THE STATE’S WEEKLY COVID-19 reports showed improvement on Thursday, with the number of high-risk communities dropping for the first time in months and vaccine shipments to the state increasing slightly […]
Number of high-risk communities finally drops
Posted inHealth Care
Sudders acknowledges staffing problems at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home
HEALTH AND HUMAN Services Secretary Marylou Sudders on Thursday acknowledged that staffing problems plagued the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home before the deadly COVID-19 outbreak, but said simply more employees or a […]
Posted inPolitics
Walsh gets COVID-19 vaccine as cabinet nominee
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH has yet to be confirmed as President Biden’s labor secretary, but he has already been accorded one privilege of his cabinet nomination: vaccination against COVID-19. Walsh’s […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker sees some promising COVID signs
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER, citing positive trends in COVID-19 data, said that starting Monday he plans to lift a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. stay-at-home advisory and a curfew that left […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Getting Gateway Cities back on the bus
MUCH OF THE FOCUS on public transportation in Massachusetts during COVID has been on service cuts at the MBTA, but the Regional Transit Authorities serving the state’s Gateway Cities and […]
Posted inUncategorized
SJC takes up local control of marijuana licensing
OFFICIALLY, THE STATE licenses marijuana businesses. Practically, local municipalities are the gatekeepers. The requirement that cities and towns negotiate host community agreements with marijuana establishments has led to alleged outright […]
Posted inThe Download
Biden looks to overhaul pandemic response
BENEATH THE USUAL pomp and circumstance of inauguration day was one underlying feeling — urgency. Urgency to address deep divisions involving race and inequity, urgency to roll back some of […]
Posted inTransportation
Pollack headed to Federal Highway Administration
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION on Thursday tapped Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack as deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, creating a yawning void in the state’s transportation bureaucracy. Gov. Charlie […]
Posted inHealth Care
Biden looks to overhaul pandemic response
BENEATH THE USUAL pomp and circumstance of inauguration day was one underlying feeling — urgency. Urgency to address deep divisions involving race and inequity, urgency to roll back some of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Biden’s great immigration undoing
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Massachusetts immigrants could be impacted by President Biden’s immigration overhaul, which includes a massive bill sent to Congress on Wednesday that was accompanied by a series […]
Posted inUncategorized
Marijuana retailers sue over home delivery rules
A COALITION OF marijuana dispensaries has made good on the threat to sue state regulators over new regulations governing home delivery of marijuana, in a case that is illustrating the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Domestic violence homicides decline during pandemic
THERE WAS A significant drop in domestic violence-related homicides in Massachusetts in 2020, according to a new state report, but some worry that there may be a dark underside to what would normally be regarded […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Forced addiction treatment could be death sentence during COVID-19
AS THE COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate communities across this country, correctional facilities have become one of the most explosive epicenters of this public health crisis. Despite calls to rapidly […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker goes silent on foreign-trained docs
IN EARLY APRIL, amid the first COVID-19 surge and an emerging shortage of health care workers, Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order allowing foreign-trained medical doctors to gain full […]
Posted inOpinion
The best way to use our ‘available’ wood
MASSACHUSETTS GENERATES a lot of wood. Sturbridge, for example, spent more than $300,000 removing trees killed by drought and gypsy moths. Utilities, local and state governments, and private contractors chop […]
Posted inThe Download
Trump leaves, but the chaos sown remain
DONALD TRUMP will be the first president in more than 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration, jetting off this morning to Florida in a denialist huff about his […]
Posted inPolitics
Trump leaves, but the chaos sown remains
DONALD TRUMP will be the first president in more than 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration, jetting off this morning to Florida in a denialist huff about his […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker appointee ‘mourns’ transportation vetoes
ONE OF GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S top transportation appointees took to Twitter on Tuesday to mourn four ”heart-breaking vetoes” the governor made last week to the transportation bond bill. Monica Tibbits-Nutt, who […]
Posted inOpinion
December gaming revenues show promise
LAST WEEK’S REVENUE REPORT from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission suggested the state’s casinos are doing pretty well, given the many restrictions imposed by COVID-19. Monthly slot revenues for the Commonwealth’s […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Voters hold Beacon Hill in high esteem
POLITICS IS NOT all toxic. Here in Massachusetts, voters hold political leaders in very high regard. The state Legislature has climbed to 65 percent approval in a poll we released […]
Posted inHealth Care
Vaccination rollout expands, includes Fenway Park
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MORE THAN A DOZEN Massachusetts pharmacies will administer thousands of COVID-19 vaccines through a new federal partnership, a mass vaccination site will open at Fenway Park […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mariano, Spilka take defiant tone on climate change
HOUSE SPEAKER Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka on Tuesday set in motion passage of the same climate change bill that passed the Legislature last session and was vetoed […]
Posted inPolitics
Debate over special elections heated — and complicated
WITH THE SUDDEN EXIT of the mayor of Lawrence and imminent expected departure of Boston’s mayor, officials in both communities have scrambled to head off special elections that are called for […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Baker under fire on climate bill
The Senate’s point person on climate change legislation said he doesn’t know where Gov. Charlie Baker came up with his estimate that the Legislature’s target for emissions reductions in 2030 […]