Do you know all the Mass. ballot Qs? New poll says probably not | John L. Micek

Forces on either side of this fall’s battery of ballot questions are dropping some big bucks to influence voter opinion ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

So is it working?

Sort of — at least if a University of New Hampshire poll that dropped last week is any indication.

Majorities of respondents to the poll say they know some or a little bit about the five ballot questions, which, if approved, will reshape public policy for decades to come.

Those questions include whether or not to:

• Scrap the state’s MCAS exam as a graduation requirement;
• Boost the minimum wage for tipped workers;
• Give transportation network drivers the right to unionize and to engage in collective bargaining;
• Legalize psychedelic substances in controlled settings, and
• Give the state auditor the right to audit the state Legislature.

Nearly six in 10 (59%) likely voter respondents to the poll said they’d heard some or a lot about the tipped wage question, while 56% said the same about the MCAS question.

Fifty percent said the same about the question that would give Uber and Lyft drivers the right to unionize.

Public awareness dropped off considerably when it came to the question dealing with the state auditor (39%) and psychedelics (36%), according to the poll.

The poll also showed gaps in public understanding of the nature of the ballot questions themselves and what they would do.

Public understanding ran the highest on the MCAS (78%) and tipped wages (69%) ballot questions, according to the poll.

About two-thirds of respondents (63%) said they understood the unionization ballot question, while a little more than half (54%) said the same about the psychedelics question, according to the poll.

Once again, public understanding of the auditor’s question trailed, with 47% saying they understood it, according to the poll.

That’s a mixed result for the special interest groups that have poured some $8.5 million into the ballot fights, variously advocating for and against the questions, The Boston Globe reported earlier this month.

That’s a reminder that, despite the policy high stakes, the ballot fights essentially remain an insider’s game.

Healey gets ‘Rainy Day’ fund bill

This one’s a little obscure but stay with us.

The state House and Senate have sent Gov. Maura Healey a bill that leverages interest in the state’s Rainy Day Fund savings account that can be used to compete for federal funds or pay down its debt.

The two chambers reached a compromise on the legislation on Thursday afternoon and approved it not long afterward, State House News Service reported.

The fund currently has a balance of more than $8.8 billion, lawmakers said in a statement.

The legislation will “allow us to pay down long-term liabilities at a faster pace when the [fund] is at a healthy level,” Sen. John Cronin, D-Worcester/Middlesex, the upper chamber’s lead negotiator, told the wire service.

More good news: The vote means lawmakers have scratched another bill off their to-do list of unfinished legislation.

‘Literacy Launch’ … launched

Healey administration officials and state lawmakers field-tripped it to Clinton last week to officially kick off the first year of the state’s new early childhood literacy program.

The “Literacy Launch” program, as it’s known, is aimed at children aged 3 to third grade, the administration said in a statement. It’s seeded with $20 million in funding from this year’s state budget. That money is further buttressed with a $38 million federal literacy grant.

“Massachusetts is ranked number one in the country for schools, and we want to be number one for literacy too. Literacy Launch will help us reach that goal by giving more students the instruction they need to be able to read and read well,” Healey said in a statement.

The administration said it plans to help up to 45 school districts “transition to a strong, evidence-based literacy program through a competitive grant program,” during the first year of the initiative.

The program will “help transform early literacy learning in Massachusetts, building a critical foundation in reading and writing,” state Education Secretary Dr. Patrick Tutwiler said.

They said it

“I’m confident, based on all the calls, they read the papers too.”

— State Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell on calls for legislative action on a stalled bill aimed at averting a future Steward Health Care-style meltdown in the state.

The Sunday shows

Marketing expert Diane Hessan guests on WBZ-TV’s “Keller @ Large” at 8:30 a.m. Sunday. State Sen. Barry Finegold, D-2nd Essex/Middlesex headlines WCVB-TV’s “On the Record” at 11 a.m. Sunday. Political analysts Mary Anne Marsh and Rob Gray also join the discussion. At 11:30 a.m, Evan Horowitz, of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, and Boston Globe journalist Esmy Jimenez are on NBC10Boston’s “@Issue” (h/t to Politico Massachusetts and MASSterList).

Leaf-peep without leaving home

The official start of fall is upon us, and with leaves are already turning, it’s time to schedule that leaf-peeping trip. But what if you didn’t have to drive all that far for peak foliage?

Boston is the 4th-best city nationwide for seeing fall foliage, according to a ranking list by the travel-and-leisure site Islands.

The state’s largest city “blends urban beauty with a long-lasting fall foliage season, peaking from Oct. 29 to Nov. 9,” the magazine said in an email touting its list.

Boston also offers “36 scenic hiking trails and three nearby scenic routes, making it easy for residents and visitors alike to immerse themselves in autumn’s vibrant colors.”

And the T even works, so you can get around easily.

Turned up to 11

This one feels like a gimme, but it’s September. So here’s “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire for your Sunday morning on this 22nd day of September.

Your Sunday long read

If you’re like a lot of Americans, you might have found yourself hankering lately for a simpler, less connected, more analog time.

Writing for Vox, Zöe Bernard explains why flip phones, vinyl LPs, and even print magazines, are making a comeback — and why they might now even be considered luxury items.

“While society is nowhere close to abandoning computers writ large, there are signs that we are reaching peak digital saturation,” Bernard writes. “This has felt especially true in the years following the screen-addled pandemic, in which there’s been a concerted push towards spending more time in person.”

That’s it for this week. Have a peaceful Sunday. We’ll see you all back here next week.

This post was originally published on this site