Pictured: Weymouth Compressor Station With multiple ongoing environmental fights in the state, our next governor will have major power to protect residents’ health and prosperity Amid ongoing fights over the proposed East Boston substation, a proposed Peabody gas power plant, and the Weymouth compressor station, the race to succeed Charlie Baker as governor has major […]
THE PANDEMIC PAYDAY CONTINUES—FOR CONSULTANTS
Image via City Life/Vida Urbana Mass uses questionable tools to investigate eviction relief applicants State officials are spending more than $750,000 of COVID-19 aid on corporate consultants who will investigate applicants for eviction relief by running analytics on applications that housing advocates say can prevent residents from getting the relief they need. And while officials […]
A WIN FOR TRANSPARENCY AND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY IN MASS
“We don’t go into things looking to file lawsuits, but when we feel like people have not followed the law, we challenge them.” A judge excoriated Worcester for its unlawful three-year campaign to keep police misconduct records secret from a local newspaper, writing in a recent ruling that a city lawyer attempted to mislead the […]
PANDEMIC HOUSING RELIEF: END OF AN ERA
Governor Charlie Baker tours the new Heights at Haverhill apartment community on Nov. 5, 2020. Joshua Qualls/Governor’s Press Office Mass diverts eviction relief funds to investigate fraudulent applications As thousands of Massachusetts residents face eviction, the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker is cutting back aid payments designed to keep people in their homes, saying the […]
GOVERNOR’S COUNCIL SIGNALS LANDMARK COMMUTATION LOOMS
Tom Koonce (left) and his son, Thomas Andrews, circa 2018, taken at MCI Norfolk “You had one really horrible day and you paid dearly but I think you paid enough.” On Jan. 26, 54-year-old prisoner Thomas Koonce, a former US Marine who was born in Brockton, spent nine-and-a-half hours at the Massachusetts State House offering […]