The Download: Does fault matter when an engagement ends?
Does fault matter when an engagement ends?
Getting engaged is complicated, saide Boston Globe romance columnist Meredith Goldstein. “It’s tied to romance, especially now, but also it’s a legal thing. It’s a business contract,” she said. “So I think the minute we begin to enter into that contract, it is a very awkward line to dance down. Is this business? Is this pleasure? And who benefits and whose responsibility is it to keep this going?”
Healey says she’s not interested in Harris administration post
“You know, I laugh at people with their speculation about stuff,” Healey said. “I want to be really clear: I am not interested in any job other than being governor.”
Why do we elect a Supreme Judicial Court clerk anyway? The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Why do we elect someone to the obscure, behind-the-scenes administrative post of clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court? The answer starts with the saga of a Black man who escaped slavery in Virginia more than 170 years ago and hoped to find freedom in Boston.
Chelsea residents angry over handling of Tobin Bridge construction project
More than a year after Chelsea residents sounded the alarm over lead paint chips falling from Tobin Bridge, the state has stepped in with a new mitigation plan to help address the problem, but some residents and environmental advocates say it’s not enough.
Defense of White Stadium plan doesn’t add up
I am grateful to Chris Dempsey for his leadership in stopping the Boston 2024 Olympics, which would have irreparably harmed Franklin Park through an ill-advised plan to transform White Stadium into an equestrian center. So I was dismayed to see him author an opinion article for CommonWealth Beacon in support of the equally ill-advised plan by the City of Boston and a group of private sports investors to redevelop White Stadium in Franklin Park into a much larger professional sports and entertainment complex.
Political Notebook: Lawmakers won’t campaign against audit ballot question
Legislative leaders aren’t happy about state Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s call for her office to audit the Legislature, but they aren’t going to mount a campaign against her ballot question granting those powers. The measure seems likely to pass overwhelmingly, and lawmakers instead seem content to wait and pursue a legal challenge to the measure if it’s approved at the ballot box.
Our judges should reflect the breadth of the legal profession
Attorneys with backgrounds in corporate law or as prosecutors are so overrepresented in Massachusetts courts it should set off alarm bells for anybody who believes in the promise of equal justice in the Commonwealth.
High court to decide if covert police recording violates wiretap law
POLICE OFFICERS may be hiding their identity by working undercover, but that doesn’t necessarily give them the right to record suspects covertly. Whether secret cell phone recordings of a drug […]
Dorchester, Ayer region brace for hospital closures
Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer are slated to close on August 31, but advocates and elected officials say that could be averted if the state were willing to step in.
Could Harris make a dent in housing crisis?
Kamala Harris’s plan for tackling the nation’s housing crisis could help, say experts, but only if it strikes the right balance of incentives to increase both housing demand and supply.
How Mr. Rogers changed the way I think about teaching
For many people Mister Rogers was the only adult who told them that they were worthy of love and attention. That they were enough.
In Cambridge rep race, a liberal showdown
Cambridge state Rep. Marjorie Decker is running hard, touting the progressive issues she has championed during 12 years in office. Her Democratic primary challenger, Evan MacKay, says she’s become too beholden to the dysfunctional power structure on Beacon Hill to consistently stand up for those values.
SJC rules Mass. switchblade ban unconstitutional
Second Amendment protections are “not limited to firearms,” Justice Serge Georges wrote for a unanimous court. “Like handguns, a person can carry a switchblade for offensive or defensive purposes in case of confrontation.”
Splinter group meeting on transportation funding
Sources say the side-meetings grew out of concern about the slow pace of the task force and frustration with the push for a “tool kit” of revenue options rather than a curated list of preferred options.
New ad touts ‘replacing’ MCAS grad requirement
The ballot question campaign to end the MCAS graduation requirement rolled out its first ad — but as with the first ads from opponents of the question, it leaves out part of the story.
Loss of Carney would accentuate Boston’s health care inequities
Carney is closing on the heels of dramatic financial mismanagement and bankruptcy – but the trajectory of Carney’s closure is not an anomalous case. Across the country, for-profit systems are buying up struggling hospitals, otensibly in a last-ditch effort to save them, only to watch them shutter years later.
Feds say Vineyard Wind not expected to cause whale deaths
“NOAA Fisheries does not anticipate serious injuries to or mortalities of any ESA listed whale including the North Atlantic right whale.” The agency said that, with mitigation measures, “all effects to North Atlantic right whales will be limited to temporary behavioral disturbance.”
Teachers unions and the Democratic Party
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith catches up with Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts and recently a DNC delegate, after her return from the convention. They discuss the place of education unions in national and state politics, the MCAS ballot measure here in Massachusetts, and what’s ahead for education and health care priorities.