The State Ethics Commission issued a public education letter – but no fine – to Ware Police Chief Shawn Crevier late last week, it said in a statement, “because the conflict of interest law’s application to political activity by public employees is complex, easily misunderstood, and in need of further public clarification.”
Jennifer Smith
Jennifer Smith writes for CommonWealth Beacon and co-hosts its weekly podcast, The Codcast. Her areas of focus include housing, social issues, courts and the law, and politics and elections. A California native who also lived in Utah, Jennifer has covered Massachusetts since 2011 for a variety of publications. She worked breaking news in the Boston Globe’s metro section and provided courtroom coverage of the Boston Marathon bomber trial for the international wire service Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) while completing her undergraduate journalism degree at Northeastern University in Boston. For four years, Jennifer was a staff writer and later news editor for the Dorchester Reporter, covering her home neighborhood and the city of Boston with a particular focus on politics and development. Her work and commentary have appeared in WBUR, GBH News, Harvard Public Health Magazine, and Politico’s Massachusetts Playbook. She has co-hosted MassINC’s Massachusetts politics and policy podcast The Horse Race since 2018, interviewing newsmakers, journalists, and elected officials across the state.
Posted inEnvironment
With flood season approaching, it’s ‘deployables day’ in Boston
Most cities now lean away from single-use barriers like sandbags and toward reusable laminate or metal panels that can be brought to the site on short notice or raised from a hidden flat position at sidewalk-level when flooding is expected.
Posted inBallot Questions
Three ballot questions in ‘precarious’ situation, poll indicates
“The poll shows these three ballot questions in a precarious position,” said Parr. “At this stage of the campaign, the ‘yes’ side would hope to have a solid majority of support, because late deciders often break towards the ‘no.’”
Posted inBallot Questions
Are ballot questions a good way to make law?
The strongest polling so far of the five measures is a direct jab at a Legislature perceived as opaque and glacial in its lawmaking processes – coming from a former lawmaker who is now the state auditor. Diana DiZoglio wants to pry open lawmakers’ processes for public scrutiny through a ballot question that would give her office authority to audit the Legislature.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Teamsters throw new wrench into election
When a union declines to issue an endorsement at the national level, that typically frees up the locals to make their own picks. But the Teamsters president’s old local is staying quiet.
Posted inMedia
Globe host’s endorsement of Harris raises murky ethics questions
“Boston Globe Today” host Segun Oduolowu urged attendees to vote, donate, and organize for Harris in the presidential race during an August 26 “African Diaspora for Harris Post-Convention Call.”
Posted inBy The Numbers
Competitiveness and migration reports agree to disagree
“In short, the picture that can be drawn from available official data is inconsistent, though in any case, it is not one of crisis. Nevertheless, migration data often is used – and misused – to push an agenda of tax cuts for very high-income households, the ultrawealthy, and large corporations,” said Kurt Wise, a MassBudget policy analyst.
Posted inGambling
Does living near a casino impact youth gambling habits?
A year-long study paid for with casino mitigation funds would explore how 14- to 25-year-olds in Charlestown experience gambling, their feelings about the Encore, and make recommendations about how the city of Boston can protect youths “from being harmed or exploited by gambling.”
Posted inCourts
In case of $70,000 Tiffany ring, SJC judges fully engaged
Justices at the state’s highest court appear open to doing away with the traditional approach to answering a very niche question: should it matter whose fault it is when an engagement goes sour, even with a $70,000 diamond ring on the line?
Posted inTransportation
Looking ahead at West-East Rail
Compass Rail will improve existing services, like the North-South routes in Western Massachusetts, and bind them to a new rail system connecting the east and west parts of the state.
Posted inCourts
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?”
Posted inCourts
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 […]
Posted inCourts
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.”
Posted inPolitics
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.
Posted inCourts
SJC to decide who gets $70,000 ring after engagement called off
The question before the high court, according to a request for amicus briefs, is whether Massachusetts courts should continue applying a “fault-based approach” in determining whether an engagement ring must be returned to the giver after a broken engagement. If not, the court asks, what’s the better rule?
Posted inState Government
A naked call to free breasts and minds
Organizers with the cheekily named “Equalititty” and GoTopless groups walked about with a simple proposition: In 2024, there isn’t a particularly good reason to bar women from taking their shirts off entirely in the summer heat wherever men are allowed to do the same.
Posted inMedia
After hiring new staff, Globe changes its mind on podcast
Linda Henry, the CEO and co-owner of the Globe, said the turnabout on podcasts was driven by the realization that audio journalism may be compelling but does not attract subscribers.
Posted inHealth Care
Where is state leadership on Steward, other critical health care issues?
“There needs to be a state plan that says, ‘here are our values, here’s what matters to us, and here’s what we need to try to preserve, protect, and defend,’” John McDonough said
Posted inState Government
Can a legislative audit shine light on legislative gridlock?
Against the backdrop of the less-than-stellar end to the Legislature’s two-year session, state Auditor Diana DiZoglio explains what the ballot campaign she’s leading, which calls for her office to audit the Legislature, could and couldn’t do to fix what ails things there.
Posted inHousing
Report finds Greater Boston’s homelessness rate is second highest nationally
A new Boston Indicators report lays out the “best and worst” of Greater Boston homelessness policy. The region has the second highest rate of homelessness among large US cities, but the eight lowest number of unhoused residents left without shelter.
Posted inEconomy
In 2024, Mass. is still minding the wage gap
There remains a huge gender and race wage gap, and the issue is more complicated than is often recognized.
Posted inPolitics
Political notebook: Healey hires strategist | Gov. slams Vance’s ‘childless cat lady’ comment
NEARLY HALFWAY THROUGH her first term, Gov. Maura Healey has brought into the State House a longtime political hand. Corey Welford, who left for the private sector after serving as […]
Posted inPolitics
‘I don’t think things are getting rammed through.’ Healey defends lawmakers’ end-of-session dash.
Legislative leaders are sniping at each other over late-breaking bills, but the sprint to plow through a backlog of bills in the closing hours of the session didn’t seem to bother Gov. Maura Healey.