The Massachusetts House passed a controversial crime bill on July 18. Defense lawyers are criticizing the controversial measure, saying the bill is unusual in that it removes "any judicial discretion in sentencing."

BOSTON — A fight is being waged on Beacon Hill over a newspaper’s request to keep tabs on the comings and goings of lawmakers — and the controversy has provoked additional press criticism of Gov. Deval Patrick.

After press time, the governor's office submitted the following statement: "The governor and his entire administration are extremely accessible to the public and the press on a regular basis. From daily public events and press briefings to consistent compliance with public meeting and records laws to putting the state budget and finances online, we are by far the most transparent administration in recent memory."

Patrick appears tonight at 7 p.m. on Greater Boston.

BOSTON — It’s crunch time for the Legislature, with just 2 more weeks until the end of formal sessions this year and six major pieces of legislation unfinished on Beacon Hill. The unfinished bills include a sweeping health care law that would change the way doctors and hospitals get paid, a transportation bond bill for local road and bridge repair and a repeat offender and sentencing reform bill that would impose stiff new sentences and parole limitations on violent offenders and at the same time reduce mandatory minimums to state’s drug sentencing laws.

On Monday, the Joint Committee on Economic Development holds a public hearing on the governor’s agreement with the Mashpee Wampanaog tribe to build a casino in East Taunton. Even though the governor signed a compact with the Mashpees during the week of July 9, a casino could be a long way off. They first need the federal government to take the land into trust a process that could take many years.

The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable holds a hearing on July 19 to discuss the high phone rates for prisoner calls. Every time inmates place a phone call, it costs the person answering far more than a regular collect call. Prisoners' Legal Services has filed a petition to address the fees, rates and dropped calls.

And on July 20, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development releases the job and unemployment numbers for the month of June.
 

BOSTON — The week of July 8 started with a confident Gov. Deval Patrick signing a new Massachusetts state budget. But as the days went by, he was handed one defeat after another by a Legislature that said, "Wait a minute."

How events unfolded

First the House, and then on July 12 the Senate voted overwhelmingly to override the governor and keep Taunton State Hospital open with 45 beds for mental health patients. 

The Senate also followed the House and rejected two amended bills the Governor had sent them. One put new restrictions on welfare recipients; the other would require proof of residency to register a vehicle. 

When the House rebuked the governor on three major issues, lawmakers made it clear with comments and overwhelming vote that they didn’t agree with Patrick. One day later, the governor responded.

“I am concerned that some of the comments from some of the members in the course of the debate were very demeaning,” Patrick said. “It’s one thing to talk about how we assure that these programs are used to their intended purpose. But it’s not necessary for us I think to go the extra step to make it seem that there is fault to being poor.”

The debate over welfare

One of the great divides between Patrick and the legislature has to do with welfare. The legislature wants more restrictions than the governor does on what recipients can buy with their EBT cards. That set the stage for the fight between the governor and the legislature, led by House Speaker Robert DeLeo.

Patrick made it clear he didn't always appreciate it. “This speaker is — I hope knows how much I respect him and how much enjoy working with him. And I mean that both professionally and personally," Patrick said. "But there is no doubt in my mind that some of the comments by some of the members seemed to me, and to many, crossed a line. And that’s not necessary. We can fix programs that can be working better without trivializing the lives of the people who benefit from those programs."

The significance of the votes

Overwhelming rejections on three key issues—what does a rebuke on this scale mean for the governor? Maurice Cunningham, chairman of the political science departmentat UMass Boston, said that while it isn’t typical, it’s part of the process.

“This isn’t all that unusual. I can probably guarantee you that governors have been rebuked more than three times,” Cunningham said. “Sometimes as partisan measures, but even going back to Democratic governors before or going back to Dukakis. They faced their reversals at the hands of the Legislature.”

However, Cunningham was surprised by the heated rhetoric that accompanied the vetoes.

