Partners HealthCare tried to acquire South Shore Hospital and state regulators cried foul. Lahey Health, meanwhile, is trying to gobble up Winchester Hospital and state regulators are practically cheering it on. Not all takeovers are the same.

Partners is what Attorney General Martha Coakley calls a health care Goliath, a system so big and so influential that it can charge more for its services and see no decline in the patients who flow through its hospitals. The Health Policy Commission opposed the Partners’ acquisition of South Shore because it feared the merger would drive up prices further and reduce competition. Coakley this week let the merger go through in return for concessions on pricing and additional expansion for the next five to 10 years.

On Thursday, the Health Policy Commission was confronted with another major hospital merger. This time, commission members saw no problem with Burlington-based Lahey acquiring Winchester because they believe the deal has the potential to keep patients in the suburbs, where costs are cheaper, and out of the more expensive Boston teaching hospitals. The analysis outlined in the commission’s report is convoluted: It basically says that if a large number of patients in the Winchester area seeking care at Boston hospitals are no longer allowed to seek care there (something the commission admits is unlikely), savings will result. The commission projects savings of $1.3 million; Lahey forecasts savings of $3.3 million to $5 million.

Paul Levy , the former head of Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center and a major critic of Partners and Coakley, predicts in his blog that Coakley’s deal will cement Partners as the dominant provider in eastern Massachusetts for years to come. He says the deal is bad news for Tufts Medical Center and Steward Health Care, and “fair news”  for Lahey and Beth Israel Deaconness, who lost a chance to challenge Partners when their own merger talks collapsed.

Levy says Atrius Health, the health network formed from an alliance of physician practices, which was also involved in the Lahey-Beth Israel talks, could play an important role in the health care battles yet to come. But he says there are “signs of splintering within Atrius, and its effectiveness as a business enterprise can fall to petty jealousies and other disagreements among its constituent partners.” It sounds like a plot straight out of Game of Thrones.

–BRUCE MOHL  

BEACON HILL

House Speaker Robert DeLeo is planning to unveil significant changes to the state’s gun laws next week, including limits on gun licensing and private sales, expanded background checks for gun buyers, and new reporting rules for gun owners with mental health issues, the Salem News reports.The Senate, meanwhile, approves a budget amendment allowing Massachusetts residents to purchase pepper spray without first acquiring a firearms identification card, the Item reports.

The Senate approves a budget but rejects a bid to ban the inflation-adjusted gas tax, the Telegram & Gazette reports. The Senate also rejects a budget amendment banning betting on simulcast greyhound races, the Gloucester Times reports. Both issues could end up being decided by voters with ballot questions in November.

The House GOP affirms support for Rep. Bradley Jones as leader, State House News reports.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Mansfield Selectman Olivier Koszlowski is under fire for what some perceive as a racist tweet but he refuses to apologize or step down, saying the comment was a personal observation even though his Twitter handle is @SelectmanKOZ.

A former Ayer selectman wants to return Devens to municipal decision-making.

MARATHON BOMBING

Defense attorneys for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev want answers that the accused bomber gave to the FBI questions shortly after his arrest to be excluded as evidence since he did not have an attorney present.

CASINOS

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission fuels the Wynn-Mohegan Sun rivalry by calling for a change in the state gaming law that Wynn insisted was crucial but Mohegan Sun felt was unnecessary. The commission said the change was needed to prevent gamblers from leaving Massachusetts for Connecticut, where Mohegan Sun has a casino already, CommonWealth reports.

A new WBUR-MassINC Polling Group survey indicates 52 percent of Massachusetts voters are in favor of taking up a ballot question repealing casino gaming and 39 percent are opposed. On the issue of casinos themselves, the split was 49 percent in favor and 39 percent opposed. Among four of the five Democratic candidates for governor, one favors repeal of the casino gaming law and three oppose repeal, CommonWealth reports.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Harvard law professor David Barron, who is also the husband of gubernatorial hopeful Juliette Kayyem, was confirmed to a judgeship on the US Court of Appeals. His confirmation had been contentious because of his authorship while working in the Justice Department of a memo authorizing drone strikes on US citizens suspected of terrorist activities.

US Rep. William Keating has filed a bill to grant retail and commissary privileges to Gold Star parents, a benefit that currently extends only to spouses and children of military members killed in service.

Tennessee may bring back the electric chair if it can’t get drugs to perform executions, Time reports.

The Atlantic‘s Ta-Nehisi Coates makes the case for reparations.

The New York Times obtains internal documents that show widespread domestic surveillance of Occupy protesters.

ELECTIONS

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steven Grossman was quick to criticize rival Martha Coakley for failing to reimburse the state for political travel, but it turns out he was tardy himself in coughing up money for political expenses the state covered for him.

The national GOP tests a new ground operation in Michigan.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Giant foods services company Sodexo is squeezing low-paid workers out of its health coverage, a cruel and greedy move that its local university clients must also answer for, writes Shirley Leung.

EDUCATION

A report by a national research and advocacy group finds the Boston Public Schools beset by dysfunction and disarray, a damning portrait of a district hailed several years as among the best large urban systems in the country.

In a stunning upset that could have ripple effects on the state’s education reform efforts, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, elected as its new president a fiery opponent of high-stakes tests, the state teacher evaluation system, and many other cornerstones of education policy.

The state has awarded New Bedford $2.4 million to implement a turnaround plan for the beleaguered high school.

With a bill to raise the cap on charter schools moving to their chamber, Scot Lehigh says state senators have to decide whether they’re for poor, underserved kids or greedy teachers’ unions.

State Auditor Suzanne Bump says more than $2 million in improperly documented bonuses have been paid to top officials at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

A family files a lawsuit in Connecticut alleging that the Avon Public Schools indoctrinated their daughters into a religious cult, NECN reports.

Sudbury says no, again, to school choice.

HEALTH CARE

To save money, Detroit and Chicago are telling retirees to obtain their health care coverage through the federal health exchanges or through coverage provided by their spouses rather than from the municipalities, Governing reports.

TRANSPORTATION

Taxi drivers are not happy about the ride-sharing service Uber, saying the unregulated competitor does not play on an even playing field.

Boston parents of 7th and 8th graders, who are concerned about bullying and violence, don’t want their children depending on the MBTA to get to school.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The Fall River Water Department could face penalties from the EPA unless they reach a settlement over a number of violations cited by the federal agency including the storage of chlorine gas.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

A former Registry of Motor Vehicles employee who allegedly used his office computer to store and distribute child pornography has been indicted on four counts of possession and dissemination of child pornograhpy.

The Lawrence parking garage attendant charged with criminal larceny asks that all charges against him be dismissed, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

A Superior Court judge turned down a request by a Brockton man for compensation for spending seven years in prison on a wrongful conviction, saying the reversal was because of an improper closing argument from prosecutors, not a matter of him being proven innocent.

MEDIA

Was Jill Abramson‘s firing a consequence of her gender? It’s complicated, writes Rebecca Traister in The New Republic.