STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS can get to work crafting a final reproductive rights bill following the Senate’s unanimous vote Wednesday, and distance between the branches on an approach […]
Charlie Baker
Posted inHealth Care
Altman leaving Health Policy Commission
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday appointed retired health care executive Deborah Devaux as chair of the Health Policy Commission, replacing Stuart Altman, who has chaired the agency since its creation […]
Posted inPolitics, State Government
House proposes $1b in short and long-term tax relief
HOUSE LEADERS rolled out a $523.5 million package of permanent tax breaks on Monday that, when combined with $510 million in one-time payments to middle-income residents proposed last week, would […]
Posted inTransportation
Biden, Baker aligned on gas tax holiday
PRESIDENT BIDEN’S call for gas tax suspensions at the federal and state level is changing the rhetoric around tax relief in Massachusetts, but not Democratic opposition on Beacon Hill. Initially, […]
Posted inPolitics
Bucking party, Baker makes vote-by-mail permanent
DESPITE CONCERNS by members of his own party, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, signed a law Wednesday making voting by mail permanent. Massachusetts allowed early voting by mail for the […]
Posted inTransportation
Lawmakers eye $250m for East-West rail
A TRANSPORTATION BOND BILL headed for a vote this week in the House includes language authorizing $250 million in spending on East-West rail, but nothing about the creation of a […]
Posted inTransportation
Lawmakers plan T safety hearings, call for $400m in extra aid
LEGISLATIVE LEADERS jumped into the fray over MBTA safety on Tuesday, announcing plans to hold oversight hearings on the transit authority in the coming weeks and to pass legislation appropriating […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Lawmakers in agreement on prison construction moratorium
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE LEGISLATURE and Gov. Charlie Baker appear headed for another showdown, this time over the next half-decade of facilities management decisions for the state’s prisons and […]
Posted inOpinion
State not living up to environmental justice responsibilities
JUST OVER A YEAR after Gov. Charlie Baker signed “An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy,” which contained protections for environmental justice populations, the state has found […]
Posted inBook Review
Opportunity lost
The second of two takes on the new book by the state’s governor and his former chief of staff. Read the first one here, by Republican activist Ed Lyons. ALMOST […]
Posted inPolitics
A balancing act from front-runner Healey
MAURA HEALEY, who launched her campaign for governor in January with a modulated message vowing to continue what’s working and change what isn’t, swept the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s convention endorsement, […]
Posted inBook Review
The Book of Baker
The first of two takes on the new book by the state’s governor and his former chief of staff. Here is the second, a look at the Baker playbook from […]
Posted inThe Download
Climate change brain drain in Baker administration
Gov. Charlie Baker lost another key aide on the climate change front, as Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said she is leaving the administration next week. Theoharides has […]
Posted inTransportation
W. Mass. showing clout on East-West rail
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS, with the help of US Rep. Richard Neal, is starting to flex some muscle on the region’s holy grail of transportation — East-West rail. At a meeting in […]
Posted inTransportation
Neal, Baker strike deal on East-West rail
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FEDERAL AND STATE officials on Tuesday agreed on a path forward to extend passenger rail service west of Worcester to the cities of Springfield and Pittsfield, […]
Posted inEconomy
Climate, downtowns, housing focus of Baker spending bill
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday filed a $3.5 billion economic development bill that focuses on climate-related projects, downtown revitalization, and housing. The bill is chock-full of specific local projects, a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
William Allen granted parole after 28 years in jail
THE PAROLD BOARD on Wednesday granted parole to William Allen, one of two men to have his first-degree murder sentence commuted by Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this year. After spending […]
Posted inState House News Service
Baker administration offers UI overpayment relief
THE STATE’S DEPARTMENT of Unemployment Assistance will be in touch with Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Unemployment Insurance claimants in the coming days to detail state and federal relief options that […]
Posted inOpinion
Why we need to reorient our health care system
The following is the testimony Gov. Charlie Baker delivered before the Legislature’s Committee on Health Care Financing on Monday. FOR THE PAST 50 years, the US health care system has […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker chief of staff Lepore leaving administration
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER will say goodbye to his longtime chief of staff Kristen Lepore next month as she plans to depart the administration with just more […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Probate judge resigns in wake of SJC suspension
PROBATE AND FAMILY Court Judge Paul Sushchyk resigned on Monday, five days after the Supreme Judicial Court suspended him without pay for groping a court employee and lying about it. […]
Posted inEconomy
Baker’s $4,000 employer hiring bonus called ‘deeply misguided’
ONE OF THE STATE’S leading policy analysts is raising alarms about a proposal put forward by Gov. Charlie Baker to give nonprofit and for-profit businesses a $4,000 stipend for each […]
Posted inTransportation
Capuano praises Baker on GLX — and says he voted for him
FORMER CONGRESSMAN Michael Capuano paid tribute to Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday at an event marking the launch of service on the Green Line extension to Somerville — and the […]
Posted inOpinion
Ukrainian sanctions by Mass. walk a fine legal line
Gov. Charles Baker’s executive order imposing sanctions on Russia follows a long line of Massachusetts boycotts, divestments, and resolutions regarding foreign affairs. Baker’s order walks another line as well: the […]
