WITH BOSTON’S PRELIMINARY election for mayor only hours away, a lot remains up in the air. The one certainty: For the first time in the 199 years since its incorporation as a city, Boston is poised to elect a mayor who is not a white man. Five major candidates are vying in Tuesday’s preliminary election. […]
Elections
Posted inOpinion
Next mayor should create department of labor
SEVENTEEN MONTHS into a pandemic that has widened the cracks and brought new and renewed hardship to so many, we can plainly see that the systems that fell short before are now failing — in housing, health care and child care. The pandemic has heightened the crisis for too many of Boston’s working families, making it harder and harder […]
Posted inPolitics
Call for big investments, but no new taxes, fees
THE CANDIDATES for mayor in Boston are calling for major investments in housing, transportation, climate resiliency, schools, and a host of other areas, but they don’t intend to hike taxes or fees of city residents to help pay for these investments. At a forum on Thursday sponsored by the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, A […]
Posted inPolitics
In governor’s race, stark differences on early, higher ed
FOR SEVERAL YEARS,  the dominant conflict on Beacon Hill was how to update funding for the state’s K-12 schools. Now that a new formula is in place, the next battle lines are the rest of the education system: early education and higher education. The issue is expected to be front and center in the 2022 […]
Posted inPolitics
New poll: Wu and then everybody else
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A NEW POLL in the Boston mayoral race gives City Councilor Michelle Wu a strong lead and suggests the number of undecided voters and a tight cluster of potential second-place candidates could translate to many possible outcomes for the September 14 preliminary election. In the MassINC Polling Group survey, which was […]
Posted inPolitics
Legalization of happy hours, fireworks among approved ballot questions
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey’s office allowed 17 proposed laws and constitutional amendments dealing with a wide variety of public policy issues to keep moving toward the ballot on Wednesday. Assuming sponsors can gather 80,239 signatures, Massachusetts voters will be asked in 2022 to decide whether fireworks and turbocharged happy hours should be legalized. They will […]
Posted inPolitics
Gig question foes exchange claims
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE OPPONENTS OF A NEW worker benefits ballot question campaign asked state campaign finance regulators on Monday to investigate the question’s backers, who alleged in response that the complaint is based on a “willful misunderstanding” of state law. In a complaint to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, opposition leader Mike […]
Posted inThe Download
Baker’s course on virus draws fire from left and right
When it comes to mask mandates, you can’t please everyone. Gov. Charlie Baker last week announced that he will “strongly recommend” that elementary school students wear face coverings, but he will not mandate it. Statements from two of the candidates running for governor in 2022 made clear the tough political position Baker and Lt. Gov. […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker’s course on virus draws fire from left and right
WHEN IT COMES to mask mandates, you can’t please everyone. Gov. Charlie Baker last week announced that he will “strongly recommend” that elementary school students wear face coverings, but he will not mandate it. Statements from two of the candidates running for governor in 2022 made clear the tough political position Baker and Lt. Gov. […]
Posted inPolitics
From gig economy to TCI, 30 ballot questions filed
PROPONENTS FILED 30 ballot questions with the attorney general’s office on Wednesday in an attempt to circumvent Beacon Hill and win approval directly from voters in 2022 for laws dealing with the gig economy, voting, hospital operations, newborn babies, the Transportation Climate Initiative, smoking, the sale of alcohol, and assorted other matters. Most of the proposals […]