EVEN BEFORE TWITTER changed hands to its current owner, who insists on calling it by another name, the social networking site was in a state of decline. What used to be a real-time news ticker is overrun with anger and misinformation.
But some feeds are still worth following, and that’s the case with @GlobeFPhillips, operated by the Boston’s Globe’s former State House bureau chief, Frank Phillips.
Phillips has had a Twitter account since 2011, but started using it more frequently after retiring from the Globe in 2018.
He started his career at the Lowell Sun, and recalls the days of typewriters, carbon paper, and screaming newsrooms. He joined the Globe in 1987, coming from the Herald, then owned by Rupert Murdoch. The now-defunct Boston Phoenix approvingly referred to him as a “State House scourge” for his dogged reporting and scoops.
In retirement, Phillips is still getting scoops as old sources and friends pick up the phone – “Hey, here’s a good tweet for you” – and he heads to his desktop computer at home.
Republican party politics is one of his fortes. “They’re a disaster, always, and they’re a lot of fun,” Phillips said.
Phillips drew clicks to his Twitter feed in November 2021 when he published a post saying Gov. Charlie Baker was going to decide whether to run for a third term. Citing a GOP official, Phillips added that rumors indicated he would not, and if so, then-Attorney General Maura Healey would jump in, per Democrats.
On his feed, Phillips also occasionally promotes the Worcester Red Sox. (His stepson, Joe Bradlee, is a vice president with the Triple A baseball organization’s front office.)
Asked what he likes about using the site, Phillips pointed to the built-in character limit that forces users to keep posts short. “You write the lead and you don’t have to write the rest of the story,” Phillips quipped.
Business-backed super PAC starts up in Worcester
Worcester business leaders are pouring money into a super PAC ahead of Worcester’s municipal election, which was recently referred to by GBH as “unusually competitive.”
The super PAC, “Progress Worcester,” is backing Joe Petty, the incumbent mayor, as well as a slate of at-large and district candidates. Worcester’s economy and population are trending upward, the super PAC’s supporters say, and they want stability and elected leaders focused on creating jobs and building more housing. (More housing means more foot traffic, which is something that the super PAC’s chairman, a restaurant owner, wants to see.)
Petty is running for mayor against four others: Donna Colorio, the City Council’s vice chair; former educator William Coleman; Guillermo Creamer Jr., a former local human rights commission chair; and City Councilor Khrystian King.
The outside group, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money but cannot coordinate with the candidates it supports, raised $46,975, a spokesman said ahead of a campaign finance filing. The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, led by former lieutenant governor Tim Murray, donated $10,000. Other donors include the Worcester Business Development Corporation, and affordable housing operator Winn Companies. The group, first formed in July, is chaired by restaurant owner Emmanuel Larbi.
The super PAC’s spokesman, Greg Maynard, said the group’s advertising, on social media and on streaming, is expected to stay positive as the November 7 election approaches.
Meet the new pod, same as the old pod
One of the mysteries around the surprise release-then-removal of the MBTA’s “Spilling the T” podcast has something of an answer. Did the inaugural episode with General Manager Phil Eng get yanked to change something about its content? If so, they didn’t end up changing it after all.
The 28-minute episode, released this week, is identical to the version uploaded in early October and cached by StreetsblogMass. Eng says he understands rider frustration and the MBTA is hard at work on bringing the system up to a state of good repair, and communicating with riders is key to maintaining trust with “a lot of issues across the system due to years and years of disinvestment.”
“We have to do better at the messaging, and that’s both for planned work and messaging for unplanned occurrences,” he said on the podcast. “Because in both cases, if people don’t have information, that’s where the frustration comes in. That’s where the lack of trust, lack of confidence in us [comes in]. And the only way to rebuild that is to just continue to work and focus on improved communication transparency in what we do. And that’s a key priority of ours right now.”
But now there’s another ironic twist to Eng’s optimistic pledges of transparency, with news that the brand new Green Line extension’s state of disrepair is serious enough that 50 percent of the rail ties on the 1-mile Somerville branch and 80 percent of the ties on the 3.4-mile Medford-Tufts branch now need to be fixed. Eng and Gov. Maura Healey says these issues were known by officials under the Baker administration, but they neither addressed the problems nor communicated them to the Healey administration.
