THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE on Thursday passed a bill that takes significant steps toward helping minority entrepreneurs and those affected by prior enforcement of drug laws break into the legal marijuana […]
Shira Schoenberg
Shira Schoenberg is a reporter at CommonWealth magazine. Shira previously worked for more than seven years at the Springfield Republican/MassLive.com where she covered state politics and elections, covering topics as diverse as the launch of the legal marijuana industry, problems with the state's foster care system and the elections of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker. Shira won the Massachusetts Bar Association's 2018 award for Excellence in Legal Journalism and has had several stories win awards from the New England Newspaper and Press Association. Shira covered the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary for the Boston Globe. Before that, she worked for the Concord (N.H.) Monitor, where she wrote about state government, City Hall and Barack Obama's 2008 New Hampshire primary campaign. Shira holds a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Posted inArts and Culture
Holocaust museum planned for downtown Boston
TWO BOSTON AREA philanthropists have purchased an $11.5 million building on the Freedom Trail with the ambitious goal of creating a Holocaust museum in downtown Boston. “We’ve been all around […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Republican accuses Dems of flipflopping on staff unionization
DURING A DEBATE on House rules in January 2019, Rep. Shawn Dooley, a Norfolk Republican, introduced an amendment that would allow House employees to unionize. The amendment was overwhelmingly rejected, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Chicopee school superintendent arrested for lying about threatening messages
THE CHICOPEE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT was arrested Wednesday for sending threatening messages to a candidate for the Chicopee police chief position then lying about it to FBI investigators. Lynn Clark, 51, […]
Posted inEconomy
Senate unionization bid could test pro-labor stance of Spilka
STAFFERS IN THE Massachusetts Senate – and soon the House – are pushing to unionize. But in an ironic twist, their ability to unionize is dependent on the agreement of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Man, 78, exonerated in decades-old arson case over juror anti-Semitism
A MAN CONVICTED of arson nearly 40 years ago for burning down his vacation home in the Berkshires has been exonerated, due partly to anti-Semitic comments made by jurors in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Public safety secretary responds to criminal justice reform concerns
AFTER THE CHAIRMAN of the House Judiciary Committee questioned Gov. Charlie Baker’s commitment to implementing the criminal justice and police reform laws, Baker officials defended their efforts in a detailed […]
Posted inUncategorized
Cocktails-to-go, outdoor dining will continue another year
RESTAURANTS WILL be allowed to sell cocktails-to-go for another year, under a bill Gov. Charlie Baker signed Friday. The Legislature and Baker agreed to extend the popular pandemic-era policy to […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Small-town challenges and conflicts plague efforts to save historic inn
IN THE LATE 1800s, wealthy people would travel in the summer from Boston to the rural Worcester County town of Petersham for fresh air, tennis, croquet, and views of Mount […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC places safeguards on use of cellphone ‘tower dumps’
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT will allow the police to continue using “tower dumps,” requests for broad swaths of cellphone data, despite pleas from privacy activists to eliminate the practice. But […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Should remote access to government continue?
MANY BYPRODUCTS of the pandemic cannot disappear too soon – the illness, the social isolation, the toll constant anxiety is taking on our collective mental health. Yet some societal changes […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge open to religious discrimination claim on vaccine mandate
AFTER GOV. CHARLIE BAKER instituted an executive branch COVID-19 vaccine mandate, 156 State Police union members asked for religious exemptions. All of them were denied. In seven cases, however, the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Lawsuit challenges statute that denies homeowners profit from foreclosed homes
DEBORAH FOSS, a 66-year-old disabled retiree, used her life savings in 2015 to buy a two-family house in New Bedford. A year later, dealing with medical and financial problems and […]
Posted inEconomy
Technology, remote work shaping future labor force
THE NATURE OF work is changing due to technology, automation, and the explosion of remote work. Addressing the challenges posed by these shifts will require not only traditional workforce supports […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Probate judge resigns in wake of SJC suspension
PROBATE AND FAMILY Court Judge Paul Sushchyk resigned on Monday, five days after the Supreme Judicial Court suspended him without pay for groping a court employee and lying about it. […]
Posted inEconomy
SJC says franchises must comply with independent contractor law
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ruled Thursday that companies operating as franchises need to comply with the state’s independent contractor law, a ruling that could lead companies to newly scrutinize the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Wind down of housing assistance raises concerns
AS A FEDERAL rental assistance program winds down, housing advocates are looking to the state to help fill the gap. But the state assistance programs are not as generous as […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC suspends judge for inappropriate touching
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Wednesday suspended Judge Paul Sushchyk without pay indefinitely after finding that Sushchyk grabbed the butt of a court employee at a court-sponsored event, then lied […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Correction Department denies unsafe conditions at Bridgewater
THE MASSACHUSETTS Department of Correction is disputing the findings in a report that said the agency has refused to address pervasive mold and the potential for asbestos exposure at Bridgewater […]
Posted inEconomy
GOP lawmakers renew effort to suspend gas tax
REPUBLICAN STATE SENATORS plan to force a vote on a temporary suspension of the state gas tax on Thursday, despite failing in a similar effort in the House. Although they […]
Posted inUncategorized
Auditor flags 29 bills for impact on local budgets
WHEN THE LEGISLATURE implemented early voting by mail during the pandemic, the state paid for some staff time for local election workers and postage costs. But not all city and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Commission calls for limiting police use of facial recognition technology
A LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION is recommending strict new curbs on the use of facial recognition technology by the police, including requiring a warrant and limiting its use to investigating felony crimes. […]
Posted inPolitics
Chris Doughty: ‘I almost feel like a governor already’
CHRIS DOUGHTY has no experience in politics. But he believes leading the state is similar to leading a large business. “There’s not one part of the governor’s life that I’m […]
Posted inRace/Racism
House votes to ban hairstyle discrimination
IN 2017, Mya and Deanna Cook, 15-year-old twins, were disciplined because they wore box braids to school at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden. Box braids and other protective […]