SOMERVILLE ATTORNEY Sean O’Donovan was arrested Friday and charged with trying to bribe a family member of the Medford police chief to convince the chief to help a marijuana company he represented obtain a license. The marijuana company, which was not named in the indictment but which CommonWealth confirmed is Theory Wellness, has not been […]
Courts
Posted inCourts, State Government
MassGOP challenges vote-by-mail law
PERMANENT MAIL-IN voting is now the law in Massachusetts – unless Republican Party chair Jim Lyons has his way. The conservative GOP chair filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday challenging voting by mail as unconstitutional, a day after Gov. Charlie Baker bucked many in his party by signing voting-by-mail into law. […]
Posted inCourts, Education
SJC slams Harvard, but says university can keep slave photos
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL Court on Thursday revived a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims Harvard University caused her emotional distress when she sought information about and the return of nude photographs a Harvard professor took of her slave ancestors in 1850. Tamara Lanier sued Harvard seeking return of the photographs and payment of damages. […]
Posted inCourts, State House News Service
SJC agrees to hear moot DiMasi case
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A YEAR AND A DAY after the case was rendered moot by the calendar, the Supreme Judicial Court last week decided that it will nonetheless rule in the case involving former Speaker Sal DiMasi’s registration as a lobbyist in Massachusetts and is working to schedule oral arguments for later this year. […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Courts, Economy
SJC throws out Uber-Lyft ballot question
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Tuesday threw out a ballot question that would classify ride-share drivers as independent contractors, putting a sudden end to what was primed to be an enormously expensive ballot campaign that was already gaining national attention. In a 31-page unanimous decision written by Justice Scott Kafker, the court concluded that the […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Courts, Economy, Politics
SJC lets liquor license question head to ballot
A QUESTION REFORMING the state’s liquor license system will continue on to the November ballot, after the Supreme Judicial Court on Monday upheld the attorney general’s decision that the question is constitutional. The ballot question, which is being advocated for by the Massachusetts Package Store Association, centers on a complicated dispute between package stores and food […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
House will vote on sexting, revenge porn bill
FIVE YEARS AFTER Gov. Charlie Baker first proposed new laws addressing sexting and revenge porn, the Legislature is prepared to consider the legislation. The House plans to vote Thursday on a bill that would address the unauthorized distribution of sexually explicit material. The bill has two major pieces. One would create a diversionary framework for […]
Posted inCourts, Gambling, State House News Service
SJC orders discovery into Everett casino land deal
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICES THE ACTIONS OF the Massachusetts Gaming Commission almost a decade ago could be put under a new microscope after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Monday that a lower court should look more closely at the “highly unusual character of the commission’s actions” related to the award of a casino license to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC says sheriffs can charge commissions for prison phone calls
MASSACHUSETTS SHERIFFS HAVE the legal authority to raise revenue from contracts for inmate phone calls, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday. Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, whose office was at the center of the lawsuit, called the decision “a win for taxpayers.” “In a decision released today by the SJC, the court has supported my […]
Posted inOpinion
How Mass. can break the child abuse cycle
IT’S NOT REALLY that hard to fix a child welfare system: just listen to your gut instinct – and do the opposite. Gut instinct says: David Almond died a horrible death though he was well known to the Department of Children and Families and other agencies. So the solution must be to take away children more […]