In the News

GLOUCESTER — The U.S. trade war with China has turned into a war of another kind, as representatives at the state and federal levels are taking aim at tariffs that have rocked several sectors of the New England seafood industry.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democratic candidate for president, filed legislation to expand disaster relief to fisheries — such as the New England lobster industry — harmed by retaliatory tariffs that have choked off lucrative trade with China.

PEABODY — What do a bike shop, a Gloucester seafood processor, a Newburyport lingerie maker and a worldwide athletic shoe company have in common?

They are all nervous about a proposed 25% hike in tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of products imported from China — a measure that President Donald Trump supports to tackle what is seen as unfair trade practices.

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton is trying to secure additional funding for North Atlantic right whale research through an amendment to the federal government funding bill for fiscal year 2020.

Moulton, D-Salem, successfully amended the House of Representatives' funding bill to include an additional $1.5 million for cooperative research by federal fishery regulators, commercial fishermen and conservation groups.

The amended funding bill now contains $2.5 million for right whale research.

BOSTON — Congressional lawmakers are pressing for more timely public notice of sewage discharges into rivers, lakes and other bodies of water in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

A proposal filed Wednesday in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Salem and Lori Trahan, D-Westford, would require local governments anywhere in the country to notify the public within four hours of a sewage discharge from combined sewer overflows. The outfalls are part of decades-old sewer and stormwater systems designed to spill when they are inundated, usually by heavy rain.

LYNN — General Electric and union negotiators are bargaining wages, healthcare and retirement at a time when the firm’s aviation business, including the River Works, are the bright spot on GE’s gloomy financial landscape.

With a four-year contract between GE and 11 unions set to expire on June 23, contract talks in Cincinnati entered their third week on Monday. Negotiations on behalf of 6,100 workers include 1,253 International Union of Electric Workers (IUE) Local 201 employees at the River Works.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s accusation on Thursday that Iran was behind an attack on two oil tankers forces President Trump to confront a choice he has avoided until now: whether to make good on his threat that Tehran would “suffer greatly” if American interests were imperiled.

DUIs, domestic incidents, arrests, police brutality, even murder plots -- members of Congress spent much of a Tuesday hearing detailing horror stories of VA police misconduct.

Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., told Department of Veterans Affairs leadership about a veteran who, while recovering from spinal surgery, was allegedly tackled to the ground by VA police and handcuffed. When he asked for a police report from the incident, he received a summons in the mail to appear in federal court on criminal charges.

WASHINGTON – One described a Veterans Affairs police officer throwing a New York veteran seeking therapy to the ground. Another said a California veteran died after receiving similar treatment at the hands of VA police there. A third noted that a VA officer training to be an instructor at the national VA police academy threatened employees with a gun at a Massachusetts car dealership.

The underlying question from lawmakers to VA officials Tuesday: What is going on with VA police?