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 constitutional. The ballot question, which is being advocated for by the Massachusetts Package Store Association, centers on a complicated dispute between package stores and food […]
Courts
Posted inCriminal Justice
House will vote on sexting, revenge porn bill
FIVE YEARS AFTER Gov. Charlie Baker first proposed new laws addressing sexting and revenge porn, the Legislature is prepared to consider the legislation. The House plans to vote Thursday on a bill that would address the unauthorized distribution of sexually explicit material. The bill has two major pieces. One would create a diversionary framework for […]
Posted inCourts, Gambling, State House News Service
SJC orders discovery into Everett casino land deal
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICES THE ACTIONS OF the Massachusetts Gaming Commission almost a decade ago could be put under a new microscope after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Monday that a lower court should look more closely at the “highly unusual character of the commission’s actions” related to the award of a casino license to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC says sheriffs can charge commissions for prison phone calls
MASSACHUSETTS SHERIFFS HAVE the legal authority to raise revenue from contracts for inmate phone calls, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday. Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, whose office was at the center of the lawsuit, called the decision “a win for taxpayers.” “In a decision released today by the SJC, the court has supported my […]
Posted inOpinion
How Mass. can break the child abuse cycle
IT’S NOT REALLY that hard to fix a child welfare system: just listen to your gut instinct – and do the opposite. Gut instinct says: David Almond died a horrible death though he was well known to the Department of Children and Families and other agencies. So the solution must be to take away children more […]