“Because in the end, the Legislature and the governor were pretty close on some things. The EBT cards, for example, was one of the areas where I think the governor agreed with a lot of what the legislature was going along with and vetoed some other aspects of it.” Cunningham said.

Cunningham also said that the governor and the Legislature are closer than the rhetoric suggests. But after all, conflict is what politics is all about.
 
The road ahead

What next? First, Taunton State Hospital will get $5 million to remain open. As for welfare and car registration, get ready for more battles. Lawmakers are expected to send their initial version of the bills back to Patrick. If he vetoes them, DeLeo believes the Legislature has the votes to override both, just as it overrode the Taunton State Hospital veto.
 

 
BOSTON — The Mashpee Wampanoag Native American tribe officially signed a deal with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick for the exclusive right to operate a casino in the Southeastern region of the state on July 12. It's the most concrete development so far in the race to establish casinos in Massachusetts.
 
In a press conference outside his office, Patrick applauded the agreement, saying, “We are very pleased with the deal. It’s a good thing for the tribe, and a good thing for the Commonwealth.”
 
Under the compact, Massachusetts would get 21.5 percent of the revenue from the casino, which the tribe wants to build in East Taunton. That’s a more lucrative compact than other states have managed to negotiate with Native American tribes. But it’s still below what a commercial casino would have to pay.
 
The deal does not necessarily mean the dice will be rolling in Taunton any time soon. The tribe still must get federal permission to use the property for a casino, through a process called "land in trust" that could take years. Meantime, other developers may line up to seek a casino in that region of the state, one of three regions the Legislature has designated for casino development.
 
But Patrick said the benefits of having a tribal casino outweigh the risks.
 
"There has been some worry out there that because the land in trust process can take a long time, that the other regions' advancement towards having a casino would overtake the tribal facility over time. I’m not sure that’s the case, but the risk on the other side is if we don’t allow some reasonable period of time, we could end up with two casinos in the region, which I think everyone thinks is saturation," he said.
 
The compact will now go to the Massachusetts Legislature for approval, and then to the federal government.
 

DORCHESTER — Katherine Gonzalves, the young woman who was allegedly assaulted and held against her will by Democratic state representative Carlos Henriquez, broke her silence at a press conference on July 11.

“My credibility has been questioned and my private life has become the topic of speculation,” Gonzalves said. “Why? Because the man I was dating hit me and he is a public figure?”
 
After reading a brief statement that was light on details, the UMass Boston student sat silently and let her attorney Rick Brody do the talking.
 
“It’s not just people who look like batterers who are batterers. Good people hit their spouses, bad people hit their spouses,” said Brody.
 
Brody said his client met Henriquez when she was doing a research paper on the so-called Three Strikes bill. That led to a relationship that ended this week.
  
Brody said the press conference was intended to counter false claims about Gonzalves in the media. But when he was asked for specific examples, he refused to give them. 
 
“Katherine is a reasonable, thoughtful, well-spoken young woman who was put in a position with this man that resulted in the criminal process,” said Brody.
 
Gonzalves’s press conference came 2 days after Henriquez emphatically denied the charges against him.
 
In a statement posted to Facebook Henriquez said: “I have been accused of some serious charges. These charges are completely untrue.” Henriquez also said stopping violence against women has been one of his top priorities, adding — “Putting my hands on a woman is contradictory to my upbringing and my own morals.”

 
BOSTON — In the days since Gov. Deval Patrick signed a budget that will, in effect, close Taunton State Hospital, we’ve been hearing from people who stand to lose the most. WGBH News takes a deeper look at the complex matter of taking care of the mentally ill in Massachusetts.

A parent says: Keep the hospital open
 
Brenda Venice has two adult children who suffer from mental illness. Her daughter has spent time at Taunton State Hospital. She said the state’s move toward an emphasis on community-based services is not the answer to treating those with chronic mental illness.
 
“By closing Taunton State, you’re not giving people in our area a chance to heal," she said. "You’re just shoving them out into the community, saying, ‘All right, recovery is real.’ And you’re on your own. And even though my daughter is in the community and she is struggling every single day, she’ll say it herself: People need time to heal and you can’t just rush them."
 
