EDUCATION, BUSINESS, AND government entities in the Bay State expressed outrage and despair at the US Supreme Court decision striking down the use of race in college admissions, which sets up an uncertain path to boosting diversity across schools and workforces. The court considered two cases challenging affirmative action – at Harvard and the University […]
Courts
Posted inCourts, Education, State House News Service
Supreme Court strikes down use of race in admissions
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE NATION’S HIGHEST COURT on Thursday declared that two major colleges violated the Constitution by considering a student’s race as a factor in admissions, a landmark decision that sent shockwaves through the higher education industry and generated condemnation, disappointment, and criticism from many corners. The US Supreme Court’s conservative majority restricted […]
Posted inCourts, Economy, Opinion
Apprenticeships offer debt-free career path
IT’S A SIMPLE FACT — when workers have access to good-paying union jobs with family-sustaining benefits and strong worker protections, they don’t just lift up themselves, they lift up entire communities. Thanks to recent federal investments, construction union members aren’t just building infrastructure – we’re building up a thriving middle class, and we want you […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Commission urges New England states to prioritize prison education
IF EDUCATION IS key to a better life, that may hold double for those who are incarcerated. People who land in prison tend to have low educational attainment levels, while facing even greater employment challenges when released than those with similar education backgrounds because of the stigma and barriers their conviction carries. A report released […]
Posted inCourts, State House News Service
Feds tell automakers not to comply with Mass. law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION officials dealt a major blow to a voter-approved Massachusetts law boosting access to motor vehicle telematic data, warning that the measure on the state’s books “poses significant safety concerns.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday effectively told major automobile manufacturers not to comply with the state’s “right […]
Posted inCourts, State House News Service
Cypher stepping down from SJC, giving Healey a pick
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SUPREME JUDICIAL Court Justice Elspeth Cypher plans to step down in January, giving Gov. Maura Healey a chance to appoint someone to the state’s highest court early in her first term. The SJC announced Monday that Cypher, who turned 64 in February, will retire from the court on Jan. 12, 2024 […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
To address police recruit shortage, raise standards
POLICE DEPARTMENTS across the Commonwealth and around the country are concerned about declining numbers of qualified recruits. The Boston Globe reported two months ago that the number of officers who have “voluntarily resigned from the Boston Police Department in recent years ballooned from zero in 2018 to 36 last year, a trend that is exacerbating […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Could Harvard affirmative action ruling threaten Boston exam school policies?
ALL EYES IN the higher education world are on the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule any day on whether universities can use race as a factor in admissions decisions. But the case – involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina – could have ripple effects into K-12 education that land squarely in […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Politics
Attention turns to Arroyo’s role in Rollins scandal
RACHAEL ROLLINS wasn’t sending out text messages into the void. City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo was answering. Two scathing reports on Rollins’s conduct as US attorney showed that she crossed all sorts of lines in leaking non-public Department of Justice information to reporters and exchanging hundreds of texts with Arroyo as she tried to boost his candidacy […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Media
Rollins wheeled and dealed with the Globe, Herald
SIPPING CHABLIS WITH Jill Biden, it turns out, was the least of Rachael Rollins’s transgressions. Ever since reports last summer that Rollins attended a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at an Andover home where the first lady was the headline guest, the Massachusetts US attorney has been under scrutiny for possible violation of the Hatch Act, […]