A SYSTEM THAT often harms the children it is sworn to protect requires fundamental reform – not tinkering. The $50 million expansion of the child-welfare bureaucracy proposed by Gov. Charlie […]
Courts
Posted inCriminal Justice
Chicopee school superintendent arrested for lying about threatening messages
THE CHICOPEE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT was arrested Wednesday for sending threatening messages to a candidate for the Chicopee police chief position then lying about it to FBI investigators. Lynn Clark, 51, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Man, 78, exonerated in decades-old arson case over juror anti-Semitism
A MAN CONVICTED of arson nearly 40 years ago for burning down his vacation home in the Berkshires has been exonerated, due partly to anti-Semitic comments made by jurors in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC places safeguards on use of cellphone ‘tower dumps’
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT will allow the police to continue using “tower dumps,” requests for broad swaths of cellphone data, despite pleas from privacy activists to eliminate the practice. But […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge open to religious discrimination claim on vaccine mandate
AFTER GOV. CHARLIE BAKER instituted an executive branch COVID-19 vaccine mandate, 156 State Police union members asked for religious exemptions. All of them were denied. In seven cases, however, the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Lawsuit challenges statute that denies homeowners profit from foreclosed homes
DEBORAH FOSS, a 66-year-old disabled retiree, used her life savings in 2015 to buy a two-family house in New Bedford. A year later, dealing with medical and financial problems and […]
Posted inEconomy
SJC says franchises must comply with independent contractor law
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ruled Thursday that companies operating as franchises need to comply with the state’s independent contractor law, a ruling that could lead companies to newly scrutinize the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
State correction officer charged with having sex with inmate
A FORMER state correction officer pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of having sexual relations with an inmate. Charlotte Ferro, who worked at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, was arraigned […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
A steep fall for Cannon-Grant
FOR MONICA CANNON-GRANT, the limelight has proved to be a decidedly double-edged sword. The long-time Black Boston activist rocketed to prominence amid the country’s racial reckoning of recent years. It […]
Posted inUncategorized
SJC hears life and death arguments in medical aid in dying case
THE STATE’S HIGHEST COURT on Wednesday heard oral arguments in an emotional and high-stakes case over whether a physician can prescribe lethal medication to a terminally ill patient. Several Supreme Judicial […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Tsarnaev again faces death penalty, but support for capital punishment dropping
IT’S PROBABLY THE highest profile capital punishment case in the country. And while it was an administration in Washington led by a Democratic president opposed to the death penalty that […]
Posted inUncategorized
Decision, judgment in Brayton Pt. case
What follows is the decision and judgment by Land Court Judge Robert B. Foster. The decision was converted from a PDF to a Word document, so some formatting is a […]
Posted inHealth Care
Supreme Judicial Court to consider medical aid in dying case
WHEN ROGER KLIGLER was a practicing physician, he had terminally ill patients ask him to end their suffering. “As a physician, I felt I could not do that. I could […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Supreme Court reinstates death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
THE SUPREME COURT reinstated the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, in a split 6-3 decision. The decision was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. The three liberal justices […]
Posted inPolitics
Pioneer Institute launching center to push issues in court
PIONEER INSTITUTE, which has spent more than three decades trying to inform and shape policy in the public arena, is going to take its case for limited government and free-market […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
New Bedford Light calls out silence on health care exec story
WHEN FOUNDERS OF the New Bedford Light announced plans a year ago to launch a new nonprofit news site to cover the South Coast, they pointed to the desperate need […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC says Springfield mayor’s powers on policing have limits
SPRINGFIELD MAY BE one of the Massachusetts cities with a “strong mayor” form of government, but the mayor’s extensive powers over city government are not unlimited powers. That was the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Compassionate response to 911 calls with social workers makes sense
IN OCTOBER OF 2016, Boston police officers shot and killed Terrence Coleman, a 31-year-old South End man who suffered from schizophrenia and paranoia, after Coleman’s mother called 911 to have […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care
Pervasive mold plagues state hospital for mentally ill detainees
PERVASIVE MOLD AND the potential for exposure to asbestos are endangering the health of individuals confined at Bridgewater State Hospital, according to a new report, leading to renewed calls to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Hayden eschews labels, vows to ‘do the right thing’ as DA
KEVIN HAYDEN says the heightened attention in recent years to racial bias in the criminal justice system or ways that the most punitive outcome in a case isn’t always the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Can a parent’s right to a child be terminated via Zoom?
WITH THE COVID-19 pandemic upending judicial proceedings, courts have ruled that under certain circumstances, a criminal trial can be held via Zoom. Now the same question is arising in Juvenile […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Souza-Baranowski prison to introduce officer-worn body cameras
SOME CORRECTION OFFICERS at Souza-Baranowski prison will begin wearing body cameras this summer, under a new pilot program being launched by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Supreme Court weighs whether Christian flag can fly at Boston City Hall
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. THERE ARE THREE flagpoles outside Boston City Hall. One flies the United States flag. Another flies the Massachusetts […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker commutes sentences of two men convicted of murder
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday commuted the sentences of two men who were convicted of murder. the first commutations the Republican governor has issued since he took office. “I believe […]