State leaders continued to struggle this week to balance the commitment to sheltering homeless families with fiscal concerns about runaway costs.Â
Government
Posted inState Government
Redacted filing sheds some light on O’Brien firing
A REDACTED COPY of Treasurer Deborah Goldberg’s decision to fire Shannon O’Brien as chair of the Cannabis Control Commission was filed in court this week, but the treasurer is asking a skeptical judge to keep troves of other information related to the long-running saga out of public view. Goldberg fired O’Brien in September 2024 after considering about […]
Posted inTransportation
This is one of the biggest decisions the MBTA will make in the next five years
The commuter rail system sees 550,000 weekly passengers and the MBTA officials want to see even higher numbers, part of an effort to ease traffic congestion by making the commuter rail a more attractive alternative.
Posted inOpinion
The case for more Black lobbyists
Massachusetts has elected a Black governor, a Black attorney general, Black state senators and state representatives. There are Black heads of departments and secretariats. But there are virtually no Black lobbyists on Beacon Hill.
Posted inHealth Care
Mass. ‘eds and meds’ sector in the cross hairsÂ
Greater Boston’s acclaimed universities, hospitals, and affiliated research institutions are the fuel that has made the region a juggernaut of the 21st century knowledge economy. Now they are making it a target.Â
Posted inGovernment
The pandemic led to more access to local town meetings. Beacon Hill will decide what comes next.
If local officials weren’t livestreaming democracy before the pandemic, Massachusetts officials smoothed the path to the new paradigm by creating new provisions under the state’s Open Meeting Law.
Posted inEconomy
AG Campbell: Medical research change could ‘undermine our economy’
Attorney General Andrea Campbell and nearly two dozen of her peers sued the Trump administration and federal health care agencies Monday, alleging that they unlawfully moved to cut crucial federal dollars for research.
Posted inPolitics
Healey plans to seek reelection in 2026
“And I feel like we’ve done all those things, and there’s a heck of a lot more to do. And so I plan to run for reelection, because there’s a lot more to do.”
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: The tensions and tangles over federal funding
The saying about New England’s fluid weather – wait a minute, and it’ll change – could also apply these days to the pronouncements coming out of Washington.
Posted inOpinion
Small businesses should not pay for Massachusetts’s $2.1 billion unemployment insurance mistake
The real question is, will state elected officials return to their default settings by expecting job creators to shoulder the burden through higher taxes, or will they learn from past UI missteps and seek meaningful reforms?