THE PRESS CONFERENCE in front of the State House started with a moment of silence – 8 minutes and 46 seconds to be exact, the amount of time George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was pinned under the knee of police officer Derek Chauvin as he died. Massachusetts lawmakers and elected officials of color, along with some […]
Massachusetts Legislature
Posted inUncategorized
Two landlords challenge eviction moratorium law
TWO LANDLORDS have filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Judicial Court challenging the state’s temporary moratorium on eviction foreclosures. In April, the Legislature passed and Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law a moratorium banning evictions and some foreclosures during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill was passed over the objection of landlords who worried that […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Housing panel backs 2 rent control bills
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A Beacon Hill committee has endorsed two bills that would clear the way for rent control to return to Massachusetts more than two-and-a-half decades after voters narrowly banned the practice statewide. The Joint Committee on Housing favorably recommended the legislation on Thursday, advancing it with support from three-quarters of its members […]
Posted inTransportation
Audit: T warehouse contract doesn’t cut it
THE MBTA IS NOT GETTING the savings or the service it expected when it privatized warehouse operations in 2017, according to an audit conducted by a unit of Inspector General Glenn Cunha’s office. During a three-year exemption from a state law placing restrictions on privatization efforts, the T signed a five-year contract with Management Consulting, […]
Posted inThe Download
Senator says nursing home industry collapsing
The Senate’s lead person on health care issues says the skilled nursing home industry in Massachusetts is struggling to stay afloat amid a virus that has claimed 3,534 lives at the facilities. “What we are seeing is an industry that was on or near the verge of collapse and it is collapsing,” said Sen. Cindy […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Legislative panel backs 2 safe injection sites
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE endorsed a proposal to establish at least two locations in Massachusetts for supervised drug consumption, giving some momentum to a controversial idea that supporters say will lower the death toll of the opioid epidemic. The Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, and Recovery favorably reported a bill […]
Posted inEducation
Class warfare: School status for the fall unclear
K-12 SCHOOL BOARD battles and faculty infighting in higher ed can often be as fierce as any street brawl. It’s only fitting, then, that education seems to be the issue that has shattered the illusion that everyone in Washington is getting along as the country lurches its way forward through a deadly pandemic. There is no […]
Posted inThe Download
Class warfare: School status for the fall unclear
K-12 school board battles and faculty infighting in higher ed can often be as fierce as any street brawl. It’s only fitting, then, that education seems to be the issue that has shattered the illusion that everyone in Washington is getting along as the country lurches its way forward through a deadly pandemic. There is […]
Posted inOpinion
Put the menthol cigarette ban on hold
WHEN THE 2020 CALENDAR flips to June, thousands of small businesses in will be brought to their knees when the Commonwealth will send over $230 million in desperately needed tax revenue to our New England neighbors. June 1 is when Massachusetts becomes the first, and only, state in the country to make the sale of […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo drops proposed rule making roll calls more difficult
HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO announced Tuesday evening that the new rules being considered by the chamber to allow for remote participation during the coronavirus pandemic will be altered to remove a provision that would have made it harder to ask for a roll call vote. DeLeo issued a statement saying he had “numerous fruitful discussions” […]