OPPONENTS OF a potential ballot initiative allowing for a local rent control option are covering all their bases in urging Attorney General Andrea Campbell not to certify it. In between claims that the ballot measure improperly includes unrelated items in the same proposal and that it would allow taking property without just compensation, coalitions of […]
Courts
Posted inEducation
After affirmative action blow, legacy preference draws focus
AFTER THE US SUPREME COURT ruled this spring to significantly scale back higher educational institutions’ use of affirmative action, advocacy and civil rights groups wound up for a counter-punch at Harvard. America’s oldest university, and its policy of allowing for legacy admission preference, is in the crosshairs of both a federal investigation and a civil […]
Posted inCourts, Religion, State Government
Massachusetts cities and towns have spent millions restoring historic religious sites. They don’t know if it was constitutional.
FOR NEARLY two centuries, the Acton Congregational Church has stood serenely in the town’s main square, its pews offering a welcoming haven for spiritual renewal and quiet reflection. Starting in 2016, however, it became the focal point for a closely-watched court battle over the separation of church and state. On the church’s clapboard front, a […]
Posted inPolitics
For Lara, a lot of explaining
“IF YOU’RE EXPLAINING, you’re losing,” according to a quip credited to Ronald Reagan. For the Hollywood actor-turned-president, regarded as a master communicator, that meant delivering a straightforward message that voters could readily absorb without need for a lot of explanatory elaboration. But it probably applies even more so to an elected official who finds themself […]
Posted inEducation
UMass Dartmouth arts college exiting downtown New Bedford. Who’s to blame?
THE ABRUPT announcement Monday that the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts would be immediately vacating a downtown New Bedford building, where it’s been housed for 22 years, has sent an unwelcome jolt through the Whaling City and entire South Coast region. Nearly everyone seems to lament the sudden turn of […]
Posted inPolitics
Ballot face-off over gig workers looms
TWO YEARS AGO, Massachusetts braced itself for what was expected to be the most expensive ballot measure campaign in the state’s history. That question, brought by ride-hailing companies to classify their gig workers as independent contractors, was kicked off the ballot by a ruling from the state’s highest court. In just a few weeks, the […]
Posted inCourts, Opinion, State Government
The state’s child welfare system is ‘infected with dysfunction’
IT IS AN unfortunate truth that Massachusetts, with all of its famous hospitals and prestigious universities, has among the most abysmal track records of any state of caring for children in state custody. These vulnerable children, many of whom are in the system due to allegations of abuse or neglect, are revictimized by the highly […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Opinion
It’s time to end eternal punishment for young adults
DIRCEU SEMEDO is in his 31st year of a life sentence in Massachusetts. Nearly 50 years old now, at age 18 he participated in an assault that resulted in a death. Semedo and four others were convicted of first-degree murder, though only one of the individuals (not Semedo) inflicted the fatal stab wound. In Massachusetts, […]
Posted inGuns
Mariano says gun bill needs more work
HOUSE SPEAKER Ronald Mariano sent an email to all House members Monday night dropping his bid to gain quick passage of omnibus gun control legislation and instead pledging to address over the next several months questions and concerns raised by lawmakers. “The House believes that we must thoroughly evaluate all of the proposals made over […]
Posted inOpinion
Two Thomas decisions declare ‘war on innocence’
TWO SUPREME COURT opinions written by Justice Clarence Thomas and issued in the past month, Shinn v. Ramirez and Jones v. Hendricks, look like routine attacks on the Warren Court’s protections for criminal defendants. In fact, they declare a war on innocence. Shinn decided two Arizona capital cases. In one, the victim’s time of death excludes the defendant […]