Gov. Charlie Baker is eager to sign a bill on his desk providing $400 million for the construction of a new Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, but first he has to make a decision on a controversial project labor agreement contained in the legislation. A project labor agreement requires the contractor chosen to build the home to […]
Charlie Baker
Posted inEconomy
Baker pressed on Holyoke Soldiers’ Home labor agreement
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is eager to sign a bill on his desk providing $400 million for the construction of a new Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, but first he has to make a decision on a controversial project labor agreement contained in the legislation. A project labor agreement requires the contractor chosen to build the home to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker ending nearly all COVID restrictions May 29
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER moved up the state’s return to what many are calling the new normal by two months, setting May 29 as the day nearly all remaining COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted in Massachusetts and June 15 as the day the nearly 15-month-old state of emergency will end. Baker on April 27 had set August […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker doesn’t budge (yet) on masks
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASKS WILL STILL be required for now in all indoor public places, at all events, and outdoors when social distancing is not possible in Massachusetts, despite new guidance from the Centers from Disease Control advising fully vaccinated individuals that it’s safe in most cases to stop wearing a face covering. Gov. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Many issues with Fall River teen’s death still don’t add up
AFTER A 107-PAGE investigatory report and hours of public testimony, some of the key decisions that led to Fall River teen David Almond’s death remain inexplicable. Almond, who was autistic, died at age 14 in October 2020, allegedly due to abuse and neglect by his father, John Almond, and his father’s girlfriend, Jaclyn Coleman. The couple is facing […]
Posted inHealth Care
State plans to wind down mass vaccination sites
WITH 70 PERCENT of Massachusetts adults having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday announced plans to wind down operations at mass vaccination sites while making the shots more easily available in local communities. The shift comes as demand for the shots has been leveling out, indicating that most […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker laissez-faire on vaccine requirements
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said his administration will leave it up to businesses and organizations to decide whether they want to adopt vaccination requirements for employees or patrons, and added that the executive branch of state government won’t require its employees to be vaccinated. “I don’t think we’re going to require people [working in the executive […]
Posted inRace/Racism, State House News Service
Ex-commissioner sues Baker over firing
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE FORMER HEAD of the state’s Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is suing the Baker administration in federal court, claiming he was instructed to apologize in the wake of a report about racist behavior at his college fraternity, then terminated because “it was no longer politically correct to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker: Feds should redeploy vaccines to Mass.
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said on Thursday that his administration is asking the federal government to adjust its vaccine shipments, lowering what’s sent to states that aren’t using all of their current allocations and increasing the amount sent to states like Massachusetts where the vaccines are in high demand. “There are counties and there are states […]
Posted inUncategorized
Half of Mass. adults have received first vaccine dose
MASSACHUSETTS HAS BECOME the first state of its size to give a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to at least half its adult population. According to CDC statistics, Massachusetts has given 53 percent of adults a first dose, making it the first state with over 5 million people to reach that milestone. Massachusetts continues […]