and Mateen continued his job as a security officer and his ability to buy guns and travel overseas was never flagged.
If that sounds familiar to us in Massachusetts, it is. Similar questions were posed about the FBI’s involvement with Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was interviewed by agents after getting a tip about his connections to radicals in Dagestan and Chechnya. Tsarnaev traveled to those countries and returned to Cambridge, with tips from Russian officials that he and his family were becoming radicalized allegedly falling on deaf ears.
But what is the balance between pursuing leads that are paper thin – except in the rearview mirror – and constitutional rights of American citizens such as Mateen as well as those here legally Tsarnaev? How much trust do we put into trained investigators and interrogators who have to make subjective decisions on literally thousands of people that come across their desks on an annual basis, especially in the wake of 9/11?
It’s a battle law enforcement officials fight at all levels. On Monday, the state’s Trial Court released a report absolving judges in the case of Jorge Zambrano who shot and killed Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarantino and was later killed by police officers in a shootout. Zambrano had a lengthy list of criminal offenses going back 18 years and was in the middle of three criminal cases as well as having two probation violations awaiting him.
Critics wondered why Zambrano was released on bail rather than being held. But, as the somewhat-compromised report by District Court Chief Justice Paul Dawley points out, bail as defined by the state and federal constitution is to guarantee someone’s appearance in court, not to be used as a punitive measure. If prosecutors thought Zambrano was a danger, they could have initiated a dangerous hearing, which is their responsibility, not the courts, Dawley concluded.
“In the absence of a prosecutor’s motion for a dangerousness hearing, the judge is constrained by the same requirements and factors as a person setting bail out of court,” Dawley wrote.
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has tapped into the outrage and fear people have of being powerless when they think the government should protect them from these tragedies and, in hindsight, how simple they could have been to prevent. Even Barney Frank says Trump has a “legitimate” point in wanting to put “radical Islamic terrorism” under the microscope. But is it that simple?
Trump renewed his call for a ban on Muslims entering the country and said under a Trump presidency, friends, neighbors, and relatives will be held accountable for the actions of domestic terrorists if they didn’t come forward and help officials before it was too late, rather than after. Maybe we need to take a look at those Japanese internment camps during World War II before we do something like that.
While the fingerpointing is understandable, especially in the wake of tragedies such as Orlando, the Marathon bombings, or Officer Tarantino’s murder, each decision law enforcement officers have made along the way is understandable in the context of that pesky document called the Constitution. It is, to paraphrase Al Gore, an inconvenient truth.
–JACK SULLIVAN
ORLANDO
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton offer sharply different responses to the Orlando nightclub massacre, as Trump, who earlier called for President Obama to resign, lashes out at Clinton and renews his call for a ban on Muslims entering the country, while Clinton calls for unity and a ban on assault weapon sales. (Boston Globe)
G4S, the international security company that employed shooter Omar Mateen, provides security for 90 percent of the nation’s nuclear facilities. (U.S. News & World Report)
In the wake of the Orlando massacre, Attorney General Maura Healey is calling for the reinstatement of the federal ban on assault weapons, which lapsed in 2004. (Associated Press) Many see changing state, not federal, laws as the more promising path to changes in gun regulation. (Boston Globe) Security is stepped up at airports and train stations. (Eagle-Tribune)
A former Leominster man is in critical condition after being shot in the Orlando massacre. (Lowell Sun)
Thousands gather in Orlando for somber vigil. (Time) Hundreds gather at Boston City Hall to honor the victims of the Orlando attack. (WBUR)
BEACON HILL
Almost a year after the Baker administration rolled out a new system for tracking payments to day care centers receiving state subsidies, the system is still a mess, and some of that may be due to the sudden departure of key personnel under the administration’s early retirement plan. (Boston Globe)
The House confirms that it has received a subpoena from the US attorney’s office for records related to the ongoing investigation of Sen. Brian Joyce. (Boston Globe)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter and several city councilors are accusing each other of playing politics after the City Council voted to reduce the Carpenter’s recommendation for the police overtime budget by 25 percent. (The Enterprise)
Regulations covering strip clubs in Springfield routinely go unenforced. (Masslive)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
A new study by two New York law professors says the snub by Republicans of Merrick Garland, of President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, is unprecedented in American history. (New York Times)
ELECTIONS
Telegram & Gazette columnist Dianne Williamson calls Donald Trump a “soulless jackass” and an “irresponsible purveyor of filth.” Gov. Charlie Baker doesn’t use exactly that language, but he also chastises Trump. (Masslive) A Washington Post editorial says Trump has sunk to a new low.
