This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
☂️A chance of April showers, with highs in the 60s. Sunset is at 7:10 p.m.
March Madness is stretching into April, with the Final Four scheduled for Saturday and the championship game on Monday. Betting on NCAA games is big business this year: the American Gaming Association expects $3.3 billion in bets — double the total on this year’s Super Bowl. And the NCAA has made a deal with the tech company Genius Sports to offer live data for sportsbooks, a shift in protocol for a group that historically spoke out against sports betting. The association does, however, ban high-risk prop bets. NCAA president — and former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said it needs “regulators and gaming companies to eliminate collegiate prop bets” after some student-athletes were accused of betting on their own games.
Also: sportsbooks have more advanced products than they used to, and now promote live betting. “This is just so different from going to Vegas and betting on who’s gonna win the tournament,” said Mark Gottlieb, executive director of Northeastern’s Public Health Advocacy Institute. “It’s a completely different experience and one that poses much greater risks to the user than sports gambling ever had before.” GBH’s Esteban Bustillos takes a deeper look at the NCAA’s shifting relationship with sports betting here.
A programming note: we will be following live as the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in Trump v. Barbara, the case challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at eliminating birthright citizenship. Arguments start at 10 a.m. You can listen to it yourself here.
Four Things to Know
1. Despite a statewide anti-bullying law passed 16 years ago, many school districts in Massachusetts do not adequately protect students who report being bullied. Nor do they fully investigate their allegations, according to a report from the Northeastern University School of Law.
“It’s so frustrating for our helpline staff, in particular, to talk to families who are just at a total loss of what to do,” said Diana Santiago of Massachusetts Advocates for Children. “Their child is suffering; may hate going to school because of a bullying situation, you know, [they’re] concerned for their children’s safety.”
2. Yesterday the school bus that came to pick up Marie Francis’ child in Boston was 45 minutes late, a timely example for her testimony at a City Council hearing about late school buses. “When buses arrive late, or they don’t arrive at all, the students start their day already interrupted; they miss instructional time, they arrive stressed out, they’re forced to catch up even before the day starts,” Francis said.
In March, Boston’s school buses were on schedule 93% of the time in the morning and 88% of the time in the afternoon, said Dan Rosengard, Boston Public Schools’ executive director of transportation. “Those are historically high levels compared to where we’ve been in the past,” he said. “We absolutely know that the job is not complete, and this is not nearly enough.”
3. Malden voters rejected a city effort to raise local taxes by more than the state’s 1980s-era law, Proposition 2 ½, allows. Voters had two overrides on the ballot: one that would have raised taxes enough to give the city an extra $5.4 million; and another raising taxes to give the city extra $8.2 million. People who came out to vote yesterday said no to both.
Malden Mayor Gary Christenson previously said the city will need to cut services without more funding, as the amount of money the city needs to fund its school system and other departments has risen faster than tax revenues.
4. An 11-year-old Labrador retriever named Tessa from Falmouth is uninjured after firefighters rescued her from a 12-foot-deep sinkhole in her owner’s backyard last week. Firefighters extended a ladder over the sinkhole and used pepperoni on a rope to lure her onto a makeshift rescue apparatus. Once Tessa was out, she walked around to greet her rescuers and ate the leftover treats.
“At one point there were 36 emergency workers here trying to get the dog out of the hole. And I heard at least a dozen times, it was usually the younger guys, say, ‘I’ll go in, I’ll go in,’” said David Velesig, Tessa’s owner. “For two hours, you’ve kind of forgotten about a war, you’ve forgotten about politics and you’ve forgotten about money, and you’ve forgotten about the other really big problems in the world. And everyone here was focused on this one task. And it was great.”
Behind the bills: Should Massachusetts lower its tax rate?
By Katie Lannan, GBH News State House reporter
A ballot question you might see when you head to vote in November would lower the Massachusetts income tax from 5% to 4% over the course of three years. Here’s how it would work if the measure passes.
The main argument for cutting taxes is straightforward: most people would pay less in taxes. Lowering the income tax rate by one percentage point would mean about $5 billion less flowing from paychecks to the state budget, according to some budget analysts. Supporters of the ballot question dispute that amount — more on that in a bit.
“Massachusetts residents and businesses are hurting now, feeling the result of inflation in state policies that have driven up the cost of housing, health care and energy,” said Jim Stergios of the Pioneer Institute, who supports the ballot initiative.
Supporters say the measure would put real money back in people’s pockets. But opponents say that the amount most taxpayers would save would not offset the potential cuts in state services.
“Rolling back the income tax at a time when our communities are having to choose between funding public safety services, our schools, keeping the library open, is reckless,” said Brant Duncan from the American Federation of Teachers of Massachusetts.
The current 5% income tax was set by ballot — sort of. In 2000, voters approved a question to gradually lower the tax rate from nearly 6% to 5%. Lawmakers delayed that plan during a recession, and it ultimately took almost 20 years to fully implement. So we might see legislative tinkering if the question passes this year — and the Massachusetts House has already passed a bill that would put other tax breaks on ice if voters do agree to cut the income tax.
A University of New Hampshire poll from February found that 58% of voters backed the income tax cut. But it wasn’t top of mind for voters polled: taxes were the top concern for only 4% of respondents, compared with 28% saying cost of living and 24% saying housing.
The group that’s backing the ballot question dispute the idea that the question would force $5 billion in state budget cuts, since the reduction would be phased in over time. They say that money returned to taxpayers would be put back into the state’s economy, potentially generating revenue through sales, lodging or meals taxes.
But $5 billion is a lot of money to make up for in a budget with little wiggle room. A big chunk of the state budget goes to programs like MassHealth and aid to school districts, where costs keep rising even when revenue is down. Critics of the question say schools and the health care system are already feeling budget squeezes and couldn’t absorb a fresh round of funding cuts. Another complication: next year’s state budget is set to be debated, passed and signed into law well before the November vote, meaning lawmakers might not know just how much money they’ll have available to spend.
Dig deeper:
-More competitive or more chaotic? Tax cut analysts paint possible outcomes
-Why your state representatives probably don’t like ballot questions
-Lawmakers skeptical of ballot question rolling back recreational marijuana law
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