House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who often shies away from dealing with the press, opened up to the Boston Globe over the weekend about weight-loss surgery that has helped him shed 40 pounds in a month.
An emotional DeLeo revealed that he felt like a complete failure time and time again as he lost weight and then gained it right back. He spent three years trying to lose weight working with specialists at Massachusetts General Hospital with little success. Then, on August 3, with encouragement from his worried children, he underwent gastric sleeve surgery to remove four-fifths of his stomach.
The Speaker went on a liquid diet while his stomach healed and dropped from 255 pounds to 215 pounds. His doctors believe the 5 foot 9 state representative from Winthrop will shed more weight as his metabolism begins to change and his craving for food lessens.
DeLeo told health reporter Kay Lazar that he has more energy now and has no plans on stepping down, which suggests he had been giving it some thought since no one on Beacon Hill has broached the subject. “I feel even more at the top of my game,” he said.
DeLeo became Speaker in 2009 and was scheduled to step down under a term limits rule at the end of 2016. The term limits provision was a rule DeLeo pushed through to restore trust in state government after his predecessor, Sal DiMasi, stepped down to face an indictment that landed him in prison. Earlier this year, DeLeo initiated a change in House rules that did away with term limits. DeLeo said his thinking on term limits had evolved during his time in office.
—BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
The “buck now stops with Gov. Charlie Baker” when it comes to the state’s troubled Department of Children and Families, says a Herald editorial.
Baker says he thinks the bump in state health care costs last year was largely due to the costly botching of the Health Connector rollout and doesn’t necessarily signal a longer-term trend. (Boston Herald)
A father’s 12-year battle for visitation rights with his son is what spurred a push for a bill creating shared parenting rights. (Eagle-Tribune)
@MassBudgetBot identifies earmarks in the state budget. (New England Center for Investigative Reporting)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who earlier admitted being given about $1,000 worth of surplus countertop and other material from developer Joe Fallon to redo a small kitchen off his office, now says he was also given about $2,000 worth of furniture from Fallon. (Boston Globe)
Springfield fields complaints about ice cream truck music. (MassLive)
CASINOS
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission may change its approach to issuing a casino license in southeastern Massachusetts. (CommonWealth)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
President Obama swooped into Boston for a few hours yesterday to give a boost to workers and unions at the annual Labor Day breakfast at the Park Plaza Hotel. Obama announced that he has signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to provide at least seven paid sick days per year. (Boston Globe) Why the president did it. (Christian Science Monitor) The Herald says the president was upstaged by Elizabeth Warren, whose speech before Obama arrived — including a jab at the Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact he is pushing — drew the labor crowd to its feet in a way the president’s remarks did not. Two union officials say the president and labor share a vision to restore the American Dream. (CommonWealth)
Lawyers for a Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing a judge’s orders to issue marriage licenses in spite of her opposition to same sex marriage have filed an appeal to have her released. (New York Times)
Queen Elizabeth II is on the verge of becoming England’s longest-reigning monarch. (Associated Press)
Paid family leave is a policy gaining momentum in states across the country. (Governing)
Why young Iranians support the nuclear deal with the US. (USA Today)
ELECTIONS
Hillary Clinton, speaking at a Labor Day event in Illinois, vowed to throw employers in jail who engage in wage theft and other violations of workers’ rights. (National Review) Clinton says she doesn’t need to apologize for using a private email server because the practice was allowed. (Time)
Time analyzes the Bernie Sanders surge, which is being fueled by an outpouring of volunteers.
In the gubernatorial primary, Mississippi Democrats selected a trucker whose nearly nonexistent campaign was so quiet even his mother didn’t know her live-in son was running until she saw the ballot. (New York Times)
Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig crowdfunds $1 million and launches his campaign for president. (WBUR) CommonWealth had this Conversation interview with Lessig in 2013 on his effort to rid the American political system of the corrupting influence of big money donors.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Giant tech companies such as Apple and Microsoft are digging in their heels to resist government attempts to turn over encrypted data such as text messages and emails from customers. (New York Times)
Don Chiofaro, who after being stymied by City Hall for years finally has friendly face in the mayor’s office who is receptive to his idea of redeveloping the Boston Harbor Garage, now says he wants a big city tax break to do so. (Boston Globe)
EDUCATION
Quincy College and UMass Boston will offer a joint admissions program for students pursuing nursing degrees. (Patriot Ledger)
The convulsions in the Chinese stock market are sending jitters through Boston area campuses that have come to rely on full-fee paying Chinese students to fill out their rolls — and coffers. (Boston Globe)
Jim Stergios and Charles Chieppo of the Pioneer Institute criticize the so-called PARCC standardized test and take some shots at a Washington, DC, think tank that supports the Common Core standards it’s based on. (Lowell Sun)
Kids and administrators discuss stress in schools. (Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise)
HEALTH CARE
Controversy and protest is meeting a new Rhode Island mandate that all entering 7th graders be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cancer. (Boston Globe)
TRANSPORTATION
Uber plans to enter 100 more Chinese cities over the next 12 months. (Reuters)
Dan Kennedy is flummoxed that the new MBTA Charlie Card is not compatible with the online payment system. (Media Nation)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Kinder Morgan steps up lobbying for its proposed natural gas pipeline. (Eagle-Tribune) Pipeline opponent Kathryn R. Eiseman criticizes Kinder Morgan’s misinformation campaign. (CommonWealth)
Composting is all the rage, though not everyone is on board. (Boston Globe)
A failed attempt to save a great white shark in Wellfleet draws both praise and distress. (Cape Cod Times)
The Cape Cod Times supports solar power, proposes lifting the cap on net metering.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Fall River officials are mulling changes to the city ordinance restricting where sex offenders can live in the wake of a state Supreme Judicial Court ruling tossing out a similar ban in Lynn. (Herald News)
The body of a man who was apparently stabbed to death was found on Constitution Beach in East Boston. (Boston Herald)
Mayor Marty Walsh says a well-run Boston school system is key to reducing violence in the city. (Boston Herald)
Police departments in more than a half-dozen west of Boston suburbs get grants to help keep people with mental illnesses out of the prison system. (Associated Press)
MEDIA
The Globe’s business writer Jon Chesto wins a Cape Ann 25K road race and gets star treatment in the paper where he got his start, the Gloucester Times.