The state yesterday chose the head of Atlanta’s transit system to take the helm at the MBTA, a position that has been vacant for over a year since former general manager Richard Davey was promoted to secretary of transportation. Beverly Scott comes with a formidable background in transportation, but she will face her biggest challenge yet heading up a system plagued by maintenance backlogs and enormous debt.

She will also run a system that is both much older and much larger than Georgia’s MARTA. MARTA’s first rapid rail route began running just 33 years ago, while Boston’s system is well over 100 years old, with many of its subway cars dating back to the 1970s. MARTA is the ninth largest transit system in the country, while the MBTA is the nation’s fifth largest. The MBTA’s financial woes are well known in Massachusetts, but MARTA is also in swimming in red ink.

Scott participated in a 2010 panel discussion hosted by MassINC where she discussed the importance of making the case for public transportation. “It is very basic – we have not done a good job at all in terms of communicating the who, the what, the how.  It has been very much about: we are because we are,” she said at the time. “It’s what the transit is doing in communities and doing in terms of helping people build their lives. We have done a poor job across the board as an industry of making those kinds of fundamental connections.”

She said that new tools make it easier for transit administrators to speak directly with the public. “It is required of us to stop being an island and get out there. Thank God for all of this social media. We have a tremendous opportunity to tell our own story. We don’t have to wait for the newspapers to pick it up.”

Direct communication can have its drawbacks however, as T riders are notoriously un-shy about expressing their frustration over social media, and especially on Twitter.

Starting in mid-December, Scott will arrive just in time for a long-awaited transportation finance battle. CommonWealth noted yesterday that a new plan is scheduled to be released in January.

                                                                                                                                            –CHRISTINA PRIGNANO

BEACON HILL

More than 1,100 inmates now serving time in Massachusetts prisons and county jails were convicted based on “potentially tainted” evidence from the state’s faulty drug testing, says the former prosecutor overseeing an investigation of the lab scandal. The Herald reports on a defense attorney’s claim that the chemist was ‘eyeballing’ samples rather than getting precise measurements.

Rep. Denise Andrews, the Orange Democrat, is now under investigation by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office for making false accusations against her Republican opponent, Susannah Whipps Lee.

The Mashpee Wampanoag seek to join a lawsuit against a New York developer with interests in a building a casino in New Bedford. The developer is contesting the tribe’s standing to have land to put into federal trust.

The Boston Business Journal reports on the state’s rapidly growing unfunded pension liability, and provides a database of retirees and their pensions.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority weighs its continued existence.

ELECTION 2012

Elizabeth Warren, who has hitched her campaign to a reputation for aggressive consumer advocacy against big business, was not only involved in a complicated lawsuit representing a major  insurance company, she also did work in the 1990s for a mining company that was fighting efforts to contribute to a fund for retired coal miners’ health care, the Globe reports. The Herald has its truth squad on the case.

The Warren-Brown campaign is growing nastier by the minute. The Lowell Sun reports the volume is getting turned up in the Senate race. The Herald’s Margery Eagan says Warren should apologize for checking the box.

Mitt Romney has fewer donors and small cash contributions than John McCain did in 2008.
Meanwhile, at a California fundraiser Romney wonders why windows in airplanes don’t open during flight after a plane Ann Romney was on was forced to make an emergency landing due to an electrical problem.

The Berkshire Eagle backs a revolutionary idea: the separation of church and state.

The Salem News reviews the debate about debates in the Sixth. CommonWealth puts out a statement about its issues debate this Thursday. The Herald asks Tierney if he will continue to campaign with other top Democrats.

CHARITY

Brockton native Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw distribution of settlements for victims and families in the 9/11 attack, has been appointed to administer the fund set up for victims of this summer’s theater shooting in Colorado.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

The Chick-fil-a controversy erupts again, this time over whether the company is changing its tune or not, William McGurn writes in the Wall Street Journal.

The burst of housing construction in the Boston region is good news for long-term economic growth, writes CommonWealth’s Paul McMorrow in his weekly Globe column.

The Seattle City Council approves $200 million in bond support for a new, privately-owned sports and entertainment center, the Seattle Times reports.

Facebook’s stock fell even further yesterday after an article in Barron’s over the weekend said it was still “too pricey” and worth $15 a share, at most.

Slate reports on the lack of skilled labor in the nation’s manufacturing sector.

INTEDUCATION

Cracking down on truancy, Michigan says it will revoke the cash welfare benefits of families whose children don’t attend school full-time, the Detroit News reports.

Five possible plans for revamping Boston’s public school assignment system are unveiled.

UMass Dartmouth students are complaining that school officials are becoming overzealous in issuing parking tickets with 2,800 written so far this year, more than 10 times the number issued previously at this time.

Massachusetts students scored the highest nationally on SAT math scores and were behind only a handful of other states on reading and writing scores. (State House News Service via the Patriot Ledger.)

HEALTH CARE

Military leaders fret that young people seeking to join the armed forces are too overwieght to join up.

TRANSPORTATION

Metrowest state representatives push for what appears to be a novelty in the region: on-time commuter rail trains.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Big news on the fracking front. A New York judge dismisses a lawsuit seeking a full environmental review of hydraulic fracking, while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoes an anti-fracking bill.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

US Marshalls arrest a New Hampshire fugitive at the home of a nightclub owner in Lawrence who also happens to be a former cop, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

Lynn parishioners don’t believe the allegation of sex abuse against their priest, the Item reports.

Two attendees of a concert at Gillette Stadium are suing Foxboro’s police chief after they were detained for allegedly being drunk, the Attleboro Sun Chronicle reports.

SPORTS

Keller@Large says wait ‘til next year but can’t wait until this one ends for the Red Sox, who close out their home schedule today and tomorrow.