THE BUDGET SIGNED by Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday includes a provision creating statewide standards for immigrant domestic violence and human trafficking survivors who are seeking documentation for certain visas. The provision, initially filed by Sen. Mark Montigny of New Bedford and Reps. Tram Nguyen of Andover and Patricia Haddad of Somerset, requires state agencies […]
Sarah Betancourt
Sarah Betancourt is a long-time Latina reporter in Massachusetts. Prior to joining Commonwealth, Sarah was a breaking news reporter for The Associated Press in Boston, and a correspondent with The Boston Globe and The Guardian. She has written about immigration, incarceration, and health policy for outlets like NBC, The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, and the New York Law Journal. Sarah has reported stories such as a national look at teacher shortages, how databases are used by police departments to procure information on immigrants, and uncovered the spread of an infectious disease in children at a family detention center. She has covered the State House, local and national politics, crime and general assignment.
Sarah received a 2018 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for her role in the ProPublica/NPR story, “They Got Hurt at Work and Then They Got Deported,” which explored how Florida employers and insurance companies were getting out of paying workers compensation benefits by using a state law to ensure injured undocumented workers were arrested or deported. Sarah attended Emerson College for a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Communication, and Columbia University for a fellowship and Master’s degree with the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.
Posted inUncategorized
Franklin County shuts ICE detention center
THE FRANKLIN COUNTY Sheriff’s office shut down its detention center for immigrants, saying the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was not steering enough detainees its way. The 80-bed facility at the Greenfield jail dropped from an average of 65 immigrant detainees to an average of 20 in the past couple of years. On the […]
Posted inUncategorized
State’s housing assistance program posts big gains
THE STATE’S EMERGENCY housing assistance program is upping its game, pushing more money out the door and helping more people struggling to avoid eviction. As of January 13, the program had dispensed only $22.6 million of the $100 million available. But now that figure has more than doubled to $48.4 million. The number of households […]
Posted inEconomy
Restaurants face light punishment over COVID rule violations
TOSSING COVID RULES aside and caution to the wind does not earn much punishment for businesses in Massachusetts. In Boston, officials are still regularly chastising restaurants for violating COVID protocols — but had only suspended four and fined three as of a few weeks ago, following over 1,850 complaints. An indefinite license suspension for Causeway […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Boston center’s gang database lists 3,853 people.
THE DIRECTOR of the Boston Regional Intelligence Center said on Tuesday that the center’s gang database is comprised of 3,853 people with active status. In a hearing held by the Boston City Council’s Public Safety Committee, David Carabin, the director of the center, said approximately “one half of 1 percent of the city’s population is […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health insurers to promote 2017 birth control provision
A TRADE ASSOCIATION representing a swath of the state’s commercial health insurers is launching a public awareness campaign to let members, pharmacists, and providers know that a 2017 law permits women fully insured through commercial health plans to fill a 12-month supply of oral contraceptives all at once. The law has already been in effect […]
Posted inEconomy
Legislative compromise will end state tax on PPP grants
WITH A WEEK to go before business taxes are due on March 15, Massachusetts lawmakers signaled that they are prepared to join with the Baker administration and act to avert a state tax bill on business owners who accepted federal money to keep their doors open during the pandemic. In a joint statement issued Monday, House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and the chairs of the Ways and […]
Posted inHealth Care
2017 birth control provision fell through the cracks
IN 2017, amid growing concern that Congress and the Trump administration were moving to limit free access to contraceptives, the Massachusetts Legislature passed and Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law a bill guaranteeing access to birth control without copays. One of the provisions in that legislation, dubbed the ACCESS law (for Advancing Contraceptive Coverage and Economic Security in our […]
Posted inEconomy
PPP changes aim to help minority-owned and small businesses
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION this week has made a series of changes to the federal Paycheck Protection Program aimed at helping more businesses struggling to stay afloat one year after the pandemic began. In an effort to target small and minority-owned businesses, Biden said that for a two-week period starting February 24, only businesses with fewer […]
Posted inHealth Care
Sudders: Mass vaccination sites short-term solution
HEALTH AND HUMAN Services Secretary Marylou Sudders pushed back against the view that the state is going all-in on mass vaccination sites on Thursday during testimony before the Legislature’s Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management. Rep. William Driscoll Jr. of Milton, the House chair of the oversight committee, asked Sudders about the “pivots” […]