Venice is also the head of the Fall River chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and said there have been countless occasions when families have called her in desperation in trying to get help for their sons or daughters — often after they were discharged from the hospital after only a few days.
 
"They’re in the hospital 3 days, and then they’re out. In the hospital 5 days, and then they’re out. And if they would have been there a little longer, to make sure that the medication was working and that everyone was OK and [there was] a good transition, that person would be OK," Venice said.
 
Part of Patrick’s decision to close the hospital is the state’s Community First initiative, which is to expand and integrate long-term, community-based support systems that foster independence among people with various disabilities. These supports include group homes, outpatient psychiatric centers and bridge support to help patients transition back into society.
 
An advocate says: Treat people in the community

Deborah Delman is an advocate for the governor’s plan. She's the executive director of the Boston-based Transformation Center, which trains peer specialists who have also experienced mental illness to help people reacclimate back into society.
 
“I think that the state services in Worcester and in Taunton have been really valuable and valued. However, the investment in the community has to strengthen and that’s really the approach that I definitely support," Delman said.
 
She said that bridge programs, not hospital beds, are the step in the right direction for a patient’s recovery process. However, “we don’t have flexibility in this state to provide that lower-cost alternative for those who really are ready for that. And therefore, beds are filled up with people that really don’t need that level of care."
 
But Venice disagreed. To her, the emphasis needs to be on the initial recovery process.
 
“Having people in the community is great. But the thing is — in order to go into the community, you have to be well. And going from Taunton State, a long-term facility — the people are pretty sick. You can’t take a person that’s pretty sick and put them in a group home," she said. "You have to get well in order to be in a group home. Everybody’s recovery is different. Some people recover faster, some people take longer."
 
That’s what makes treating mental illness so complicated. Add to the mix a tight state budget — and not everyone ends up with what they want.
 

 
STATE HOUSE, Boston — At a Beacon Hill oversight hearing on July 10, Massachusetts transportation officials said the Big Dig debt is starving other road and bridge projects statewide.
 
At the hearing, state transportation officials said the total cost of the Big Dig, including interest on borrowing, has grown to more than $23 billion. It is the costliest highway project in the nation’s history.

Dana Levenson, the chief financial officer for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, said the Big Dig is preventing the Commonwealth from doing work on other transportation projects.

“The magnitude of the debt and the attendant debt service required by the Commonwealth, MassDOT and the MBTA certainly keeps us from tackling not only desirable but necessary capital projects for the good of the Commonwealth, its taxpayers and transportation users,” Levenson said.

This year, the Department of Transportation will pay $129 million in debt service alone on the Big Dig. The state will pay somewhere north of $300 million. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will pay $125 million. And the interest payments are going up.

State Transportation Secretary Rich Davey said the current administration didn’t create the problem — but they still have to deal with it.

“I told the assistant minority leader that I think I was in grammar school when it started," Davey said. "We didn’t build it. But it's ours to manage.”

Furthermore, in order to get approval for the Big Dig, the state had to agree to build several large transit projects, including the extension of several commuter rail lines. The Green Line Extension is expected to cost $1.3 billion, adding to the state's Big Dig financial obligations.

 
BOSTON — The fight to save Taunton State Hospital is not going away ... it may actually be stepping up. On July 8, Gov. Deval Patrick used a line-item veto to cut $5 million for the mental health facility and transfer services more than 1 hour away to Worcester. Southeastern Massachusetts is angry, some lawmakers are working toward an override and the local newspaper is voicing support for the facility.

Arguments for and against

Karen Coughlin, a nurse at Taunton State Hospital, said closing the 169-bed facility will hurt those in need of inpatient care in Southeastern Massachusetts, and will overwhelm emergency rooms.

