STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE With two of its key climate change policies dead or near-dead, the Baker administration approved two initiatives last week to incentivize the development of solar power and expand the use of zero emission vehicles. The Department of Public Utilities finalized on Thursday a long-delayed regulatory process for a solar incentive program […]
Charlie Baker
Posted inEducation
Schools face staffing shortages as teachers ill with COVID
ON SATURDAY, Brockton school superintendent Michael Thomas warned parents that although schools were planning to reopen Monday, he could not guarantee it. “Unfortunately, like most districts across the state right now we need to prepare for the possibility that some schools may need to temporarily close due to under-staffing,” Thomas wrote in an email, which […]
Posted inEducation
Most, but not all, schools reopen Monday
A NUMBER OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS didn’t open on Monday because of concerns about COVID, but Gov. Charlie Baker said none of them will be exempted from in-person learning requirements. “The rules here are pretty simple,” he said at a press conference at the Saltonstall School in Salem with Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll. “We count in-person […]
Posted inUncategorized
Report indicates UI trust fund warnings overstated
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION released a long-awaited report on New Year’s Eve indicating the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund is in much better shape than expected. After issuing warnings earlier this year about huge deficits that needed to be offset with an infusion of billions of dollars, the report said the actual deficit as of November […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
988 state employees left jobs due to vaccine mandate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE JUST FEWER than 1,000 executive branch employees have left their jobs because they did not or would not comply with Gov. Charlie Baker’s vaccine mandate for public employees, including 656 people whose departures were “involuntary,” the governor’s office said Thursday. The update on state worker compliance with the requirement comes as […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
MTA attacks Baker on testing
THE MASSACHUSETTS Teachers Association went on the attack against Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday, calling the state education commissioner incompetent in delivering 200,000 rapid COVID-19 testing kits to schools and urging the governor to be more flexible around virtual learning from home. “We are tired of Band-Aid approaches from Baker and [Education Commissioner Jeff] Riley […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker: US offshore wind supply chain gaining traction
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said the state’s latest offshore wind procurement shows the industry is moving into a new phase geared toward building an American supply chain. “It speaks to two things,” Baker said. “One is there is a belief at this point that the federal administration is rowing in the same direction as the rest […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker, Spilka differ on response to rising COVID cases
DESPITE RISING CONCERNS about a surge in COVID-19 cases, Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday shied away from ordering any new restrictions on work and social interaction and urged the residents of Massachusetts to rely on tools they currently have at their disposal, primarily vaccines. Baker took several actions to address hospital capacity issues, but he avoided […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker halts non-essential hospital procedures, urges indoor mask wearing
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is requiring Massachusetts hospitals nearing capacity to cancel all non-essential, elective, invasive procedures as of December 27 in order to preserve room for incoming patients amid an impending surge of COVID-19 cases. He is also activating the National Guard to help struggling hospitals. The Republican governor also updated the state’s mask rules […]
Posted inOpinion
Breaking down the Legislature’s ARPA veto options
WHEN THE LEGISLATURE ended its formal business for 2021 on the third Wednesday of November, as its rules require, it left behind one of the year’s biggest bills, a spending measure allocating federal American Rescue Plan (ARPA) money. The bill, which the governor had filed in June with considerable emphasis on the urgency of the […]