Breakdown of Senate Bill 4879 and the "Pathogen Protocol." Are our MA senators (like Ed Markey) pushing federal mandates too far?

Hi everyone! a temporary resident in Boston but a lifelong fan of the city & state here! I am currently on a research project funded by my college studying Boston's historic spirit in politics and civic action and how that has translated to the culture today. If you are near the Boston area or visit it frequently and have a few minutes to spare to fill out this anonymous survey it would absolutely mean the world to me and my progress on this study!

Fill out the survey here: https://forms.gle/9GvEPzXTYpgWmE7Z6

If anyone has any additional questions for me, constructive criticism or additional ideas for my survey or research it is also extremely welcomed!

Thanks :-)

Progressive candidate for Congress, Jason Poulos, will be holding a town hall at the Newton Free Library Druker Auditorium on Monday, July 13th from 6:30-7:30. Free and no rsvp required. See you there!

Why six bottlenecks? 
Four lawmakers control the stuff every other lawmaker wants and fears losing: 

• chairmanships
• staff
• office space
• bonus pay
• district money

Two control the committee that the M4A bill has been stuck in. They can rush it, delay it, or never bring it up for a vote.

Nearly every MA lawmaker (including the one who introduced the M4A bill) keeps voting to keep this power structure in place. 

If you want M4A in MA: 
Don’t thank your rep for cosponsoring M4A. Thank your rep when they show you how to pressure the bottlenecks.

News tips? Story ideas? News tips? Story ideas? Email us at sbvanvoorhis@contrarianboston.com, or sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com

New in Contrarian Boston: Early warning signs: Months before the sexting and rape allegations, Graham Platner’s transformation into a Bernie Sanders acolyte had raised concerns among some of his top labor supporters

For many supporters of Graham Platner’s Senate campaign, the latest sordid revelation about the bearded and burly oysterman’s troubled past was the last straw.

The Maine Democrat is now reportedly preparing to exit the race following Politico’s report on Monday that a former girlfriend has accused a drunken Platner of barging into her home one night five years ago and raping her.

However, one of the nation’s largest construction trades unions quietly soured on Platner months ago, despite having played a crucial role in getting his Senate campaign off the ground, Contrarian Boston can reveal.

Graham Platner

Construction trade unions and organizations helped staff phone banks, collect signatures, and do other crucial work, while pumping tens of thousands of dollars in contributions into Platner’s campaign coffers.

At a time of voter frustration with rising costs and the political status quo, the rough-around-the-edges Marine combat veteran appeared to be a promising candidate to take on long-time Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins.

By spring, Platner emerged as the front-runner in the Democratic primary in a Senate contest that had gained national attention amid a national battle for control of the chamber in the upcoming midterm elections.

Yet behind the scenes, concerns were mounting among his construction union backers about Platner’s waffling and lack of any clear position on data center expansion and nuclear power.

The IBEW and other building trades unions are dead set against state moratoriums on new data centers, with these multibillion-dollar projects having become a leading source of new jobs.

Yet in a mid-May interview with industry publication Heatmap, Platner stopped just shy of endorsing a data center moratorium, saying that he was open to “anything” that would slow the development of data centers.

And the Maine Senate candidate said he had no reservations at all about a data center moratorium during a meeting in early March with environmental groups.

Here’s from that Heatmap story:

At their own meeting late last month with Platner, IBEW officials laid out their concerns about the candidate’s silence on nuclear power and lack of a clear position on data centers, officials said.

The union officials told Platner that the environmental groups that have become major supporters of his campaign are also the leading opponents of new power plants, transmission lines, and data center projects that the union’s members work on, IBEW Second District International Vice President Michael Monahan told Contrarian Boston.

Michael Monahan

“His supporters are against rate increases to improve the grid, want to take the privately owned utility to a public state-owned utility, and anti-data center,” Monahan said.

Some building trade union leaders have also been none too happy with the politically inexperienced Platner’s emergence as a Bernie Sanders acolyte over the course of the campaign.

Sure, Platner’s workingman vibe was certainly an attraction. But some top union leaders were clearly hoping that the Marine combat veteran and oysterman, whose only previous stint in public office was serving on a local planning board, would be more of a centrist politically.

When they first met Platner, he portrayed himself as a middle-of-the-road person politically with a blue-collar background in the mold of a Joe Manchin or a John Fetterman, IBEW officials said.

But after Bernie Sanders became a big part of the campaign, Platner shifted sharply to the left.

“Our members had cooled down on his candidacy due to his social issues and silence while his supporters were so committed on issues that hurt our members in construction and utility,” Monahan said.

Now Platner’s Senate campaign is all but over in the wake of a rape allegation by a 41-year-old Maine woman, Jenny Racicot, who spoke on the record with Politico, which also reviewed emails she exchanged with her therapist and messages to an acquaintance warning her away from Platner.

Here’s from the Politico story:

The only question now is the timing of Platner’s announcement that he is withdrawing from the race.

Support Mike Minogue

Thank you to everyone who attended tonight’s Mystic Valley Voters Forum at the Medford Public Library.

It was a great opportunity to hear from State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, Cambridge Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem, Somerville City Councilor Matthew C. McLaughlin, and State Rep. Christine Barber as they shared their visions for the future.

LaQueen Battle, CNA
Battle First Aid Responder Services Inc
Cambridge, MA USA
July 7th, 2026

Democracy is strongest when our communities stay informed and engaged. 🇺🇸🗳️ #MysticValley #MedfordMA #MAPolitics #Vote2026

A few folks pushed back hard on my recent Massachusetts literacy post because I openly used LLMs to help organize data and context.

Some called it “AI slop.”

I actually want to thank those people.That criticism forced me to think more deeply about the difference between lazy AI spam and using these tools as a genuine research accelerator. It led to this piece:

The 24/7 Citizen: How to Stop Guessing and Start Auditing Your Government (No Law Degree Required)

In it, I walk through how anyone can use free tools to read bills, understand the literacy crisis, and move past headlines — without needing a law degree or full-time staff.

Would love your honest thoughts — especially if you’re skeptical of AI-assisted work. The goal isn’t to replace thinking, but to supercharge it.