The Washington Post is the latest media outlet to be banned by Donald Trump because of coverage he doesn’t like. (New York Times) One commenter on Dan Kennedy’s Media Nation blog points out Trump is picking a fight with former Globe editor Marty Baron, “the guy who busted Cardinal Law.” Or as the headline reads on Charlie Pierce column for Esquire: “Donald Trump Picked the Wrong News Editor to F*ck With.”
The mayor and deputy mayor of Hackensack, New Jersey, jump from the Republican Party to become independents in the wake of comments by Trump. (The Record)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Microsoft scoops up LinkedIn for a cool $26 billion. (Boston Globe)
The head of the state convention center authority says another 1,800 hotel rooms are needed within half a mile of the Boston center to keep it viable and thriving. (Boston Herald)
DraftKings and FanDuel are reportedly in merger talks that would create a fantasy sports behemoth if a deal goes through. (Boston Globe)
Dave Mech of Springfield opens Potco, which he hopes will become a big box store (get it, just like Costco) for medical marijuana. (Masslive)
Barnstable officials will ramp up regular inspections of public restrooms in Hyannis this summer so tourists won’t have to deal with IV drug users shooting up and leaving needles strewn about or homeless people using the facilities to sleep and bathe. (Cape Cod Times)
Charitable giving hit more than $373 billion in 2015, a 4 percent increase over the previous year. (Chronicle of Philanthropy)
EDUCATION
Politico spotlights the tension over charter schools within the state Democratic Party, which spilled into dueling comments at the party’s recent state convention from the anti-charter president of the state AFL-CIO, Steve Tolman, and the head of the pro-charter Democrats for Education Reform, Liam Kerr.
A bill to make Quincy College a four-year school has received approval by the House Ways and Means Committee and now goes for a vote before the Legislature. (Patriot Ledger)
The Fall River School Committee has pared the field to three finalists for the school superintendent’s position: Former education secretary and one-time Brockton superintendent Matthew Malone; Framingham Superintendent Stacy Scott; and Charles Grandson, a former deputy superintendent in Poughkeepsie, New York.
The Globe Magazine looks at the decision to revamp the state MCAS test.
State officials plan to work with roughly 25 schools on what data indicate are excessive and discriminatory disciplinary policies. (Telegram & Gazette)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital voted to authorize a one-day strike over safely, compensation, and staffing issues. (Boston Herald)
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA warehouse system is described as a massive management failure, but the workers may be the ones to pay if the operation is privatized. (CommonWealth) The T hired a private company to manage its parking lots, but with money missing the agency is looking for a replacement. (CommonWealth) The T outsources security at its revenue facility. (State House News)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
A Salem News editorial says the state’s utilities should just remove unneeded double telephone poles — without financial penalties called for in legislation.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A court review of the handling of Auburn officer’s killer finds proper policies were followed. (Telegram & Gazette)
A former Pepperell police sergeant receives probation after admitting he choked a female detainee and then tried to cover up his actions. (Lowell Sun)
MEDIA
A report from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy indicates news outlets covered Donald Trump more and covered him more favorably than his rivals in the crucial period leading up to the primaries.
