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abcde

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

By Victoria McGrane and James Pindell

GLOBE STAFF

Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III has not

made up his mind on whether to mount a primary

challenge against Senator Edward J. Markey, yet al-

ready the lines are being drawn in what would be a

generational showdown between two of the state’s

most respected political figures.

The prospect that Kennedy, the 38-year-old scion

of the state’s most revered political dynasty, might

take on the 73-year-old Markey, the longest-serving

member of the Massachusetts congressional delega-

tion, set off a seismic charge in the Massachusetts po-

litical landscape.

The early tumult points toward a potentially divi-

sive primary that would test loyalties and the long-

SENATE, Page A

Kennedyvs.

Markeywould

testloyalties

Racecouldaccelerateshifting

ofDemocraticlandscape

By Janelle Nanos
GLOBE STAFF
As more and more cities across the
state and country prohibit plastic shop-
ping bags, a statewide ban came closer
to reality last month. There’s just one
major problem: Some of the most ada-

mant supporters of efforts to enact a

ban say they can’t support the bill.

At the heart of the issue is an ideo-

logical battle over how well plastic bag

ban policies actually work, and wheth-

er such legislation creates unintended

environmental consequences.

A coalition of environmental, retail,

and municipal groups had worked with

lawmakers to draft legislation with two

key components: banning single-use

plastic bags statewide and requiring a

feeonallpaperbags usedduring

checkout. The bipartisan bill was spon-

sored by Representative Lori Ehrlich

Leftholdingtheplasticsingle-usebag

Billforstatewideban

stuckasrevisions

promptrebellion

amongsupporters

VOL. 296, NO. 51

*

Suggested retail price

$3.

Tuesday:Sunny, cooler.

High 81-86, low 65-70.

Wednesday:Clouds, shower.

High 82-87, low 69-74.

Sunrise: 5:56. Sunset: 7:38.

Comics and weather,C8-9.

Obituaries,C7.

Rays to go In the news

By Matt Stout
GLOBE STAFF
Attorney General Maura Healey has
derided the Registry of Motor Vehicles’
failures to track troubled drivers as a
“shameful” example of a “lack of lead-
ership, lack of management, [and] lack
of accountability” in the Baker admin-
istration.
Unlike other critics, however, Hea-
ley has a role with the beleaguered
agency: She holds a seat on the three-
person panel tasked with overseeing
the much-maligned Merit Rating
Board, the Registry unit now at the
center of the scandal.
The obscure panel, which apparent-
ly has not met in years, has largely sunk
into the background amid other glar-
ing deficiencies within the Registry, no-
tably its failure to process an alert
about a West Springfield trucker who,
weeks later, allegedly hit and killed sev-
en people in a horrifying crash in New
Hampshire.
But with the board reconvening
Tuesday, the attention is likely to nudge
its members, Healey included, into the
spotlight that’s been on the agency and
those assigned, in varying degrees, to
monitor it.
Under state law, the panel — which,
like the unit it oversees, is also called
the Merit Rating Board — includes the
RMV’s registrar, the state’s insurance
commissioner, and the attorney gener-
al or an appointee, all of whom are re-
quired to appoint a director of the unit
HEALEY, Page A

AG sits on

RMV panel

faulted in

scandal

ROYAL ROAR

The skies over Boston provided the

palette for the artistry of the Red

Arrows of the Royal Air Force

Aerobatic Team on Monday. The

British pilots are on an 11-week

North American tour. B

NIC ANTAYA FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

and Senator Jamie Eldridge, and en-

dorsed by nearly 100 legislators and

200 constituent groups.

Now that coalition says the Envi-

ronment, Natural Resources and Agri-

culture Committee’s closed-door deal-

ings weakened the proposal to the

point where it may do more harm than

good.

“The original draft would have been

one of the strongest plastic bag regula-

tions anywhere,” said Alex Vai, cam-

paigns coordinator for the Surfrider

Foundation, an all-volunteer environ-

BAG BAN, Page A

NIC ANTAYA FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

One of three stones commemorating the three people killed in

the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings was placed along Boylston

Street Monday as part of the final stage in the completion of the

memorial. This stone came from Spectacle Island, where Krystle

Campbell, 29, had managed the Summer Shack and event

operations. She died a block away from the marker.B1.

MARATHON MEMORIES

UK

Environmental

Agency

researchfound

thatcottonor

canvasbags

needto

beused

131

timesto

accountforthe

carbonoutput

requiredto

createthem.

By Jess Bidgood

GLOBE STAFF

Senator Elizabeth Warren on Monday offered a

broad apology at a forum organized by Native Ameri-

cans, publicly acknowledging missteps relating to her

claims of tribal ancestry that have fueled discomfort

among some Native and progressive activists and

made her a target of ridicule by President Trump and

other Republicans.

“I want to say this, like anyone who’s been honest

with themselves,” Warren said at the event in Sioux

City, Iowa. “I know that I have made mistakes. I am

sorry for harm I have caused. I have listened and I

have learned, a lot.”

Her apology was sweeping but not specific. War-

ren did not directly mention the DNA test she took

last year in an effort to prove her claims — a step that

raised deep objections from Native Americans who

opposed her use of controversial racial science to

make a point about her ancestry. On Monday, the vid-

eo promoting those results, first released last fall, was

WARREN, Page A

Wa r r e n

apologizes

for missteps

on ancestry

Cites‘mistakes,’urgeschanges

toNativeAmericanpolicies

By Beth Teitell

GLOBE STAFF

R

oll your clothes. Use mesh packing

cubes. Tuck socks in shoes. Make a

list and edit ruthlessly. Choose a

travel palette.

At this point, I’ve read so many

“how to pack a suitcase” stories I could recite

their lessons in a coma.Slip tissue paper be-

tween garments to prevent wrinkling.

So why do I still stink at packing? Because

my challenges, I’ve finally come to accept, ar-

en’t logistical. They’re emotional.

My name is Beth and I am an aspirational

packer. I pack the person I want to be, not the per-

son I am. If you saw Vacation Beth’s suitcase, you’d

think she was an avid tennis player who reads 600-

page histories, in hardcover, and cheerfully wears

high heels while touring. If only.

The next time I’m getting ready for a trip, I

should visit a shrink, not the Container Store.

That’s according to Cambridge therapist Kyle

Carney. “Packing stirs up underlying, unresolved

issues,” she said.

“People will come in and talk about how they

are going away with a group of college girlfriends

on a long weekend,” she said, and figuring out what

to bring surfaces issues of self-confidence and ap-

pearance. “How do I look compared to my friends?

Who has aged better?”

She also sees patients heading to a family trip,

PACKING, Page A

Asuitcasefullofhopes,anxieties

The‘aspirationalyou’often

crowdsoutsocksandjeans

JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF