Week In Review: MBTA Woes Continue, Donald Trump, SCOTUS Affirmative Action

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• "The operator of the Red Line train that took off from Braintree Station without him Thursday and barreled more than five miles down the line unattended apparently 'tied a cord around the throttle' and also failed to set the brake before climbing out of the cab, according to a source familiar with the investigation’s preliminary findings."

• "Though state officials this week warned they could still abandon the project and its ballooning costs, they cautioned that the changes do not necessarily point to the end of the extension. In fact, the contract decisions could pave the way for the agency to put the remaining design and construction work — which constitute the bulk of the project — out to bid again."

• "If Trump were serious about keeping this nation safe, he would talk about why we have more mass shootings than any nation in the world, and why the perpetrators are often white men. These are terrible, unassailable facts. Instead, Trump’s flatulent campaign is propelled with so much anti-Muslim invective, he makes former segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace look like Bernie Sanders."

• Jerry Flynn, the executive director of the police union, explained why it endorsed Trump. Among the reasons, he was the only candidate who came. 'And we invited every candidate to come to our forum, every candidate. Donald Trump was the only one who showed up,' Flynn said. 'What he said tonight — he will sign an executive order on his first day in office for the death penalty for the killing of a police officer or correction officer in the line of duty — that speaks volumes and that’s what our members wanted to hear.' Asked if the union leadership was at all concerned by Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims form the U.S., Flynn said he didn’t want to get into that.

• "The skeleton at the helm of the good ship Fisher is the Project on Fair Representation, a very determined conservative advocacy group; but the wind in its sails is the unrelenting hatred at least three, and probably four, justices feel for any program anywhere that uses race to advantage minorities in any way."