IT’S BEEN HELD up as a bulwark against the conservative forces determined to overturn Roe V. Wade and decried as an opening to legalized “infanticide.” Supporters of the bill say access to abortion in Massachusetts needs to be protected against the whims of the courts, while opponents argue that the health and safety of women […]
Harriette Chandler
Posted inPolitics
Beacon Hill goes at a snail’s pace
We have a well-paid, full-time, Democrat-controlled Legislature in Massachusetts and yet we’re the only state in the nation without a budget in place. We’re also slow-dancing toward retail marijuana sales just a couple months short of two years after voters approved legalization. The snail pace on Beacon Hill is a reflection of ideological differences. There […]
Posted inThe Download
Beacon Hill goes at a snail’s pace
We have a well-paid, full-time, Democrat-controlled Legislature in Massachusetts and yet we’re the only state in the nation without a budget in place. We’re also slow-dancing toward retail marijuana sales just a couple months short of two years after voters approved legalization. The snail pace on Beacon Hill is a reflection of ideological differences. There […]
Posted inThe Download
Chandler backs regional rail, more RTA funds
Senate President Harriette Chandler indicated on Monday that she intends to use her new, temporary clout on Beacon Hill to push a transportation agenda that focuses attention on communities outside of Boston. Chandler, a Democrat from Worcester who is serving as Senate president until early next year, said she wants more money for struggling regional […]
Posted inPolitics
Chandler no longer “acting”
SENATE DEMOCRATS AGREED to remove the “acting” title from Senate President Harriette Chandler for the remainder of the year before holding an election for a new president, deciding the storm clouds hovering over Sen. Stan Rosenberg were overwhelming the chamber’s business and precluding any comeback by the former president at least this year and maybe […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: The Senate’s surprise (acting) president
Harriette Chandler never had designs on the Massachusetts Senate’s top post, and she readily admits to mixed feelings about landing there. Her unexpected ascension was the result of the scandal swirling around her close ally, Stan Rosenberg, who temporarily relinquished the Senate president’s job last month while an investigation is underway. Congratulated on her new […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
US attorney threatens state’s pot industry
US ATTORNEY ANDREW LELLING has sent a chilling response to calls from pro-pot advocates to clarify his stance on marijuana prosecution in Massachusetts, a message sure to send potential investors and business people into a state of panic over whether they would be subject to arrest and prosecution under federal drug laws. “This is a […]
Posted inPolitics
Chandler elected acting Senate president
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE SENATE INITIATED an Ethics Committee investigation on Monday night into its now former president Sen. Stanley Rosenberg in a dramatic day of upheaval that saw Worcester Democrat Harriette Chandler installed as the new acting Senate president pending the outcome of an investigation into sexual harassment and Senate interference by Rosenberg’s […]