For movers, this weekend is the busiest of

the season.SethJones(right)strapped

downmattressesintheprocessofdispos-

ingtheminAllstonSunday.B1.

Texas officials searched for the reason a

gunman went on a 10-mile rampage,leav-

ingsevenbodiesinhispath.A2.

Yemeni officials and rebel leaders said at

least 100 people died in a series of air-

strikesbytheSaudi-ledcoalition.A9.

abcde

Monday, September 2, 2019

By Matt Stout

GLOBE STAFF

Higher costs at the pump. An overhaul to

school funding. A ban on handheld phones while

driving.

With Beacon Hill beginning to stir from its

summer slumber, there’s potential — and pressure

— for state lawmakers to deliver a bevy of long-

promised proposals in the coming months that

could touch wallets, classrooms, and commutes

statewide.

Legislative leaders have repeatedly targeted

“the fall” to unveil several major items, among

them a broad transportation financing bill in the

House that could rely on higher taxes and fees —

such as a gas tax hike — to funnel more dollars in-

to the state’s aging infrastructure.

That’s not all. A top House official says a pro-

posal to rework the state’s decades-old education

funding formula is primed to surface as early as

this month. The Senate’s leader says she wants to

push for a ban on plastic shopping bags. And law-

makers plan to hold at least one more hearing dig-

ging into the failures at the Registry of Motor Ve-

hicles.

Toss in the likelihood that Governor Charlie

BEACON HILL, Page A

By Shelley Murphy

GLOBE STAFF

A homeless father, fleeing an abusive domestic

situation with his two little boys, felt safe when

the state found them emergency shelter earlier

this year in a Plymouth condominium complex.

And for the first time in a long time, there was

someone there to help, a neighbor who picked up

groceries for them at a nearby food pantry, drove

them to a playground, and stopped by with his

niece and nephew so the kids could play.

But unbeknownst to the father, that friendly

neighbor, Robert E. Lebaron Jr., was a registered

sex offender with convictions that included child

rape. In May, police arrested him on a charge of

indecent assault and battery against one of the fa-

ther’s boys.

The father, who asked to remain anonymous to

SEX OFFENDER, Page A

By Tim Logan and Milton J. Valencia
GLOBE STAFF
It is as ordinary a piece of land as there is
in this booming city — 4,100 nondescript
square feet at 27-29 H Street, a couple of
blocks from East Broadway in South Boston.
But now it’s the focal point of a federal investi-

gation that has again reached into City Hall

and shows signs of spreading beyond the one

official who has already been charged.

The property had been owned by Steven

Turner, an established but little-known devel-

oper, when it received an extension of some

zoning permits in 2017, according to city re-

cords.

While Turner was not named in court re-

cords Friday, two people familiar with the

case say it was he who paid then-Boston Plan-

ning & Development Agency staffer John

Lynch $50,000 to encourage a member of the

Zoning Board of Appeals to vote in favor of

Turner’s plan to build a condo building at 27-

29 H Street.

Turner did not respond to e-mails from a

Globe reporter seeking comment, his voice-

mail box was full and not accepting messages,

and no one answered the door at his Beacon

Hill condo on Sunday afternoon. He is not

DEVELOPER, Page B

Big-ticket

itemsloom

infallfor

lawmakers

Educationfundingreform,

infrastructurefixestoplist

Agencyplaces

needyfamily

bysexoffender

Auditdenounceslackof

attentionbyhousingdept.

Asmallplot,aroutinevote,afederalcase

Briberyreportedlypart

ofcitypermitextension

By Naomi Martin

GLOBE STAFF

Black entrepreneurs say

they are losing hope that own-

ers of Massachusetts marijua-

na businesses will look any

more diverse than the rest of

corporate America, despite the

state’s first-in-the nation re-

quirement that the industry in-

clude groups hardest hit by the

war on drugs.

Only two of 184 marijuana

business licenses in Massachu-

setts are owned by people in

the state’s social equity pro-

grams, which include minori-

ties, people with drug records,

and those from areas with high

numbers of pot arrests. One is

a black man from Boston; the

other, a white woman whose

husband had a drug charge.

“The window is closing ev-

ery day — they need to stop

what they’re doing and rewrite

the script,” said Shannon

Jones, 34, an entrepreneur

from Marlborough in the

MARIJUANA, Page A

Marginalized

again,this

timeinpot

licensebids

For breaking news, updated

stories, and more, visit our website:

BostonGlobe.com

VOL. 296, NO. 64

*

Suggested retail price

$3.00 Monday:Cloudy,showerslate.

High75-80,low64-69.

Tuesday:Sunreturns.

High75-80,low63-68.

ComicsandweatherC10-11.

A spray increase

By Billy Baker

GLOBE STAFF

HAMILTON — It was getting late

on Saturday at Patton Park in Hamil-

ton, and Matt Griffin was stalking

around the mound yelling at himself

for making a bad pitch, as he is

known to do when the games get

down to the knockout rounds and

he’s facing a team from New York.

He’d hung a slider over the plate

and the batter drilled it foul, so when

he got set again on the mound, he

went with his best pitch. They call it a

“drop.”

WIFFLE BALL, Page A

Takes a swing at Wiffle Ball legacy

CentershiftstoN.Y.

foragamefromMass.

BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF

The pitch: The National Golden Stick Wiffle Ball

championships were held at Patton Park in Hamilton.

‘Youdon’tmovetwochildren

nexttoasexoffender.’

MAN WHO SAYS A SON WAS MOLESTED

NIC ANTAYA FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

SAUL MARTINEZ/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Much of coastal Southeast prepared for Hurricane Dorian, a massive Category 5 storm that pummeled the Bahamas and was

expected to turn north and sideswipe the United States early Tuesday. The storm packed 185 miles per hour sustained winds.A6.

AN ANXIOUS WAIT

*Offers valid 9/2/2019 - 9/5/2019 at 7:59 am EST unless otherwise noted. Limited quantities available at these prices.

Doorbuster Coupon Offers: Limited Quantities Available. Offers valid for date and time shown, when used with the applicable coupon code,

until offer expiration or sellout. Limit 5 items per customer. Ultrabook, Celeron, Celeron Inside, Core Inside, Intel, Intel Logo, Intel Atom,

Intel Atom Inside, Intel Core, Intel Inside, Intel Inside Logo, Intel vPro, Itanium, Itanium Inside, Pentium, Pentium Inside, vPro Inside, Xeon,

Xeon Phi, Xeon Inside, and Intel Optane are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Copyright

© 2019 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC, Dell EMC and other trademarks are trademarks of

Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. 310501

Vostro 15 5581 with an 8th Gen Intel®Core™i

processor, Dell 24 Monitor - P2419H and Vostro Small

Desktopwithan8thGenIntel®Core™i3 processor

See inside for details.

Call for highest savings

877-BUY-DELL

UPTO 50%

OFF

LABORDAYSAL

E

LIMITEDTIME

BUSINESS

DOORBUSTERS