Having an informed public debate on charter schools, the laws/rules they operate under and their actual academic performance also needs to include the funding issues for public schools. The only light the Politico article shed on the charter school debate was the group formed to support the chapter cap ballot question, Public Charter Schools for Mass, recorded two donations of $40,000 last year. Both from supporters of Governor Baker. Since Baker is a big booster of charter schools there should be no surprise in that but it would have been helpful if Politico spent a little time looking into the charter school on whose board Governor Baker served: Phoenix Charter Academy in Chelsea. That charter school has a “persistently low graduation rate” and is a Level 3 performer. The Phoenix Charter Academy in Chelsea has no wait list. That charter school has empty seats. To fill those empty seats Phoenix Charter Academy offers $100 “recruitment incentives” to attract students and in return for that $100 Phoenix gets a check from Massachusetts taxpayers for $14,731.88. Here’s how a two year old CommonWealth article characterized Phoenix Charter Academy in Chelsea: the four-year graduation rate is just 18.3% while the five-year graduation rate is 20.6%. But Phoenix says a six year graduation is a more reasonable benchmark…that’s 35% but only “after dropping those who enrolled but attended for less than a full 45-day quarter.” If the public knew the real deal with charter schools then the question would be: Why on earth do charter schools exist?
The Politico article referenced the poll commissioned by the pro-charter Massachusetts Charter Public Schools Association, conducted by Mass INC in April, that focused on Boston parents. One question that received little if any publicity was: Do you think that public schools should continue to receive funding for students who have left to enroll in charter schools? 60% of respondents said yes while 36% said no. That charter school reimbursement formula hasn’t been fully funded since FY2012.
What’s interesting about the charter schools poll conducted by Mass INC is there was no effort to explain what’s going on with charter schools. For instance, the high out-of-school suspensions, loss of students as grades progress, failure of charter schools to fill 4,000 empty seats from the wait list, at least 40% of new students exempt from the lottery because they’re siblings of current students, and a substantial number of grades inaccessible to new students under any circumstances. Without a doubt, the more specifics a person knows about charter schools then the more likely that person will oppose charter schools.
Why didn’t CommonWealth feature The Boston Globe article, Brazilian immigrant overcame struggles to rise to top in charter school,” in The Daily Download? It was a heartwarming story of the City on a Hill Charter Public School’s valedictorian. It should have been right up CommonWealth’s pro-charter school alley. City on a Hill is such a new charter school there’s “insufficient data” for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to give it an accountability level. So what could possibly be the problem with highlighting City on a Hill Charter Public School? In 2014 it opened with one grade only…like most, if not all, charter schools in this state: 106 students in grade 9. By grade 10 there were only 55 students and by grade 11 there were only 47 students showing a total loss of 59 students over just 3 years. In other words, 56% of students vanished from that grade over the course of students progressing from grade 9 to grade 11. That’s a lot of students to lose, don’t you think? But still, The Boston Globe, just like CommonWealth, finds the very narrow focus to put charter schools in a positive light. In The Globe’s case by showcasing the struggles of a student attending a charter school rather than investigating what’s going on with the City on a Hill Charter Public School.
Today’s Boston Herald has an article featuring City on a Hill Charter Public School: “Five schools cited for discipline bias.” City on a Hill’s out-of-school suspension rate is 38.6% or almost as high as Roxbury Preparatory Charter School’s 40% rate. Lucky for those charter schools the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association had a quick…but unbelievable response…to those astronomical suspension rates. The Association’s executive director said administrators are focused on emphasizing social emotional learning to promote good behavior and added: “These strategies have already lead to a dramatic reduction in overall suspension rates.” As far as City on a Hill Charter Public School is concerned I suppose there’s some truth in that statement. City on a Hill’s out-of-school suspension rate in 2014 was 48.8% and the next year it dropped all the way to 38.6%. At some point, CommonWealth will have to defend its indefensible support for charter schools. Since there are no facts anywhere to support charter schools…that’s going to be quite a trick for CommonWealth to pull off.