STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A PLAN TO SWEEP about $5 billion in federal relief money into a fund controlled by the Legislature is back on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk Thursday, […]
Katie Lannan
Posted inHealth Care
Point32Health is launched
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE COMBINED organization of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care will officially be known as Point32Health, the insurers announced Wednesday. The Canton-based company said […]
Posted inUncategorized
Lawmakers agree on emergency order compromise
STATE LAWMAKERS on Tuesday night struck a deal and shipped Gov. Charlie Baker legislation to restore the lapsed authorization for remote public meetings, to-go cocktail sales, and town meeting flexibilities, […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker: I forgot about Walsh interview
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said Friday he “forgot” he had spoken with former Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh before naming him to the post, and expressed interest in taking action […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
State begins 3d procurement for offshore wind
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE’S ELECTRIC utilities and the Baker administration are back in the market for another offshore wind contract, this time seeking up to twice as much […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
House OKs budget with 7 mega-amendments
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE LAWMAKERS unanimously passed a $47.716 billion budget in the early morning hours Thursday after adding tens of millions of dollars in spending over three days, […]
Posted inHealth Care
HPC traces racial impacts of COVID
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HISPANIC AND BLACK patients represented a disproportionate share of COVID-19 hospitalizations in 2020, as did patients from lower-income communities, according to a new state report. Staff […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Blood clots in 6 people prompt pause of Johnson & Johnson vaccinations
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FEDERAL OFFICIALS expect their recommended pause on Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines will likely last “a matter of days,” the head of the US Food and […]
Posted inTransportation
Lynch: Congressional delegation ‘furious’ about T cuts
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MEMBERS OF THE state’s Congressional delegation will have “hard discussions” with the MBTA and Gov. Charlie Baker in hopes of encouraging the transit agency to back […]
Posted inEducation
Ed board gives Riley power to force school reopenings
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AN 8-3 VOTE by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Friday afternoon cleared the way for the state’s education commissioner to eventually take remote […]
Posted inPolitics
Six legislative districts shift majority minority
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A NEW ANALYSIS shows that the populations of at least five state House of Representatives districts and one Senate district have moved from mostly white to […]
Posted inEducation
Riley pushes lower-stakes MCAS test
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THIS YEAR’S MCAS exams will be conducted this spring but will feature “significantly” reduced testing time for third through eighth graders and no schools will be […]
Posted inHealth Care
Lawmakers send police reform, abortion measures to governor
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE LEGISLATURE sent bills dealing with police reform and abortion back to Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday and began work on compromise health care legislation that […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Mass. Cultural Council picks new leader
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR of a Watertown theater will in February become the next director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, after a unanimous vote Friday by the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker nominating first Latina to SJC
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S latest nominee to the Supreme Judicial Court is an Appeals Court judge with a background in intellectual property litigation who built a robot while studying […]
Posted inHealth Care
Nursing homes lacked PPE in Aug., report says
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A NEW REPORT measuring personal protective equipment shortages at nursing homes nationwide found that 8 percent were without one or more types of PPE in August. […]
Posted inEducation
Riley: No break from MCAS exams next spring
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS STUDENTS should expect to take their MCAS exams next spring, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley said Tuesday. In spring of this year, after […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Flu vaccinations required for all Mass. students
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STUDENTS ACROSS all levels of schooling in Massachusetts will now be required to receive flu vaccines, a new mandate that state public health officials described as […]
Posted inEducation
70% of school districts adopt some in-person learning
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS of the Massachusetts school districts that have so far reported their reopening plans to the state envision some sort of in-classroom education, while the […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Pandemic devastating to arts and culture sector
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE ARTS AND culture sector, a major piece of the Massachusetts economy, will need hundreds of millions of dollars and multiple years to recover from the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Lawmakers urged dig deeper on Holyoke Soldiers’ Home reforms
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WHEN GOV. CHARLIE BAKER filed a bill proposing oversight and governance reforms at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home after the deaths of at least 76 veteran residents […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Senate prepping its own police reform bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE plans to vote Thursday on a wide-ranging police reform bill that would create a process for certifying and de-certifying officers and impose new […]
Posted inHealth Care
Virus notes: Trump slams state mutineers
PRESIDENT TRUMP on Tuesday suggested Gov. Charlie Baker and a host of governors from nearby states were mutineers for joining together to plan for the reopening of their economies after […]
Posted inEducation, Health Care, State House News Service
Virus notes: Franklin emerges as hotspot
NEW NUMBERS RELEASED on Tuesday show just how quickly the coronavirus situation can change, as confirmed cases continued a steady rise, deaths jumped dramatically, and two of the state’s smallest […]
