THE BERKSHIRE DISTRICT Attorney’s office has filed charges against two foster parents in Adams for failing to get medical attention for their 10-month-old foster child, who died of complications from […]
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 inHealth Care
Hospitals lost money during COVID
IT MAY BE counterintuitive, but experts have long been saying that the public health emergency actually lowered the amount of money being spent on health care. The reason is that […]
Posted inPolitics
Early voting by mail challenged by Republicans
A LAWSUIT FILED by several losing Republican candidates challenging the use of mail-in voting in 2020 will have its day in court Thursday – and could provide a preview of […]
Posted inEducation
Legislature will increase school funding next year
THE LEGISLATURE HAS agreed to take a more generous approach to funding public schools next year than Gov. Charlie Baker did, responding to concerns from education advocates that Baker’s proposal was inadequate. The legislative approach reflects […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker unwilling to talk vaccine passports
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is uninterested in talking about vaccination passports. Asked whether Massachusetts might consider creating vaccine passports – which would impose restrictions on unvaccinated individuals – Baker did not […]
Posted inUncategorized
David Almond’s death overshadows DCF budget hearing
LEGISLATIVE BUDGET HEARINGS are typically dry discussions of line items and government programs. On Tuesday, however, lawmakers were reminded in stark terms of the life-or-death decisions involved in determining how state […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker joins Lamont to push drug pricing proposal
MASSACHUSETTS GOV. Charlie Baker teamed up with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday to advocate for a policy both have proposed that would curb the growth in prescription drug prices. […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Senate committee to probe post-COVID society
WHEN SEN. ADAM HINDS looks at the disproportionate toll COVID-19 has taken on poor people and communities of color in Massachusetts, he said, “It’s hard not to experience it as […]
Posted inUncategorized
Casinos hoping odds in SJC case tilt in their favor
COULD A DISPUTE over the payout odds for blackjack actually rise to become a case before the Supreme Judicial Court? You bet. In an unusual case, the state’s highest court […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Pandemic prayers: COVID is reshaping organized religion
IT HAS BEEN more than a year since Temple Beth Zion, a nondenominational Jewish synagogue in Brookline, closed its physical doors. The synagogue started holding daily prayer services for the first […]
Posted inEducation
State won’t require 11th grade MCAS
IN AN ATTEMPT to reach a compromise on whether to administer the MCAS this year, Education Commissioner Jeff Riley may have pleased no one. Teachers’ unions and school officials had […]
Posted inHealth Care
Virus notes: COVID cases among people over 70 way down
THE HIGH VACCINATION rate among older people in Massachusetts is driving down the number of COVID-19 cases in that age group. According to the latest state data, there were 943 […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
DCF head admits agency failed David Almond
THE TOP MASSACHUSETTS officials charged with protecting vulnerable children admitted Wednesday that the system failed badly in not preventing the death of Fall River teenager David Almond. “It is clear to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Scathing report details DCF failures leading to death of Fall River boy
THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES failed autistic teenager David Almond time and time again, making inexplicable decisions and ignoring danger signs until the 14-year-old died, emaciated and bruised, allegedly at […]
Posted inUncategorized
White House official stresses flexibility in spending federal money
WITH MASSACHUSETTS EXPECTING an influx of nearly $8 billion in federal stimulus money, many of the federal government’s guidelines for how the money can be used won’t be released until […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
State considering major expansion of child abuse reporting laws
FOR YEARS, Larry Nassar sexually abused female athletes under the guise of medical treatment while serving as the doctor for USA Gymnastics. Nassar was eventually convicted on multiple felony charges and sentenced to more […]
Posted inHealth Care
Dr. Michael Mina’s rapid test theory
THE US COULD have prevented the surge of COVID-19 cases this winter that killed hundreds of thousands of people if only the FDA had approved methods for at-home rapid testing […]
Posted inUncategorized
Fattmans challenge OCPF investigation as biased
WORCESTER COUNTY REPUBLICAN power couple Ryan and Stephanie Fattman are arguing that the director of the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance is acting improperly in his investigation of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Politicians’ campaign finance lawsuit is secret
TWO MASSACHUSETTS POLITICIANS are going to court to challenge an action by the head of the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Yet despite a case that seems almost […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mariano pledges to turn South Coast into ‘hub of wind energy’
MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE SPEAKER Ron Mariano on Thursday pledged to make major investments to turn the South Coast into “a hub of wind energy for the region.” Mariano, in a virtual speech […]
Posted inUncategorized
SJC: Healey can continue pursuing Facebook documents
MASSACHUSETTS’ HIGHEST COURT gave Attorney General Maura Healey a green light to continue pursuing internal documents from Facebook, as she investigates whether the company misused the personal data of users. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Uncertainty abounds in vaccine eligibility numbers
WHEN THE MASSACHUSETTS COVID-19 Command Center calculates how many people are eligible for vaccinations in each of the state’s three phases, there’s a problem: The total number is 1 million […]
Posted inUncategorized
Lawmakers press Baker on scrapping local vaccination playbook
FOR 20 YEARS, Massachusetts public health officials prepared for an emergency scenario that would require local boards of health to set up vaccination clinics across the state. But when COVID-19 […]
Posted inUncategorized
Biden rescinds ‘public charge’ immigration rule
PRESIDENT BIDEN last week took the final step to rescind a controversial rule promulgated by former president Donald Trump that made it harder for aspiring immigrants to prove they would […]