Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
BOSTON Five hundred and seventy-four days after kicking off the 2017-2018 session, the Massachusetts House and Senate head into Tuesday, July 31 with only a few hours to tie up the many loose ends on bills that legislative leaders have left to the proverbial last minute. Lawmakers over the past week or so have found common ground on major bills addressing environmental spending, automatic voter registration, taxation and regulation of short-term rentals, new civics education requirements, consumer credit protections, veterans benefits and an annual state budget.
After a decision by the Trump administration last week to end protected status for Honduran refugees, immigrant activists put Democrats on Beacon Hill on notice Monday that they want more than just lip service from their state elected leaders. At a rally outside the State House in support of immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and other countries facing deportation because of actions taken by President Donald Trump, some community leaders said it was not enough for Beacon Hill politicians to offer their rhetorical support.
State Sen. Barbara L'Italien, with a blistering attack against her politically wired congressional rivals, is blasting their deep ties to powerhouses pols such as Mayor Marty Walsh and University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan. L'Italien -- one of 12 Democrats running for the 3rd Congressional District seat, anchored by Lowell -- accused, in an interview on Boston Herald Radio on Tuesday, the Boston mayor of playing a strong role in his former chief of staff Daniel Koh's $2.5 million fundraising haul.
The subject of partisan redistricting - in which incumbent political parties redraw legislative maps to their own advantage - is once again receiving national attention , as the Supreme Court considers gerrymandering cases in Wisconsin and Maryland. Pennsylvania was also recently forced to redraw its U.S. congressional map , which heavily favored Republicans.
He was the state treasurer for 27 years, and in the 27 years since he left office, there have been five state treasurers, mostly because they all had big egos, and they wanted something more, because they didn't know how good they had it, thanks mainly to Robert Quentin Crane. They were lucky, in other words, but they didn't appreciate it.
The new year brings a resumption of formal sessions on Beacon Hill after about as tumultuous a "recess" that the Legislature has ever seen. Sen. Stan Rosenberg stepped aside as president of the Senate after The Boston Globe reported that several men - some with business before the Legislature - had accused Rosenberg's husband, Bryon Hefner of sexual misconduct.
The new year brings a resumption of formal sessions on Beacon Hill after about as tumultuous a "recess" that the Legislature has ever seen. Sen. Stan Rosenberg stepped aside as president of the Senate after The Boston Globe reported that several men - some with business before the Legislature - had accused Rosenberg's husband, Bryon Hefner of sexual misconduct.
Frustrated by the condition of public transportation infrastructure around the state, residents from Boston to the Berkshires expressed interest in expanded rail and bus service and a willingness to pay for it, according to a new report. The MassMoves report, which was put together by a group of senators who spent part of this year traveling around Massachusetts to discuss priorities with voters, is intended, according to Senate leaders, to spark a new dialogue over how to improve transportation.