Universities are learning environments where uncomfortable ideas should be raised and examined, requiring a delicate balance between creating space for legitimate discourse and not being soft on antisemitism.
Fostering dialogue on Israel, Palestine, and antisemitism on campus
Posted inOpinion
Why are we so fixated on offshore wind?
Eco-Nuclear Solutions respectfully asks Massachusetts to take a break and carefully consider our path forward. The decisions we make today will have an enormous impact on our future and our children’s future.
Posted inState Government
Political Notebook: Diverse tax talk at Gillette
“That’s not really a thing that comes up,” said defensiver linemn Keion White after the forum. “Personally, yeah, we pay an extra 4 percent. But Massachusetts does a good job of funding social programs, and we feel our money is going to a good cause.”
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts has become a border state
Fact: Warren supports the lax border policies costing us billions of dollars in state aid and federal resources as we struggle with the migrant crisis.
Posted inTransportation
MBTA estimates 25% of south-side commuter rail fares not being collected
“That’s a lot – 25 percent,” Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt said. “That’s a really big loss of revenue.”
Posted inState Government
Senate goes different law-making route to pass climate bill
Tarr, a Republican, said he saw the Senate’s new standing order for this session as a one-time event. “We should never let this practice be part of the everyday operations of this body,” he told his colleagues during a speech.
Posted inCourts
Tracking cookies doesn’t violate wiretap law, SJC rules
The 1960s-era Wiretap Act prohibits covertly intercepting communications, but the majority of Supreme Judicial Court justices concluded Thursday that use of popular AdTech tools that monitored a Revere resident’s browsing on the New England Baptist Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center websites doesn’t fall under that definition.
Posted inState Government
Beacon Hill mourns death of Rep. Gifford, Republican from Wareham
“Susan was also kind, and a person of integrity, traits that allowed her to bring an invaluable perspective to her work here in the Legislature,” said Spreaker Ron Mariano.
Posted inState Government
Business community needs attitude adjustment, Michlewitz says
“The negativity I hear on a daily basis is enough to make you think we’re bordering on the Great Depression, or that we’re almost wishing it into existence.”
Posted inOpinion
As minority enrollment slips at most colleges, Mass. offers way forward
And, at a time when the state faces real challenges to retain its talented workforce, the roughly 19,000 who graduate from UMass every year are overwhelmingly more likely to stay in Massachusetts than the graduates of private schools and contribute to our workforce.
Posted inGovernment
Wu, business leaders reach compromise on property tax shift
Business leaders and analysts say the compromise is a short-term solution to a problem that isn’t going away.
Posted inHealth
Tobacco-free movement takes aim at access to nicotine pouches
Some municipal boards of health, like those in Greenfield and Groton, are floating an “out of sight, out of mind” tactic, restricting certain nicotine product sales to adult-only retail tobacco stores and sparking the ire of retail associations.
Posted inEnergy
Vineyard Wind to remove already installed blades, strengthen others
The wind farm and its wind turbine supplier, GE Vernova, said the decision to remove some blades and strengthen others followed a review of 8,300 ultrasound images of each installed blade and physical blade inspections using “crawler drones.”
Posted inOpinion
Legislature pulled up short in July, but it’s getting job done now
My reduced anxiety about the Legislature’s productivity this session doesn’t mean that there isn’t still room for improvement. There is no question that the lawmaking process can be smoother, and I’ve been glad to see leadership acknowledge that the Legislature can do better.
Posted inBallot Questions
Mariano, Spilka don’t rule out revisiting ballot questions after election
Two ballot questions in particular have drawn Beacon Hill’s scorn: Question 1 would explicitly authorize the state auditor to audit the state Legislature, while Question 2 would remove passing the MCAS test as a high school graduation requirement.
Posted inEnergy
Decision time for offshore wind cable plant at Brayton Point
THE ITALIAN COMPANY seeking to build an offshore wind cable manufacturing plant at Brayton Point in Somerset has a big decision to make. Prysmian Group has nearly all of the […]
Posted inTransportation
McGee to lead MBTA board as Glynn steps aside
McGee, a former state lawmaker and mayor of Lynn, is very similar to Glynn in a policy sense. But the two men have very different leadership styles.
Posted inOpinion
My roadmap for funding the state’s transportation system
Ultimately, Massachusetts’ political leaders need to do two things next year: stop the T from falling off the coming fiscal cliff, and then build a financial bridge enabling the T to reach across the chasm to the other side, which is the future. That means not simply solving the fiscal cliff crisis but making essential and strategic investments in a better transit system.
Posted inGovernment
Wu, business leaders getting closer on tax shift
The difference between the two current proposals from Wu and business leaders comes down to $21 for Boston residents’ tax bills, according to Wu. Residents in the average single family home would see a $21 increase under Wu’s proposal, while businesses would see a $319 decrease.
Posted inBallot Questions
DiZoglio releases audit of Legislature 2 weeks before ballot question vote
Polls indicate DiZoglio’s ballot question is expected to pass overwhelmingly, but any victory is likely only the beginning of a legal struggle over what operations of the Legislature the auditor can audit without infringing on the authority of a separate branch of government.