STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Former Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray’s once robust campaign account has been spent down to just $34,620 after the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce executive shelled out nearly $200,000 over the past three months in penalties and legal fees. After reaching a deal in August with Attorney General Martha Coakley to resolve […]
Matt Murphy
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Patrick sues to block casino on Vineyard
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Gov. Deval Patrick on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking to block a proposed gaming facility on Martha’s Vineyard. Patrick is asking the Supreme Judicial Court to affirm a 1983 land settlement between the Commonwealth and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head in which the state contends the tribe forfeited its right […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Baker, Polito to run as GOP team
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker on Tuesday tethered his hopes to take back the Corner Office to a former state representative from Shrewsbury, joining Karyn Polito at a diner in her hometown to declare a GOP ticket for the 2014 election. Polito, who lost a race for treasurer in 2010, brings […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service
Gas tax index foes play fast with facts
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Branded at first as a fight against perpetual and unchecked increases in the gas tax, questionable claims from proponents of a ballot question repealing the gas tax inflation indexing law are starting to cloud that message. Lawmakers and activists hoping to repeal the gas tax indexing law touted their collection last […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Teacher evaluation data released by state
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Over 90 percent of the state’s public school educators received passing grades in the first year of a new evaluation system that rated teachers and administrators on their classroom and school skills, but has not yet incorporated student achievement. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday released the first-ever […]
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 inState House News Service, Uncategorized
GOP seeks probe of Coakley spending
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE State Republican Party Chairwoman Kirsten Hughes called on Monday for a “thorough” and independent investigation into the campaign finances of Attorney General Martha Coakley following revelations of accounting problems with her federal campaign account and evidence that Coakley improperly used funds from the federal account for state political activities. Hughes told […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service
Warren: Obama ‘dropped the ball’ on website rollout
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on Monday that President Obama’s administration “dropped the ball” on the rollout of the federal health care website, but added that the Affordable Care Act offers a “good product” and expressed confidence the web problems would be fixed. “Getting people in is crucial. I know that’s why […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Patrick embarrassed by government shutdown
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A sharp-tongued Gov. Deval Patrick on Wednesday said he was “embarrassed” by having to explain the government shutdown to a group of visiting students from London this week, and hopes voters punish Republicans at the polls next year. “I think Tea Party Republicans are playing a big game with little people […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Analysis: Mass. tech tax “most burdensome”
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Casting the state as out of step with the norm, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation released an analysis Monday of state approaches to taxing computer and software design services showing Massachusetts’s new tax to be larger and broader than anywhere in the country. The analysis was performed as the foundation and other […]