At a town hall in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Senator Elizabeth Warren said she would be taking a "hard look" at running for president in 2020.
The Democrat is currently running for re-election to the Senate. Warren's answer was in response to a question she fielded from the audience. In the meantime, Warren's opponent, Republican Geoff Diehl, says the Senator should drop out of the race to focus on a presidential run.
Also this week, an independent Massachusetts health care watchdog agency came out with a report on a ballot initiative. Question 1, if passed, would require nurse-to-patient ratios. The Health Policy Commission says that would force hospitals to boost hiring and wages, and increase costs as high as $949 million a year.
A federal judge this week issued a set back to a planned casino in East Windsor, Connecticut. The owners of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are looking to build it mere miles from downtown Springfield, where MGM opened its own casino in August. The federal Department of the Interior hasn't acted on part of the deal between the Mashantucket Pequot tribe and the state, and the judge would not compel the feds to do anything about it.
And finally, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker was in Springfield this week to announce $2.5 million in state funding to help renovate the shuttered Paramount Theater in the city's downtown. The $41 million project would restore the theater and add a hotel, but the renovation effort has been subject to multiple starts and stops in recent years.
Guests:
- Matt Szafranski, editor, Western Mass Politics & Insight
- Mike Dobbs, managing editor, Reminder Newspapers
Listen to all our The Short List podcasts.
Disclosure: MGM has purchased underwriting from New England Public Radio publicizing the company's non-gambling activities. The NEPR newsroom operates independently of the station's development department, and editorial decisions are made without regard to any funding relationships.
