Editions

A year after the Legislature wrapped up its “most transparent” redistricting effort in decades — or maybe ever — one senator still isn’t satisfied with the process. Wayland Sen. Jamie Eldridge has revived his perennial push to wrest the power of redrawing legislative and congressional maps from the hands of lawmakers and place it in the palm […]

A federal corruption conviction hasn’t kept former Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi off of Beacon Hill, just as an indictment won’t keep former President Donald Trump off the campaign trail or, maybe, out of the White House. Trump became the first ex-president to utter “not guilty” in a court of law after he was indicted […]

Massachusetts is an emerging leader when it comes to climate policy. Just look toward the Bay State’s lofty 2050 decarbonization goal. The state’s climate plan charts a path to achieving “net zero” carbon emissions within the next 27 years — meaning greenhouse gas emissions will be at least 85% below 1990 totals.  But when it […]

Its budget season on Beacon Hill and the House is up. The 160-member chamber traditionally releases the financial plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 in April. When that happens this month, it will be the Democrat-led Legislature’s first stab at its first spending cycle with newly elected Gov. Maura Healey — the first […]

The biggest missing persons mysteries facing police departments in Massachusetts and across the nation have to do with their own officers. Staffing shortages have reached “crisis levels,” taxing departments and driving up overtime budgets. Joe Gamaldi, a Houston, Texas police sergeant and national vice president for the Fraternal Order of Police, said the United States […]

Kids are kicking butts and they’re taking the fight to the halls of the State House. Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to outright ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol vapes and cigarettes when its law took effect on June 1, 2020. Lawmakers’ goal was to slash tobacco use, particularly rates of […]

Democratic leaders in Washington and here in Massachusetts will get to work on Wednesday pressing for stricter gun control measures. One day after a gunman killed six people, including three children, at a school in Nashville, Tennessee, President Joe Biden told reporters, he’s already pushed the limits of his authority. “I have gone the full extent of […]

Keller at Large Conservatives can’t stand her and liberals say she’s not left enough, but that’s not stopping U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren from running for a third term in office. WBZ political analyst Jon Keller writes that the Senate’s foremost consumer advocate has local approval languishing in the low 40s. MASSterList Today’s News If you read […]

Beacon Hill gets busy for Gov. Maura Healey this week where lawmakers finally get down to business vetting three of her biggest policy proposals yet. She could also put pen to paper to sign her first major measure into law.  A $1.1 billion bill addressing “time-sensitive” needs hit her desk last Thursday after the House and Senate […]

With no end in sight for the slow zones that have left more than a quarter of MBTA’s subway system slugging along, it’s safe to say Boston-area commuters are stuck on ‘T’ time. Gov. Maura Healey appears to be taking her time, too, when it comes to installing new leadership. From falling concrete to mounting delays, a […]