Lawmakers reflected on the significance of Juneteenth Wednesday, promising that Massachusetts will fight for and support Black Americans facing headwinds from new federal challenges.
The largest building in New England will officially be renamed next month in honor of the late Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, some eight months after the Legislature ordered the change.
Citing empty offices, the durability of remote work and the impacts of persistently high interest rates, a new report paints a dire picture of commercial real estate in Boston, with potentially negative consequences for residential property taxes, those dependent on city spending and services, and public officeholders who appear unlikely to be able to escape politically unpopular choices.
Debate over a pair of state worker holidays, until now publicly confined to a struggle between good government and historical value arguments, veered this week into the touchy realm of ethnic politics as lawmakers engaged in uncommonly heated exchanges over a Republican-sponsored bill repealing the holidays.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sounded notes of optimism during a stop in Boston last Wednesday, calling the country’s recovery underway.
“The national economy is showing some initial signs of stability, confidence has improved, the financial system is starting to heal, credit is starting to ease a bit,†Geithner said during a press conference rolling out $1.5 billion in tax credits for nationwide organizations investing in “struggling neighborhoods.â€
Geithner added, “This is just the beginning, however. We have a long way to go.â€
Senate leaders are proposing to spend $1.3 billion less next fiscal year than the House authorized in its budget passed earlier this month, Senate officials said Tuesday.
The draft budget cuts $439 million from Beacon Hill’s aid to cities and towns and wrestles with a fiscal crisis marked by a prolonged plunge in state revenues by making deep spending reductions and leaving the door open to heavy tax hikes.
During an hour-long interview in his Parkman House retreat on Beacon Street last week, Mayor Thomas Menino challenged state government to conceive of an “outside-the-box” solution to the state’s fiscal problems, committed to spend political capital in pursuit of a long-delayed reform to the city’s school transportation program, and doggedly refused to say whether he would run for reelection, even as he assembles a campaign team with the September preliminary seven months away.
Gov. Deval Patrick is considering fundamental changes to the health care system in Massachusetts, eyeing adjustments to the current fee-for-service payment system and planning cost reduction legislation by summer.
Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby said the administration is considering a system in which providers would receive payments related to outcomes rather than amount of care.
A bingo software firm is suing Treasurer Timothy Cahill and the state’s Lottery chief for more than $20 million over the awarding of gaming contracts, claiming they engaged in a conspiracy to favor a Georgia company in exchange for money for Cahill’s campaign.
A veteran House member who earned a committee chairmanship under Speaker Salvatore DiMasi plans to vote against the House chieftain’s bid for a third full term as speaker, and Monday became the first member of the chamber to discuss his decision publicly.
Rep. David Torrisi, House chair of the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, told the News Service he would defect from DiMasi when the Democratic caucus votes next week on its leadership, citing the allegations of ethical wrongdoing that are dogging the speaker.
Dorchester’s Charlotte Golar Richie, a top government relations adviser to Gov. Deval Patrick, is leaving the administration to helm Patrick’s political operation, according to sources familiar with the change. A former lawmaker and housing chief in Boston, Richie joined Patrick
House Majority Leader John Rogers, whose bid to succeed Speaker Salvatore DiMasi suffered a setback last week when rival House Ways and Mean chair Robert DeLeo gathered scores of supporters in a show of strength, has begun calling members and
John McCain, regardless of his performance nationally, is going to lose Dorchester, Boston, and Massachusetts. That makes him no different than Republican presidents back to Ronald Reagan – who, at least in part due to a near-mythic swing into the
City Councillor Michael Ross will succeed Dorchester’s Maureen Feeney as the president of the Boston City Council next year through a unique agreement that will make his chief opponent for the job, Councillor Steve Murphy, the body’s vice-president. The arrangement
The global spread of concern over a deadly strain of influenza has local public health experts questioning how the area would respond if an outbreak happened here. Avian influenza, a virus that experts worry could mutate into a form transmittable
