Mass. competes not so great while competitor for highway service plazas takes the exit ramp

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How must it feel to win big?

Global Partners can probably dream about it, after news broke Tuesday that Applegreen, the winning bidder in the procurement for a highway service plaza project, walked away from lease talks with the state. 

Rival bidder Global Partners has been waging a legal and media war against Applegreen for months, after the state awarded the high-dollar bid to the Irish company instead of to it. But Applegreen and MassDOT reportedly couldn't reach a lease agreement, and Applegreen might as well have name-dropped Global behind the dropout decision, claiming that "commercial realities have been coupled with costly and continued litigation threats from an opposing bidder that have jeopardized the project’s timeline and financing."

Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee Chair Sen. Mark Montigny called off a highly anticipated hearing on the matter scheduled for Wednesday, saying MassDOT and Applegreen "refused" to participate. He bashed MassDOT for "withholding critical information" about potential conflict and procurement standard violations, urging the agency to put the project back out to bid. The agency says it's moving forward, but won't say more.

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There was a lot more harmony Thursday in the Senate, as the chamber passed a sweeping data privacy bill that senators believe is a win for consumers. Associated Industries of Massachusetts called the Senate's bill "an outlier," suggesting it "will disadvantage Massachusetts businesses and hurt our state's competitiveness."

Ah, competitiveness. A 2025 competitiveness index by the Massachusetts Taxpayer's Foundation spotlighted a "dual reality" this week: While Massachusetts still ranks among the best in talent, venture capital funding, and economic productivity, it's last in private employment growth, highest in infant child care costs, and among the worst in health care costs, average commute time and domestic migration. 

Who's fault is that? According to both GOP gubernatorial candidates, it's the handiwork of Gov. Maura Healey. Throwing shade at Healey and her policies is at the heart of their 2026 strategies — campaigns that could be interrupted by at least one more Republican, GOP leaders told the News Service this week. 

Whether Bay Staters will get behind any Republican in this race, as Democrats continue to equate the state GOP with the Trump administration, is a question. Congressman Seth Moulton is another new question mark.

Moulton confirmed this week that he is weighing a 2026 run for the seat that U.S. Sen. Ed Markey hopes to retain. The Salem Democrat's decision could set up another clash of incumbents -- the 2020 Democratic primary pitted Markey against then-Congressman Joseph Kennedy III.  If Moulton takes on Markey, his decision could also unlock some of the ambition in the 6th District Congressional seat and create a mad dash for a rare open seat.

When seats in Congress open up, people run. Recall the 2013 special election (when Markey got his Senate seat) that elevated now-Democratic Whip Katherine Clark from the state Senate. That race included Senate President Karen Spilka, Sen. Will Brownsberger, and Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian. 

Key difference: Moulton vs. Markey wouldn't be a special election. Anyone in the Legislature running for the 6th Congressional District seat would have to give up their current job, in the process creating openings for others looking to move up.

As Massachusetts pols toy with those decisions, the youngest of Bay Staters were in the spotlight this week in Attleboro, where the state's K-12 Statewide Graduation Council announced its first step in developing new statewide graduation standards in the absence of the MCAS. The "vision?"

Graduates should be "thinkers," "leaders" and "contributors."

That realization comes after the council hosted eight listening sessions since January; as districts face a Dec. 31 deadline to submit Competency Determination policies and graduation requirements to the state; and as the council is expected to release its recommendations by July 2026. Two high school classes will have already graduated without standardized graduation requirements by that time.

Also this week: Following the state's infusion of $234 million to hospitals and community health centers last week, a stark Center for Health Information and Analysis report showed just how unstable the sector is, and how many millions in operating losses Massachusetts hospitals faced in fiscal year 2024 as a result of cost pressures.

A win for Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O'Brien seems to be another loss, albeit a temporary one, for long-awaited social consumption regulations, whose final review have been pushed back to the end of October. 

Just how much can everyone afford to lose? State officials seem to be weighing that question as they attempt to produce contingency plans ahead of a possible federal government shutdown. Next week centers around an unusual midyear economic roundtable that could inform a possible reset. With job growth, health care cost, and life sciences and education sector concerns, and future impacts of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, the pressure is rising on state officials and they want to hear what the experts have to say about the situation. 

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. MASSterList columnist Jon Keller's guest is Dr. Michael Collins, chancellor of the UMass Chan Medical School. They discuss the impact of federal budget cuts on the school’s research, the brain drain of top-level researchers, and efforts on Beacon Hill to help ease the funding crisis.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. The guest is Steve Kerrigan, chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

‘We’ve got to stop whistling through the graveyard’: Eastern’s Bob Rivers on Boston’s future at State House News Service event (Jon Chesto)

A big no-no: North Shore judge Lawrence Army, Jr. hit with fine after appointing father to plum, $450-an-hour job in divorce case he was presiding over (Contrarian Boston)

Former US Attorney Rachael Rollins facing public discipline from state bar (Herald)

Starbucks is closing Government Center’s iconic steaming kettle location (Boston.com)

Kitten found in Polar Park parking lot adopted, doing well (Twitter)

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Executive Director, Massachusetts Rivers Alliance

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Controller, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Manager of Arts and Culture, City of Chelsea

Human Resources Assistant, City of Newton

Transportation Engineer, City of Newton

Senior Transportation Engineer, City of Newton

Policy Advocacy and Legislative Coordinator, Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants

Family and Child Wellbeing Advocate, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

Collector/Treasurer, Town of Easton

District Aide & Communications Assistant, Office of Congressman Seth Moulton

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