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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Why Beacon Hill leaders say the public defender strike has been hard to resolve
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
We have another sweltering day on our hands. Today is expected to be the hottest of the week, with temperatures in the high 90s and no sea breeze to offer relief. (You can look forward to rain Thursday and Friday to cool things down.)
But first, the news:
No deal in sight: In a summer of local trash pickup to Fenway Park strikes, Beacon Hill leaders say the two-month dispute with bar advocates has been especially hard to crack. The private practice attorneys, who take on most of the state's public defense cases, have stopped taking new cases since May 27 in protest of low pay rates. And pressure for a deal has mounted this month, as a backlog of unrepresented defendants has forced judges to dismiss cases because of due process rules. But as House Speaker Ron Mariano told reporters yesterday, it's "not a simple negotiation with the union, where they come in and ask for X, you offer Y."
- The first reason it's not so simple: There's no single union to bargain with, according to Mariano. " They're all individual contractors, so it's hard to foresee where a middle ground might be — one that works for everybody," Mariano said, adding that while some lawyers may be willing to compromise, others may not. "You have a whole range of acceptances in this area," said the Quincy Democrat.
- The second reason: timing. The work stoppage began just after the House and Senate had passed their respective budget proposals. "There were no discussions prior to that," Senate President Karen Spilka said, adding "nobody raised anything about the need for more funding" during the budget process (though the Committee for Public Counsel Services did exactly that during a budget hearing in March). With the requested raises estimated to cost the state as much as $100 million, Mariano said lawmakers now "have to go in and look for the money and we have to start cutting things."
- Go deeper: With Beacon Hill's traditional August recess looming, Spilka said she expects the debate "to be resolved soon." However, bar advocates are taking issue with that forecast. State House New Service has more details on the dispute here.
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Pedal through: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is pushing back on recent low poll numbers for bike lanes. Last week, a poll by Suffolk University/The Boston Globe found 50% of respondents said bike lanes made it "slower and less convenient" to get around, while just 18% said they made it "easier and safer." Wu argues those numbers show a frustration with traffic, which bike lanes can help address. "That is the goal of adding infrastructure that will open up ways where some people can then get outta their cars," Wu told WBUR's Sharon Brody. "Even if just 5% of drivers switch over to something else that they would rather be doing — biking, walking, taking the T — that can completely resolve traffic in a lot of situations."
- Listen: In the interview with Brody, Wu also addressed the latest White Stadium renovation cost estimates and the conditions near Mass. and Cass.
A truce with Trump? Harvard is signaling it could be willing to spend $500 million to settle its multi-billion-dollar fight with the Trump administration. That's according to a report yesterday by The New York Times, citing four unnamed sources said to be familiar with the negotiations. The amount would be more than double what Columbia University agreed to pay last week to settle with the administration.
- The sticking points? According to the Times, Harvard remains reluctant to directly pay the federal government and is skeptical of allowing an outside monitor to oversee the settlement, like Columbia did.
Next stop for the rest stops: A timeline is taking shape for Massachusetts' plans to renovate 18 highway service plazas. MassDOT announced yesterday construction will start early next year, shortly after newly (and controversially) selected contractor Applegreen takes over the lease for the rest stops. The aim is to wrap up the $750 million project — which includes full rebuilds of nine rest stops — by the end of 2028.
- Global Partners, the local company whose bid for the project was passed over, is continuing to protest MassDOT's decision with a State House rally this morning, after filing an ethics complaint last week. (For their part, Applegreen says Global Partners is just being a "disgruntled loser." In a statement, the Irish company's founder, Bob Etchingham, said their proposal was "stronger, more creative, more sustainable and more aligned with the Commonwealth’s vision for the future.")
P.S.— While next month's Perseid meteor shower often gets the most attention, your best bet for seeing shooting stars this summer might be tonight, thanks to the peak of two less-famous meteor showers. If you're game to stay up late, here's how and when to look for the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids this week.
