A PARTISAN BATTLE is brewing in the Legislature over vote-by-mail – with the first salvo coming on a seemingly innocuous bill to extend municipal voting by mail for another three […]
Partisan battle brewing over vote-by-mail
Posted inUncategorized
Lobbying expenditures totaled $85.6m in 2020
THE STATE HOUSE is closed these days because of COVID-19, but for the most part businesses and other advocacy groups are continuing to hire lobbyists to represent their interests on […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Audit faults data system used by DAs
IN AN AUDIT of the Cape and Islands district attorney’s office this week, state Auditor Suzanne Bump flagged the case management system used by all 11 Massachusetts district attorneys as outdated, citing in particular its information on juvenile defendants. If […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker continues to cite constraints in vaccine supply
ARE YOU A Massachusetts resident frustrated to be still waiting for your COVID shot? Gov. Charlie Baker has a message: blame the feds. “I think it’s unfair that I can’t […]
Posted inThe Download
Teachers unions seem to have Baker’s number
If you’re keeping score at home, Gov. Charlie Baker lost another battle on Wednesday in his long-running war with the state’s teachers unions. Baker for months had resisted the call […]
Posted inEducation
Teachers unions seem to have Baker’s number
IF YOU’RE KEEPING score at home, Gov. Charlie Baker lost another battle on Wednesday in his long-running war with the state’s teachers unions. Baker for months had resisted the call […]
Posted inOpinion
Breaking down hospital community benefits
2020 was a year like no other. COVID-19 laid bare many inequities in our Commonwealth and nation. Black and Latinx residents, many of whom are low-wage essential workers, immigrants, and […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
State tax collections remain on a roll
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TAX COLLECTIONS exceeded the Baker administration’s expectations by $372 million in February and surpassed the total of collections in February 2020, a development that positions the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Biden accused of playing politics on Vineyard Wind
WHEN THE TRUMP administration dragged its feet on the environmental permitting of Vineyard Wind, wind energy proponents in Massachusetts and across the country cried foul, claiming politics was driving the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Teachers become eligible for COVID vaccines March 11
AFTER WEEKS OF pressure from Massachusetts teachers — and one day after President Biden urged giving educators priority for vaccines — Gov. Charlie Baker said teachers, school staff, and early educators will be […]
Posted inPolitics
Bernie backing means little in middle-of-the-road Winthrop
IT TURNS OUT Bernie Sanders has little sway with voters in Winthrop and Revere when it comes to choosing their next representative. The same goes for former US housing secretary […]
Posted inEducation
Spilka to Baker: Get teachers vaccinated
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH THE STATE expecting to see its supply of COVID-19 vaccine increase over the coming weeks, Senate President Karen Spilka on Tuesday said Gov. Charlie Baker […]
Posted inOpinion
Cancel standardized tests this spring
PUBLIC EDUCATION in Massachusetts is at a crossroads. Amidst a deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has taken 15,000 Massachusetts lives, Gov. Charlie Baker and Education Commissioner Jeff Riley have called for […]
Posted inEconomy
State eyeing hybrid telework model for half of workforce
CLOSE TO HALF of the state’s executive branch employees could continue some form of telework even once the pandemic ends, Secretary of Administration and Finance Michael Heffernan said Tuesday. Speaking […]
Posted inUncategorized
Catching up with Majority Leader Claire Cronin
HOUSE MAJORITY Leader Claire Cronin, a Democrat from Easton, has become a key player in the House this session as the newly elevated majority leader – the number two job […]
Posted inThe Download
Mom charged with attempted murder for putting baby in trash can
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins filed attempted murder charges on Monday against a 33-year-old woman accused of giving birth all alone in the bathroom of a house she was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Mom charged with attempted murder for putting baby in trash can
SUFFOLK COUNTY District Attorney Rachael Rollins filed attempted murder charges on Monday against a 33-year-old woman accused of giving birth all alone in the bathroom of a house she was […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Warren seeks 2% tax on those worth $50m
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ARGUING THAT THE wealth of billionaires has grown over the course of the pandemic, US Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday introduced legislation in Congress to tax […]
Posted inOpinion
Say no to ‘double-dip’ PPP tax break
STRUGGLING SMALL businesses are being used once again by anti-tax zealots to push legislators and the public alike into supporting a new and ill-advised state tax break. Advocates for this […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Pandemic leads to rethinking of childcare
The shuttering of daycares last spring made apparent to workers and employers alike the importance of childcare to a functioning economy. Now, experts hope that one silver lining of the […]
Posted inPolitics
If Baker opts not to run, state GOP split on successor
A POLL COMMISSIONED by the conservative Fiscal Alliance Foundation indicates Republican primary voters would be split if Gov. Charlie Baker decides not to seek reelection next year. The poll initially […]
Posted inPolitics
Curtatone won’t seek reelection as Somerville mayor
JOE CURTATONE, the feisty longtime mayor of Somerville, who has been an outspoken leader on progressive municipal policy — from his early declaration of racism as a public health crisis […]
Posted inHealth Care
Mass. will start getting limited Johnson & Johnson vaccine
MASSACHUSETTS WILL BEGIN getting a small supply of one-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines next week, but is unlikely to get a significant shipment of the shots until the end […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Pandemic leads to rethinking of childcare
The shuttering of daycares last spring made apparent to workers and employers alike the importance of childcare to a functioning economy. Now, experts hope that one silver lining of the […]