South Coast Rail reckoning | Today's Sponsor

By Ella Adams and Eric Convey

"Inspection" ride, another meeting mark latest steps toward long-awaited South Coast Rail

-ADVERTISEMENT-

Mass General Brigham is building a world-class center of cancer care. From discoveries like a blood test that detects remaining cancer cells after surgery, to connecting women with cancer to the country’s top OB/GYN department, to improving access to lung cancer screenings in local communities, we’re there for patients at every twist and turn. Learn more at massgeneralbrigham.org/cancer.

Today's News

It feels like just yesterday that Gov. Charlie Baker presided over the latest in a series of supposedly final groundbreakings for South Coast Rail, signifying the latest promised push toward bringing passenger rail from Boston back to Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton.

Bay Staters are still watching the pieces come together five years later, but after several decades of stops and starts and some more recent delays — putting the latest finish line at May 2025 — the end seems to be on the horizon.

News came in June that construction was nearly done and testing would soon begin. At the time, officials said Fall River, Freetown, Middleborough and New Bedford's Church Street stations were finished; New Bedford station was expected to be complete in July; and East Taunton station was expected to be done in August.

When MBTA General Manager Phil Eng heads to Taunton tonight, there'll be more updates, mostly on service expected next year and project milestones, including station construction. And while the public and press are still awaiting their chance, someone will be riding the rails: before the meeting, Eng and others will take an "inspection ride" on the Middleborough-New Bedford portion still under construction. The MBTA says the ride "signifies positive momentum for the project overall and that we are on track to deliver on our projected milestones."

The milestones apply to what the MBTA calls "Phase 1" of a South Coast Rail master plan. The proposed second phase, dubbed the "Full Build," would connect the South Coast through Stoughton instead of Middleborough using electric trains.

While South Coast Rail is a whack-a-mole that keeps rearing its head — making residents skeptical of its success after years of waiting — based on the status of T improvements under his leadership, it seems like Eng could finally bring it to fruition. The GM has quantifiably improved the MBTA since he started in 2023. — Ella Adams

Send tips to Ella Adams: Editor@MASSterList.com. For advertising and general inquiries, contact Dylan Rossiter: Publisher@MASSterList.com. Click here to post a job on the MASSterList Job Board. Follow @MASSterList on X. Did someone send you this edition? Subscribe here!

Happening Today

9:00 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper host a press availability to share transportation updates | Higginson-Lewis School, 131 Walnut Ave, Roxbury

11:00 | Gaming Commission meets remotely and goes into executive session to discuss collective bargaining tied to an SEIU Local 888 agreement | Agenda & Livestream

6:00 | MassDOT holds an open house at its District 6 Headquarters about the agency's Electrical Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan, which officials say is required through a program tied to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law | 185 Kneeland St., Boston | More Info

Recent Job Board postings

Deputy Town Clerk/Records Access Officer — NEW!, Town of Acton

Chief Financial Officer — NEW!, NEW Health Boston/Charlestown

Community Liaison, Regina Villa Associates

Planning Director, Town of Amherst

Climate Action Coordinator, City of Newton

[Jobs continued after Today's Headlines — post a job]

-ADVERTISEMENT-

A report by MASSPIRG, Clean Water Action, and Frontier Group reveals that, despite recent progress, Massachusetts is falling short of our food waste reduction goals. The good news is that there are solutions at our fingertips! Now is the time for Massachusetts to invest in common-sense strategies that will reduce food waste and the planet-warming emissions it generates.

MA250 is here. Just how much is it costing the state?

On Tuesday, Gov. Healey introduced MA250, the state's new campaign meant to celebrate and promote the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution over the course of the next year. The administration is using the anniversary as a way to try to boost tourism in Massachusetts and cast the state as a leader in the past and future. As part of the programming Tuesday, the administration touted $1.5M in grants for nonprofits, municipalities and other groups that will help mark the anniversary.

How much, exactly, will the campaign cost the state? The Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism told MASSterList that the state plans to spend about $20M in fiscal years 2024 through 2026 on the campaign — dollars meant to support and promote events and cultural programs statewide. MOTT said there will be an opportunity for businesses and other state entities to sponsor parts of the MA250 campaign, as well, but those are yet to be announced.

