ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY says she plans to continue to aggressively pursue litigation against Purdue Pharma, the company that made billions selling prescription painkiller OxyContin, despite the company filing for bankruptcy on Sunday, […]
State Government
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Gender X bill backers seek House vote
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE NEXT YEAR, Ryley Copans plans to get married. But Copans, 25, who uses the pronoun they, said they have a lingering worry that the state marriage license […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker proposes $175m of tax relief
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE REPUBLICAN GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is pushing a new tax relief proposal that his administration says will benefit 1 million taxpayers with dependents. In a $648 million spending […]
Posted inPolitics
Polito pushed Taunton mayor for probate job
TAUNTON MAYOR THOMAS HOYE JR. revealed on Wednesday that it was Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito who first broached the idea of him becoming the register of probate in Bristol County, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Advocates push driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants
FOR YEARS, ALICIA CORTEZ and her husband drove their children around New Bedford without driver’s licenses. Both of them were undocumented immigrants who could not obtain a license under state law. Cortez’s husband was pulled over by […]
Posted inUncategorized
Overdue rents continue to rise at DCR
DEBT COLLECTION is becoming an even bigger problem at the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the agency has failed to follow through on a pledge to hire a […]
Posted inUncategorized
Marijuana fuels lobbying firm’s growth
RIDING STRONG REVENUES from marijuana clients, the firm of Smith, Costello & Crawford edged out ML Strategies as the lobbying company with the most revenue during the first half of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Bowes out at RMV’s Merit Rating Board
THOMAS BOWES was publicly fired Tuesday and jettisoned from an executive position within the Registry of Motor Vehicles where he had allowed thousands of infraction notifications to pile up unaddressed […]
Posted inOpinion
Baker needs a bolder plan
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S DECISION to greet Vice President Mike Pence on Nantucket last weekend drew the deserved ridicule and scorn expected. But if Democrats want to win the corner office […]
Posted inOpinion
Mayors of Salem, Holyoke call for carbon fee
WE ARE THE MAYORS of Salem and Holyoke, two medium-sized Gateway Cities. Our communities are more than 100 miles apart, but both are feeling the impacts of climate change. We […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker likes managed (toll) lanes
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER has found a form of congestion pricing he likes, but it faces a number of legal and logistical hurdles if it is to take root in Massachusetts. […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker gave a ‘courtesy’ heads-up to O’Connell
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION notified Rep. Shauna O’Connell ahead of time that the governor was appointing the mayor of Taunton as the interim register of probate in Bristol County, but officials […]
Posted inOpinion
Telecommuting tax credit misses mark
THE MARK OF GOOD PUBLIC POLICY, often honored in the breach, is to identify the most direct means to address a particular problem. In the case of the state’s massive […]
Posted inNews Analysis
No beach for Baker
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER hasn’t had much time for the beach this summer. First there was the Red Line derailment on June 11, which knocked the MBTA on its heels and […]
Posted inOpinion
Earmarked funds sometimes make sense
LAST YEAR, the Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol County opened more than 800 new cases involving the abuse of children in this southeastern Massachusetts county of 550,000. That is a […]
Posted inPolitics
A first: Baker signs budget with no spending vetoes
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER signed the $43.1 billion fiscal 2020 budget on Wednesday without vetoing any spending measures, which may be a first in modern Massachusetts history. House Speaker Robert DeLeo […]
Posted inUncategorized
Numerous warnings about ignored RMV notices
THERE WAS HARDLY ever a time when the Registry of Motor Vehicles properly handled paper notices about out-of-state driving infractions, according to the former registrar Erin Deveney’s testimony before lawmakers […]
Posted inPolitics
Trahan, Pressley back efforts to change state non-disclosure policy
TWO STATE LAWMAKERS waging what could be an uphill battle to expose the extent of hush agreements used by state government and put restrictions on the practice throughout Massachusetts received […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker: RMV to fully cooperate at hearing
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said the Legislature’s Transportation Committee should encounter no barriers on Tuesday when it attempts to kickstart an oversight hearing focused on the Registry of Motor Vehicles. “I […]
Posted inUncategorized
Bump lagging on required audits
STATE AUDITOR SUZANNE BUMP is way behind in conducting legally mandated audits of state agencies. The auditor is required by state law to audit 210 state agencies every three years […]
Posted inOpinion
Deep poverty increases risk of child welfare system involvementÂ
EVEN THE MOST LOVING PARENT is challenged to provide quality care for his or her child when he or she is struggling with the many ways in which poverty constrains his or her choices. Here in Massachusetts, there is no reason anyone should […]
Posted inUncategorized
A budget item that keeps ballooning
IN 1973, in the wake of two horrific fires in Boston and Chelsea, the Legislature approved an assessment on property and casualty insurance companies to pay for firefighter training. The […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Lawmakers hike assessment on utilities 50%
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THOUGH LAWMAKER LEFT a handful of proposed taxes on the cutting room floor when they compromised on a budget, the fiscal year 2020 spending plan being […]
Posted inUncategorized
Budget stalemate ends, plan ups spending
ABOUT THREE WEEKS into the fiscal year, House and Senate budget negotiators have produced a compromise budget bill that takes some steps toward reducing pharmaceutical costs for Medicaid, nixes proposed […]