“I think we’re going to see more patients, unfortunately, who do not have the community supports that are out there, [who] are going to end up either in an emergency room or unfortunately involved in the legal system or not receiving services whatsoever or spinning in and out of acute care facilities," said Coughlin.
 
But Marcia Fowler, commissioner of the State Department of Mental Health, said the location should not have any impact on the quality of patient care since admissions are done on a statewide basis.
 
“People are admitted based on where the first available bed is, not necessarily on where they live because we want to meet the needs of the individual as soon as possible. And we have 28 site offices around the state where our staff assists family members who may have difficulty visiting folks in the hospitals," Fowler said.
 
A difference in treatment philosophy
 
While Patrick is counting on a progressive approach to treating the mentally ill, Coughlin believes that approach comes with a risk.
 
“There has been a large push within the last month to discharge patients out into the community. And unfortunately, I believe some of them aren’t ready. It’s kind of like a wing and a prayer," she said.
 
Fowler said the focus should not be on inpatient beds, but on rehabilitation and transitioning back into society.

“We have more people that are sitting in our facilities — and these are locked psychiatric facilities — that are waiting for discharge into an appropriate community placement. So we have more individuals waiting for discharge than we do individuals wanting to get into one our continuing care beds," Fowler said.
 

BOSTON — On Beacon Hill, there's legislative pushback on the state's new budget. Soon after Gov. Deval Patrick vetoed funding for the aging Taunton State Hospital, lawmakers lined up calling for an override of that veto.

For perspective on the budget and what's behind conservative criticism of Mitt Romney, Morning Edition host Bob Seay spoke to Maurice Cunningham, chair of political science at UMass Boston to analyze not only the hospital move but Patrick's stands on immigration and his ability as a manager.

 
BOSTON — As July rolls in and we celebrate our nation’s birthday, Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank is preparing to become the first congressman to have a same-sex marriage.
 
Frank, who is retiring at the end of this term, is getting married to Jim Ready, his partner of 5 years, this month. News reports are speculating the event will take place in Newton on July 7.
 
Planning the wedding has been “a little stressful,” Frank said in June in an interview with Todd Zwillich of The Takeaway.
 
However, Frank said he wasn't worried, and thinks the couple did a good job, in part thanks to some helpful assistance from Ready’s mother and Frank’s sister.
 
While there will be a disc jockey and decorations (although those will be left up to the hotel), a couple things will not be there: the press and the president.
 
The lack of the press is not surprising. In a November 2011 interview with WGBH News, Frank said one thing he intended to do when he retired was to "talk to the media less."
 
As for the president, it’s nothing Frank has against Obama, but rather the Secret Service.
 
“I was asked if I would invite the president,” Frank said, “and it’s not his fault, but he brings [The Secret Service] with him, and they can ruin a party.”

Excerpts from Frank's interview with WGBH News co-production The Takeaway

Q: So, how is the wedding planning going? Is it stressful at all?
 
A: It is. It’s a little stressful, but Jim and I called in some reinforcements. Jim’s mother and my sister, who, between them, you know, weddings are new for both of us but Jim’s mother married off three of his siblings and my sister married off two of her children, so they’ve been helpful to us. And I just spoke to Jim, he was up at his mother’s house today, they were going through the RSVPs. We’ve got it pretty well organized.
 
Q: Do you guys have any taste for wedding planning, do you guys get into decorations and whatnot?
 
A: No, we left that to the hotel. I’m not very focused on those things, but we are dealing with the hotel on that one, not getting into that much, we’re going to have a disc jockey, Jim has been talking to him about songs, and we’ve gotten suits for all of the guys who are going to be at the wedding for that.
 
Q: Are you at all worried about the wedding?
 
A: No, it’s under control, I think we’ve done a pretty good job of planning it. We have a certain issue of we don’t want it to be a spectacle. I suspect there might be some disappointed press people when we tell them they’re not invited.
 

BOSTON — During his two terms as Massachusetts governor, Michael Dukakis had health care reform on his agenda. In fact, in 1988 Dukakis signed into law a health care act that would have forced businesses that didn’t offer their employees health insurance to contribute to a fund to provide such insurance — but Dukakis said his successor William Weld did what he could to stymie the effort.
 
