MGM, proprietor of such upscale resorts as the Bellagio and the Luxor in Las Vegas, is making a run for the Western Massachusetts casino license. The company today will unveil plans for what amounts to a massive redevelopment of three downtown Springfield city blocks. Plans will include gambling facilities, an “entertainment district” featuring restaurants, performance space, and shops, and even apartment units for young professionals working in the new facilities. MGM is one of four companies thought to be vying for the license.
Before any shovels hit the ground, however, the city must resolve some kinks in its proposal process. MGM has not yet made the $400,000 deposit required to submit a proposal, and there has been some dispute in Springfield about the process for bringing proposals to the state’s gaming commission. Springfield’s mayor, Domenic Sarno, has indicated that he will choose which of the casino proposals to put before voters. If voters approve the plan he selected, it will then go to before state’s gaming commission.
An executive for Ameristar, another license contender that purchased a $16 million land parcel off Interstate 291, told the Springfield Republican that he thinks the mayor has an “extreme” amount of power over the process. Ameristar would prefer to see Springfield send multiple casino proposals to the gaming commission.
Sarno, who has resolved to keep the process transparent, is nevertheless meeting privately with each of the proposed casino operators. The mayor told CBS 3 in Springfield he thinks the meetings will show “who are the contenders, and who are the pretenders.”
Those looking for analysis of the process won’t find it in the editorial pages of the Springfield Republican, which has recused itself from editorializing on the casino debate. The paper’s publisher, George Arwady, is in talks with a company looking to purchase land owned by the Republican to bid on the Western Massachusetts license. As this presents a conflict of interest for the paper, it will not pen any editorials on the issue but will continue to provide coverage in its news pages. The turn of events, however, robs the city of an important voice as transparency and balance of power issues creep into a process that could substantially alter Springfield’s future.
–CHRISTINA PRIGNANO
BEACON HILL
The state Board of Bar Overseers has scheduled a series of hearings following the November elections to look into the law practice of state Rep. Daniel Webster of Pembroke, who is accused of mishandling clients’ funds.
Restaurateurs oppose the return of the happy hour, State House News reports (via CommonWealth).
Lowell teens continue to push for a bill to lower the city’s voting age to 17, hoping it will pass during informal sessions on Beacon Hill, the Lowell Sun reports.
Massport has doubled the fees it receives from South Boston landlords over the past four years.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The former leaders of the Tewksbury Recreation Center are facing charges of mishandling and mismanaging funds, the Lowell Sun reports.
The Massachusetts Cultural Council votes to make Natick Center a cultural district, the MetroWest Daily News reports.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Hybrid pension plans are attracting more states and cities, Governing reports.
Keller@Large calls out US Rep. Todd Akin, a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as “a fake conservative” for his comments about women and abortion.
ELECTION 2012
US Sen. Scott Brown opens slight 49-44 lead over Elizabeth Warren in a poll released by Public Policy Polling, State House News reports (via Lowell Sun). The poll shows Brown has been successful in his attempts to distance himself from his party.
Mitt Romney has amassed a huge campaign war chest advantage over President Obama as the presidential campaign heads toward the post-Labor Day final stretch. Romney remains within striking distance of Obama, as respondents to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll doubt the president’s handling of the econom. Voters’ disappointment with Obama is still outweighed by their personal distaste for Romney, though. Former Obama economic aide Austan Goolsbee dumps on Romney’s tax plan. A New York Times report finds that math is no friend of Romney’s critique of Medicare cuts, either; John McDonough, who worked with Romney on Massachusetts health care reform, accuses the former governor of deliberate distortion.
The furor over the remarks of Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin has put a spotlight on a move by the Republican Party platform committee Tuesday to approve a plank opposing abortion in all circumstances, including rape, incest, and life-threatening danger to the mother from a continued pregnancy. A New York Times editorial says the GOP platform shows the party “has moved so far to the right that the extreme is now mainstream.” That’s not enough, so the Times also calls the party platform “mean-spirited and intolerant.” Maureen Dowd marvels at the notion that “women have the superpower to repel rape sperm.”
Here’s how Akin — who’s not going anywhere — takes after Jake and Elwood Blues. Akin does battle with the English language.
The Springfield Republican praises the Brown-Warren pact to reject third party ads as a “model” for other campaigns.
CASINOS
Boston Mayor Tom Menino says he wants a Suffolk Downs casino developer to go all-in at once, not build out in two phases as Caesars Entertainment honcho Gary Loveman has suggested. Meanwhile, Suffolk Downs officials outline a $40 million traffic improvement plan for the proposed gambling facility, the Item reports.
States are cracking down on gambling parlors masquerading as Internet cafes, the Wall Street Journal reports.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
A Brockton convenience store owner is shutting down his “roll your own” cigarette machine after an injunction barring a federal law from levying a $25,000 manufacturers’ fee was lifted.
EDUCATION
The state Department of Labor Relations will consider a request from Boston Mayor Tom Menino to appoint a fact-finder to help push forward stalled contract talks with the Boston Teachers Union.
College students today are increasingly choosing majors based on job prospects and not personal interests, finds a new book.
HEALTH CARE
The dropoff in circumcision rates is expected to result in an increase in medical costs, NPR reports (via WBUR).
TRANSPORTATION
About 50 Essex boaters received moorings after waiting four to five years rather than the 12 years they had expected, the Gloucester Times reports. CommonWealth reported on the state’s mooring mess in its Summer 2011 issue.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Footprint Power executives outline their plans to replace the existing coal-fired power plant in Salem with a quick-start, gas-fired plant occupying just half the site. They also pledge to maintain the existing annual property tax bill on the property of $4.75 million, the Salem News reports.
A federal appeals court strikes down an EPA rule clamping down on coal plants.
A group formed to issue recommendations for mitigating the effects of Falmouth wind turbines isn’t going to meet its deadline, the Cape Cod Times reports.
In response to a lawsuit by two environmental groups, the EPA argues that wastewater management problems on the Cape are not the responsibility of the federal agency but of state and local authorities.
PUBLIC SAFETY
State bomb squad members removed several hundred pounds of heavy-duty fireworks from a jetty in Cohasset that were reportedly to be set off to mark the wedding of a local resident who owns an $8.5 million home nearby.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
An attorney, Boy Scout leader, and substitute teacher in Whitinsville is facing child pornography charges, NECN reports.
Boston police shot and killed a man following a traffic stop in the South End. Police say he was shot after refusing to drop a gun he was pointing at officers.
Charles Jayne, who is serving a life sentence without parole for kidnapping and murdering 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley in 1997, is seeking to legally change his name to Manasseh-Invictus Auric Thutmose V. because of his involvement in the Wiccan religion.
Bad choice: A thief in Lowell breaks into a car belonging to a police officer, and ends up getting arrested, the Lowell Sun reports.
MEDIA
TMZ reports that Prince Harry put his own crown jewels — and everything else as well — on display in Las Vegas.
The Nieman Journalism Lab looks inside PolitiFact’s Truth-O-Meter.
ABC plans to go head-to-head against Jay Leno and David Letterman with Jimmy Kimmel, the New York Times reports.