ON SEPTEMBER 15, 1998, David Nangle, then a State House aide, was effectively elected to the Massachusetts Legislature even though 76 percent of the voters in the district where he ran chose someone else that day. Nangle won the Democratic primary for an open Lowell-based seat in the House of Representatives by garnering just 24 […]
Elections
Posted inThe Download
It’s good to be king
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, in a speech before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Wednesday morning, announced plans for a long-delayed memorial to the late Dr. Martin Luther King. Details to come. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, in a speech before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Wednesday morning, announced the creation of a landmark public […]
Posted inThe Download
Perchance to dream
College campuses are anxiously waiting for President Trump’s decision on whether to dismantle or even substantially change the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA was an executive order from then-President Barack Obama in 2012 that stopped deportation of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children and who pose no security threat. But […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Rep joins unenrolled in-crowdÂ
Rep. Susannah Whipps joined the political in-crowd this week, switching her party registration from Republican to unenrolled. Statewide, unenrolled voters – those not affiliated with any political party – are taking over. They became the largest political designation in 1990 and an outright majority in 2008. They represent the most voters in 132 of the 160 House districts. In Whipps’s central Massachusetts district, 66 percent of the voters […]
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How many white supremacists at rally?
An estimated 40,000 people turned out on Saturday to say no to hate, racism, and neo-Nazis, but it remains unclear how many of the 50 people at the free speech rally that spawned the massive protest fit that description. Shiva Ayyadurai, a Republican running for the seat of US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, produced a 12-minute […]
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Catching up with inaccuracy
In an editorial on Thursday, the Metrowest Daily News unloaded on President Trump for his embarrassing stance on climate change, which the newspaper said prompted scientists to leak a draft government report detailing the negative impact of rising temperatures and sea levels out of fear the administration would suppress it. “The changes are already real […]
Posted inPolitics
Tsongas not seeking reelection
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE US REP. NIKI TSONGAS, who has served in Congress since 2007, will not seek reelection in 2018. Tsongas, who is the widow of the late Sen. Paul Tsongas, won a special election when UMass President Marty Meehan resigned his seat to become the chancellor of UMass Lowell. The Lowell Democrat representing […]
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4 takeaways from sales tax moves
You could actually see an industry in transition on Wednesday. Amazon held a giant job fair at nearly a dozen of its US warehouses, including the one in Fall River, as the company sought to fill 50,000 empty positions across the country. At the same time, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts announced it was mounting […]
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Here’s the Diehl
Geoff Diehl made it official last night by formally announcing his Republican run against US Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Somebody pass Charlie Baker the antacids. The Whitman state rep mixed his kickoff speech with sports references and denunciations of Warren as a soft-on-immigration, big-government enemy of the people. Diehl was a co-chairman of President Trump’s campaign […]
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On to the next ballot questions
Now that last year’s final ballot-approved law is in place (Gov. Charlie Baker signed the legislatively amended marijuana bill into law on Friday), Beacon Hill is gearing up for the next round of ballot initiatives to be placed in front of voters in November 2018. It looks like the top issues being championed are all […]