ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey has filed a lawsuit against 13 manufacturers of PFAS chemicals, arguing that they deceptively marketed and sold chemicals that were dangerous to the environment and to […]
State Government
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Momentum building for some form of tax relief
FOR MONTHS NOW, pressure has been building on Beacon Hill lawmakers to provide some form of tax relief to residents. Republicans pushed repeatedly for a gas tax holiday as prices […]
Posted inBook Review
The Book of Baker
The first of two takes on the new book by the state’s governor and his former chief of staff. Here is the second, a look at the Baker playbook from […]
Posted inState Government
What derailed unemployment insurance commission?
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS are going to be pumped into the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund, but there is no guarantee the money will solve the fund’s problems. A special legislative […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
House plans vote on prison construction moratorium
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE is set to vote on language this Thursday that would impose a five-year moratorium on new prison construction. The language is tucked into a large government bond […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service, Transportation
East-West rail authority not in transpo bond bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE $9.75 BILLION infrastructure bond bill that cleared the Transportation Committee does not include any language creating a new rail authority to oversee a passenger train […]
Posted inState Government
State workforce shrinks to 2012 levels
MASSACHUSETTS STATE GOVERNMENT lost the equivalent of 1,409 full-time employees in one year during the pandemic, the steepest drop in state government employment since the Baker administration intentionally cut the […]
Posted inHousing, State Government
Baker’s housing efforts meet resistance Â
IF COUNTLESS OPINION COLUMNS, university studies, and pledges by multiple governors were enough move the needle on housing costs, we’d live in one of the most affordable states in the […]
Posted inPolitics
Threading the needle
From the archives This article first appeared in CommonWealth’s Spring 2014 issue. Click here view more issues. CHARLIE BAKER BOUNDS into the Charlestown Knights of Columbus, where the once and […]
Posted inPolitics
Municipal meltdown
From the archives This article first appeared in CommonWealth’s Fall 2007 issue. Click here view more issues. A MAJESTIC GROVE of evergreen trees overlooks the town swimming pools in West […]
Posted inHousing, State Government
The Sprawl Doctor
When incoming Gov. Mitt Romney named Doug Foy to be the state’s first chief of Commonwealth Development, one of two new “super cabinet” positions Romney created in December as part […]
Posted inState Government
Beacon ill
IT’S A STEAMY afternoon in late July, and you might expect the temperature to be rising even higher beneath the golden dome of the Massachusetts State House. The state Senate […]
Posted inState Government
The Speaker Who Believed in Democracy
ASK SOMEONE today, “Who is George Keverian?” and the typical response is a blank stare. Those who recall him at all might say he was the portly Speaker who presided […]
Posted inEconomy
On Heritage Road
This article first appeared in CommonWealth’s Spring 1996 issue, the premiere issue of the magazine.
