IN JANUARY, nearly four years after the idea was first conceived, the state launched its first state-run, state-funded juvenile diversion programs. The idea was to keep teenagers out of detention […]
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 inCriminal Justice
LeBoeuf loses license 45 days to resolve drunk driving arrest
STATE REP. David LeBoeuf will lose his license for 45 days, pay $1,380 in fees and fines, and enroll in a driver alcohol education program as a consequence of his […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
After three decades behind bars, man released because racism tainted his murder trial
AFTER SPENDING 31 years in prison for murder, Corey Glover walked out of MCI-Norfolk a free man on May 4, after arguing successfully that a juror’s racism prevented him from […]
Posted inCourts, Marijuana
Attorney accused of bribery in seeking Medford marijuana license
SOMERVILLE ATTORNEY Sean O’Donovan was arrested Friday and charged with trying to bribe a family member of the Medford police chief to convince the chief to help a marijuana company […]
Posted inCourts, State Government
MassGOP challenges vote-by-mail law
PERMANENT MAIL-IN voting is now the law in Massachusetts – unless Republican Party chair Jim Lyons has his way. The conservative GOP chair filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Judicial […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Report backs smaller women’s prison to replace MCI-Framingham
MASSACHUSETTS IS MOVING forward with plans to study replacing the MCI-Framingham women’s prison after a report issued by an independent consultant recommended moving the female inmates to a new facility […]
Posted inCourts, Education
SJC slams Harvard, but says university can keep slave photos
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL Court on Thursday revived a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims Harvard University caused her emotional distress when she sought information about and the return of […]
Posted inState Government
Senate staff get raises and pay scale changes – but no union
MASSACHUSETTS SENATE staff seeking to unionize have gotten a big portion of what they want – minus the union. Senate President Karen Spilka on Wednesday announced a new compensation system […]
Posted inEducation
Grants that sustained state’s childcare industry set to expire
SINCE BETH SIDEL opened 4 The Love of Learning Preschool in Montague a dozen years ago, she has almost always had a waiting list. But since the pandemic, she has […]
Posted inPolitics
Bucking party, Baker makes vote-by-mail permanent
DESPITE CONCERNS by members of his own party, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, signed a law Wednesday making voting by mail permanent. Massachusetts allowed early voting by mail for the […]
Posted inPolitics
SJC approves millionaire tax ballot summary
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Wednesday decided that the summary of a ballot question raising taxes on income over $1 million can go forward as written, stating that the money […]
Posted inHealth Care
House plans vote on mental health bill
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE on Thursday plans to vote on a mental health bill that would improve access to mental health care, particularly for children, while ensuring that the health care […]
Posted inHealth Care
SJC lets dental insurance question proceed to ballot
THE NOVEMBER BALLOT is coming into focus as the Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday ruled that a question regulating dental insurance can proceed to the ballot. The ballot question would […]
Posted inPolitics
Where does battle over app drivers go now?
FORGET NOVEMBER 2022. It will likely be a long time before Uber and Lyft drivers get certainty about their employment status in Massachusetts. Today, drivers are considered independent contractors, but […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Courts, Economy
SJC throws out Uber-Lyft ballot question
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Tuesday threw out a ballot question that would classify ride-share drivers as independent contractors, putting a sudden end to what was primed to be an […]
Posted inHealth Care
Hospitals report over 1,000 patients awaiting discharges with nowhere to go
AT UMASS MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER in Worcester on Monday, there were 63 patients stuck in the emergency room waiting for an inpatient hospital bed to open up. Meanwhile, there were […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Courts, Economy, Politics
SJC lets liquor license question head to ballot
A QUESTION REFORMING the state’s liquor license system will continue on to the November ballot, after the Supreme Judicial Court on Monday upheld the attorney general’s decision that the question is […]
Posted inMarijuana, State Government
Do marijuana community impact fees really address impacts?
AARON VEGA, director of the Office of Economic Development and Planning for the city of Holyoke, said the money Holyoke collects in community impact fees from cannabis companies will address […]
Posted inImmigration, Transportation
Undocumented immigrants can get Mass. drivers’ licenses in July 2023
THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE completed its override of Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto on Thursday, allowing immigrants without legal status to obtain a driver’s license in Massachusetts. The state is the 17th, in addition […]
Posted inHealth Care
Employer health plans are expensive in Massachusetts
IF YOU WORK for a Massachusetts company, it’s likely your employer offers health insurance. But it will cost you. Survey results of 806 employers released Thursday by the Center for […]
Posted inPolitics
Legislature moves toward adopting permanent voting by mail
THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE is poised to adopt permanent voting by mail, but not same-day voter registration. A committee of House-Senate negotiators on Wednesday released the final version of a voting […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Opioid overdose deaths up by 9 percent last year
THE NUMBER OF OPIOID overdose deaths in Massachusetts rose by 9 percent in 2021, a worrying number in a state that had started seeing some success in addressing the opioid […]
Posted inUncategorized
Omnibus DCF bill still in the works
WITH LESS THAN two months left to the legislative session, the House’s lead lawmaker on child welfare policy is continuing work on an omnibus bill that he says would make […]
Posted inHealth, Health Care, Race/Racism
Why Black women die from childbirth twice as often as white women
WHEN NNEKA HALL was pregnant with her third child, she had a symptom of preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication, but her doctor never caught it. Hall felt her daughter hiccuping […]