Elections have come down to just a few votes in the high-profile showdown between 19-year legislator Sen. William Brownsberger and challenger Daniel Lander.
State Government
Posted inState Government
LG nominee Oliver quick to jump on Minogue’s team
Shortsleeve and Oliver pitched themselves as the “only unified ticket in the Republican gubernatorial primary,” but Oliver on Tuesday night spoke about aligning with Minogue as as part of the GOP’s larger quest in the general election cycle.
Posted inOpinion
Your teenager is still figuring out who they are. Big Tech’s algorithms act like they already know.
At precisely the age when young people are still figuring out who they are, an algorithm optimized for engagement should not be shaping the possibilities.
Posted inState Government
Melissa Hoffer, nation’s first state-level climate chief, to step down
Hoffer was chosen for the new position after holding several high-powered roles in climate policy, serving under then-AG Healey before working at the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency and then moving back to the Bay State to link up with Healey again under this newly crafted role.
Posted inTechnology
$17 billion Meta settlement lands in hotbed of debate over social media regulations in Mass.
A landmark agreement both reshapes Instagram and Facebook for teenagers, and adds fuel to legislative debate about permanent reforms.
Posted inState Government
Mass. gives schools a playbook for ICE at the door
The governor’s office shared new guidance for how Massachusetts schools and child care centers should handle federal immigration enforcement.
Posted inState Government
Mail-in ballots have cut into popularity of early in-person voting
As voters this election cycle weigh ballot questions allowing people to register and vote on Election Day, and substituting an all-party primary in for the traditional party-based primaries, early in-person voting remains an enduring and often utilized election reform in Massachusetts.
Posted inBallot Questions
Odd bedfellows: Progressive critics join Democratic, Republican party bosses to oppose election reform ballot question
“It’s not that our current system is good. It’s that this alternate one is worse,” says Jonathan Cohn, policy director for Progressive Mass.
Posted inEnergy
Lawmakers appear poised to take some big swings against competitive electric suppliers. How big is the question.
The pushback comes as Democrats on Beacon Hill are on the cusp of a long-sought breakthrough to rein in what critics contend are shady energy companies that rip off unwitting customers.
Posted inState Government
CCC hoping for funding infusion as it implements new law, policies
Cannabis regulators are planning a sweeping overhaul of the state’s marijuana industry while also advancing plans to let adults buy and use marijuana at the same establishment.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts needs a data-center strategy, not a series of permits
Massachusetts should decide what role data centers will play in its energy, climate, economic-development, and environmental-justice future—and what these extraordinarily energy-intensive facilities must contribute in return for public support.
Posted inState Government
Voting season puts focus on election administration, litigation, turnout
“With 600,000 ballots on the street, I think it’s important for people to vote them and send them back,” Secretary of State William Galvin said, calling the figure average and declaring that his “strong suggestion” is that mail-in voters return their ballots “immediately.”
Posted inEducation
Higher education commissioner stepping down in September
Ortega’s departure will further shift the state’s education leadership, following turnover within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler stepping down earlier this year.
Posted inEnergy
Mass. regulators approve new plan to shield solar customers from unexpected price spikes
The move, adopted with buy-in from the energy industry, advocates, and state officials, could save thousands of electric customers looking to install solar panels across the state from being saddled with last-minute, seemingly random charges that could stretch past $10,000 per project.
Posted inState Government
Massachusetts is second state to appoint heat resilience officer
Schlick will coordinate state government agencies and work with communities to “prepare for rising temperatures, protect public health and reduce the impacts of extreme heat,” according to a press release from Gov. Maura Healey’s office.
Posted inState Government
Healey, in new letter, urges MWRA to meet the ‘pressing needs’ of Quabbin Reservoir communities
Healey, through her letter to the head of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, is wading into an escalating battle between small towns along the Quabbin and the quasi-public agency that uses that water to serve 2.7 million residents in 61 communities mostly in and around Boston.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts must put communities before data center profits
Before we commit to a new generation of energy-intensive infrastructure, we must prove that the benefits outweigh the costs and ensure that residents determine what comes next in their communities.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Senate quietly launches another push for juvenile justice reforms
House and Senate negotiators hashing out a final deal on a sweeping jobs and business support package need to decide whether the measure should also embrace a major criminal justice reform: allowing many 18-year-olds to be tried in the youth justice system, not adult courts.
Posted inEnvironment
‘It’s like the Hunger Games’: Quabbin Reservoir towns take funding fight to Beacon Hill amid extended drought
A perfect storm of long-held resentments, the well-known story of the financial crunch squeezing small towns across the state, and an act of blameless chance — weather — is raising the stakes and stoking new tensions between these sparse towns and the powers that be in state government.
Posted inOpinion
Data privacy bill must have real teeth
We can end Big Tech’s abuses — but only if we have the courage to stand up to the tech oligarchs and maintain the strong standards of our consumer protection law when it comes to enforcing our data privacy law.
Posted inState Government
Signature cases add fuel to calls for ballot access reform
Legislative negotiators are finalizing the details of a bill requiring more frequent financial disclosures for statewide ballot question campaigns and implementing guardrails around the use of paid signature gatherers.
Posted inOpinion
Towns surrounding the Quabbin Reservoir protect the water for 2.7 million people in Eastern Mass. They’re getting financially starved in the process.
The state’s payments in lieu of taxes system treats Quabbin land as nearly worthless. In reality, it’s the most valuable land in Massachusetts: Without it, more than 2.7 million people across Eastern Massachusetts — 40 percent of the state’s population — would have no water.
Posted inState Government
Lawmakers send Healey bill governing library book access
As they wrapped up a host of priorities on the last day for major new business, legislators gave final approval to a measure aimed at preventing politically charged book bans.
Posted inEnergy
Healey sounds alarm on energy costs — but a legislative solution remains elusive for now
Healey’s decision to speak specifically on energy policy as the Legislature scrambled elsewhere in the State House to tackle other priorities is the latest sign of urgency from the governor to respond to Bay Staters’ angst around soaring utility bills — and of the political salience of the issue as the governor seeks reelection this fall.
