Record-smashing tobacco verdict doesn’t warrant a new trial, SJC rules
It was enough for the court to reduce a $1 billion punitive award, and jury was not clearly inflamed by “passion and prejudice”
Massachusetts’s highest court on Wednesday affirmed $56 million in punitive damages in a wrongful death suit against tobacco giant Philip Morris, rejecting the company’s argument that a jury’s initial award was so extreme it demonstrated prejudice requiring a new trial.
The state’s 2006 health care law was the model for the Affordable Care Act. What is its legacy?
HEALTH CARE AT 20
20TH ANNIVERSARY
The state’s landmark health care reform law at 20
In April 2006, Gov. Mitt Romney signed landmark legislation that aimed to make Massachusetts the first state in the country with universal or near-universal health care coverage for all residents. “An Act Providing Access to Affordable, Quality, Accountable Health Care,” often known as Romneycare or by the shorthand Chapter 58 (its designation in that year’s laws), was a pathbreaking effort to address the persistent coverage gap in US health care.
THE CODCAST
The growing movement to keep kids off social media
This week on The Codcast, two experts dive into what’s behind the surge in momentum for government regulation of social media use by minors.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commonwealth in depth
‘They’re making a huge bet’: Rent control referendum splits progressives
A sweeping proposal to bring back caps on rent has generated hand-wringing, infighting, and one of the cycle’s most fascinating political debates
BY THE NUMBERS
Phoning it in – Mass. residents still lean toward in-person care as telehealth booms
New polling shows Bay Staters primarily continue to receive their health care the old-fashioned way
From the Archives
Rooting for the home team
Minor-league baseball is making fans across the Commonwealth
