Ever since Tom Brady skipped the New England Patriots’ White House visit late last month, there has been endless speculation on talk radio and in print about why the team captain was a no-show. Was he making some sort of political statement? (He had no problem visiting the Bush White House) Did he have Oval Office fatigue (he’d made the trek three previous times, after all)? Or did he really have a family commitment?

We may learn the answer later this week when Brady speaks at Salem State University as part of its lecture series. Brady will be joined by sportscaster Jim Gray, who will interview the quarterback for 45 minutes followed by 15 minutes of audience questions.

Brady shows no sign of wanting to stop playing football, but at 37 he’s nearing an age when he may have to think about his next play call. Many seem to think politics is in his future. Brady switched his party affiliation from Republican to unenrolled in 2004 and has remained largely out of the political limelight ever since. Still, he told 60 Minutes in December 2007 that he would not be averse to running for office some day. “It would be something I think I could do a decent job at,” he said.

Conservative Lowell Sun columnist Peter Lucas is ready to vote for Brady if he ever decides to run for office. “The famous New England Patriots quarterback won my support for whatever he runs for — if he runs — the day he declined to play the fool by posing as a White House prop for President Barack Obama,” Lucas writes.

Lucas is convinced that Brady is a fellow conservative. “So it is obvious to anyone with half a brain that Brady, the wealthy, celebrity football star with the glamorous supermodel wife, tilts toward the GOP and conservatives. And who can blame him? Brady, the rugged individualist, has as much in common with Obama, the spread-the-wealth collectivist, as fire and water. Brady is one of those 1 percenters that Obama and Warren constantly attack and blame for the economic woes of the country.”

The truth is no one really knows Brady’s politics or his plans. Mark Leibovich, in his January New York Times magazine piece on the quarterback, said what always intrigued him about Brady was how “shallowly drawn” he is. “Hillary Clinton’s friends sometimes call her ‘the most famous person in the world nobody knows,’ and I have long thought the same could be said of Brady,” Liebovich writes. “Public figures always claim to be ‘misunderstood’ to some degree, but it would be hard to name an athlete of comparable fame and accomplishment for whom the public has less of a feel.”

–BRUCE MOHL

 

BEACON HILL

Gov. Charlie Baker signed legislation paving the way for up to 5,000 state workers to take early retirement. (Boston Globe)

Baker is not sold on police body-worn cameras quite yet. (MetroWest Daily News) But more police departments across the country are. (Christian Science Monitor)

House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stan Rosenberg are at odds — again. (State House News Service)

George Donnelly says a few lonely voices in the wilderness who were sounding the alarm over the planned $1 billion expansion of the state convention center found a friendly ear in Charlie Baker. With that, a project that the critics say was an ill-considered boondoggle may have become history. (Masster List)

Massachusetts spent $154 million on snow operations last winter. (WBUR)

MARATHON BOMBING TRIAL

As a parade of relatives continued to take the stand, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev showed signs of emotion for the first time during the weeks-long courtroom drama playing out in Boston — displays that were absent during weeks of heart-wrenching testimony about the murder and mayhem he committed two years ago. (Boston Globe)

A former teacher of Tsarnaev’s explains why she agreed to testify during the penalty phase as part of the defense effort to spare him the death sentence. (Boston Globe)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

If you think 81-year-old former governor and one-time Democratic nominee for president Michael Dukakis no longer stops to pick up litter when he’s out and about, think again.  (Joho the Blog, via Universal Hub)

Hull Town Meeting voters approved a measure to remove the police chief from the Civil Service ranks and will consider a similar proposal for the fire chief. (Patriot Ledger)

Swampscott Town Meeting votes for a $1.65 million turf field. (Item)

Free-market-oriented Reason magazine parachutes into Brookline, where voters are considering today a tax override for school funding.

CASINOS

The developers of a planned casino in Somerset have asked for their third extension to submit an application after failing to meet Monday’s deadline. (Herald News)

The developers of a proposed $650 million waterfront casino in New Bedford say they have secured funding for the project from an investment firm with holdings in several other casino properties in Louisiana and Maryland. (Standard-Times)

Twin River in Rhode Island is betting no resort casino will ever be built in Southeastern Massachusetts and is proposing a low-budget “convenience casino” to be built in Tiverton just 400 feet from the state line. (Herald News)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a weekend attack at an event near Dallas where people were invited to exhibit cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad. (Time) One of the two gunmen who was killed after opening fire outside the anti-Islam convention had been previously identified by the FBI as a suspected jihadi terrorist. (New York Times)

Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, a Southie native who grew up in Quincy, has been tapped by President Obama to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Patriot Ledger)

ELECTIONS

Joe Battenfeld says John Kerry could, by default, be the Democrats’ best hope if Hillary Clinton‘s campaign continues on what he calls “its death spiral over her family foundation’s shady ties to foreign nations.” (Boston Herald)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

The Muscular Dystrophy Association has announced it is ending the iconic Labor Day telethon that had been anchored by comedian Jerry Lewis for more than four decades until he abruptly left in 2011. (Associated Press)

Hedge fund investors had a sluggish year of returns last year but those who manage the money had no such bad fortune as an annual ranking of earnings shows the top 25 hedge fund managers pulled in a collective $11.6 billion in earnings. (New York Times)

EDUCATION

Joan Vennochi wonders whether newly-appointed UMass president Marty Meehan’s vow to be a fundraising machine for the school will mean continued reliance on “authoritarian” regimes like Kuwait, which jails journalists and academics and allows women to be “sold like slaves” into domestic work. As chancellor of UMass Lowell, Meehan oversaw a deal to build a campus of the school in the oil-rich, but democracy-poor, Middle Eastern country. (Boston Globe)

Police are now involved in an investigation of Jonathan Pizzi, the former Needham High School principal who resigned abruptly over the weekend. Officials have been tight-lipped on details, saying only that the workplace actions at the center of the case did not involve students. (Boston Globe)

Town meeting in Andover approves a higher school budget that will save teaching jobs and add about $30 to the typical property bill. (Eagle-Tribune)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Four out the five Massachusetts health care organizations taking part of a federal pilot program have reported big savings in Medicare spending from using an “accountable care organization” structure that uses a set budget for each patient, which providers try to deploy in proactive ways that will keep patients healthier and prevent hospitalizations and other costlier care. (Boston Globe)

Complaints are piling up at a series of 10 Massachusetts nursing homes that a company has acquired since 2012. (Boston Globe)

A funeral director and priest in South Boston both say they’re weary of handling services for those dying of heroin overdoses. (Boston Herald)

TRANSPORTATION

Staties are upping their game on speeding and seat belt violations. (MassLive)

A state study finds the New Bedford Regional Airport is a key contributor to the region’s economy, increasing the jobs and economic activity it generates by nearly 25 percent over the last four years. (Standard-Times)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The Baker administration sides with electric utilities and comes out against the expansion of a key solar power subsidy until a most cost-effective approach can be developed. (CommonWealth)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

A former longtime Brockton teacher who was a soccer coach and was named “Man of the Year” in 2011 by a local Cape Verdean association, has been indicted on eight counts of child rape. (The Enterprise)

MEDIA

The Globe rolls out a revamped editorial page, which includes a single editorial board piece, short excerpts from columnists or editorials in other publications and, in a nod to the digital age, a column of letters from readers that are now run under the banner “Inbox.”

Confessions of a Herald headline writer. (Media Nation)