THE SUPREME JUDICIAL Court quickly dismissed a lawsuit brought by opponents of a ballot question regulating dental insurance that sought to change the ballot question summary submitted by proponents. With a deadline looming this week for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin to begin printing the information book that is sent to voters, the court […]
Shira Schoenberg
Shira Schoenberg is a reporter at CommonWealth magazine. Shira previously worked for more than seven years at the Springfield Republican/MassLive.com where she covered state politics and elections, covering topics as diverse as the launch of the legal marijuana industry, problems with the state's foster care system and the elections of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker. Shira won the Massachusetts Bar Association's 2018 award for Excellence in Legal Journalism and has had several stories win awards from the New England Newspaper and Press Association. Shira covered the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary for the Boston Globe. Before that, she worked for the Concord (N.H.) Monitor, where she wrote about state government, City Hall and Barack Obama's 2008 New Hampshire primary campaign. Shira holds a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Posted inState Government
Baker says he’s leaving state in good shape financially
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Thursday signed into law a $52.7 billion state budget for fiscal 2023, representing an unusually high 9.3 percent growth in spending over the prior year. The high growth was fueled by tax revenues coming in higher than expected and an influx in federal COVID recovery money. The budget includes higher spending […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker won’t sign no-cost prison calls without dangerousness bill
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is making another go at passing elements of his criminal dangerousness bill, this time with a bit of high-stakes legislative horse trading. Baker, in signing the fiscal 2023 budget on Thursday, refused to sign into law free phone calls for prison inmates and other prison reforms, instead returning those sections with an […]
Posted inHealth Care
Lawmakers reach agreement on Soldiers’ Home governance
LEGISLATIVE NEGOTIATORS have come to an agreement on how to overhaul the governance of the state’s two Soldiers’ Homes in Holyoke and Chelsea. A bill released Wednesday evening lays out a new administrative structure for the homes, which elevates the Secretary of Veterans Services to a cabinet-level position while also creating a new independent Office […]
Posted inHealth, State Government
With time short, lawmakers seek to reshape local public health
THE LEGISLATURE is poised to dramatically reshape Massachusetts’ local public health landscape, after the COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted just how inadequate it is. “I’ve been doing this work for almost 25 years and it’s just astounding to me the opportunity that we’re being presented with here, and the fact that the Legislature really understands the importance […]
Posted inEconomy
SJC sides with Grubhub, allows arbitration requirements for drivers
GRUBHUB MAY REQUIRE its drivers to submit employment disputes to arbitration, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Wednesday. The ruling essentially codifies the status quo. But because of its potentially broad implications for workers and businesses if the court ruled the other way, the case attracted national attention, pitting workers’ rights groups against businesses. Companies […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Baker signs law banning hairstyle discrimination
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Tuesday signed the CROWN Act into law, making Massachusetts the 18th state to ban discrimination based on “natural hairstyles.” The governor held a joyous bill signing ceremony in his office, surrounded by advocates and lawmakers, the first such ceremony in his office since before the pandemic. The bill was prompted in […]
Posted inPolitics
Dental ballot question summary challenged on ‘false statements’
THE OPPONENTS of a ballot question that would regulate dental insurance are asking the Supreme Judicial Court to force Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin to change the wording of a summary submitted by proponents of the question because it allegedly contains a false statement. “This case is about whether the Secretary of the Commonwealth […]
Posted inPolitics
Groups seek to keep Trump off 2024 ballot due to insurrection
AMID A NATIONAL progressive campaign to keep former president Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot, should he choose to run again, Massachusetts’s top elections official says it’s not so simple – and the issue is in the US Department of Justice’s hands. The core of the discussion is the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker not giving up on dangerousness bill, despite study order
THE WOMAN, who survived domestic violence, said she risked her safety, allowed herself to be vulnerable, and emotionally relived her abuse to advocate on behalf of Gov. Charlie Baker’s bill expanding the use of dangerousness hearings, which the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee sent to study, effectively killing it for this session. “I now wonder if they […]