THE STATE DEPARTMENT of Correction, citing concerns about drug deliveries, is proposing to tighten oversight of incoming prison mail, including correspondence from attorneys. During an online hearing on Friday, agency officials said they currently require all incoming mail at the state’s maximum security prison to be photocopied, and are considering extending the policy to the […]
Sarah Betancourt
Sarah Betancourt is a long-time Latina reporter in Massachusetts. Prior to joining Commonwealth, Sarah was a breaking news reporter for The Associated Press in Boston, and a correspondent with The Boston Globe and The Guardian. She has written about immigration, incarceration, and health policy for outlets like NBC, The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, and the New York Law Journal. Sarah has reported stories such as a national look at teacher shortages, how databases are used by police departments to procure information on immigrants, and uncovered the spread of an infectious disease in children at a family detention center. She has covered the State House, local and national politics, crime and general assignment.
Sarah received a 2018 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for her role in the ProPublica/NPR story, “They Got Hurt at Work and Then They Got Deported,” which explored how Florida employers and insurance companies were getting out of paying workers compensation benefits by using a state law to ensure injured undocumented workers were arrested or deported. Sarah attended Emerson College for a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Communication, and Columbia University for a fellowship and Master’s degree with the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.
Posted inCriminal Justice
DOC moving slowly on home confinement releases
THE LEGISLATURE a month ago gave the Department of Correction broader authority to release prisoners amid the pandemic, but so far the agency has taken little action. The legislation, passed via an override of a veto by Gov. Charlie Baker, notes that DOC Commissioner Carol Mici must “release, transition to home confinement, or furlough individuals […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker setting up vaccine call center
AMID GROWING frustration with the state’s process for arranging COVID-19 vaccination appointments, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Thursday that his administration intends to set up a call center next week for those who need additional help. On Wednesday, people 75 and over who are not living in nursing homes or assisted living facilities started making appointments […]
Posted inEducation
Teacher unions cry foul over Baker claim
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday said he is standing by a statement issued by his administration accusing teacher union leaders of making false and misleading claims about the COVID-19 vaccine prioritization process. The union leaders took umbrage at the comment and demanded a retraction, but Baker wasn’t having it. “The statement we made is accurate, […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker delivers ‘very different’ State of the Commonwealth
A RESTAURANT OWNER feeding needy families, prompting his competitor to do the same. Aid groups feeding the growing number of economically insecure families. Grocery store workers, who checked people out even at the height of the pandemic. Those were some of the many Bay Staters Gov. Charlie Baker thanked during his annual State of the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Teachers complain about bump down in vaccination line
TEACHERS UNIONS ARE criticizing changes Gov. Charlie Baker made to the vaccine schedule that elevate those over 65 but push educators and others lower on the priority list, a shift teachers say will delay a return to in-person learning in some districts. On Monday, Baker said residents aged 65 to 74 are being moved up […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker defends vaccine rollout; those 65-plus moved up
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Monday continued to defend the state’s slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout even as he announced plans to expand the number of inoculation sites and moved residents 65 and older up in the vaccination line. At a State House press conference, Baker addressed growing impatience over the pace of vaccinations by blaming the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker sees some promising COVID signs
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER, citing positive trends in COVID-19 data, said that starting Monday he plans to lift a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. stay-at-home advisory and a curfew that left many businesses shuttering at 9:30 p.m. over the past 2 ½ months. “Vaccines are reaching residents. Positive case rates and hospitalizations have stabilized. Those trends […]
Posted inHealth Care
Biden looks to overhaul pandemic response
BENEATH THE USUAL pomp and circumstance of inauguration day was one underlying feeling — urgency. Urgency to address deep divisions involving race and inequity, urgency to roll back some of former President Donald Trump’s hundreds of immigration changes. But above all else was the urgency to address a problem that was omnipresent as hundreds of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Biden’s great immigration undoing
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Massachusetts immigrants could be impacted by President Biden’s immigration overhaul, which includes a massive bill sent to Congress on Wednesday that was accompanied by a series of executive orders. Those orders, signed after Biden assumed the presidency, will reverse Trump-era travel bans that focused primarily on immigrants from Muslim countries. Another […]