HOUSE SPEAKER Robert DeLeo said late last week that he would frown on lawmakers using the budget as a vehicle for major policy reforms, but he backed off that stance yesterday in announcing a reproductive rights amendment sponsored by Rep. Claire Cronin of Easton would be taken up during budget deliberations this week. Cronin’s amendment […]
Uncategorized
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Tax revenues keep chugging along
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE NOW PARTWAY into the second quarter of a fiscal year that budget managers expect will generate between 4 percent and 12 percent less tax revenue for the state than the last, collections are still running more than 1 percent ahead of their fiscal year 2020 pace, the Department of Revenue said […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker nominating first Latina to SJC
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S latest nominee to the Supreme Judicial Court is an Appeals Court judge with a background in intellectual property litigation who built a robot while studying engineering at MIT. Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt spoke to reporters after Gov. Charlie Baker introduced her as his latest pick for the Supreme Judicial Court. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pioneer Institute letter
An open letter to Pioneer Institute and Charles Chieppo regarding your Attack on the Name of George Floyd FOR 32 YEARS, the Pioneer Institute has fought tooth and nail against public policies and programs that advance the interests of Black people, Black workers, and Black communities. Over the course of its history, the Pioneer Institute […]
Posted inUncategorized
One way of dealing with bad PR
DR. ELAD ANTER, or someone impersonating him, tried to make links to a state medical board disciplinary action against him and a CommonWealth news story about that action disappear from the internet. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine late last year disciplined Anter, a former Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center cardiologist, for losing his […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Are we changed forever by the pandemic?
WHAT IF our lives are never the same again? It took a blunt cabinet secretary at a dry state budget hearing to voice the fears of millions. For Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, the issue was, unsurprisingly, transportation. “The COVID pandemic may well have changed travel and transportation forever,” Pollack said at a hearing before the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Is menthol cigarette ban still a smart move?
LAST NOVEMBER, amid a national outbreak of vaping-related illnesses, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including mint and menthol cigarettes. The measure was hailed by public health advocates as a life-saving measure to stop young people from becoming addicted to tobacco. But convenience store […]
Posted inUncategorized
Fed chief: Stimulus package ‘sorely needed’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S failure to approve another stimulus bill endangers economic recovery from the pandemic-inflicted recession, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston cautioned on Thursday, echoing a similar warning the Fed’s top leader made days earlier. In a virtual speech hosted by Marquette University, Boston Fed President and […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Judges urged to delay eviction hearings until Jan. 1
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS JUDICIARY should intervene to prevent a potential surge of tens of thousands of housing removals that could hit when the state’s temporary ban on evictions and foreclosures expires this month, a regional planning agency urged in a new report. At least 80,000 households in Massachusetts, including both renters and […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Number of high-risk communities rises sharply
THE NUMBER of communities considered high risk for COVID-19 increased sharply on Wednesday, with Boston, Lowell, Haverhill, North Andover, and Springfield joining the group for the first time; Nantucket cementing its position as a hotspot, and Lawrence continuing to lose ground. Overall, 21 communities were listed as high-risk, the highest number since the Baker administration […]