Bigchangescouldbecom-

ingtoSomerville’sDavis

Squareafter a student-

housing developer bought a

string of storefronts.B6.

Atreatmentcenteris

plannedinWesternMassa-

chusettsforyoungmen

with“gamingdisorder,”a

controversial term.B1.

PresidentTrumphailedthe

contributionsofAfrican-

Americansat a ceremony in

Jamestown, Va.,

even as he con-

tinued to battle

black critics.A2.

It’stimetocele-

bratetheice

creamsandwich,

120 years (give

or take a few)

after it was

invented.G1.

For breaking news, updated

stories, and more, visit our website:

BostonGlobe.com

VOL. 296, NO. 31

*

Suggested retail price

$3.

Wednesday:Still hot.

High 88-93. Low 71-76.

Thursday:Less humid at last.
High 80-85. Low 68-73.

Hightide:11:14a.m.,11:26p.m.

Sunrise: 5:35 Sunset: 8:

Comics and Weather,G8-9.

ACinthehole

abcde

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

By Zoe Greenberg

GLOBE STAFF

O

n the day of my first driving les-

son, my instructor pointed at

the cars surrounding us and

cheerfully explained the most

important rule: All of these people de-

spise you.

Ignore all pedestrians and bicyclists,

she added. And sound your horn often.

I had not planned to learn to drive in

Boston. In fact, I had not planned to

learn to drive at all. At the age of 27, I

found not driving had been a core part of

my identity — like how some people are

vegans or wear bow ties — for many

years. Even though I was surrounded by

drivers, I suspected that they were fun-

damentally different from me, born with

a mysterious and intricate knowledge

about where a person is allowed to park.

But then I moved to Boston and de-

cided that, unfortunately, a driver’s li-

cense was important for being a reporter.

I often needed to get to out-of-the-way

places, and every faraway assignment

was an exercise in creative visioning.

In the past I had sometimes taken ex-

treme measures — for example, persuad-

ing my friend to drive me six hours each

DRIVING, Page A

Forastudentdriver,theultimatetest

27-year-old gets

a crash course in

Boston’s mean streets

JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Globe reporter Zoe Greenberg, always torn about driving, practiced for her

road test with brother-in-law Richard Cozzens by her side.

By Maria Cramer

GLOBE STAFF

A top aide to Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh

acknowledged Tuesday that she had received im-

munity for her testimony about City Hall’s role in

a 2014 dispute between the Boston Calling music

festival and a stagehands union, a surprising de-

velopment in the political corruption trial.

Joyce Linehan, Walsh’s policy chief and one of

his closest advisers, is the only witness to date

who has received immunity in the extortion trial

of two City Hall aides. She has been named in sev-

eral e-mails between the city and Crash Line Pro-

ductions, the Boston Calling promoter.

Linehan briefly took the stand Tuesday under

the grant of immunity, an agreement with prose-

cutors that prohibits them from charging her

criminally for anything she says during testimo-

ny. She is expected to return to testify Wednesday.

Prosecutors have charged Kenneth Brissette,

the city’s tourism chief, and Timothy Sullivan,

head of intergovernmental affairs, with extortion

and conspiracy to commit extortion for allegedly

BOSTON CALLING, Page A

By Michael Levenson

GLOBE STAFF

Shayne Stilphen died after he was found un-

conscious in a police holding cell in the South

End on July 14. But the public wasn’t informed

about it until his mother, Lynnel Cox, marched

into the Suffolk district attorney’s office last week

demanding answers.

At least four other people have died in police

custody since 2012, Boston police say, but they

could not provide an exact number and there is

no requirement that they or other police depart-

ments publicly disclose when suspects they are

holding die in their custody.

The conditions in police holding cells are

sparking increasing concern among prisoner ad-

vocates who warn that the opioid crisis is driving

more people into a criminal justice system that

was never designed to prevent overdose deaths or

care for those going through withdrawal.

“It’s not an aberration,” said Elizabeth Matos,

executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.

