Massachusetts property owners are navigating the need for flood insurance as disasters become more widespread and the state looks to reverse an urgent housing shortage.
Government
Posted inHealth Care
Baker urges speedy FDA review of Moderna COVID vaccine for kids
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Wu proposes restricting ‘targeted residential picketing’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON MAYOR Michelle Wu, who has regularly encountered protesters outside her home, filed a proposed ordinance Monday to put new rules in place restricting demonstrations that […]
Posted inPolitics
Lynn’s new mayor, Jared Nicholson, vows to oversee ‘inclusive growth’
One in a series on newly elected mayors across Massachusetts. WHEN PEOPLE TALK about Lynn as an immigrant-rich city, they don’t have Jared Nicholson in mind. The city’s new 36-year-old […]
Posted inPolitics
US has repeatedly failed to learn lessons from Russian aggression
REMARKING ON THE state of postwar Europe in the wake of the Allied victory in the Second World War, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin told a Yugoslav emissary that “whoever occupies […]
Posted inUncategorized
Brayton Point finally lands offshore wind supplier
BRAYTON POINT in Somerset is finally getting a piece of the offshore wind industry it has been courting for years, but the industrial prize is apparently not big enough to […]
Posted inPolitics
Meet Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne
One in series looking at newly elected mayors across Massachusetts. FORMER SOMERVILLE mayor Joe Curtatone was known statewide for his harsh criticism of Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, and his pithy soundbites […]
Posted inOpinion
Biden’s PLA order is way off the mark
A FEW DAYS AGO, President Biden signed an executive order requiring that all federal construction projects over $35 million be conducted under a project labor agreement, or PLA. The executive […]
Posted inOpinion
PLAs get a big lift from Biden
PRESIDENT BIDEN’S recent executive order #14063 on the use of project labor agreements for federal construction projects is a major step toward fulfilling the pledge to build America back better. It’s […]
Posted inUncategorized
Woburn case among most egregious in Open Meeting Law report
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey on Monday released a report summarizing her efforts to enforce the state’s Open Meeting Law last year, with one of the most egregious offenses occurring in […]
Posted inOpinion
Boston Green New Deal should include downsized Logan Airport
HIGH ON BOSTON Mayor Michelle Wu’s agenda is a municipal-level Green New Deal. Indeed, the new mayor recently declared that she is “looking to make Boston the greenest city.” The Boston Green New […]
Posted inEconomy
Unprecedented federal funding is chance to push for priorities
WE ALL WORRY, too many get sick, and all of us are limited by the COVID crisis. We all shudder at what might happen in the 2022 and 2024 elections. […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Municipal officials slam Polito local aid projection
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH STATE TAX REVENUES continuing to blow past projections, municipal leaders said Friday they are disappointed in Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito’s forecast that cities and towns […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
FERC declines to revoke Weymouth compressor certificate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A CONTROVERSIAL NATURAL GAS facility in Weymouth can continue to operate after federal regulators on Thursday declined to revoke the project’s authorization, dealing another blow to […]
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 […]