STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HOUSE came around on the idea of expanding a tax credit program designed to encourage much-needed housing production, just not in the legislative vehicle that Gov. Maura Healey and the Senate originally envisioned. Representatives on Thursday approved a mega-amendment to a fiscal 2023 spending bill that would lift the annual cap on […]
Michael P. Norton I State House News Service
Posted inGovernment, State House News Service
Arroyo pays $3,000 in ethics case
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON CITY Councilor Ricardo Arroyo has paid a $3,000 civil penalty and admitted to violating the conflict of interest law by continuing to represent his brother in a civil lawsuit against his brother and the city of Boston after he became a city councilor, according to ethics law regulators. The State […]
Posted inEnergy, State Government, State House News Service
Thong-wearing climate activists turn their cheeks in Senate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THONG-WEARING climate activists intent on stopping fossil fuel infrastructure mooned senators and disrupted Thursday’s tax relief debate in the Massachusetts Senate. About an hour later, they were arrested and escorted out of the chamber. About eight local members of the international group Extinction Rebellion started shouting from the chamber’s public gallery […]
Posted inEconomy
Mass. economic growth slows, projected to go negative
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS SQUEAKED OUT a smidgen of economic growth in the first quarter of 2023, slowing substantially from its late 2022 growth rate, and analysts are predicting GDP declines in the second and third quarters. Gross domestic product here rose at a 0.1 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, after rising […]
Posted inHealth, State House News Service
Poll: Abortion restrictions affect college decisions in Northeast
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE COMPETITION among colleges for students is intensifying, and state laws banning abortion are among the new considerations for students and families. A recent poll of students and families in nine Northeast states found that 76 percent of students do not want to attend school in a state where abortion is […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Healey hangs empty picture frame by her desk
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE INSTEAD OF HANGING a portrait of an individual by her desk, Gov. Maura Healey is instead opting for a minimalist gold frame, a move proposed by students that the governor hopes will inspire young people to envision themselves inside the frame. Following a statewide student essay competition, Healey and Lt. Gov. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health Policy Commission sticks with benchmark
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH CONSUMERS experiencing higher health care outlays and some putting off care because of it, a state commission on Wednesday stuck with the annual state health care cost growth benchmark, which is a target rather than a binding cap on price or spending escalation. The Health Policy Commission voted to keep […]
Posted inTransportation
Campbell joins lawsuit opposing JetBlue purchase of Spirit
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ATTORNEY GENERAL Andrea Campbell is jumping into the effort to halt JetBlue’s proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines, calling it an “anticompetitive deal” and predicting it will reduce consumer choices. Campbell’s office on Tuesday afternoon said it was joining the US Justice Department and the attorneys general of New York and the […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA to pay for New Bedford pedestrian bridge
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE NEW BEDFORD OFFICIALS say the city will not be on the hook for any construction costs associated with a $21 million pedestrian bridge that will provide a link to a new downtown inter-city rail station. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell’s office reported Tuesday that after more than a year of talks, […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Healey’s office approves Nantucket topless beach bylaw
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey’s office has approved a bylaw that allows anyone to go topless on any public or private beach on Nantucket. Island voters approved the bylaw during a Town Meeting held in May. The citizen petition offered by Dorothy Stover, formally labeled “Gender Equality On Beaches” and proposed as […]