WHEN THE PANDEMIC BEGAN, and the federal government failed, we quickly learned how much it mattered that we all lived in Massachusetts. Two years of state-by-state comparisons in suffering, death, […]
COVID-19
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
State eases indoor face-mask guidance
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT of Public Health on Tuesday relaxed its face-covering advisory, publishing an updated version that no longer recommends vaccinated individuals mask up in all […]
Posted inUncategorized
State House, closed nearly 2 years, to reopen next week
THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE, closed to the public since March 2020, is going to reopen next Tuesday. State House leaders said legislative business will see little change initially. Committee hearings […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker vetoes ‘unrealistic’ deadlines in supp budget
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Saturday signed into law a $101 million supplemental budget bill that puts money toward increasing COVID-19 testing, buying masks, doing vaccine outreach, and recapitalizing a COVID-related […]
Posted inUncategorized
Labor appeals board upholds Baker’s vaccine mandate
A STATE APPEALS board has ruled that Gov. Charlie Baker’s vaccine mandate for executive branch workers is legal, ending the final avenue of appeals for a challenge by the state police […]
Posted inHealth Care
COVID: Are we ready to learn to live with it?
THREE OF THE STATE’S leading health care executives said on Wednesday that COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are trending in a very positive downward direction, but they were divided on when […]
Posted inUncategorized
State sending $500 checks to 500,000 low-income workers
APPROXIMATELY 500,000 low-income individuals in Massachusetts who worked during the pandemic will receive $500 bonus payments in the mail this March. Lt. Governor Karyn Polito said in a statement that […]
Posted inBy The Numbers, Health Care
Survey: Widespread need for mental health care during pandemic
MORE THAN ONE-QUARTER of Massachusetts adults say they needed behavioral health care over the first year of the pandemic – but many of them never got it. They couldn’t get […]
Posted inEducation
Baker hints school mask mandate may be nearing end
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TWO EAST COAST states on Monday attached end dates to their school mask mandates, spelling out timelines that Gov. Charlie Baker described as “pretty consistent” with […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
COVID spending bill grows to $101m, passes within hours
A $55 MILLION COVID-related spending bill ballooned into a $101 million bill under an agreement reached between House and Senate negotiators, which lawmakers sent to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk just […]
Posted inThe Download
Baker mask mandate, no longer in effect, facing challenge
The statewide mask mandate is no longer in effect, but litigation over it continues. The Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday will hear oral arguments in a case challenging Gov. Charlie […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker mask mandate, no longer in effect, facing challenge
THE STATEWIDE MASK mandate is no longer in effect, but litigation over it continues. The Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday will hear oral arguments in a case challenging Gov. Charlie […]
Posted inEducation
Top Baker aides urge colleges to lead Mass. into endemic
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TWO BAKER ADMINISTRATION Cabinet secretaries late last week urged college and university presidents to eschew strict campus-wide COVID-19 protocols and instead put their institutions at the […]
Posted inThe Download
Making sense of COVID policies in schools
Students are contracting COVID-19, occasionally in school – but medical experts say school is the safest place for kids. Parents are urged to vaccinate their children against COVID, though children […]
Posted inEducation
Making sense of COVID policies in schools
STUDENTS ARE CONTRACTING COVID-19, occasionally in school – but medical experts say school is the safest place for kids. Parents are urged to vaccinate their children against COVID, though children […]
Posted inHealth Care
Nearly half of COVID hospitalizations called ‘incidental’
CLOSE TO HALF of the patients being hospitalized in Massachusetts for COVID-19 are incidental cases, meaning they tested positive for the virus while being treated primarily for other issues. The […]
Posted inEducation, Health Care
Baker expands test-and-stay to early childhood centers
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER announced Wednesday that he is expanding the state’s test-and-stay program to early childhood centers, so that children exposed to COVID at daycare do not have to quarantine. The announcement […]
Posted inEducation
House releases $55m bill for COVID testing, school masks
THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS Committee on Tuesday released a bill that would allocate another $55 million to expanding COVID testing sites, buying masks for schools, and doing vaccine outreach, even as Gov. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker urges schools to adopt new testing regime
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is urging Massachusetts schools to adopt a new COVID testing regime that relies on at-home testing once a week. Currently, the state operates a pooled testing program […]
Posted inUncategorized
2 mayors explain their ARPA spending strategies
IN THE 1970s, the federal government launched the Community Development Block Grant program and funneled $13 million in largely no-strings-attached money to New Bedford. The mayor at the time, Jack […]
Posted inThe Download
2 mayors explain their ARPA spending strategies
In the 1970s, the federal government launched the Community Development Block Grant program and funneled $13 million in largely no-strings-attached money to New Bedford. The mayor at the time, Jack […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Polls indicate mental health of children remains a concern
PARENTS IN MASSACHUSETTS have a front row seat to the burgeoning mental health crisis among children across the state. A series of polls from The MassINC Polling Group finds parents […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker, Democratic legislators clash on virus response
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER often says he and his political opponents will “agree to disagree.” That could have been the mantra of Tuesday’s oversight hearing of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker prioritizes rapid tests, buys 26m more
MASSACHUSETTS WILL GET 26 million rapid antigen tests over the next three months, which it will distribute primarily to K-12 schools and childcare facilities, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday. “Rapid […]