MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATORS are taking a run at improving cell phone data privacy through a timely side door. The current political climate around abortion access leaves people seeking to end a […]
State Government
Posted inState Government, Technology
The disconnections of digital equity
It seems like easy enough math. Add access to computers, plus stable internet, plus the training to use technology, and digital equity results. So why, in tech-savvy, educated Massachusetts, are […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Healey administration grapples with record high opioid deaths
THE STATE WAS already swimming upstream against the opioid epidemic, but new numbers showing record high opioid-related overdose deaths brought an undercurrent of despair to Healey administration discussion of how […]
Posted inEnvironment
Reading tea leaves on Tepper
REBECCA TEPPER, the governor’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs, made an interesting impression at this week’s field hearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Maine. In a crowd […]
Posted inEnvironment
Final regulations target nitrogen pollution on Cape
THE HEALEY ADMINISTRATION issued final regulations on Wednesday aimed at addressing Cape Cop’s nitrogen pollution, which is caused by wastewater from septic systems finding its way into waterbodies where it […]
Posted inEconomy
Massachusetts can win the new world of work
MASSACHUSETTS CAN WIN in the new world of work. That is the message that emerged from the Massachusetts Business Roundtable’s third annual Talent and Competitiveness Survey of its member CEOs […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Healey headed to Ireland on trade mission
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. MAURA HEALEY is scheduled to address the Irish Senate next week, and her first international gubernatorial travel plans also feature a series of business and […]
Posted inHealth Care
Medicaid redetermination process off to fast start
A TOP STATE OFFICIAL says 9,000 residents have transferred from MassHealth to the Massachusetts Health Connector since April as part of the post-COVID Medicaid redetermination process. “That’s a little bit […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Commission urges New England states to prioritize prison education
IF EDUCATION IS key to a better life, that may hold double for those who are incarcerated. People who land in prison tend to have low educational attainment levels, while […]
Posted inEnergy, State Government, State House News Service
Thong-wearing climate activists turn their cheeks in Senate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THONG-WEARING climate activists intent on stopping fossil fuel infrastructure mooned senators and disrupted Thursday’s tax relief debate in the Massachusetts Senate. About an hour later, they […]
Posted inEconomy
Spilka outlines a different vision of competitiveness
SENATE PRESIDENT Karen Spilka delivered a speech to a leading business group on Thursday staking out a different stance on competitiveness than Gov. Maura Healey, the House, and the state’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Rules feud leads to 2 takes on committee hearing
A correction has been added to this story. THE JOINT IN the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy has gone missing. On Wednesday morning, for example, House members of […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, State Government, State House News Service
Green bank to target building decarbonization
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH AN EYE on the state’s mid-century greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments, Gov. Maura Healey announced Tuesday the launch of a “green bank” that she hopes […]
Posted inState Government, Transportation
2 lawmakers urge Healey to focus now on next commuter rail contract
TWO KEY state lawmakers are urging Gov. Maura Healey to set in motion now the process for selecting the next operator of the state’s commuter rail system even though the contract […]
Posted inOpinion
Why we need a new state seal and motto
MASSACHUSETTS DESERVES a new state seal and motto. As leaders of the special commission charged with reviewing the current seal and motto, we understand the harm these symbols and words […]
Posted inHousing, State Government
The mixed blessing of the Community Preservation Act
ROYALSTON, a rural Worcester County town with about 1,250 residents, has been squirreling away money from a tax surcharge partially dedicated to affordable housing for more than a decade now. […]
Posted inEnergy, State Government
The dark underbelly of retail electricity competition
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ago, Beacon Hill lawmakers dramatically changed the way electricity is bought and sold in Massachusetts. The old way was devoid of competition, with utilities producing and distributing electricity under […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Tax revenues bounce back, yet still short of benchmark
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE TAX REVENUES surpassed expectations in May after an unexpectedly steep nosedive in April, yet the total haul remains hundreds of millions of dollars short of […]
Posted inEconomy
A race to keep up – or to the bottom?
MARCH WAS “Problem Gambling Awareness Month” in Massachusetts, but for those in charge of the state lottery the gambling problem coming into the new year was that people weren’t doing […]
Posted inEconomy
A race to keep up – or to the bottom? Lottery bets big on $50 scratch ticket, online games.
MARCH WAS “Problem Gambling Awareness Month” in Massachusetts, but for those in charge of the state lottery the gambling problem coming into the new year was that people weren’t doing […]
Posted inOpinion, State Government
Our no-fail commitment to Mass. veterans
WOUNDED SOLDIERS RETURNING from combat share much in common. Amidst their trauma is a selfless call for their embattled brothers and sisters. How are they doing? Did they make it? […]
Posted inEconomy
Senate debate highights fault lines on competitiveness issue
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE SENATE’S TOP Republican opted against seeking a vote Thursday on a roughly $750 million tax relief proposal, but set off a debate that revealed some […]
Posted inOpinion
Sad state of affairs on Beacon Hill
THE MASSACHUSETTS Legislature is broken. It’s not as bad as Tennessee or Montana, where Republican supermajorities have tried to expel or silence Democratic dissenters. Or Oregon, where Republicans simply walk […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Senate approves budget, next up negotiations with House
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE ANNUAL STATE budget season moved to the next phase Thursday evening as the Senate unanimously approved a nearly $56 billion spending plan that ramps up […]