AG Healey Has Not Prosecuted Campaign Finance Cases: Patch PM

WOBURN, MA — It's Monday, May 24. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• A Brookline crossing guard helped track down a man accused of indecent assault and attempted robbery at a Boston hospital May 20.
• Burlington detected elevated toxic chemicals in its drinking water and is considering new alternatives to provide water to residents.
• Woburn police are looking for a woman accused of throwing iced coffee on a Dunkin' Donuts employee.

Scroll down for more on those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top Story

In the six years she has been Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey has not taken legal action in any of the 13 cases where evidence of campaign finance law violations were turned over by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

According to the Boston Globe, which first reported this story, four of the investigations are active and one was turned over to an outside prosecutor after Healey recused herself. In the other eight cases, Healey's office said legal action was "not warranted." Campaign finance regulators, however, say there was evidence of wrongdoing in those cases.

"This has so many gaps. And this is not the statute speaking — these are manmade gaps," Maurice Cunningham, a University of Massachusetts Boston professor who regularly writes about state campaign finance law, told the newspaper. "You can do something serious enough to get referred to the AG and then have no enforcement action whatsoever? It's really a sweet spot."

Read the full story.

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Monday's Other Top Stories

Crossing guard helps catch suspect: A Brookline crossing guard helped track down a man accused of indecent assault and attempted robbery at a Boston hospital May 20. The crossing guard, whose name was redacted from the police report, told police she was at her traffic post on Boylston Street at Reservoir Road May 20 when a man wearing bright red sneakers and holding a long cigarette. That night, while she was watching the news, an image of the same man flashed on the TV in connection with an indecent assault. She said she told her husband and then contacted Brookline and Boston police to let them know.

Toxins in town's water: Burlington detected elevated toxic chemicals in its drinking water and is considering new alternatives to provide water to residents. The Department of Public Works said in a letter recent testing of the Vinebrook and Mill Pond treatment plants showed the presence of the man-made chemical known as PFAS is higher than what a new state standard allows. The DPW is now considering ways to reduce the amount of PFAS, which are linked to certain health risks.

Eat fresh: Patch's 2021 Massachusetts Farmers Market Guide

Picture This

Coffee chucker: Woburn Police are asking for help identifying a Dunkin' Donuts customer who they say threw iced coffee on a Dunkin' Donuts employee. (Photo Courtesy Woburn Police Department)

They Said It

"Everybody has the right to freedom of speech," told CBS Boston. "That's what this case was about. Everybody has the right whether it's left, right, middle."

• Joe Casieri, of Plymouth, who won a court fight against the town and can continue to display his "Biden Is Not My President" sign on his property.

In Case You Missed It

"Please Stand By": Coronavirus canceled Boston Calling in 2020 and 2021, but a cryptic tweet asking fans to "Please Stand By" and an announcement scheduled for Wednesday are giving fans hope it could return sooner.

By The Numbers

$1 million: The prize on a scratch ticket Lea Rose Fiega discarded. The owners of the Massachusetts store where Fiega bought the ticket returned it to her.