It’s great to be on top. Just ask Gov. Charlie Baker. The Republican governor has maintained his No. 1 ranking in the latest Morning Consult poll showing America’s Most and […]
Civil and Constitutional Rights
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
Hingham drama
For a small, toney town, Hingham generates an awful lot of news. The latest comes in Sunday’s Boston Globe with the recounting of a suicide by a distraught 26-year-old man […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawsuit challenges Lowell at-large voting
A CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP has brought a federal lawsuit against the City of Lowell alleging that its electoral system has led to a stark lack of minority representation in city […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Changing voting rites
Instead of heading out for a Sunday walk in the park, would the ability to head out for a Sunday stroll to the polls make a difference in voter turnout? […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A shameful record
The renowned sports philosopher Duane Charles Parcells has often noted that no matter what image one might project on the outside, people cannot escape the reality of their true being. […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Home loan segregation
A study of home mortgage lending in Massachusetts provides yet another window on racial segregation in Massachusetts. The study, by the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council, found blacks in 2015 […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Party like it’s 1999
It would be fair to say the organizers of the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in South Boston made a Wacko decision. As in the late John “Wacko” Hurley, the longtime […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Four takes on the human condition
Today’s Boston Globe includes several random articles that illuminate some of the ways we interact — or fail to interact — with each other in these troubled times. Story No. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Hodgson’s off the wall idea
For the most part, Massachusetts is bereft of the cast of local Trump acolytes who have risen up elsewhere to pronounce the incoming president a leader of enormous vision and […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
SJC upholds parent rights of same-sex partner
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE PARENTING RIGHTS of a mother in a same-sex relationship extend even when the couple is unmarried and the mother has no biological connection to the […]
Posted inThe Back Story
‘Encampment’ moved off Boston Common
THE BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT last week evicted from the Boston Common a fairly large group of people who had been sleeping and hanging out for many weeks on the grass […]
Posted inGun ownership, Guns, Opinion, Politics
56 lawmakers to Healey: Back down
What follows is a letter 56 House and Senate lawmakers sent to Attorney General Maura Healey on Saturday and released to the press on Sunday. The lead signers were the […]
Posted inGun ownership, Guns
Mass. chiefs approve most gun permits
ONLY A TINY fraction of Massachusetts residents who apply for firearms licenses or identification cards are turned down, suggesting the state’s reputation for restricting gun use may be overstated. Just […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Gateway Cities preoccupied with panhandling
IN NEW BEDFORD, the City Council considered requiring panhandlers to get licenses to ask for money in the city. Manchester, New Hampshire, banned the exchange of items of value between […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
House backs transgender bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN A MAJOR VICTORY for equal rights activists, legislation aimed at preventing discrimination against transgender individuals in all public places, including bathrooms, passed the House on […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Gants calls off DeLeo leak inquiry
AFTER FEDERAL AND STATE law enforcement officials said they didn’t do it, the Supreme Judicial Court is calling off its inquiry into who leaked to the press the confidential transcript […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Time to get fully on board with police body cameras
TAMIR RICE. MICHAEL BROWN. WALTER SCOTT. These are just some of the high profile police-involved shootings that caught the nation’s attention and highlighted some of the more extreme interactions between […]
Posted inOpinion
We must listen to racism concerns at schools
THE RECENT CONTROVERSY at Boston Latin School around racial insensitivity echoes a nationwide student movement against racism on campus. Using the hashtag #BlackatBLS, students have been sharing their personal experiences […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion, Politics
It’s time to act on gun violence
THE REPUBLICANS WHO CONTROL CONGRESS Congress have had all the time in the world to do something about gun violence in America. I mean that. If the GOP spent a […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Feds require transgender access to girls’ locker room
Federal education officials ruled on Monday that an Illinois school district violated antidiscrimination laws by requiring a transgender student who identifies as a girl to disrobe and shower behind privacy […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, State House News Service
Bill would end license suspensions for drug convictions
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SENATE LEADERS PLAN a vote next week to repeal a state law mandating that anyone convicted of a drug offense, regardless of whether their crime involved the […]
Posted inOpinion
“Black Lives Matter” more than a slogan
A BLACK LIVES MATTER banner hangs on the front of Somerville City Hall. We put it up this week. We shouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t have to put a banner […]
Posted inOpinion
This is racial terrorism
What follows is a slightly edited version of the speech Attorney General Maura Healey delivered at the Charles Street AME Interfaith Service in Boston on June 21 to honor the […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Baker gets pressure on paid parental leave
Message received. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Attorney General Maura Healey, and state Treasurer Deb Goldberg are all offering employees paid parental leave, so now Gov. Charlie Baker is indicating that paid parental […]