GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is seeking legislative permission to fine health care providers and labs up to $2,000 a day if they do not give the state complete demographic data about […]
Baker bill mandates COVID reporting by labs, health providers
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Why a COVID-19 vaccine will be no easy feat
VACCINES HAVE HAD a greater impact on human health than any medical intervention in history. We are all hoping an effective vaccine against COVID-19 will soon join the ranks of […]
Posted inUncategorized
News business in George Floyd upheaval
THE NEWS BUSINESSÂ is going through its own George Floyd reckoning, as traditional ways of operating are being challenged and overturned in swift fashion. A week ago, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran […]
Posted inThe Download
News business in George Floyd upheaval
The news business is going through its own George Floyd reckoning, as traditional ways of operating are being challenged and overturned in swift fashion. A week ago, the Philadelphia Inquirer […]
Posted inPolitics
Sparks fly in Markey-Kennedy debate
IT’S BEEN HARD to find much daylight on issues between Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy as the liberal lawmakers match each other measure for measure on one progressive platitude after […]
Posted inEducation
Guidance calls for much smaller class sizes in schools
STATE OFFICIALS are signaling that student-teacher ratios across the state may be far lower when schools reopen in the fall to deal with the coronavirus. In a preliminary guidance, the […]
Posted inTransportation
Senate bill proposes new oversight board for T
THE SENATE IS PREPARING is preparing to take up legislation that would create a new, seven-member board to oversee the MBTA and appoint the general manager of the transit authority. […]
Posted inHealth Care
New law requires more COVID-19 data-gathering
THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH will need to publish more transparent data about the number of COVID-19 cases in individual long-term care facilities, and will also need to publish […]
Posted inUncategorized
Racial impact of COVID may be less than thought
ONE OF THE BIG TAKEAWAYS from the coronavirus pandemic so far has been that the virus has exposed racial inequities in society, with the impact falling hardest on blacks and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Report: Undocumented immigrants at risk of losing work, pay
NEARLY HALF OF the undocumented immigrants employed in the state, an estimated 55,000 workers, were at risk of losing their job or losing pay because their workplace had to close during the […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Holmes, Idowu outline reform steps
IN THE WAKE OF George Floyd’s death, Rep. Russell Holmes of Boston and Segun Idowu of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts talked on the Codcast about practical steps that can […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Holmes, Idowu outline reform steps
IN THE WAKE OF George Floyd’s death, Rep. Russell Holmes of Boston and Segun Idowu of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts talked on the Codcast about practical steps that can […]
Posted inThe Download
Holmes, Idowu outline reform steps
In the wake of George Floyd’s death, Rep. Russell Holmes of Boston and Segun Idowu of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts talked on the Codcast about practical steps that […]
Posted inOpinion
Online ed key to closing racial, class gaps
EVEN BEFORE THE PANDEMIC, racial and class inequality was a pervasive characteristic of the American economy. Whether measured by earnings, wealth, job quality, educational attainment, or virtually any other marker […]
Posted inOpinion
Koch behind the challenge to Baker’s powers
ON JUNE 1 the Fiscal Alliance Foundation announced that a lawsuit to overturn Gov. Charlie Baker’s coronavirus public safety orders would be brought on behalf of a few Massachusetts businesses […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Protesting the George Floyd killing: A moment or a movement?
THE BURST OF protests across the country following the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer are demanding dramatic reform of policing practices. But are […]
Posted inOpinion
Is it the end or the beginning for cities?
WITH TIME ON OUR HANDS, we’re all contemplating how our lives will be different in the future, once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. At this point, almost every news source has […]
Posted inOpinion
Amid COVID-19, let’s not forget about strokes
AS OUR NATION mourns the immense loss of life from COVID-19 and the socioeconomic disruption it has caused, the people of our Commonwealth should be proud of what they have […]
Posted inPolitics
Incumbents to cruise, again, in coming election
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ALL 200 SEATS in the Massachusetts Legislature are up for re-election this fall, but nearly two-thirds of sitting members are on a glide path toward another […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker greenlights phase two for Monday
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said the state will move into the second phase of its four-phase approach to reopening on Monday, allowing retail stores, lodgings, child care facilities, day camps, amateur […]
Posted inEconomy
Businesses like new PPP rules
PRESIDENT TRUMP on Friday signed into law a measure that business owners in Massachusetts say will make it a lot easier for them to take advantage of federal aid to keep their companies afloat. The new law changes the […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA to stop busing police to protests
THE MBTA SAID on Friday that it will no longer use T buses to shuttle law enforcement personnel to protests, but it appears private bus operators will now take over […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker sees big benefit from Guard presence
MASSACHUSETTS NATIONAL GUARD soldiers, weapons strapped around their chests, have been a very visible presence in downtown Boston since they were called in by the governor after the violence that […]
Posted inOpinion
Trump’s fake Bible
After returning to the White House following his walk to St John’s Episcopal Church on Monday where he held a Bible aloft for cameras, President Trump put in a call […]