Carnevale wins state GOP chair post by 3 votes

Incumbent Lyons says party is moving in the Baker-Weld direction

By Bruce Mohl Massachusetts politics 0 Comments Jan 31, 2023

AMY CARNEVALE of Marblehead won a second-ballot victory Tuesday night to become chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, edging incumbent Jim Lyons of Andover by a margin of 37-34. Carnevale’s victory gives her control of a party that took a drubbing in November and faces a long road back to both financial and political relevance(...)

Public Records/ State government

Healey won’t file legislation subjecting her office to records law

But she promises to comply with law most of the time

By Colman M. Herman Maura Healey, public records law 0 Comments Jan 31, 2023

GOV. MAURA HEALEY said on Monday that she will not introduce legislation that would make her office subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. ”I don’t think I need to file legislation,” Healey told Jim Braude, co-host of GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “I think that I can just implement along the lines that I’ve articulated,(...)

Economy

Could Boston face an ‘urban doom loop’?

Office vacancies at record levels could portend threat to municipal finances

By Michael Jonas 0 Comments Jan 31, 2023

AT FIRST, the emptying out of downtown Boston office buildings looked like a seismic, but temporary, reaction to a once-in-a-100-year pandemic. Once we got a handle on the mysterious new virus ravaging the globe, the initial thinking went, things would more or less return to normal. But we are now coming to terms with a(...)

Education/ State government/ Opinion

3 steps for Mass. education course correction

Put educators on state board, do away with licensure tests, elect school boards

By Paul Schlichtman Elementary and Secondary Education, State Government 0 Comments Jan 31, 2023

GOV. MAURA HEALEY’S appointment of Education Secretary Patrick A. Tutwiler shouldn’t be a dramatic move. Having a veteran educator in this leadership position shouldn’t be unusual. Unfortunately, his experience as a teacher, principal, and superintendent hasn’t been typical of education policy leaders in Massachusetts. Tutwiler replaces James Peyser, whose experience in education was as a(...)

Politics/ State government

House panel votes 2-1 to seat Kassner over Mirra

Democrats shy away from reviewing ballots in race won by 1 vote

By Chris Lisinski Massachusetts Legislature, Massachusetts politics 0 Comments Jan 31, 2023

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES WILL BE ASKED to vote Wednesday on a party-line recommendation to declare Kristin Kassner, a Hamilton Democrat, the official winner in a contested recount she topped by a single vote over incumbent Republican Rep. Lenny Mirra. More than three weeks after House Speaker Ron Mariano announced he would delay Kassner’s(...)

The Download

Citizens Energy pushing community solar

By CommonWealth Staff 0 Comments Jan 31, 2023

CITIZENS ENERGY HAS changed with the times. Once known for giving heating oil away, the nonprofit company founded by Joe Kennedy II – and now managed by his son, Joe III – has turned to leveraging solar power to drive down electricity bills for low-income consumers. A project the company developed on a former Superfund(...)

Plugging In/ Energy

Citizens Energy pushing community solar

It’s like every person gets a panel or two from our solar farm’

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments Jan 31, 2023

State government

Healey seeks funding for shelters, school meals

Mariano praises governor while snubbing Baker

By Chris Lisinski State Government 0 Comments Jan 30, 2023

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE REVIVING DEBATE on an issue that lawmakers left untouched at the end of last session, Gov. Maura Healey on Monday filed a $282 million spending bill she said is necessary to manage a surge in demand for emergency shelter and prevent the free school meals program from running out of money.(...)

Education/ Opinion

Baker education legacy: continuity and change

Healey administration should build on bipartisan progress that has been state's hallmark

By James Peyser 0 Comments Jan 30, 2023

EDUCATION REFORM AND improvement is a journey, not a destination. And the timeline for meaningful impact tends to be generational, certainly not contained within a single gubernatorial administration – even one that lasts two terms. Nonetheless, the work of the Baker-Polito administration over the past eight years has generated significant progress that has the potential(...)

Tracking Transportation/ Transportation

Healey says she needs more info on MBTA train contract

'We’ve got to get to the bottom of it,' she says

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jan 30, 2023

GOV. MAURA HEALEY said on Monday that she needs more information on the status of a problem-plagued contract with a Chinese company manufacturing Red and Orange Line trains for the MBTA. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of it,” she said after a meeting with top legislative leaders, reciting her mantra that Massachusetts cannot(...)