I sat down with the former governor and presidential candidate at Northeastern University, where he is now distinguished professor of political science. I spoke with him soon after the Supreme Court decision was released — a decision that somewhat vexed Dukakis

Excerpts from the interview

"Well, I'm pleased that the basic core piece of it was upheld. On the other hand, I must say I'm confused about the decision on Medicaid. Congress has regularly required the states to expand Medicaid coverage as a condition for receiving that money ... So what you're going to end up with, I guess, is a kind of pitched battle in conservative legislatures over whether or not they're going to agree to make it possible for working people and their families — up to 133 percent of poverty, which isn't a lot of money — to get decent, affordable health care. And in point of fact that's the whole issue anyway, which I'm sorry to say my party hasn't done a very good job of explaining. This is all about working folks and their families because the overwhelming majority of uninsured people in this country, and it's about 60 million, are working or members of working families ...

"We're finally going to, I hope, move ahead with decent, affordable health care, especially for working families in this country — unless of course Mitt Romney, who's done his 125th 180, in this case on health care — gets elected! If he does, then forget it."

BOSTON — The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care reform law. But if the Affordable Care Act is struck down, the practical impact in Massachusetts may be relatively small.

Since Massachusetts's pioneering health reform law already instituted many of the national law's initiatives, the impact here won’t be as dramatic as in other states if the law is overturned.

Even if the individual mandate to buy insurance is struck down, the Bay State’s requirement that most people buy health coverage or pay a fine will remain in place. And while other states may choose to drop millions of residents from their Medicaid rolls, that’s illegal in Massachusetts.

Still, the Affordable Care Act has been funding many programs here in the Bay State. It's given grants to address childhood obesity, train health workers, expand immunizations. The law has funded many of the clinicians who work in community health centers. Grant money in the law is supposed to help fund new and easier-to-use health plans for about 111,000 people with serious medical problems who are both on Medicare and Medicaid. And it provides funds to move hundreds of seniors and people with disabilities from institutional settings to community ones with support services.

It’s unclear how much money these programs might lose, or if they would continue at all. And even though the state's secretary of health and human services said Massachusetts will remain committed to providing affordable and high-quality health care, experts said that if the law is overturned, cutbacks of some form would probably be necessary.
 

 
BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick — who has advocated for immigrant needs in the past — praised the U.S. Supreme Court for striking down key provisions of Arizona's crackdown on immigrants on June 25. But Patrick wasn't entirely satisfied. He called the Supreme Court ruling a mixed bag.
 
“Most of the provisions of the Arizona law have been ruled unconstitutional. That sounds right," he said. However, "some of the things that were preserved having to do with the ability to stop and ask questions, you know, you can see how that creates a climate of fear, especially if the Supreme Court has said you can’t actually do anything with that information.”
 
Patrick has favored expanding immigrant health care options, allowing in-state UMass tuition rates and providing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. But some advocates said he has failed to push immigration issues strongly enough on Beacon Hill.
 
As he was leaving his office, Patrick got into a heated exchange with students demanding a stronger stance.
 
“You know you said you were going to do something for us — at least give us licenses. I’m undocumented and I've been here for 8 years, I'm putting myself through school right now, I'm paying out-of-state [tuition]," one woman said.
 
"And I can’t do what the federal government won’t let me do," Patrick responded. "I tried to do that. But there's a federal law that prohibits it."
 
"We can’t just live in the shadows!" she said.
 
"I understand that! I’m on your side," Patrick said. "I’ve said that a million times. These provisions aren’t before me yet. I’ve been as clear as possible, not just with you but with the legislature, that if they come to me, it’s over,“
 
There are measures pending in the legislature that would require new immigration status checks for employment, state housing and driver's licenses. Patrick said if they get to his desk he’ll oppose them, though he didn’t explicitly promise a veto.