Nothing like a bit of bad press to nudge Beacon Hill legislators to get off the dime — six months later.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo got some unfavorable press last September when the Globe reported that a bill to protect pregnant women from abuse in the workplace was bottled up in his Ways and Means Committee because the state’s major business lobby didn’t like it. It had easily passed the Senate.

Now it’s a top House priority, after concerns raised by Associated Industries of Massachusetts were addressed, and is on the fast track — at least by State House standards — to get to Governor Charlie Baker’s desk.

The joint Labor and Workforce Development Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on the legislation, which proponents claim two-thirds of lawmakers are co-sponsoring. The advocacy group MotherWoman said Thursday it had negotiated with AIM to produce a “well-vetted piece of legislation that meets the needs of both employees and employers.’’

Equally noteworthy: It is one of the first major pieces of business (besides the governor’s budget) getting a legislative hearing this year, and it is happening on April 4. All this despite the recent pay raise that lawmakers voted for committee chairs and vice chairs. In fact, the pay hike is the only major legislation passed by the House and Senate since they convened in January.

The legislative roadblock that stalled the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act was used as an example by the Globe of the influence AIM has on Beacon Hill, particularly in the House.

AIM president Rick Lord, whose power on Beacon Hill grew out of his position as a senior legislative aide decades ago, made clear this week he felt the delay was necessary to make sure his members were protected.

“It is easy to confuse opposition to a draft of a bill with opposition to the issue itself,’’ he said in a statement. “AIM is always willing to work with those seeking honest and effective compromise. That is exactly what happened with this legislation.’’

Frank Phillips

Pot drama!

The scene: 1.8 million Massachusetts voters legalized marijuana for recreational use in November, and the ballot question made Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg the state’s top cannabis regulator.

The backstory: Legislators don’t like the voter-passed law. They delayed when pot shops are likely to open until July 2018, and they are working to further rewrite the law, perhaps stripping Goldberg of her authority and creating a completely independent marijuana regulation agency, like the one that oversees casino gaming.

The action: The Legislature enacted a mini-budget this month that includes $300,000 to support ramping up regulation of the newly legal drug. But lawmakers appropriated the money to the governor’s budget office rather than to the treasurer’s office.

After Governor Charlie Baker signed the budget Tuesday, Goldberg asked the budget office for the cash in a formal letter. She needs it ASAP, so she can implement the pot law, she wrote.

But she hasn’t seen any money yet, and the Baker administration is indicating it won’t necessarily comply with her request for the full $300,000, instead doling out “appropriate funds,’’ as needed.

“As we routinely do with all similar line-items, the administration will work with the treasurer’s office to review their request and release appropriate funds for initial startup costs to regulate the recreational marijuana industry,’’ said Sarah Finlaw, a budget office spokeswoman.

What’s “appropriate?’’ What will be released? And when?

Don’t hold your breath for the final act.

Joshua Miller

Flynn campaign kicks off

Edward Flynn, seeking to replace Bill Linehan on the City Council, officially kicked off his campaign last week and raised nearly $58,000, finance records show.

His single-event haul surpassed challenger Michael Kelley, a former aide to Mayor Thomas M. Menino who raised a little more than $50,000 in one week, the records show.

A third candidate, Corey Dinopoulos, a designer and community organizer, has tallied nearly $12,000 since last month, the campaign and state records show.

The three are among the contenders who have announced plans to run for the seat representing District 2, which includes South Boston, Chinatown, the South End, and downtown. Linehan, who held the post since 2007, is not seeking a sixth term.

Kelley, who lives in Bay Village, was a longtime staffer in the Menino administration and served as a campaign manager for Menino. He is viewed as a key contender, along with Flynn, a probation officer and son of former mayor Raymond Flynn.

In a statement, Kelley said he was focused on formally kicking off his campaign Thursday evening at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts. “I’m honored to already have a strong fund-raising support for my candidacy, and I look forward to our first fund-raising event next week,’’ he said. ​

Dinopoulos, a 32-year-old South Boston resident who cofounded the privately backed Olympics bid known as Boston 2024, has said he is campaigning to give the district “fresh, new leadership’’ and a champion for the community.

He said he recognizes that he is the underdog in the campaign.

