Attorney General Martha Coakley said today she plans to seek a third term as the state’s top lawyer. “Right now, first of all my focus is on doing my job. Secondly, my intent would be to run for reelection,” she said after an event at Suffolk University. “I’m particularly engaged in all of the things […]
Kyle Cheney
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
T backs subway fare hike of 17%
Bay State commuters who rely on the MBTA will be slapped with an average 23 percent fare hike under a budget proposal that state transportation officials unveiled today. “The proposal we’re announcing today is weighted more to fare increases and much less to service cuts,” Transportation Secretary Richard Davey said in a phone interview, attributing […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo benches Murphy during tense caucus
House Majority Whip Charles Murphy resigned today from his leadership post moments before he was about to be removed from that position by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who elevated three Boston delegation representatives on his leadership team. “The speaker and others in his leadership team are not happy that I have the audacity to speak […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DiMasi sentenced to eight years
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, once arguably the most powerful man in Massachusetts, was hit Friday with an eight-year jail sentence for his conviction on charges that he sold his office for personal gain, the harshest punishment ever doled out in a Massachusetts public corruption case. If he serves his full […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
UMass chief calls debt ‘untenable’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE The growing cost of covering debt is crowding out the ability of the University of Massachusetts’s five campuses to invest in faculty, staff and other projects and is driving up tuition and fees for students, UMass president Robert Caret said Wednesday. “It’s just untenable,” Caret said during a State House hearing […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Murray calls Brown a ‘last-minute Larry’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Lt. Gov. Tim Murray sharpened the Democratic Party’s attack on Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown on Wednesday, labeling him a “last-minute Larry” reluctant to lead on controversial issues as they move through Congress. “What we need in Washington is leadership, not last-minute Larry,” Murray told the News Service, repeating the phrase […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Split Governor’s Council confirms picks
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE With Gov. Deval Patrick on hand to ensure a tiebreaking vote, Rep. Christopher Speranzo won a lifetime appointment today as clerk magistrate of the Pittsfield District Court, filling a two-year vacancy and overcoming objections from four members of the Governor’s Council who questioned his qualifications. The 5-4 vote came after Patrick […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Coyne’s connections focus of hearing
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Peter Coyne, a 10-year assistant clerk magistrate in the Suffolk County Juvenile Court, as well as the brother of a prominent Beacon Hill lobbyist, rejected assertions by members of the Governor’s Council on Wednesday that his nomination to a juvenile court judgeship was based on his connections and his brother’s frequent […]
Posted inHealth Care
State workers embrace lower-cost health plans
Ninety-nine percent of active state employees have re-enrolled in health plans under an initiative state officials predict will save more than $20 million this year as more employees agree to enlist in plans with featuring limited networks of health care providers. According to Group Insurance Commission Executive Director Dolores Mitchell, more than 30 percent of […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DiMasi, McDonough guilty but not Vitale
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE After a six-week trial, a jury needed only hours before finding former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi guilty on seven of nine counts in his public corruption case, including conspiracy, two counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and extortion. The verdict made DiMasi the third consecutive House speaker convicted […]