AFTER SPENDING 31 years in prison for murder, Corey Glover walked out of MCI-Norfolk a free man on May 4, after arguing successfully that a juror’s racism prevented him from getting a fair trial. “I’m not bitter, I’m better,” Glover, now 51 years old, says in an hour-long interview over Zoom. But talk to Glover […]
Shira Schoenberg
Shira Schoenberg is a reporter at CommonWealth magazine. Shira previously worked for more than seven years at the Springfield Republican/MassLive.com where she covered state politics and elections, covering topics as diverse as the launch of the legal marijuana industry, problems with the state's foster care system and the elections of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker. Shira won the Massachusetts Bar Association's 2018 award for Excellence in Legal Journalism and has had several stories win awards from the New England Newspaper and Press Association. Shira covered the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary for the Boston Globe. Before that, she worked for the Concord (N.H.) Monitor, where she wrote about state government, City Hall and Barack Obama's 2008 New Hampshire primary campaign. Shira holds a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Posted inCourts, Marijuana
Attorney accused of bribery in seeking Medford marijuana license
SOMERVILLE ATTORNEY Sean O’Donovan was arrested Friday and charged with trying to bribe a family member of the Medford police chief to convince the chief to help a marijuana company he represented obtain a license. The marijuana company, which was not named in the indictment but which CommonWealth confirmed is Theory Wellness, has not been […]
Posted inCourts, State Government
MassGOP challenges vote-by-mail law
PERMANENT MAIL-IN voting is now the law in Massachusetts – unless Republican Party chair Jim Lyons has his way. The conservative GOP chair filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday challenging voting by mail as unconstitutional, a day after Gov. Charlie Baker bucked many in his party by signing voting-by-mail into law. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Report backs smaller women’s prison to replace MCI-Framingham
MASSACHUSETTS IS MOVING forward with plans to study replacing the MCI-Framingham women’s prison after a report issued by an independent consultant recommended moving the female inmates to a new facility with a smaller footprint and a greater focus on rehabilitation. MCI-Framingham today “is oversized, physically outdated for its rehabilitative mission, and requires significant capital investment,” […]
Posted inCourts, Education
SJC slams Harvard, but says university can keep slave photos
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL Court on Thursday revived a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims Harvard University caused her emotional distress when she sought information about and the return of nude photographs a Harvard professor took of her slave ancestors in 1850. Tamara Lanier sued Harvard seeking return of the photographs and payment of damages. […]
Posted inState Government
Senate staff get raises and pay scale changes – but no union
MASSACHUSETTS SENATE staff seeking to unionize have gotten a big portion of what they want – minus the union. Senate President Karen Spilka on Wednesday announced a new compensation system for Senate staff, which standardizes job classifications and aligns them with pay grades and salary ranges that are based on work experience, training, and education. […]
Posted inEducation
Grants that sustained state’s childcare industry set to expire
SINCE BETH SIDEL opened 4 The Love of Learning Preschool in Montague a dozen years ago, she has almost always had a waiting list. But since the pandemic, she has consistently had vacancies. Sidel doesn’t know if it’s because parents found alternative childcare arrangements or if a nearby bridge going under construction made the commute […]
Posted inPolitics
Bucking party, Baker makes vote-by-mail permanent
DESPITE CONCERNS by members of his own party, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, signed a law Wednesday making voting by mail permanent. Massachusetts allowed early voting by mail for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Democrats and voting rights activists have been pushing to make the reforms permanent in order to increase voter […]
Posted inPolitics
SJC approves millionaire tax ballot summary
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Wednesday decided that the summary of a ballot question raising taxes on income over $1 million can go forward as written, stating that the money raised will, subject to legislative appropriation, be used for education and transportation. Opponents had sought to change that language, arguing that it is misleading since […]
Posted inHealth Care
House plans vote on mental health bill
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE on Thursday plans to vote on a mental health bill that would improve access to mental health care, particularly for children, while ensuring that the health care system treats mental and physical health care equally. The House bill builds on a major bill that the Senate passed in November and includes many […]