IN 2014, lawmakers added Massachusetts to the growing list of states to offer early voting, enabling registered voters to cast their ballots as much as 12 days in advance of […]
State needs to cover cost of early voting
Posted inArts and Culture
Artists, gallery owners debate rules of selling art
THE PROVINCETOWN LICENSING BOARD held a hearing this week on who should be able to sell art in town, and the panel got an earful from artists and gallery owners. […]
Posted inHealth Care
A different kind of single-payer health care
LIKE MANY OF the Democratic presidential candidates, I believe access to necessary health care is a basic human right, like housing, food and social services. More needs to be done […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
When will State Police scandals end?
Another day, another State Police scandal. The most recent incident surfaced when the Boston Herald’s Howie Carr was tipped off that trooper Andrew Patterson allegedly exposed himself while harassing a […]
Posted inThe Download
When will State Police scandals end?
Another day, another State Police scandal The most recent incident surfaced when the Boston Herald’s Howie Carr was tipped off that trooper Andrew Patterson allegedly exposed himself while harassing a couple […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Rivera pushes ‘zombie property’ legislation
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE EVERY CITY IN MASSACHUSETTS has one or two, and in Lawrence, there are hundreds, Mayor Daniel Rivera said Thursday: vacant properties that aren’t being developed, because […]
Posted inEnvironment
Healey sues ExxonMobil, alleges climate change deception
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY sued ExxonMobil Corp. on Thursday, accusing the company of misleading Massachusetts investors and consumers by withholding information linking its fossil fuel products to climate change. The […]
Posted inThe Codcast
BONUS EPISODE: Pollster explores commuter rail survey
Richard Parr, the research director of the MassINC Polling Group, said he was surprised at the strong support in a statewide, online poll for regional rail and a number of other ambitious transportation initiatives, […]
Posted inOpinion
Baker overreacting on vaping decision
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER says the courts are trying to restrict his authority to declare a public health emergency, but that claim seems like an overreaction. Baker’s emergency order banning the […]
Posted inTransportation
Pollster explores commuter rail survey
Richard Parr, the research director of the MassINC Polling Group, said he was surprised at the strong support in a statewide, online poll for regional rail and a number of other ambitious transportation initiatives, […]
Posted inOpinion
Still at it after 25 years
LIKE MANY PEOPLE, I remember where I was and what I was doing on December 14, 2012, when news broke that a shooter had taken the lives of 26 people, […]
Posted inOpinion
Legislative hearings have become mostly theater
LAST WEEK WE JOINED 200 other Massachusetts residents for a hearing of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary. The hearing, set to cover sentencing, corrections, and criminal records, had […]
Posted inUncategorized
Top judges tell ICE: stop deporting our defendants
TOP JUDGES IN MASSACHUSETTS are asking federal immigration officials to stop deporting defendants in state cases without telling local courts or the prosecuting district attorney. Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants […]
Posted inUncategorized
Harvard students take odd swipe at Crimson
SOME STUDENTS at Harvard don’t just want to abolish ICE. They also want to banish bedrock journalistic principles. The effort is misguided on a number of fronts, and potentially counterproductive […]
Posted inThe Download
Harvard students take odd swipe at Crimson
Some students at Harvard don’t just want to abolish ICE. They also want to banish bedrock journalistic principles. The effort is misguided on a number of fronts, and potentially counterproductive […]
Posted inEducation
House approves $1.5b education bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE on Wednesday night unanimously approved a seven-year plan to pour $1.5 billion into the state’s public education system, moving legislation that has been […]
Posted inHealth Care
Frustration surfaces at Health Policy Commission
THERE WAS A LONG, awkward silence Wednesday when a power-packed panel of CEOs from the state’s largest health care organizations was asked by a member of the Health Policy Commission […]
Posted inEducation
Time to up our STEM game
ACCORDING TO ALYSSA, a Burlington High School senior studying computer science in a classroom full of boys and only four other girls, “If we were able to show middle school […]
Posted inTransportation
Massport: New Uber/Lyft drop-offs will speed Logan travel
THE MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY staged a dry run on Wednesday to demonstrate how a centralized location for Uber and Lyft pickups and drop-offs will work at Logan International Airport. With […]
Posted inTransportation
What’s the plan?
IT’S HAPPENED TWICE this year. It will certainly happen again. A major incident shuts down a critical section of the inner urban subway system. In June it was the Red […]
Posted inPolitics
Loopy coverage says more about media than Legislature
THE STORYLINE OF loopy Massachusetts liberals going PC-crazy was apparently too good for right-leaning national outlets to resist. But they’re hardly alone, as mainstream Massachusetts media also decided to turn […]
Posted inThe Download
Loopy coverage says more about media than Legislature
The storyline of loopy Massachusetts liberals going PC-crazy was apparently too good for right-leaning national outlets to resist. But they’re hardly alone, as mainstream Massachusetts media also decided to turn […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Families want to end prison phone call charges
AYANA AUBOURG MET her father Winchel Aubourg as an infant while he was behind bars for a drug-related crime. For the next 17 years, she spoke with him over the […]
Posted inPolitics
Tougher seatbelt law remains longshot
STATE HOUSE NEWS FOR AT LEAST THE SEVENTH consecutive legislative session, lawmakers and driving safety advocates on Tuesday morning asked legislators to give police the ability to pull over and […]