Big Pharma has a new scheme that will make them even more money: undermining patients' bargaining power and blaming anyone who gets in their way. If we want to solve the Rx cost crisis, we need to hold Big Pharma accountable. To find out how, go to saveourbenefitsma.org.
Keller at Large
“The devil’s in the details,” warned Senate President Karen Spilka back in March of 2022 as sports betting legalization neared legislative approval.
Three-and-a-half years later, the devil is on a winning streak, the details of state law ignored as the sports bookies hustle local suckers eager to throw their money away.
The latest embarrassment for the state’s loophole-ridden regulatory regime came last week as officials reported to the state Gaming Commission that gamblers who regularly beat the odds are “likely” to have their betting limit lowered by the sports betting operators, while consistent losers are “more likely” to have their cap raised. No wonder one of the key arguments for legalizing this shell game – steering betting dollars away from illegal bookies into a regulated and taxed system – has yet to deliver as promised.
The commission’s response: drafting a regulation requiring sportsbooks to let a bettor know when they’ve been capped, as if a mark’s futile efforts wager more on the app isn’t already a tip-off.
And you can bet the sports betting moguls are quaking at the commission’s reaction to their recent finding that the bookies have taken more than 229,000 illegal wagers on a sketchy Filipino basketball league unauthorized for betting. Total take between March 2023 and April 2025, a stretch that included the banning of 47 team officials and players for game fixing: more than $11,770,000.
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Director of Finance — NEW!, City of Boston (Planning Department) |
Director of Parks and Open Space — NEW!, City of Newton |
Deputy Administrator for Administration and Finance, MetroWest Regional Transit Authority |
CFO, Girl Scouts of Central and Western MA |
Victim Compensation Claims Manager, Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance |
Manager of Financial Assessments, Center for Health Information and Analysis |
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HAPPENING TODAY
8:00 networking / 9:00 program | State House News Service and MASSterList host an event diving into the array of challenges stressing the state's health care workforce. Health Policy Commission Executive Director David Seltz gives a keynote address. Health Care Financing Committee co-chairs Rep. John Lawn and Sen. Cindy Friedman take part in a legislative panel, and an industry panel features leaders from the Mass. Medical Society, Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, and others. Event sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. | UMass Club, 1 Beacon St., Boston | Registration closed
9:00 | Health and Human Services Secretary Kiame Mahaniah delivers opening remarks welcoming attendees to the Providers’ Council 50th Annual Convention & Expo, which features workshops and exhibits focused on community-based human services. | Marriott Copley Place Hotel, Boston
10:00 | Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz join students, educators, and Scholastic officials at a literacy event celebrating Josiah Quincy Elementary as the first Boston school to join Scholastic's United States of Readers program. The national literacy program provides book access to low-income students, including 1,510 in Boston. Students will hear from author Jerry Pallotta and receive free books as part of the program. | Josiah Quincy Elementary School, 885 Washington St., Boston
Two of the nation’s best hospitals—Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital—are uniting as one team to deliver the most powerful kind of cancer care. One team that performs the most surgeries and has the most specialists in New England. One team turning discovery into hope. We’re one against cancer. Discover more
FROM BEACON HILL
SEPT. REVENUES: Tax collections for September were a benchmark miss, but still up 3% from a year earlier. – State House News Service
DMH DEPARTURE: Brooke Doyle, the commissioner of the state’s Department of Mental Health, plans to resign effective Oct. 6 after a year that saw a vote of no-confidence and proposals for job cuts. – Boston Business Journal
SKILLS TAX CREDIT: State officials continue to dole out tax credits for movies filmed in Massachusetts, with $5.2 million going to “Absolution,” a Liam Neeson thriller. A total of four movies each received more than $1 million in tax credits last year. – WBUR
NEWS NEXT DOOR
FLOOD MAPS: Updated flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) covering the Charles, Nashua and Merrimack watersheds are causing unhappiness among residents who appear to be in line to pay for flood insurance for the first time. – CommonWealth Beacon
‘SUCCESSFUL GHOST’: Boston Magazine profiles the city’s “most successful ghost”: Aaron Sells, who has worked for the Krafts, been spotted with Karen Read, and left behind a trail of lawsuits. – Boston Magazine
BUSINESS BAROMETER: The AIM Business Confidence Index stayed negative for the seventh consecutive month. – Boston Business Journal
GOP MONEY RACE: Mike Kennealy and Brian Shortsleeve, the two GOP candidates for governor, are pressing ahead with fundraising as Trump mega-donor Michael Minogue enters the primary. – MassLive
PORK LAW UPHELD: A federal appeals court upheld a voter-approved Massachusetts law prohibiting sale of pork from pigs living in “gestation crates.” – Universal Hub
JFK HOUSE: The D.C. home that Jackie and John F. Kennedy lived in before they moved into the White House has hit the market. The current owner claims he rebuffed the JFK Presidential Library when it offered to take the home as a donation. – Wall Street Journal
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JOB BOARD
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Program Assistant, Clean Air & Water, Conservation Law Foundation
Chief Financial and Operations Officer, Massachusetts Housing Partnership
Executive Director, Massachusetts Housing Partnership
Economic Development DirectorManager of Financial Assessments, City of Haverhill
Program Director, Building Electrification Accelerator
Chief Executive Officer, Berkshire Hills Music Academy
Chief of Projects & Planning, City of Cambridge
Senior Transportation Planner, Boston Region MPO/ CTPS
Director, Bureau of Program Integrity, Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General
Executive Director, Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
