STATE LAWMAKERS WILL CONDUCT an oversight hearing later this month to look into problems at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, where administrative lapses delayed license suspensions for nearly 900 people. “Many senators from my chamber have come wanting more information. The chairs have spoken and they’ve made the decision to have this oversight hearing this […]
Andy Metzger
Andy Metzger is currently studying law at Temple University in Philadelphia. Previously, he joined CommonWealth Magazine as a reporter in January 2019. He has covered news in Massachusetts since 2007. For more than six years starting in May 2012 he wrote about state politics and government for the State House News Service. At the News Service, he followed three criminal trials from opening statements to verdicts, tracked bills through the flumes and eddies of the Legislature, and sounded out the governor’s point of view on a host of issues – from the proposed Olympics bid to federal politics.
Before that, Metzger worked at the Chelmsford Independent, The Arlington Advocate, the Somerville Journal and the Cambridge Chronicle, weekly community newspapers that cover an array of local topics. Metzger graduated from UMass Boston in 2006. In addition to his written journalism, Metzger produced a work of illustrated journalism about Gov. Charlie Baker’s record regarding the MBTA. He lives in Somerville and commutes mainly by bicycle.
Posted inTransportation
Video: Pyrotechnics preceded June derailment
A VIDEO OF the Red Line derailment on June 11 from the vantage point of the JFK/UMass Station shows the Braintree-bound train coming into view around a slight curve when a big flash occurs toward the rear of the train. It’s not clear in the grainy footage what caused the flash but the train doesn’t […]
Posted inUncategorized
DeLeo: There will be no budget filed Tuesday
THERE WILL BE no budget agreement filed Tuesday, two days into fiscal 2020, but House and Senate negotiators haven’t reached an impasse and are trading proposals back and forth, according to House Speaker Robert DeLeo. On his way into the State House with Rep. Paul Donato on Tuesday afternoon, DeLeo held out hope that a […]
Posted inTransportation
RMV ignored out-of-state violation notices
OFFICIALS LAST WEEK DISCOVERED a giant backlog of paperwork sent to the Registry of Motor Vehicles about infractions committed by Massachusetts drivers in other states that had been sitting untouched for more than a year, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced on Monday. Among the unread messages from other states were more than 600 notifications about […]
Posted inPolitics
Wu and other pols seek to organize T riders
BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR Michelle Wu had a captive audience Monday morning as she tried to mobilize a group of people who spend too much time stuck on MBTA platforms and trains. “I practically live on here,” said Carshena Berry who commutes almost the entire length of the Red Line from Ashmont to Davis and spoke […]
Posted inTransportation
Kicking the tires on transpo politics
IN A WIDE-RANGING discussion about the Bay State’s transportation problems, former congressman Mike Capuano and Kendall Square Association CEO C.A. Webb made their case for new revenue and bold new investments in transit, while Steve Baddour, a lobbyist who previously served as Senate chair of the Transportation Committee, highlighted the plight of car commuters. In […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Arts agency gets reined in by lawmakers – and a raise
NO STATE AGENCY has taken more of a pounding from the press this year over its spending practices than the Massachusetts Cultural Council, but the agency is poised to emerge from the Beacon Hill budget-writing process with its highest appropriation in years, even if that comes with some new restrictions on its spending. How that […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Interstate finger-pointing after deadly crash
It seems well established that Volodymyr Zhukovskyy drove the truck that killed seven motorcyclists in the White Mountains last weekend, but what is less clear why he still had a license to drive it. The deadly crash has opened up a rift between state transportation officials in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and also spurred a review […]
Posted inTransportation
Wieland gets nod for Massport CEO post
LISA WIELAND WAS selected to be the next chief executive of the Massachusetts Port Authority, taking over from the longtime stewardship of Tom Glynn, who retired last year. A divided Massport board of directors, which is almost entirely made up of Gov. Charlie Baker’s appointees, chose Wieland over the only other finalist, Brian Golden. John […]
Posted inPolitics
Spilka refers Brady case to Ethics Committee
THE SENATE ON Thursday took a step towards opening an ethics investigation into Sen. Michael Brady, a Brockton Democrat who was arrested for drunk driving last year. Brady admitted to sufficient facts in the case against him and the case was continued without finding on June 4. Brady did not plead guilty and if he […]