The Download: Eng says MBTA becoming more and more reliable
Healey signs state budget, goes light on vetoes
The governor signed nearly all of the budget the Legislature sent her 10 days ago, approving all but three of the 261 policy proposals lawmakers padded it with.
Why are so many amendments being withdrawn on Beacon Hill?
A lawmaker gets up to make a speech, notes how important it would be for his or her colleagues to pass the amendment, and then withdraws the very amendment that was supposed to be so important.
For-profit medicine is ruining Massachusetts health care
While much of Massachusetts’ medical care system remains resolutely non-profit, the signs of for-profit encroachment are slow, silent, and everywhere.
Comerford calls free community college one of the ‘great equalizers’
“I think of it as opening doors in every level of higher education,” Sen. Jo Comerford of Northampton.
Doubling down on higher education
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith is joined by Massachusetts Sen. Jo Comerford to discuss higher education policy, including the free community college measure in the state budget, as well as the full range of programs that support students, and the role of higher education in economic development and public life.
Lobbying intensifies on BlueHub mortgage amendment
A four-year court battle over the shared appreciation mortgages is coming to a head this September, but BlueHub isn’t waiting for a court judgment.
My hopes for the upcoming busy week in health care
The state should focus on transforming the closed hospital sites into community centers providing some health care but also housing, education, and employment training.
AG’s gig driver settlement is a good start, but only a start
The Massachusetts settlement with Uber and Lyft marks a substantial improvement over the companies’ withdrawn ballot measure. But the state and the voters can and should do more to help gig drivers.
Doctors’ diagnosis on retail electricity misses the mark
The op-ed raises valid concerns about some suppliers’ unethical practices and rightly calls for consumer protection. RESA and its members agree. Where we differ is labeling an entire industry as bad actors. Taking away all licenses, rather than taking away the licenses of the bad actors, is overkill. More importantly, it dismisses the value of a competitive market.
Steward to close hospitals in Dorchester, Ayer
Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center will be closing on or around August 31, 2024, Steward said.
Political notebook: Healey’s ‘tool kit’ task force | Pushback on merger of state agencies
“What we are really hoping to give [to the governor] is a tool kit that lists sources and uses. I am not so sure – again, I’m not a member of the task force, I’m staff to the task force — that they will get to the prioritization level. It’s possible, but we haven’t really discussed that yet.”
Let’s start the conversation about congestion pricing
We must remember the $3.2 billion a year lost by Boston-area drivers to congestion.
Restore the endowment match for community colleges
The budget has never been more generous to these colleges in terms of providing MassEducate, the free community college plan. But cutting this low-cost, high-impact match program is unnecessary and counterproductive.
Don’t run my retail electricity company out of business
Massachusetts has a competitive energy market with many private market participants driving the state forward offering programs that compete with the utilities.
Healey signs overhaul of state firearms law
The law sets new strategies for combating so-called ghost guns, expanding the law that allows a court to take guns away from someone considered a threat to themselves or others, and adding schools, polling places, and government buildings to the list of areas where state law forbids people from carrying firearms.
With session nearing end, Wu’s property tax shift bill on the move
The proposal cleared the Legislature’s Committee on Revenue a week after lawmakers raised questions about it at a hearing.
T hires Keolis to electrify Fairmount commuter rail line
Service will be provided by trains capable of running off batteries as well as electric catenaries. The hybrid service will enable the trains to run through tunnels and other areas without needing to build overhead wires.
Will Mass. follow the lead of New York on climate change?
In 2019, New York set mandates calling for 70 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2040. New York lawmakers also approved the creation of a congestion pricing plan for New York City that would assess a toll of as much as $15 on vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street.
Debris from broken turbine getting harder to find
Roger Martella, chief sustainability officer for GE Vernona, the manufacture of the wind turbines, said the company is preparing to remove what remains of the broken turbine blade with the help of a company called Resolve Marine, whose employees are on site working out of New Bedford.
Misguided amendment would give more power to Ticketmaster
The House passed its much larger economic development bill and included an amended version of the original legislation. This amended version could do more harm than good.