STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN THE SECOND SHAKEUP of his Cabinet since Gov. Charlie Baker won reelection in November, the Baker administration announced Tuesday afternoon that Secretary Jay Ash is […]
State Government
Posted inOpinion
Benjamin LaGuer deserves a break
IT HAS BEEN SAD to see news updates on opposition to long-time Massachusetts inmate Benjamin LaGuer’s bid for a compassionate release because he has liver cancer and only months to […]
Posted inPolitics
House, in informal session, passes Grid legislation
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE, in a sparsely attended informal session on Thursday, approved legislation that would extend unemployment assistance for the 1,250 locked-out workers of National Grid or any other utility […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Big question for lawmakers: When will downturn come?
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE DESPITE A STRONG ECONOMY, last year’s $1 billion budget surplus, and revenue collections that are outperforming expectations so far this year, the potential for an economic […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
National Grid takes pounding on Beacon Hill
NATIONAL GRID took a public relations pounding on Tuesday at a Beacon Hill hearing where steelworkers testified that the utility’s decision to lock them out in June had compromised public […]
Posted inHealth Care
Healey sets conditions on BI-Lahey merger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ALTHOUGH REGULATORS PLAN to keep a watchful eye, the path was cleared Thursday at the state and federal levels for a mega-merger that would create the […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. is in the fiscal stability cellar
WE’RE ACCUSTOMED to winning in Massachusetts. The Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins have combined to earn 11 championships since 2000. No other region of the US comes close to […]
Posted inOpinion
Politics, not law, guiding Healey on Exxon suit
IN THE AGE OF TRUMPISM, political and legal norms are regularly cast aside. The ends, we are told, justify the means. It is in this context that businesses, particularly manufacturers, […]
Posted inThe Back Story
DCR hiring a debt collection agency
THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION and Recreation – the largest landowner in the state — is in the process of hiring a debt-collection company to go after tenants who owe […]
Posted inOpinion
Ignore the charter school think-tank crowd
YOU ARE AN EDUCATION RESEARCHER sent to discover best practices in urban schools so that you can replicate them to create results for more kids—kids who you believe are trapped […]
Posted inOpinion
Baker faces big challenges on education, transportation
NO REPUBLICAN in more than 60 years has governed Massachusetts for two full terms. Charlie Baker has been pretty clear about what he plans to do with the next four […]
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts’ upside-down tax system
AT A TIME when people across the state seem to agree that our Commonwealth needs additional resources for public investments, asking those with the highest incomes to contribute a similar […]
Posted inPolitics
Bump falls short of state’s audit deadlines
STATE AUDITOR SUZANNE BUMP’S office is legally required to audit 210 agencies every three years, but she has fallen short of that mark 29 times recently. Three cabinet-level agencies — […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Bump prods Baker on elder abuse reporting
STATE AUDITOR SUZANNE BUMP is prodding the Baker administration to do a better job of referring serious cases of elder abuse to district attorneys for possible prosecution, but state officials […]
Posted inUncategorized
Vineyard Wind signs $9m lease with New Bedford facility
THE STATE’S STAGING TERMINAL for offshore wind development got its first major customer on Monday, nearly four years after it opened for business in New Bedford. Vineyard Wind, with power […]
Posted inUncategorized
Final approval given to two retail pot stores
THE STATE BOARD overseeing the nascent marijuana industry gave final approval to the first licenses for retail stores Thursday with some conditions. But the vote, one of the most momentous […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health panel ventures into political arena
TOP OFFICIALS AT THE HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION privately began debating this summer whether it made sense for the watchdog agency to wade into the political arena and analyze the potential […]
Posted inPolitics
Holmes one of few reps willing to buck DeLeo
IT IS TUESDAY MORNING — primary day — and Rep. Russell Holmes is stirring things up, as usual. Trash and grit swirl in the air as the Mattapan Democrat, wearing a […]
Posted inPolitics
Speeches highlight big differences between Baker, Gonzalez
IN THEIR PRIMARY NIGHT acceptance speeches, Gov. Charlie Baker and his Democratic challenger Jay Gonzalez laid out very different visions of the future. Baker talked of fiscal discipline, opposition to […]
Posted inOpinion
5 takeaways from the Beth Israel-Lahey merger review
THE MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION’S preliminary review of the proposed BI-Lahey et al merger and the comments of the commissioners on that review surprised me a bit. Here are my […]
Posted inOpinion
What has Galvin been doing on election security?
A DAY AFTER THE INDICTMENT of 12 Russians who allegedly interfered with our 2016 elections, Secretary of State William Galvin told the The Boston Globe he’s “picking up the pace” […]
Posted inEnvironment
Pacheco: Putting price on carbon is not a tax
SEN. MARC PACHECO wants to make clear that the energy bill the Senate passed on Thursday night did not include a carbon tax. Under the state’s constitution, he said, the […]
Posted inPolitics
DCR still struggling as landlord
THE STATE’S DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND RECREATION is improving as a landlord, but the agency still has a long way to go, with a new state audit reporting that $600,000 […]
Posted inEducation
Finalists for UMass Boston job all withdraw
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE THREE FINALISTS to become the next University of Massachusetts Boston chancellor each withdrew from consideration over the weekend, citing “extreme disappointment” with actions by the […]