THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE and Senate reached an agreement on an economic development bill on Wednesday, which makes $3.79 billion in investments but strips out tax breaks that lawmakers had previously considered. In a joint statement, House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, and Senate Ways and Means […]
Government
Posted inMarijuana, State Government
Could Massachusetts become a cannabis research hub?
WITH WORLD CLASS medical facilities and universities, and a highly educated workforce, Massachusetts is a national leader in medicine, life sciences, and biotech. Could the state leverage those assets to also become a leading light of cannabis research? As President Biden pledges to explore changing federal restrictions on cannabis, some researchers and policymakers hope to […]
Posted inEducation
On target: ed reform money reaching poorer districts
THE LOW-INCOME, HEAVILY IMMIGRANT city of Chelsea is getting over $2,600 per pupil more in state education aid than it did two years ago. That translates to nearly $19 million in additional funds each year going into the district’s $118 million budget. Mary Bourque, a former Chelsea superintendent and now director of government affairs for […]
Posted inOpinion
This election is turning point for Massachusetts, women
THE MASSACHUSETTS CONSTITUTION is the world’s oldest governing document that remains in effect today. In writing it, John Adams must have had in mind his wife Abigail’s letter, asking him to “remember the ladies.” That ideal certainly matches the Constitution’s eloquent definition of “the body politic” as “a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen.” Nearly 250 […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
$3b in tax cap checks to start going out Tuesday
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE FIRST CHECKS and direct deposits from a nearly $3 billion pot of excess tax revenue will head back to taxpayers starting on Tuesday when the calendar flips to November, the Baker administration announced Friday. A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance said money will head out the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, State Government
Baker issues four more pardons
AS HE PREPARES to leave office, Gov. Charlie Baker is rolling out the pardon pen. On Wednesday, Baker pardoned four people for decades-old offenses, two weeks after he issued four other pardons. Together, these are the only pardons Baker has issued since he took office in 2015. The governor also previously commuted the sentences of […]
Posted inNews Analysis
For Diehl, a curious dance on abortion
TO VOTERS WHO may be turned off by Geoff Diehl’s pro-life stand on abortion, his pitch to consider voting for him for governor anyway comes packaged in an usual argument for someone seeking the state’s top elected office: Don’t worry, I’ll be powerless to do anything about it. That was essentially Diehl’s message last week […]
Posted inHealth, State Government, State House News Service
Baker backtracks a bit on vaccine mandate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION has offered jobs back to “a small number” of former state employees who had been among a narrow minority of executive branch workers out of compliance with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, officials said Tuesday. A spokesperson for Gov. Charlie Baker confirmed the administration “has recently been able to […]
Posted inPolitics
Healey’s snub of Rausch hot issue in Senate race
MAURA HEALEY’S decision not to endorse Sen. Becca Rausch in her bid for reelection is fast becoming one of the more intriguing storylines of the election season. The attorney general, the Democratic nominee for governor, has endorsed 17 of the 19 incumbent Democrats running for reelection in the Senate who are facing challengers. The only […]
Posted inState Government
House, Senate leaders report little progress on economic development legislation
THE LEADERS of the House and Senate met for the first time in three months with Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday to discuss a handful of issues left over from the legislative session, but it appears little progress was made in finding a way forward. The three leaders emerged from their meeting in the governor’s […]