Nantucket voters again reject short-term rental bylaw amendments

Nantucket voters voted against short-term rental zoning bylaw amendments on Tuesday — the fifth time they've done so in the last four years. There were two competing proposals, both defeated, at the Special Town Meeting meant to figure out a compromise on this exact matter. The Current's Jason Graziadei looks at why voters rejected the proposals, and where that puts the island moving forward. — Nantucket Current

Court greenlights Northeastern University's Nahant expansion

A state appeals court upheld a ruling letting Northeastern University build 60,000 square feet of research space on an edge of the island, the BBJ's Grant Welker reports. Town officials had argued that Northeastern promised years ago to put part of the property, a former military base it acquired there, into conservation protection. — Boston Business Journal

Who is leaving Massachusetts?

A Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center report published Tuesday suggests that concerns of outmigration in the Bay State are based on data that points to "inconsistent" conclusions. At the same time, industry and business leaders continue to raise concerns about the topic and the state's competitiveness. The back-and-forth represents a conversation that has peaked on and off Beacon Hill recently, about migration patterns and economic competitiveness. — State House News Service

Massachusetts schools could be impacted by Moms for Liberty lawsuit

A federal judge included 32 Massachusetts schools in his order to stop new protections for transgender students, following a lawsuit by conservative activist group Moms for Liberty to block protections in 2,000+ schools where it has members nationwide. The Light's Colin Hogan looks at the two schools on the South Coast — Old Rochester Regional and Taunton High Schools — and the number of elementary and high schools across the state that are included in the suit, which opposes federal Title IX expansion and claims protections for transgender students will "unravel" protections for women. While Massachusetts law offers such protections for transgender students, schools could see legal challenges in the near future. — New Bedford Light

Steamship Authority GM stepping down in late 2025

Steamship Authority General Manager Bob Davis will step down in October 2025 and transition into an advisory role for the boat line. Davis has spent the last seven years as general manager and worked at the Authority since 1986. The SSA expects to start immediately searching for Davis's successor. — Nantucket Current

Healey on the campaign trail in September

Gov. Healey is headed to California later this month with New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Joyce Craig, for Craig's Sept. 27 campaign fundraising event in Berkeley. That trip is set to happen after Healey heads to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania today to partake in a Harris-Walz rally in support of abortion rights, part of the campaign's "Fighting for Reproductive Freedom" bus tour. — NH Journal | PennLive

-EVENT-

Join leading legislators, business leaders, advocates, along with representatives from the emerging workforce, for a policy forum that explores challenges and opportunities to make Massachusetts an even greater place to live and work.

Chatham voters okay $4M for pier

Town meeting voters in Chatham approved spending $4M to complete an expansion of piers so they could serve recreational and commercial boats, the Cape Cod Times's Zane Razzaq reports. A former U.S. Coast Guard boathouse will be restored and moved to the pier as part of the project. — Cape Cod Times

Fall River to add to housing district

The Fall River City Council voted to annex properties on part of Cook Pond to a housing district so they may be used for new market-rate housing, the Herald News' Emily Scherny reports. The property currently is home to blighted mills; city officials hope the new apartments' tenants will include young couples, empty-nesters and renters of existing apartments in the city who would like to upgrade their residences. — Herald News

Leominster police chief retires following absence concerns

Now-former Leominster Police Chief Aaron F. Kennedy retired, according to the town's mayor, after patrol officers, superior officers and dispatchers unions expressed concern with his "extended, unexplained absence." The city's highest-paid municipal employee in FY23 has been replaced by two captains, who will hold the position interchangeably and temporarily.

— Telegram & Gazette

Lynnfield police chief sees no criminal offense in School Committee flap

Lynnfield's police chief looked into a dispute between School Committee member Jamie Hayman and the board's chair, Kate DiPrizio, and concluded that private comments she reportedly made to her did not constitute criminal threats, Item Live's Adam Levine reports. A dispute between the two spilled into the committee's Sept. 11 meeting and DiPrizio later apologized for the timing of them. The chief, according to the paper, said the affair is a civil matter. — Item Live