STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A US SENATE COMMITTEE split evenly along party lines on whether to advance Massachusetts Rep. Maria Robinson’s nomination for a federal energy job, teeing up another situation in which Democrats may need to turn to the vice president to break a tie and muscle through a Bay State elected official. Nearly […]
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Representative apologizes after drunk driving arrest
THE STATE REPRESENTATIVE arrested Tuesday for drunk driving apologized on Thursday and pledged to seek treatment for his addiction. Rep. David LeBoeuf, a Worcester Democrat, wrote in a public statement on Twitter, “I am deeply sorry for my egregious lapse in judgment. I am thankful there were no injuries and recognize the pain I have caused […]
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House Democrats refuse to budge on tax relief
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE DEMOCRATS kicked off debate Monday on a nearly $50 billion state budget bill by rejecting Republican-led efforts to weave tax relief into the annual spending plan. Massachusetts raked in more than $5 billion in surplus tax revenues last fiscal year and is running at least $1.5 billion ahead of the […]
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Wu backs low-income MBTA fare
BOSTON MAYOR Michelle Wu, who has made a fare-free MBTA one of her top priorities, on Monday said she supports passage of a law creating a reduced fare for low-income riders of the transit authority. In remarks at a rally near Park Street Station, Wu didn’t distinguish between her two positions and implied the two […]
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Lessons from story on Globe’s Philip Morris sponsored content
A correction and a clarification has been added to this story. A RECENT story in CommonWealth on a series of articles in the Boston Globe sponsored by Philip Morris has prompted pushback by both the newspaper and the tobacco giant. Their complaints have prompted us here at CommonWealth to look at how we handled the story, […]
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A bump in State House press presence
THERE’S AT LEAST some good news about the news business for a change. According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, the total number of statehouse reporters nationwide has increased by 11 percent since 2014, the last time the center carried out a similar survey. But the news was not entirely positive when […]
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Mass. Senate staff seek to unionize
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE employees are hoping to become the second unionized state legislative staff in the country, announcing on Monday night their intent to unionize with Quincy-based IBEW Local 2222. IBEW representatives delivered a letter to Senate President Karen Spilka’s office Thursday seeking voluntary recognition of the union “after successfully collecting authorization […]
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Globe refutes claims made by scientists in CommonWealth article
BOSTON GLOBE Media Partners produced emails and text messages on Monday contradicting the claims of a series of prominent scientists who claimed they were interviewed for Globe sponsored content without being told the sponsor of the advertising was tobacco giant Philip Morris International. The scientists cried foul in an article published by CommonWealth on March […]
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Should remote access to government continue?
MANY BYPRODUCTS of the pandemic cannot disappear too soon – the illness, the social isolation, the toll constant anxiety is taking on our collective mental health. Yet some societal changes have become a silver lining to the pandemic – the realization that some jobs can be done as efficiently at home, the convenience of telehealth, […]
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Scientists object to inclusion in Globe’s Philip Morris ads
Editor’s note: The Globe on Monday April 4 shared emails and text messages with the scientists quoted in this story that sharply contradicted their statements about not being told about Philip Morris’s involvement. CommonWealth is reaching out to the scientists for an explanation and plans a follow-up once more information is obtained. Additional editor’s note: […]