Disasters have a way of defining politics and elections.

Many believe Hurricane Sandy, and then-Gov. Chris Christie’s embrace of President Barack Obama, helped push the president over the top for reelection because of his administration’s response. Likewise, many pundits thought President George W. Bush’s flyover and ham-handed handling of the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina hurt him and his standing and caused firings and an overhaul in FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.

Last week’s gas explosions in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover are also making their way into the political narrative, especially by candidates who are having a hard time gaining traction against better known incumbent opponents.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez, who’s looking for any footing he can get in his uphill battle against Gov. Charlie Baker, has used the deadly explosions to put the blame on the Department of Public Utilities controlled by Baker appointees, for not exerting sufficient oversight of Columbia Gas. Gonzalez said the three commissioners have ties to the fossil fuel industry and claimed they are beholden more to the utilities than to residents.

“The people of this state deserve to know that even if we can’t prevent every single accident from happening, that their state government that is here to work for them, not for the utilities, but here to work for them is doing everything in their power to prevent disasters like what happened in the Merrimack Valley from happening,” Gonzalez said in a release.

Another statewide candidate, state Rep. Geoff Diehl who is looking to unseat US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, latched onto the tragedy to call for an end to the lockout by National Grid, which was not involved in the explosions but, hey, it’s election season.

“This lockout threatens the safety of homes and businesses that depend on National Grid,” said Diehl in a stance that will play well with unions. “At a time when National Grid is posting record profits, their actions are unconscionable.  I am especially appalled that they did not end the lockout on Friday after the horrific events in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.”

In fact, National Grid will feel pressure from a lot of sides to end the lockout because of the explosions, something other politicians have been unable to do so far.

The fires have also given incumbents the platform to exhibit their leadership skills. Baker, who immediately declared a state of emergency and placed Eversource in charge of the recovery effort, and Warren have both been to the area and Warren has been giving more updates than Columbia Gas, including the news that pressure in the pipelines was 12 times greater than normal. Attorney General Maura Healey is holding her office out as a resource for those affected by the fires and displacements and said she will oppose any rate hikes passed on to customers by Columbia to pay for the repairs.

All, however, say they’ll wait until after the investigation by the federal National Transportation Safety Board is complete before determining the next course of action. Columbia’s donation of $10 million to the relief effort assuaged some of that concern, though much to the chagrin of the Boston Herald’s Joe Battenfeld, who says Beacon Hill pols are acting like sheep.

JACK SULLIVAN

BEACON HILL

Gun rights groups have filed suit against Attorney General Maura Healey over her refusal to release schematics for printing 3-D guns. (Boston Herald)

Howie Carr is not letting go of the incident earlier this summer when Gov. Charlie Baker’s son was accused of groping a female passenger on a plane, comparing the inertia in the investigation and criminal case to that of a Haverhill truck driver who was arrested Sunday and arraigned Monday for sexually assaulting an elevator operator at Fenway Park. (Boston Herald)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

A class action lawsuit alleges Columbia Gas knew its system needed $27 million in repairs prior to the explosions and fires in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover. (Eagle-Tribune)

Concerns about rats prompt accusations of racism in Chelmsford. (Lowell Sun)

A man climbed the Fairway Beef building in Worcester and tried unsuccessfully to remove the testicles and tail of Sir Loin, a 600-pound metal bull. (Telegram & Gazette)

Scituate selectmen have given the DPW the go-ahead to start “ice pigging,” the process of using ice slurry to flush the town’s aging water pipes to try to remedy the brown water that has vexed officials and residents for years. (Patriot Ledger)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

The woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers says she wants the FBI to investigate her charges before she testifies before a Senate committee. (New York Times) Anita Hill says the Senate is no better equipped today to assess sexual misconduct claims against a Supreme Court nominee than it was 27 years ago when she made similar charges. (Boston Globe) Jill Abramson fears for Christine Blasey Ford. (Boston Globe) Ford’s attorney says the professor has received a number of death threats and has had to relocate her family because right -wing websites posted her personal information including her address on the internet. (Washington Post)

US Rep. Richard Neal says he will fight efforts in Congress to bar transit agencies from buying rail cars from Chinese manufacturers. The T is buying Red and Orange Line cars from a Chinese company that is assembling them in Springfield. (MassLive)

ELECTIONS

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez finally says how he would pay for all the proposals he’s been making. His plan? Assess a 1.6 percent on the endowments of any private, nonprofit college or university with a fund of more than $1 billion. The tax would likely hit schools like Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University, Williams, Amherst, Tufts, Smith, and Wellesley. (Boston Globe) Interestingly, Gonzalez appears to have provided details of his financing plan to the Globe exclusively.

Ranked-choice voting is getting more ink, this time in the New York Times, which sees growing prospects in Massachusetts.

EDUCATION

Lynn school officials now say an improperly set alarm system allowed juveniles to break into English High School in July and go undetected for two days. (Daily Item)

The Mashpee Wampanoag has received a $1.4 million federal grant for the tribe’s initiative to revive its lost language by teaching it to native children in public schools and the tribe’s immersion program. (Cape Cod Times)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

A study by economists at Harvard, Princeton, and New York University finds that most people on Facebook are more likely to be connected to those nearby based on geography rather than by longer distance based on ideology. (New York Times)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Opioid deaths and overdoses are down dramatically in Quincy and Weymouth largely,officials say, from aggressive outreach and distribution of Narcan, the overdose-reversing drug.  (Patriot Ledger)

Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter, celebrating city efforts to get 1,000 people into drug treatment, announced his administration has filed suit against major pharmaceutical companies for their part in the opioid epidemic. (The Enterprise)

No mosquitoes have tested positive for EEE in the state this year, due mainly to the relatively day winter, but the hot, humid, and rainy summer has made for a record number of the insects infected with West Nile virus. (Cape Cod Times)

Blacks account for nearly one-third of those on organ donor waiting lists for kidney transplants and a quarter of the lists for heart transplants while that racial group makes up less than 15 percent of donors, mostly because of decades of mistrust of the medical field borne by discrimination in care. (U.S. News & World Report)

TRANSPORTATION

The MetroWest Regional Transit Authority said it will not raise bus fares for now as the agency seeks ways to increase revenue in the wake of a study that showed hiking fares would result in a drop in ridership. (MetroWest Daily News)

CASINOS

As the Massachusetts Gaming Commission decides whether Wynn Resorts is suitable to retain its casino license (due to Steve Wynn’s alleged sexual misconduct), the company is sued by old rival Suffolk Downs, dredging up all the controversy surrounding the original licensing decision. (CommonWealth)

MEDIA

In Philadelphia, news organizations have been collaborating on how residents struggle to break out of poverty. (Nieman Journalism Lab)

Sesame Street’s producers say Bert and Ernie are not gay, not that there’s anything wrong with that. (New York Times)