A new report estimates about 40,000 adults in Greater Boston could face stricter work rules that now extend to age 65 and narrow exemptions for parents.
Sam Drysdale | State House News Service
Posted inHealth Care
State orders open access to free prenatal vitamins, birth control
“We know that prenatal vitamins and birth control play an essential role in women’s health. No one should be prevented from getting the care they need because of cost or because they are waiting for a prescription,” Healey said in a statement.
Posted inPolitics
Healey plans to seek reelection in 2026
“And I feel like we’ve done all those things, and there’s a heck of a lot more to do. And so I plan to run for reelection, because there’s a lot more to do.”
Posted inState Government
With new term dawning, Spilka eyes K-12 funding reform, primary care overhaul
A newly reelected Senate President Karen Spilka previewed some of her legislative priorities for the 2025-2026 session: reexamining the state’s education funding formula, pressing for primary health care delivery reform, and pushing again to expand juvenile court jurisdiction to include young adults aged 18.
Posted inState Government
Convention authority goes with the local candidate
The search for a new leader to take over the agency has taken close to a year, after former executive director David Gibbons stepped down last November.
Posted inCriminal Justice
New State Police chief promises review of training death, mum on staffing changes
Noble said Friday he had not been officially briefed on the investigation into the recruit’s death yet, but that he is aware of the situation and a deeper briefing is shortly forthcoming.
Posted inEnvironment
New Seaport tower showcases low-carbon cement from Somerville firm
The event celebrated the first commercial application of a new type of low-carbon cement, made entirely in Massachusetts, and its use to build Boston’s largest net zero office building.
Posted inHealth Care
Markey threatens Steward’s de la Torre with contempt
“When I voted on July 25 to issue the first subpoena from the Senate Health Committee since 1981, it was not a request for Ralph de la Torre to answer for what he’s done, it was a demand that he answer for what he has done. It was a demand that 15 of my bipartisan colleagues joined,” Markey said.
Posted inHealth Care
Dorchester, Ayer region brace for hospital closures
Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer are slated to close on August 31, but advocates and elected officials say that could be averted if the state were willing to step in.
Posted inState Government
With chance she could be acting governor, DiZoglio drafted order on non-disclosure agreements
“I do not feel that that would have been a way to make meaningful and positive change, positioning the administration to come home to a signed executive order,” she said. “It’s my intention to partner with this administration.”
Posted inHousing
Protest planned on eve of possible shelter evictions
The day before dozens of families are scheduled to be evicted from Massachusetts shelters, protestors plan to hold a vigil at the State House Thursday over new restrictions Gov. Maura Healey made to the family shelter system.
Posted inHousing
As Healey signs housing bill, advocates lament what was left out
AS GOV. MAURA HEALEY and lawmakers celebrated what they called “historic” housing legislation getting signed into law Tuesday, some of the advocates credited with influencing the bill say it is […]
Posted inHealth Care
3 long-term care facilities placed in receivership
Facilities owned by Blupoint Healthcare in South Hadley, Whitinsville, and Amesbury were experiencing financial difficulties, with workers complaining they weren’t being paid and even when they were paid the checks bounced.
Posted inState Government
Budget deal includes free community college and bus rides plus online lottery
Many of the biggest eye-catchers in the deal would commit significant funds toward reducing or eliminating costs Massachusetts residents face, including another year of free school meals, tuition-free community college, no-charge rides on the state’s 15 regional transit authorities, and making permanent a pandemic-era Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grant program that launched with federal dollars.
Posted inState Government
Budget, gun control bills near finish line
Lawmakers would need to ship the final budget to Healey by Sunday to guarantee their ability to push through any spending or policy ideas over the governor’s objection.
Posted inEconomy
Senate preps for economic developent debate, including Everett soccer stadium
The Senate’s bill authorizes $2.444 billion in borrowing, giving the executive branch flexibility to put as much of that amount into use as it determines is necessary and wise, and $350 million in tax credits mostly to be deployed in the climate technology sector.
Posted inHousing
Senate unveils housing plan with no real estate transfer tax
The bill, based on legislation Gov. Maura Healey filed in October, would prompt the creation of 40,000 housing units, according to Senate Housing Committee Chair Lydia Edwards, chipping away at the 220,000-unit shortage Massachusetts is expected to experience by the end of the decade.
Posted inHousing
New guidance offers key details of family shelter limits
A new law agreed to this year by the Legislature and Gov. Maura Healey put a limit on how long families can stay in shelter, and it also said no more than 150 families should be removed by the state every week, not counting families who leave on their own.
Posted inHealth Care
House passes broad health care legislation
The House voted 152-1 to approve a bill that combines reforms intended to avert a repeat of the Steward Health Care crisis with changes designed to boost state oversight of facility expansions and closures, refine cost control tools to better account for fluctuations, and increase funding for hospitals that typically serve high shares of low-income patients and people of color.
Posted inHousing
Mariano having doubts about local option transfer tax
The controversial policy idea may be what is holding up the House in taking up Gov. Maura Healey’s $4.1 billion housing bond bill, which she filed last October and has said is critical to addressing the shortage of affordable and available homes in Massachusetts.
Posted inState Government
Rivera steps down at MassDevelopment
Dan O’Connell, MassDevelopment board member and former secretary of housing and economic development under Gov. Deval Patrick, will step in as interim CEO while the board conducts a search for a new leader.