With that in the background, dozens of replies to the podcast announcement on the social media platform X – formerly Twitter – mostly snarked about T officials spending time on a podcast while the system flounders. The few early reviews on the podcast page sum up classic T rider split-brain. “This is good info about new leadership,” one reviewer wrote in the podcast app. “The only thing worse than the MBTA is listening to this garbage while riding the MBTA,” another reviewer griped.
GINTAUTAS DUMCIUS AND JENNIFER SMITH
FROM COMMONWEALTH
Too close for comfort: MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said it appears the rails on the Green Line extension are set too close together because the steel-plated rail ties were manufactured incorrectly. Eng said he intends to hold the contractor responsible for repairing the rail ties on the year-old $2.3 billion project.
– Eng said the problem cropped up in April 2021 and again in November 2022, before the line was fully operational. Both times T officials moved the rails farther apart but failed to tackle the larger problem. Eng appears to have taken the same approach in September and October to eliminate slow zones caused by the narrow rails, but now says the track on nearly the entire line needs to be addressed.
– Gov. Maura Healey lashed out at the Baker administration. “I share the public’s frustration and disappointment at the revelation that senior MBTA officials under the previous administration knew about issues with the Green Line extension tracks years ago and did not disclose them to our administration or address them on their watch,” Healey said in a statement. Read more.
Parking holdup with Encore: State environmental officials question the need for 1,687 new parking spaces at Encore Boston Harbor, asking the casino operator for more information if it wants to win approval for its expansion project across the street from the original facility. Read more.
OPINION
Repurposing cop watcher videos: Jim Jordan, the retired director of strategic planning at the Boston Police Department, says police departments should repurpose “cop watcher” videos taken by citizens who pull out smartphones to record them for use in training sessions. Read more.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
Gov. Maura Healey pitches a plan to bring in more federal funding using interest from the state’s rainy day fund to leverage matching funds. (Gloucester Times)
Globe columnist Shirley Leung says, with Healey’s proposed transfer tax on real estate sales over $1 million, “the Taxachusetts label the state worked so hard to shed is back.” (Boston Globe)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Two area Jewish organizations slammed Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson for what they called “antisemitic” remarks on the Israel-Gaza war when she said Israeli civilian victims of the Hamas terrorist attack were getting more attention than others might have because of their “money and influence.” (Boston Herald)
North Andover teachers union breaks up a School Committee meeting with a protest over the lack of a contract. (Eagle-Tribune)
In an interview with The 19th, Althea Garrison, a former Boston city councilor and state representative, spoke for the first time about her place in history as the first transgender person to be elected to a state legislature. Garrison, who has consistently run for State House and City Council seats for decades, with limited success, says her campaign for a council seat in next month’s election will be her last.
Truro’s special town meeting will be delayed after challenges to 66 voter registrations. (Cape Cod Times)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Boston area hospitals have become the latest flashpoint in the emotional response to war in the Middle East, with some medical personnel complaining that their institutions failed to adequately recognize the attacks on Israeli civilians as the work of murderous terrorists, while others say hospital leaders have not voiced enough anguish over civilian deaths in Gaza from Israel’s response. (Boston Globe)
A new poll says 70 percent of Massachusetts voters support establishing “safe injection sites” where IV drug users can be monitored for possible overdoses. (Boston Herald)
ELECTIONS
Sidney Powell, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, pleads guilty in the Georgia election interference case and agrees to testify for the prosecution. (NPR)
James Renner, a Michigan Republican accused of participating in a fake elector plot, had all criminal charges dropped after he and the state attorney general’s office reached a cooperation deal. (ABC News)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Holyoke is urging small business owners to apply for a special permit to operate home-based businesses like small nail salons. (MassLive)
EDUCATION
More than 800 drivers were captured on video cameras in Peabody illegally passing stopped school buses over the course of five weeks this fall. (Daily Item)
A Berkshire Eagle editorial supports the merger of the Southern Berkshire and the Berkshire Hills regional school districts. “These two districts’ current conditions and the efficiencies they stand to gain check all the ‘pro’ boxes when considering the wisdom of a consolidation plan,” the editorial said.
Worcester School Committee members voted 5-2 to delay accepting a $350,000 donation from the Gene Haas Foundation that would involve naming rights of a program at Worcester Technical High School. (Worcester Telegram)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The population of young lobsters has declined 40 percent in key fishing grounds off of New England, prompting additional restrictions on harvesting. (Associated Press)