2 months ago
NBC News' Chief Data ******* yst Steve Kornacki breaks down key primary races in Massachusetts, including how 80-year-old progressive Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) won against Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.). NBC 10 Boston's Matt Prichard previews Sen. Markey's general election prospects.
#markey
#markey
2 months ago
The Boston Tea Party wasn't really about the tea, and it certainly wasn't about the Mohawks though those were the costumes the colonists wore as they dumped the boxes overboard.
In Tuesday's Democratic Senate primary in deep blue Massachusetts, longtime Sen. Ed Markey is harking back to those revolutionary roots as he pitches himself to voters as the anti-establishment candidate against Rep. Seth Moulton – despite arriving to Washington just three years after Joe Biden did in 1973.
Although the language of the left-wing insurgency surrounds the race, under the surface, the contest for many appears to be less about ideological issues or governing philosophies than a smash-up of ambition, efforts to secure Democratic power in the state in the future, and personal pique.
Sen. Ed Markey speaks during a Get Out the Vote event, Saturday, August 29, 2026 in Boston. - Mark Stockwell/AP
Markey, 80, in one corner, is vowing to keep fighting for left-wing ideals, which include some successes and some that he hasn't passed in all his years in power so far. In the other, Moulton, the 47-year-old decorated Marine and six-term congressman who has frustrated Nancy Pelosi and many other Democrats by repeatedly challenging their leadership, has staked his campaign on generational change.
#boston #left
In Tuesday's Democratic Senate primary in deep blue Massachusetts, longtime Sen. Ed Markey is harking back to those revolutionary roots as he pitches himself to voters as the anti-establishment candidate against Rep. Seth Moulton – despite arriving to Washington just three years after Joe Biden did in 1973.
Although the language of the left-wing insurgency surrounds the race, under the surface, the contest for many appears to be less about ideological issues or governing philosophies than a smash-up of ambition, efforts to secure Democratic power in the state in the future, and personal pique.
Sen. Ed Markey speaks during a Get Out the Vote event, Saturday, August 29, 2026 in Boston. - Mark Stockwell/AP
Markey, 80, in one corner, is vowing to keep fighting for left-wing ideals, which include some successes and some that he hasn't passed in all his years in power so far. In the other, Moulton, the 47-year-old decorated Marine and six-term congressman who has frustrated Nancy Pelosi and many other Democrats by repeatedly challenging their leadership, has staked his campaign on generational change.
#boston #left
5 months ago
SEATTLE (AP) — A group of Democratic senators and one Republican, as well as two Democratic House committees, sent letters Monday to the National Science Foundation asking it to reverse course on its plan to dismantle a sprawling ocean monitoring network, with House lawmakers going further and accusing the agency of acting illegally.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative is a network of more than 900 ocean sensors built at a cost of $386 million. Over the last decade it has tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, climate change and extreme weather, producing data freely available to the public and informing more than 500 scientific publications. The project was slated to run another 15 to 20 years.
The National Science Foundation had directed the removal of most of the system's instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027 — a decision scientists said came with no warning and no scientific review. The independent federal agency, which was established by Congress, described the move not as a cancellation but as a "descoping" aligned with a strategy to prioritize "evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies." The Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget had included a 55% cut to the agency.
"It just seems like this is supreme stupidity and a violation of the fundamental distribution of powers in our Constitution," Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon told The ****** ociated Press. "This program is authorized, it's funded, and for the administration to shut it down without direction from Congress violates that vision in which the people's representatives decide what's done and funded, and the executive branch executes that vision."
Merkley and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska co-led the letter, which was also signed by Democratic Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Ron Wyden of Oregon. It urged the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to halt the dismantling of the Ocean Observatories Initiative and conduct a thorough review, including consultation with the marine science community, before any further action is taken.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative is a network of more than 900 ocean sensors built at a cost of $386 million. Over the last decade it has tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, climate change and extreme weather, producing data freely available to the public and informing more than 500 scientific publications. The project was slated to run another 15 to 20 years.
The National Science Foundation had directed the removal of most of the system's instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027 — a decision scientists said came with no warning and no scientific review. The independent federal agency, which was established by Congress, described the move not as a cancellation but as a "descoping" aligned with a strategy to prioritize "evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies." The Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget had included a 55% cut to the agency.
"It just seems like this is supreme stupidity and a violation of the fundamental distribution of powers in our Constitution," Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon told The ****** ociated Press. "This program is authorized, it's funded, and for the administration to shut it down without direction from Congress violates that vision in which the people's representatives decide what's done and funded, and the executive branch executes that vision."
Merkley and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska co-led the letter, which was also signed by Democratic Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Ron Wyden of Oregon. It urged the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to halt the dismantling of the Ocean Observatories Initiative and conduct a thorough review, including consultation with the marine science community, before any further action is taken.