“It’s a systematic problem of the system not being

properly equipped to deal with folks coming in

with substance use disorder.”

Boston police officials declined to discuss Stil-

phen’s death or how prepared they are to handle

suspects struggling with drug addiction, who

may have to spend hours or even a weekend in

DEATHS, Page A

By Matt Stout and Danny McDonald
GLOBE STAFF
Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles offi-
cials were told three months before a fatal crash
involving a truck driver with a long history of in-
fractions that nearly 13,000 alerts from other
states about law-breaking drivers were languish-
ing in an obscure unit within the agency, law-
makers learned Tuesday.
Registry officials had knowingly stopped pro-
cessing alerts from other states in March 2018,
and didn’t act for more than a year despite multi-
ple warning flags about the failure to strip some
licenses, creating the dangerous backlog.
The revelations, detailed during more than
seven hours of testimony on Beacon Hill, paint a
picture of an agency crippled by systemic dys-

function, questionable management decisions,

and rigid staffing that spanned years before the

crash that killed seven motorcyclists in New

Hampshire thrust the Registry into its current

crisis.

Erin Deveney, the former head of the Registry

who resigned in June, disclosed that the depart-

ment had, in fact, never processed the paper noti-

fications other states sent it about errant Massa-

chusetts-licensed motorists until she moved the

responsibility in 2016 to a little-known unit

known as the Merit Rating Board.

Governor Charlie Baker’s transportation sec-

retary, Stephanie Pollack, told lawmakers that

even as the issue first bubbled to the surface in

2016, the Registry didn’t let on about how seri-

RMV, Page A

RMV was warned about backlog

Lack of staffing blamed for decision to ignore citations

from out of state; lawmakers say they weren’t notified

‘An auditor told you there were 12,829 unprocessed tasks...

and you asked one IT person [for help] and that was the end of it?’

SENATOR ERIC LESSER,a Longmeadow Democrat

JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF

“I did not have the manpower,” Merit

Rating Board director Thomas Bowes said.

PAUL SANCYA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Senator Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren vied for the spotlight.

By Liz Goodwin

GLOBE STAFF

DETROIT — The Democratic

Party’s soul-searching about

whether its 2020 presidential

contenders have veered too far

to the left spilled

out onto the de-

bate stage Tuesday

night, as moderate

and progressive candidates

clashed over the politics of

Medicare for All, the Green New

Deal, and decriminalizing bor-

der-crossing.

Senators Bernie Sanders and

Elizabeth Warren, side by side

and center stage, handily fend-

ed off attacks from the field’s

more moderate — and lesser

known — candidates in a

lengthy battle over their support

for a wholesale overhaul of the

health care system, which the

moderates argued would be di-

sastrous in a general election.

“You might as well FedEx the

election to Donald Trump,” for-

mer Colorado governor John

Hickenlooper said from his end

of the debate stage.

Hickenlooper’s lament was

part of a larger chorus from

many of the moderates on stage,

who painted a bleak picture for

Democrats should they nomi-

nate someone who embraces

some of the party’s most trans-

formative ideas.

John Delaney, a former US

representative from Maryland

who has hovered around 1 per-

cent in national polls, compared

Warren and Sanders to unsuc-

DEBATE, Page A

Opioid crisis

leaves many

vulnerable in

holding cells

Amid deaths, police say

they’re often unprepared

to deal with addicts’ issues

Top Walsh aide

testifies at trial

with immunity

Linehan tells of union issues

in 2014 Boston Calling case

Democrats battle over party’s direction

Warren, Sanders take heat for big ideas from moderates with eyes on 2020

15.9 minutes

AmountoftimeElizabethWarren

spoke,themostofanycandidate

15.6 minutes

BernieSanders

12.8 minutes

PeteButtigieg

10.6 minutes

SteveBullock

10 minutes

JohnDelaney

MLB’stradedead-

lineistoday,and

the question is,

how aggressive will

the Red Sox be?C1.

‘Yes.’

THOMAS BOWES,

Merit Rating Board director

ºFact

check, A6.