A WEEK AFTER she signed onto a multi-state lawsuit against Facebook, Attorney General Maura Healey now has Google in her sights. On Thursday, Healey announced that she had signed on to a lawsuit […]
Maura Healey signs onto lawsuit against Google
Posted inOpinion
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s take on the spoils system
“TO THE VICTORS belong the spoils.” So clucked a happy supporter of President Andrew Jackson in 1831, but the divvying of spoils after some kind of victory probably dates to […]
Posted inUncategorized
53% of Mass. communities now high-risk for COVID-19
MORE THAN HALF of the state’s 351 cities and towns are now considered high risk for COVID-19, as the situation continues to deteriorate across Massachusetts. The state’s weekly report indicates […]
Posted inPolitics
Mariano supporters say he has the votes if DeLeo steps down
AMID RUMORS that House Speaker Robert DeLeo may be stepping down from his position, multiple House members said Majority Leader Ron Mariano would have enough votes to be elected the […]
Posted inThe Download
Ruling permits citizen recordings of police
While Beacon Hill legislators haven’t moved yet to address Gov. Charlie Baker’s amendments to policing reform legislation, other efforts to improve law enforcement accountability are moving forward locally and in […]
Posted inUncategorized
Ruling permits citizen recordings of police
WHILE BEACON HILL legislators haven’t moved yet to address Gov. Charlie Baker’s amendments to policing reform legislation, other efforts to improve law enforcement accountability are moving forward locally and in […]
Posted inUncategorized
Hodgson puts Healey report ‘down the sewer pipe’
BRISTOL COUNTY Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said on Wednesday he had no interest in following any of the recommendations contained in a report released by Attorney General Maura Healey that faulted […]
Posted inEducation
Senate advances campus sexual assault bill
THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE on Wednesday advanced a bill that would give students on college campuses more rights and resources in dealing with sexual assault. Sen. Michael Moore, a Millbury Democrat […]
Posted inUncategorized
House rejects Baker’s abortion amendment
THE HOUSE on Wednesday voted 107-49 to reject Gov. Charlie Baker’s amendment paring back a legislative proposal to expand access to abortion in Massachusetts. The measure now goes to the […]
Posted inTransportation
T board members clarify fare, service votes
SOME MEMBERS of the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board on Wednesday sought to clarify a couple of controversial votes on fares and short-term service levels that they took at […]
Posted inOpinion
Pandemic will leave PTSD in its wake. I should know.
THE END OF the COVID war came into sight this week. The sight of vaccines going into arms signals the final push is underway. But the echo of this war […]
Posted inOpinion
Parental or judicial consent doesn’t work for everyone
FOR YEARS I was too ashamed of the abortion I had at sixteen to tell anyone. I had to cross state lines, driving from Massachusetts to Connecticut, to get abortion […]
Posted inPolitics
Can there be a DC return to ‘normality’?
MONDAY’S MEETING OF presidential electors in state capitols across the country is the kind of ritual that usually gets cursory news coverage, one of those quadrennial stories reported more as […]
Posted inOpinion
‘Alternative facts’ didn’t scuttle ranked-choice voting
THERE IS NOTHING worse than a sore loser. That is our gut reaction after reading Evan Falchuk’s recent item in CommonWealth entitled “Ranked-choice opponents peddled ‘alternative facts’”. With a treasure […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo, Spilka seek to overturn Baker abortion amendment
HOUSE SPEAKER Robert DeLeo said the House plans to overturn Gov. Charlie Baker’s amendment to an abortion provision in the state budget on Wednesday, and Senate President Karen Spilka said […]
Posted inEconomy
State economy expected to improve in FY22
THE ECONOMY is expected to improve in the fiscal year beginning in July, raising the amount of tax revenues the state can expect to receive, economists said. But the fiscal […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC pans state panhandling law
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Tuesday overturned Massachusetts’s anti-panhandling statute, concluding that it unconstitutionally abridges free speech. Massachusetts state law prohibits a person from signaling or stopping a car for the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Healey pushes to block immigrant detention at jail
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey, in the wake of a report by her office on a May 1 confrontation at the Bristol County Jail, is seeking to prohibit Sheriff Thomas Hodgson […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker’s deliberate mixed message on COVID-19
MIXED MESSAGES are not usually held up as a quality of good leadership, but a lot of things have been different about life amid a global pandemic. That included Gov. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Healey: Civil rights of ICE detainees violated
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey issued a report on Tuesday concluding that the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office violated the civil rights of immigrant detainees on May 1 when it engaged in […]
Posted inThe Download
Beacon Hill’s legislative chess match
In The Queen’s Gambit, the popular series on Netflix, the protagonist is constantly playing a game of what-if in her head, trying to envision what her opponent will do in […]
Posted inPolitics
Beacon Hill’s legislative chess match
IN THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, the popular series on Netflix, the protagonist is constantly playing a game of what-if in her head, trying to envision what her opponent will do in response […]
Posted inPolitics
Harvard professor Danielle Allen exploring run for governor
DANIELLE ALLEN, an acclaimed Harvard political theorist whose research has focused on ideas of citizenship and justice in ancient Greece and modern America, is making the leap to political practice by launching an exploratory run for governor. Allen, the director […]
Posted inUncategorized
Senate bill would aid crime victims and witnesses with visas
THE STATE SENATE on Monday advanced a bill that would require state agencies and local law enforcement offices to assist immigrants who testify in criminal cases or are victims of human trafficking and domestic […]