GOV. CHARLIE BAKER wrote a letter to President Biden urging the US Food and Drug Administration to quickly consider approving Moderna’s application for a COVID-19 vaccine for children. The state’s Republican governor joined Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in writing the letter, which was sent Thursday. “Parents have been told, over and over again, that […]
Government
Posted inEnvironment
David vs. (Verizon) Goliath in Pittsfield
THE PITTSFIELD BOARD OF HEALTH is taking a bold stand against a cell phone tower owned by Verizon, claiming the South Street structure is dangerous to those in the area who are “electromagnetic sensitive” and threatening to shut it down. In a lengthy emergency order containing 14 pages of analysis and nine pages of various […]
Posted inUncategorized
Golden leaving with $200,000 separation agreement
BRIAN GOLDEN is leaving his job as director of the Boston Planning and Development Agency with a payout of more than $200,000, according to the separation agreement he signed. The agreement, which was signed last Thursday and obtained through a public records request, was not particularly large. Brenda Cassellius received well over $300,000 when she agreed […]
Posted inUncategorized
House not looking to budget for tax reform
THE CENTERPIECE OF Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget proposal in January was a bill to give Massachusetts taxpayers $700 million in tax breaks – with breaks for seniors, renters, low-income taxpayers, parents of dependent children, and anyone forced to pay the estate tax or tax on short-terms capital gains. Don’t expect the same when the […]
Posted inPolitics
Wu addresses need for ‘bold’ change – and why she tangles directly with critics
IF MICHELLE WU has moved quickly on lots of fronts as Boston’s new mayor, it’s because she has spent years thinking about the issues she now has the power to actually do something about. It’s “incredibly exciting to be now rolling up my sleeves and just getting to work on so many of the ideas […]
Posted inEnvironment
An international shout-out for Boston planning efforts
OUR NATION AND WORLD have experienced great trauma in the past two years: a global pandemic, the January 6th Capitol riot, an intense reckoning with past and present racism, and now a nightmarish European land war. As an Army reserve officer, I’ve been on active duty recently at the Pentagon, as that building wrestles with […]
Posted inOpinion
Moderna should do its part, share its vaccine
THROUGH MOST of 2020, most of us had never heard of Moderna, a small start-up pharmaceutical company based in Cambridge. The company had brought no product to market and had lost $241 million during the first half of the year. But, in January 2020, scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were already at […]
Posted inUncategorized
Biden names MassINC’s Matias regional HUD administrator
PRESIDENT BIDEN on Thursday appointed Juana Matias, the chief operating officer of MassINC, as the New England regional administrator for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Matias is replacing David Tille, who was appointed the New England regional administrator in 2017 by former president Donald Trump and vacated the position early last year. […]
Posted inOpinion
PILOT payments should be standardized statewide
A correction has been added to this commentary, correcting the payment amount of Harvard University. “It’s about fairness. It’s about how do you want to participate in this city that you get city services from: police, fire, public works. I think you should share in those costs.” So spoke Boston’s late former mayor, Thomas Menino, […]
Posted inEnvironment
How 3 women helped drive a scrap metal business out of Somerset
LAND COURT JUDGE Robert Foster ordered the scrap metal export business at Brayton Point in Somerset to shut down largely because of what he heard and saw on a visit to the homes of three women – Nicole McDonald, Kathy Souza, and Nancy Thomas. In his decision, Foster described his visit to the neighborhood across from […]