The Download: Political Notebook – Lawmakers won’t campaign against audit ballot question
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.
Teachers unions lean in on national ticket shift and a state ballot push
Just as their biennial convention kicked off, the executive committee jumped from endorsing Joe Biden on a Saturday to flipping to Kamala Harris on Sunday after Biden dropped out.
Goldberg in difficult spot on O’Brien decision
It’s an unprecedented situation. Goldberg has spent close to $750,000 in taxpayer dollars on legal fees during the fight with O’Brien and O’Brien has probably spent a similar amount or more on private attorneys. O’Brien has also continued to collect her $196,551 annual salary during her suspension.
Schoolhouse doors increasingly close to children of color
What is remarkable is our individual and collective failure to confront these wrongdoings around our kitchen tables, within our classrooms, and in our halls of power. This is not just a policy failure; it’s a moral failure that makes us complicit in perpetuating racial injustice.
Baseball’s Hall of Fame should rewrite Tom Yawkey’s plaque
Longtime Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey was inducted more than 40 years ago into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The plaque honoring Yawkey, whose team was the last in baseball to sign a Black player, should be revised to take account of his role in maintaining the sport’s segregation.
Free College only pays off if students know about it
As any good politician will tell you, you have to get in face of your prospects everyday. Lack of information is a big reason low-income students fail to sign up for financial aid. A unified webpage can tell the full story. It is where advertising must bring people.
GE Vernova reports another blade failure in England
Cambridge-based GE Vernova told the Nantucket Select Board that a turbine at the Dogger Bank wind farm “experienced an isolated blade event that occurred during commissioning.” The company said it is investigating what happened.