Politics

Healey to DPU: Cut Eversource rates

Plugging In

Healey to DPU: Cut Eversource rates

AG says electricity rates should go down, not up

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ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY is pushing state regulators to reject a bid by Eversource for a $96 million increase in electricity rates and instead order the utility to cut its prices by an unspecified amount. Healey has been extremely vocal in her opposition to the Eversource rate hike, testifying in person at hearings in Boston(...)

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What’s the rush on Medicaid reform?

Opinion

What’s the rush on Medicaid reform?

Baker’s proposals deserve thorough, careful review

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IN THE SUMMER OF 1972, then-governor Frank Sargent announced a series of steps to gain control over the escalating costs of the Medicaid program, which had been launched only a few years earlier. The annual costs were about $500 million. Nine governors and almost half a century later, with annual costs now at $16 billion,(...)

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Solution to domestic violence homicide: Fewer guns or more guns?

Opinion

Solution to domestic violence homicide: Fewer guns or more guns?

Starkly different approaches proposed in bills

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SINCE 2012, THERE have been 82 domestic violence homicides in Massachusetts, many involving the use of a gun. What’s to be done about these tragedies? The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard testimony on Tuesday on two bills with starkly opposing solutions to the problem, both solutions involving access to guns. One bill would create a new kind(...)

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No popular options for repeal or replace

No popular options for repeal or replace

'Repeal and delay' just as unpopular as GOP health care bill

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WELL, THAT DIDN’T take long. Less than 24 hours after conservative senators Jerry Moran and Mike Lee joined Rand Paul and Susan Collins in opposing the Senate’s “repeal and replace” health care bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “repeal and delay” plan B crashed almost before it got off the ground. The public polling suggest(...)

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Baker vetoes $320 million from budget

Baker vetoes $320 million from budget

Returns employer assessment, asks Legislature to pair it with MassHealth reforms

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Ten days ago, the Democrat-controlled Legislature approved what would be the state’s first budget in excess of forty billion dollars – $40.2 billion to be exact. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday said not so fast. Baker plans to sign a budget for fiscal 2018 on Monday afternoon that includes $39.4(...)

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Lawmakers reach pot compromise

Lawmakers reach pot compromise

Bill boosts tax up to 20 percent, creates unique mechanism for local control

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FIRE UP THE SMOKING lamp. House and Senate negotiators finally reached a compromise on amending the voter-approved law legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts, agreeing to levy a tax of up to 20 percent and approving a different process to implement bans or restrictions based on election results from last November. “Compromise means you get some of what(...)

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Joe Kennedy lends support to T workers’ anti-privatization effort

Joe Kennedy lends support to T workers’ anti-privatization effort

Union rallies in Quincy, kicks-off public education campaign

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MBTA UNION WORKERS rallied against privatization efforts Monday morning at a bus maintenance garage in Quincy, where US Rep. Joseph Kennedy spoke in support of the mechanics’ fight against outsourcing the work done at the T’s maintenance garages. “The men and women that are here today are just asking to negotiate. They’re not asking for(...)

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Sanchez named House Ways & Means chairman

Sanchez named House Ways & Means chairman

Jamaica Plain rep. tapped by DeLeo for top budget post

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON DEMOCRAT REP. JEFFREY SANCHEZ will succeed outgoing Rep. Brian Dempsey as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, a pivotal fiscal affairs and policymaking post in state government. The state representative from Jamaica Plain currently helms the Health Care Financing Committee and previously co-chaired the Legislature’s Joint Committee on(...)

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Employers can help with student debt

Opinion

Employers can help with student debt

Tax breaks would incentivize firms to provide aid

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AS THE STUDENT DEBT CRISIS worsens, elected officials are turning to college affordability as their primary policy solution. New York is implementing tuition-free public higher education through its Excelsior Scholarship, and our neighbors to the south are close to making two years of college free through the Rhode Island Promise Scholarship. Right here in Massachusetts,(...)

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Eminent domain reform needed in Massachusetts

Opinion

Eminent domain reform needed in Massachusetts

Power should be limited, particularly at local level

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UNDER OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, there are various powers that are absolute and from which there are no appeal.  One example of such a power would be the president’s pardon or executive clemency power.  A president can, theoretically, pardon anyone for a federal crime for any reason or for no reason.  Another example, a little(...)

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