THE FIRST REAL starting shot of the state ballot question cycle has been fired, kicking several high profile campaigns into high gear and already raising the specter of legal challenges. Voters in 2024 and 2026 could be weighing MCAS requirements, rent control, the employment status of app-based drivers, and even decriminalizing psychedelics among the potential smorgasbord […]
Politics
Posted inPolitics
Is Massachusetts becoming the state of emergency?
IN GOVERNMENT, as in life, what gets the most attention is often a matter of priorities. It’s hard to focus on too much at once, so the most important things get pushed to the top of the to-do list. Sometimes, though, even setting out an agenda of top priorities doesn’t seem to be enough. Lately, […]
Posted inOpinion
Trump’s insurrection should disqualify him for office
IT IS INDEED ironic that Donald J. Trump, who entered politics with his disreputable efforts to disqualify Barack Obama from the presidency by ludicrously claiming that he was born in Kenya, and then challenging Ted Cruz’s nomination because he was Canadian born (albeit to an American citizen mother), has seemingly dodged his own disqualification as […]
Posted inEconomy, Energy, Government, Politics
Healey launches offshore wind procurement at risky time
GOV. MAURA HEALEY launched what she described as the region’s largest offshore wind procurement this week. “With our top academic institutions, robust workforce training programs, innovative companies, and support from every level of government – Massachusetts is all-in on offshore wind,” she said. But what her press release failed to mention was that this procurement […]
Posted inTransportation
Wu taking unusual approach with MBTA board appointment
BOSTON MAYOR Michelle Wu is taking an unconventional approach in appointing a person to represent Boston on the MBTA board of directors. The Legislature and Gov. Maura Healey approved a fiscal 2024 budget in August that expands the T board from seven to nine members, adding a representative from Boston appointed by Wu and another […]
Posted inGovernment, Immigration, Politics
Right to shelter: Is it a migrant magnet?
FOR 40 YEARS, Massachusetts has had a right-to-shelter law, which requires the state to provide shelter to families with children as well as pregnant women. The law is attracting a lot of attention right now because the number of families seeking shelter has more than tripled since the start of the year, the cost to […]
Posted inGovernment, Opinion, Politics
Democracy faces test with 2024 election
FIFTY YEARS AGO, I was first elected to Congress, a beneficiary of voter backlash against the chaos of the previous decade that had included an unpopular war, widespread protests, multiple assassinations, and a presidential resignation. The new Congress passed urgently needed electoral reforms that helped our nation survive for another five decades. The 2024 presidential election […]
Posted inPolitics
A religious wrinkle in the rent control debate
OPPONENTS OF a potential ballot initiative allowing for a local rent control option are covering all their bases in urging Attorney General Andrea Campbell not to certify it. In between claims that the ballot measure improperly includes unrelated items in the same proposal and that it would allow taking property without just compensation, coalitions of […]
Posted inGovernment, Politics
Wu backs challenger to Arroyo in Boston council race
IN A MAJOR blow to City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo’s already hobbled reelection bid, Mayor Michelle Wu is throwing her support behind one of his challengers, Enrique Pepén, a former City Hall aide, in the race for the district seat representing Hyde Park, Roslindale, a section of Mattapan. “Enrique is exactly the kind of leader we need […]
Posted inEducation
After affirmative action blow, legacy preference draws focus
AFTER THE US SUPREME COURT ruled this spring to significantly scale back higher educational institutions’ use of affirmative action, advocacy and civil rights groups wound up for a counter-punch at Harvard. America’s oldest university, and its policy of allowing for legacy admission preference, is in the crosshairs of both a federal investigation and a civil […]