STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick Ireland plans to step down in July, giving Gov. Deval Patrick several months to secure a successor atop the high court before the governor leaves office at the end of the year. Ireland is set to turn 70 – the mandatory retirement age for judges […]
Andy Metzger
Andy Metzger is currently studying law at Temple University in Philadelphia. Previously, he joined CommonWealth Magazine as a reporter in January 2019. He has covered news in Massachusetts since 2007. For more than six years starting in May 2012 he wrote about state politics and government for the State House News Service. At the News Service, he followed three criminal trials from opening statements to verdicts, tracked bills through the flumes and eddies of the Legislature, and sounded out the governor’s point of view on a host of issues – from the proposed Olympics bid to federal politics.
Before that, Metzger worked at the Chelmsford Independent, The Arlington Advocate, the Somerville Journal and the Cambridge Chronicle, weekly community newspapers that cover an array of local topics. Metzger graduated from UMass Boston in 2006. In addition to his written journalism, Metzger produced a work of illustrated journalism about Gov. Charlie Baker’s record regarding the MBTA. He lives in Somerville and commutes mainly by bicycle.
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Bills pass, then idle in legislative limbo
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE In the amount of time it’s taken for Beacon Hill Democrats not to reach agreement on veterans’ services and drug compounding pharmacy regulation bills, Roz Savage, the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean, rowed 3,158 miles from Hawaii to the island of Kiribati. Passed with fanfare, the veterans […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, State House News Service
DeLeo rules out new taxes, fees
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Wednesday ruled out any new taxes or fees in the budget his deputies will produce this spring, essentially nixing Gov. Deval Patrick’s call to extend the sales tax to candy and soda. “We will pass a balanced budget that takes care of those in need while […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Henriquez convicted of assault and battery
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Rep. Carlos Henriquez was led away in handcuffs Wednesday after being found guilty by a jury in a domestic violence case stemming from an early morning rendezvous in Arlington Heights during the summer of 2012. Henriquez, a Dorchester Democrat in his second term, was found guilty in Cambridge District Court of […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Target: Data breach could affect 40 million
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Target, the major retailer with locations throughout Massachusetts, confirmed Thursday “unauthorized access to payment card data” that may have impacted 40 million credit and debit card accounts. The impacts would have been between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15. “Target’s first priority is preserving the trust of our guests and we have […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
T to go late night
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Trolleys, subways and 15 key bus routes will begin running until 3 a.m. during the weekends under an MBTA pilot program set to begin next spring, according to a state transportation official. The pilot program is estimated to cost $20 million, and the MBTA hopes to bring on corporate sponsors to […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Amendment would help Salem power plant
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A Salem state representative who has faced prior criticism for insisting on language beneficial to a planned power plant in his city is facing criticism anew for seeking to smooth the path for the plant in a bill adding new regulations to stamp out gas leaks. Rep. John Keenan, a Democrat […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
State taking over 4 different schools
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE The state will take over four chronically under-performing schools that have been “stuck” as other troubled schools have made “quite good progress,” Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell Chester announced Wednesday. The four schools – Dever Elementary and Holland Elementary in Boston, the Morgan Full Service Community School in Holyoke, […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
No new fees, taxes for convention buildout
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Without increases in fees or taxes or additional state funding, operators of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, already the largest building in New England, plan to add 1.3 million square feet to the facility. Situated in the burgeoning South Boston Seaport area, the hangar-shaped BCEC currently has 2.1 million square […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Administration OK with Mass. fracking ban
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A top Patrick administration official says he could support a fracking ban in Massachusetts to ensure that a potential natural gas reserve in the Springfield area is never tapped using the relatively new gas extraction practice. “Even the experts who say there’s potentially a resource there, identify it as being of […]