AM Briefing: Senate Budget Debate Continues; Jobs Bill Passes House

Good morning. Top local stories and what we’re watching this Thursday:

-- The Massachusetts Senate today continues debate on its state spending plan. Yesterday, notably, it voted for an amendment to close a drunk-driving enforcement loophole [State House News Service, via MassLive] and sent a provision on expansion of the bottle bill for further study. [SHNS, via the Patriot Ledger]

-- The House unanimously passed a jobs bill, which includes a $50 million innovation investment fund. [SHNS, via the Boston Herald]

-- A new poll finds that Sen. Scott Brown has a one-point lead over challenger Elizabeth Warren, but that's within the poll's margin of error.

-- A 12-hour fire on a nuclear submarine docked in a Maine shipyard injured seven.

-- The mother of a Cambridge man who was killed during a drug robbery inside a Harvard dorm is suing the university. [Boston Globe]

-- A report finds that during the 2010 census, Boston had the highest error rate of any location in the country.

-- The Westborough School Committee voted to rescind a drug policy that would have allowed school staff members to conduct a saliva test on students suspected of abusing prescription drugs. [MetroWest Daily News]

-- Many gambling experts have never heard of KMD Consulting, the developer hired by the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah to pursue a casino in Freetown or Lakeville. [Cape Cod Times]

Sports:

-- The Celtics lost Game 6 to the 76ers. The deciding Game 7 will be Saturday in Boston.