THE STATE’S TOP ELECTIONS OFFICIAL is backing expanded voting by mail for this year’s elections, due to the uncertainty around the coronavirus’s trajectory. But what that process could look like […]
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 inEconomy
Equifax will pay Massachusetts $18.2 million settlement
THE CREDIT REPORTING agency Equifax will pay $18.2 million to the state of Massachusetts under a settlement reached with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey over its 2017 data breach. The […]
Posted inPolitics
SJC halves candidate signature requirements
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Friday ordered the state to halve the signature requirements for all candidates running for office in the September 1, 2020, primary in light of the […]
Posted inUncategorized
State economists grapple with ‘unprecedented times’
THE STATE ECONOMY will tank and unemployment will rise. But how bad will it get and how long will the recession last? Top Massachusetts economists, testifying at a legislative budget […]
Posted inUncategorized
How will this end?
IT’S THE QUESTION everyone wants an answer to – but no one knows what the answer is. How will this end? Americans cannot remain holed up in their homes forever, but […]
Posted inEconomy
Bill would give extra money to welfare recipients
IN THE LAST couple of months, Elissa Bennett has lived in a Pittsfield homeless shelter, at her mother’s house, and most recently, in a hotel room with her fiancé and […]
Posted inHealth Care
Is Massachusetts seeing the COVID-19 surge?
IS MASSACHUSETTS in the so-called surge? It seemed like it on Sunday, when the number of new COVID-19 cases for the first time exceeded Gov. Charlie Baker’s daily metric for […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Virus notes: Healey to probe Holyoke vets home outbreak
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey will launch her own probe into what went wrong at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, separate from an investigation being conducted by an attorney recruited by Gov. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker to pot firms: I’m focusing on surge
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday fended off questions about his decision to declare recreational marijuana businesses non-essential by saying he’s focused on the expected surge in COVID-19 cases and the […]
Posted inHealth Care
If you survive COVID-19, are you immune?
COLE TURNO, a physician assistant from Medford, probably picked up COVID-19 in the emergency room of Massachusetts General Hospital, where he works. Turno’s symptoms have been mild, and after 17 […]
Posted inEconomy
Virus notes: Budget roundtable tripped up by livestream failure
IT WAS AN inauspicious start to the effort to reckon with the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on state revenue and the implications for the current fiscal year as […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Eviction bill bounces back and forth on Beacon Hill
IT MAY BE the first test of the Legislature’s penchant for consensus on coronavirus-related bills. The Massachusetts House and Senate agree that there should be a pause on evictions and foreclosures […]
Posted inUncategorized
What happens when lawmakers disagree?
WHEN A BILL pausing foreclosures and evictions emerged from the Senate Ways and Means Committee, advocates for low-income individuals were unhappy with the details of the bill – and they […]
Posted inHealth Care
Virus notes: Baker calls new face mask guidance appropriate
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER didn’t wear a face mask at a press availability on Sunday, but he said new guidance from the federal government urging people to wear masks under certain […]
Posted inEconomy
Marijuana consumers flock to medical market
MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS CAN no longer walk into recreational marijuana shops, which have been ordered closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to get weed. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Virus notes: Concerns rise at long-term care facilities
RESIDENTS OF LONG-TERM CARE facilities across the state are testing positive for COVID-19 in growing numbers, raising concerns that the highly contagious virus could sweep through a very vulnerable population. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Physician assistants provide workforce flexibility
MICHELLE SHKNEVSKY, a general surgery physician assistant at Brockton Hospital, is actually seeing fewer patients since the COVID-19 epidemic began. With no elective surgeries being performed, her unit needs fewer […]
Posted inUncategorized
Remembering the dead
AS OF WEDNESDAY, 122 people had died from COVID-19 in Massachusetts. Many died alone. Their funerals were tiny; their memorial services were postponed. Their families often grieved alone. These are some […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker hires private lawyer to probe Holyoke Soldiers’ Home
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER hired an independent attorney to investigate what went wrong at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home leading to a COVID-19 outbreak and related deaths. Baker on Wednesday announced that his office […]
Posted inUncategorized
State budget writers are starting over
MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET-WRITERS started the process of crafting the Fiscal 2021 budget in December with a hearing with economic experts about the state’s anticipated revenues. Four months later they’re starting over […]
Posted inUncategorized
State hits some snags in working from home
A LONG-TIME HEALTH CARE administrator working at North Shore Community College is over 60, putting her in a vulnerable category for COVID-19. But as of last week, she was still […]
Posted inHealth Care
How vets died of COVID-19 and no one knew
IT TOOK EIGHT VETERANS’ DEATHS and five days before the head of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home informed state and local public health authorities about the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak […]
Posted inEconomy
State revenue shortfall could reach $3 billion
MASSACHUSETTS IS FACING a revenue shortfall of up to $3 billion over the next 15 months, according to a new analysis by the Center for State Policy Analysis. Of that, […]
Posted inHealth Care
11 die at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home amid COVID-19 outbreak
BENNETT WALSH, the superintendent of the state-run Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, was placed on paid administrative leave on Monday, after 11 residents died at the home amid an outbreak of COVID-19. […]