IT’S FRIDAY, which is normally a time to break away from the work-week routine. But this weekend not much is going to change. Saturday and Sunday will look pretty much […]
Katie Lannan
Posted inEducation
Suárez-Orozco named UMass Boston chancellor
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH A UNANIMOUS VOTE of the University of Massachusetts trustees, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco on Monday became the new chancellor of UMass Boston. UMass President Marty Meehan said […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
DAs suspend participation in Mass. Sentencing Commission
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MEMBERS OF THE STATE’S district attorneys association are no longer participating in the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission, a panel the prosecutors say is not complying with state […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Say goodbye to flavored tobacco products
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS ON WEDNESDAY became the first state in the country to prohibit retail sales of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. Gov. Charlie Baker also […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
House bans flavored vaping and tobacco products
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE voted Wednesday to ban the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products — including mint and menthol cigarettes — and to impose an […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Rivera pushes ‘zombie property’ legislation
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE EVERY CITY IN MASSACHUSETTS has one or two, and in Lawrence, there are hundreds, Mayor Daniel Rivera said Thursday: vacant properties that aren’t being developed, because […]
Posted inEducation
House approves $1.5b education bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE on Wednesday night unanimously approved a seven-year plan to pour $1.5 billion into the state’s public education system, moving legislation that has been […]
Posted inHealth Care
Telemedicine lagging in Mass.
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CARSON DOMEY, a 15-year-old from Bellingham with Crohn’s disease, tallied up the number of doctor’s appointments he’s gone to and presented a rough total to lawmakers: […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DeLeo eyes comprehensive vaping legislation
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ON THE HEELS of the state’s new temporary ban on the sale of all vaping products, a legislative committee on Wednesday endorsed a bill prohibiting the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker proposes $175m of tax relief
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE REPUBLICAN GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is pushing a new tax relief proposal that his administration says will benefit 1 million taxpayers with dependents. In a $648 million spending […]
Posted inHealth Care
Harvard Pilgrim, Tufts to pursue merger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TWO OF THE state’s largest health insurers on Wednesday announced plans to merge into a new, combined organization that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health […]
Posted inEducation
With time short, New Bedford charter bill inches along
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A CONTROVERSIAL and time-sensitive New Bedford charter school bill inched along on Beacon Hill Wednesday as the House sent the legislation to the Education Committee for […]
Posted inTransportation
House overwhelmingly passes distracted driving bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE REPRESENTATIVES INVOKED the memories of people killed in distracted driving crashes on Wednesday before voting 155-2 to pass a bill banning motorists from using handheld […]
Posted inEducation
Senate budget bars UMass tuition, fee increases
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SENATE BUDGET WRITERS are looking to compel the University of Massachusetts to hold the line on student costs for the coming academic year but, in a […]
Posted inPolitics
A look at the House’s private budget debate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE JUST AFTER 8 p.m. last Monday, Rep. Paul Donato alerted his fellow House lawmakers that a five-page, $9.2 million document was now available for their review, […]
Posted inPolitics
Senate doesn’t go along with caucus fundraising
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE AND SENATE lawmakers have agreed to a midyear spending bill that includes funding for home heating assistance, rape kit testing, and collective bargaining costs, but […]
Posted inPolitics
Is the House tilting progressive?
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE With record membership, the House Progressive Caucus has picked its co-chairs for the 2019-2020 legislative session, re-electing one past leader and tapping a new one for […]
Posted inEducation
UMass Boston scores big revenue gain with Bayside lease
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS on Thursday tapped Boston-based Accordia Partners to develop the former Bayside Expo Center site, agreeing to a deal that university officials said […]
Posted inTransportation
Central Mass. lawmakers oppose commuter rail fare hike
FIFTEEN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS lawmakers are asking transportation officials to scrap a proposed increase in commuter rail fares, saying it will “result in a disparate financial burden” on people in their […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Rep seeks commission to study news business
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AT A TIME when acquisitions of local papers by international chains and waves of mass layoffs mean the news industry itself is often making headlines, a […]
Posted inEducation
Baker unveils school funding plan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday rolled out a seven-year plan to boost school funding by more than $1 billion dollars, including what his education secretary described […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Baker: My hands were tied on compressor station
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said Monday he “basically had no choice” but to approve air quality permits for a natural gas compressor station in Weymouth given the […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker lets flame retardant bill die
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER will not sign into law a ban on certain chemical flame retardants in household goods, he told lawmakers Friday afternoon, citing concerns with […]
Posted inPolitics
Ash aide moves up to take his job
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN THE SECOND SHAKEUP of his Cabinet since Gov. Charlie Baker won reelection in November, the Baker administration announced Tuesday afternoon that Secretary Jay Ash is […]