Shaughnessy vs. Henry

John Henry owns the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Globe, which can make for some awkward moments at times. The coverage of Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino is a case in point.

In February, the Globe’s entertaining sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy wrote one of his “picked up pieces” columns, which featured a lead item suggesting that Lucchino may be losing a power struggle at Fenway Park with limited partner Michael Gordon and could be on the way out. Shaughnessy reported that Lucchino declined comment and Henry didn’t respond to an email request for comment.

At the club’s spring training in Florida, Henry dismissed what he called Shaughnessy’s “ridiculous story.” Henry said Lucchino runs the Red Sox. “That has been and remains the case,” said Henry. “He’s involved in every decision. There’s no doubt that Larry’s in charge and continues to be in charge.”

Shaughnessy’s response? “Sorry, boss, no retraction on this one.”

In late April, the Globe went positively batty about bringing Lucchino in to run Boston 2024. Columnist Shirley Leung wrote one of her open letters to Lucchino, begging him to take the reins of Boston’s Olympic bid. A news story reported that Lucchino was in talks with Boston 2024 to take a “senior role.” He would later be named a senior advisor and never be heard from again.

Then came last weekend’s news that Lucchino would be stepping down from his posts with the Red Sox at the end of this disastrous season. Shaughnessy, who helped write the Globe’s news story, didn’t mention his February reporting on Lucchino’s shaky status, but did quote several people as saying the transition talks had been going on for some time. Interestingly, Henry didn’t talk to reporters at his own paper, but did email a statement to WBZ.

In a separate column, Shaughnessy doubted Red Sox claims that Lucchino would remain on board in some capacity. “In my opinion, Lucchino is being nudged more than he is leaving of his own volition,” he wrote with a link to his column back in February.

Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley was much more blunt than his crosstown rival. “Larry Lucchino isn’t stepping down,” Buckley wrote on Tuesday. “Instead, it looks like he’s being escorted off the property. And this is happening for one simple reason: It’s time.”

Trying to get its fiscal house in order, the Department of Conservation and Recreation decides to forgive $23,000 it is owed by a yacht club renting state beachfront land. (CommonWealth)

Gov. Charlie Baker signs legislation creating a sales tax holiday August 15 and 16. (Associated Press)

Robert Ambrogi, executive director of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, pans Secretary of State William Galvin’s proposed public records ballot question and urges the Legislature to take action. (Eagle-Tribune)

Politicians across the state breathed a sigh of relief as the Supreme Judicial Court threw out on free speech grounds a state law that made it illegal for politicians to lie in campaign materials. (Boston Globe)

Gov. Charlie Baker says he’s opposed to a bill that would create “sanctuary status” in the state for illegal immigrants. (Boston Herald)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Adrian Walker poses a challenge to John Fish, Mayor Marty Walsh, and all those who said Boston won’t embrace “grand ideas”: Make dilapidated White Stadium in Franklin Park a showplace for the city’s underfunded school athletic programs, even without an Olympics to push it along. (Boston Globe)

The Billerica Housing Authority picks Robert Correnti as its new executive director over the objections of state officials, who say he is unqualified. (Lowell Sun)

CASINOS

Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter makes a casino pitch to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, but the commission makes no promises even though the city is the lone applicant in the Southeast region of the state. (State House News)

The commission signed off on an agreement with MGM Springfield that would preserve or relocate a number of historic buildings in the city. (The Republican)

The commission also approved three days of racing at Suffolk Downs this fall. (State House News)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

New Hampshire cuts funding for Planned Parenthood. (Governing)

US Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a top Democratic leader and an ardent supporter of Israel, declares he will oppose President Obama‘s nuclear accord with Iran. (U.S. News & World Report)

ELECTIONS

“Shallow, egotistical, unelectable, and entertaining — but less entertaining than he was cracked up to be.” That’s how Joan Vennochi summed up a certain GOP debate participant’s performance. (Boston Globe) Leave it to Howie Carr to score the debate a win for that same candidate. (Boston Herald) Carly Fiorina makes a good impression in the “JV” debate, says Dante Ramos. (Boston Globe) Here’s how The Atlantic sized up the performances. The National Review says Donald Trump‘s presence defines the rest of the field. The Weekly Standard rates the winners and losers and declares Sen. Marco Rubio best in class. The Washington Post fact-checks the debaters.

Robert Boatright offers two cheers for a “dark money” disclosure executive order that some want President Obama to issue. (CommonWealth)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

The economy added 215,000 jobs in July with the unemployment rate staying steady at 5.3 percent, gains that may allow the Federal Reserve to finally begin raising interest rates. (New York Times)

Home ownership rates among millennials are continuing to fall. (Boston Herald)

There are some new movie-making hopes for the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station. (Boston Globe)

EDUCATION

The Wayland School Committee referred questions to an unspecified state agency “with subpoena powers” about a payment of more than $20,000 from the district’s METCO account for the program director’s credit card after she could not produce her statements because she said she threw them out. (Metrowest Daily News)

A task force of educators, clergy, and residents in Hopkinton were unable to reach consensus on recommendations for holidays for the school calendar, with some seeking to retain the traditional calendar, some wanting to add holidays, and a group opposed to the town making any decisions on religious holidays. (Metrowest Daily News)

HEALTH CARE

The state will launch a pilot program in Quincy for paramedics to treat addicts in their homes or in the field to try to reduce trips to the emergency room. (Patriot Ledger)  Boston Medical Center and CVS are joining forces to study the best way to distribute the overdose-counteracting drug Narcan to those at risk of needing it. (Boston Herald)

TRANSPORTATION

California court gets one step closer to deciding Uber’s fate. (Time) Tom Lecompte says the battle between Uber and taxis is over, and taxi drivers better learn to adapt. (WBUR)

A Boston company has unveiled plans to launch the first private commuter rail line in the country in 30 years, operating a Worcester to Providence line starting in 2017. (Associated Press)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Weymouth is offering residents in flood-prone coastal areas a chance to obtain federal grants to raise their homes. (Patriot Ledger)

A contractor who dumped construction debris in a state forest in Plymouth was tracked down by police, fined, and ordered to clean up the mess. (Patriot Ledger)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Twenty-five years after the biggest art heist in history, surveillance video was released showing guards admitting someone to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum the night before the 1990 robbery. (Boston Globe)

A Lawrence man is seized in New Hampshire amid what police officers described as a “mushroom cloud” of heroin. (Eagle-Tribune)

MEDIA

Boston magazine launches a Chinese-language edition to tap into the Chinese tourist, student, and big-money investor market in the area. (Boston Globe)

The New York Times passes the 1 million digital-subscriber mark. Ken Doctor runs the numbers. (Nieman Journalism Lab)

Jon Stewart signs off. (Time)

Four Texas radio stations launch a newsroom collaboration. (Current)