“Money doesn’t make all the difference in this campaign. It’s how the candidate uses it,’’ said Dinopoulos, who said his campaign is receiving many small donations.

Flynn held his kickoff event Wednesday at Capo in South Boston, and it drew many politicians including his father, state Representative Nick Collins, City Councilor Michael Flaherty, former mayoral candidate John Connolly, and former lieutenant governor Timothy Murray, according to the campaign.

He shrugged off suggestions that money will be a key feature in the race, saying he is intending to work hard for every vote. His main issues are ensuring better schools and finding ways to bridge the income inequality gap.

Meghan E. Irons

Prospective Senate candidate tied to provocative website

As John Kingston considers a run for the US Senate, he’ll need to be prepared to explain his role in a website that carries provocative political views that could cause him problems in a Republican primary — and even in a general election.

Kingston, who lives in Winchester and has used his wealth to support GOP candidates across the country, is a director of Colorado-based Patheos, a website that claims to promote, among other things, “stimulating discussion’’ among faith communities, academics, and the broader public.

Its mission, it says, is to bring together a wide range of writers to address complicated issues “facing families in the modern world.’’ And it includes some edgy essays that might be jarring to conservative, Trump-supporting Republicans.

One such piece — “Yes, What Israel Is Doing to Palestinians is Actually Genocide’’ — is a provocative essay by a frequent contributor, the Rev. Benjamin L. Corey.

Another, “Sanctuary and Civil Disobedience,’’ reviews how forms of sanctuary — as in “sanctuary cities’’ — are deeply rooted in Biblical history.

“Why Islam overtaking Christianity is good for Christians,’’ is a reasoned but tough slap at “empty proselytizing and evangelization’’ and what its author says is “Christian spiritual arrogance and chauvinism.’’

Kingston, a Republican aligned with the Mitt Romney wing of the GOP, has emerged as the favorite of the state party establishment favorite to take on US Senator Elizabeth Warren next year. He has so far not commented publicly.

Cathy Fair, director of Kingston’s foundation, Sword & Spoon, said the website is “really a free speech forum . . . for literally thousands of different viewpoints across people of all faiths, or no faith at all.’’

“There is no editorial control of the writers, which can make for a messy proposition, a wide range of dissonant voices, given there is no intention to provide a single viewpoint of any sort,’’ she said.

Frank Phillips

‘Spicy’ N.H. lawmaker dies

One of the most colorful political figures in recent New Hampshire history was found dead this week, leading the state’s political community to share stories on social media and to hold a moment of silence at the State House in Concord.

Steve Vaillancourt, 65, was recently elected to his 10th term as a state representative from Manchester. He was found dead in his apartment after State Police conducted a wellness check. Recently he told colleagues he had heart problems.

Republican Neal Kurk of Weare, N.H., another longtime state representative, remembered Vaillancourt as “a spicy representative whose floor speeches kept us spellbound and amused.’’

Vaillancourt was elected to the New Hampshire House as a Democrat, a Libertarian, and a Republican, which was his party since 2006. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said he believes Vaillancourt was the only person in state history elected under all three party labels.

While his party changed, one thing did not: Vaillancourt generally found a way to inject himself into the political debate of the day — or create controversy of his own.

In January 2007 Vaillancourt’s former roommate, Raymond Buckley, was on the verge of becoming the state Democratic Party chairman, and the first openly gay state party chair in the nation. Vaillancourt created a stir by accusing Buckley of having once possessed child pornography when they lived together. After an investigation, then-New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, later a Republican US senator, said there was no evidence the allegation was true. Buckley was elected, and the accusation and aftermath become a segment on “This American Life,’’ a public radio broadcast.

Years later, Vaillancourt caused a hullabaloo on the floor of the New Hampshire House when, in protesting the House speaker’s decision to limit debate on a particular bill, he declared “Sieg Heil’’ — the Nazi salute. He was ejected from the chamber.

At the State House, Vaillancourt supported efforts to repeal the death penalty and to legalize same-sex marriage, marijuana, and expanded gambling. He also had unusual interests: He used his blog to track those who abused the speed limit on highways and once compiled a book of his 5,000 unanswered questions from the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

James Pindell