Monday, April 1, 2013
Three bills seeks now in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary would make public the names of lower-level sex offenders.
The recent state auditor report revealing that a large number of sex offenders live at addresses registered as childcare facilities has added fuel to the effort on Beacon Hill to publicize the names of all those who've committed sex crimes. "The auditor's recent findings should serve as a catalyst to pass targeted legislation which protects the Commonwealth's citizens from dangerous sex offenders," House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. (R-North Reading) said in a statement Wednesday. "The report published today is an unfortunate example of why comprehensive sex offender legislation I filed will, in part, open the lines of communication between the Department of Early Education and Care and the Sex Offender Registry Board." Jones' …
Friday, March 29, 2013
Advocates come together to let legislators know the water system needs funding to stay sustainable.
Pop quiz: If people in the greater Boston area consumed 340 million gallons of water per day in the 1980s, how much do you think they consume today? 400 million? 500? More? Less? The answer, thanks to sustained but largely behind-the-scenes efforts of conservationists, is that we consume dramatically less water today than in the 1980s. Last year, greater Boston consumed 200 million gallons. "The great result is we've saved a whole bunch of precious drinking water, which is important to our residents and to the state that that conservation effort has been successful," Fred Laskey, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Laskey was one of many conservationists at the State House Friday as part of the Massachusetts…
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The grounds were closed after Sept. 11, 2001, but Patrick has said he wants to make the State House's iconic statue of JFK available once more.
More than three years after Gov. Deval Patrick said he'd make the State House grounds open to the public, the gates remain shut. The grounds were closed after Sept. 11, 2001, and Patrick has said he wants to make the State House's iconic statue of JFK, in particular, available once more. However, Boston Herald reporters were recently turned away from the plaza and told that it is open during the summer during official tours of the State House, the Herald reported. The governor seemed unaware that the grounds were never reopened. “Well, the JFK statue is accessible now, which is great,” he told Herald reporters Friday. “The rangers can take you out. You just have to ask them. It doesn’t have to be a tour, and that’s a great thing.” …
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The program also allows users to develop their own plan and see its effects on their tax bill.
In an effort to further promote his proposed $34.8 billlion budget, Gov. Deval Patrick this week rolled out an online tool that would help families see the effect his plan would have on their bottom line. The tool was released less than a week after Patrick unveiled 400 online maps showing what each district would receive in transportation and education benefits under his tax plan. "We are proposing meaningful investments in education and transportation, and people want to know what that means for them," Patrick said. "Last week, with the maps, we showed what long-postponed projects would get done in each community. Now, with this tool, we show just what the costs or savings will be for individual households." The program not only lets …
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Or do you have something else in mind?
A little more than a week after a bill was filed to make "Roadrunner" by The Modern Lovers the state's official rock song, two legislators responded by filing their own bill to make Aerosmith's "Dream On" the anthem. "("Dream On" is a) classic ballad that's all about holding on to your dreams and seizing opportunity," Rep. Josh Cutler (D-Duxbury) said. Cutler is co-sponsoring the bill with Rep. James Cantwell (D-Marshfield). The two songs represent very different stories, both about rock and roll, and about Massachusetts. One is a buoyant tribute to the thrill of being young in Massachusetts, speeding down Route 128. The other is a wistful look back by a Boston band that was just at its beginnings as one of the most famous in rock …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Gov. Deval Patrick told the crowd that his proposed budget will make college more affordable and accessible.
Hundreds of college students rallied at the State House Tuesday to urge legislators to increase funding for financial aid programs. Telling lawmakers that college has become increasingly unaffordable without government help, the students advocated for greater state support. Gov. Deval Patrick, who addressed the crowd, said his proposed budget does exactly that. "We have made great strides in higher education, but there is more to do to make sure everyone can get to college, no matter their income," Patrick said. The administration's proposed 2014 budget invests $6.79 billion in education – $152 million of that directed at making college more affordable and accessible, according to an administration press release. This money would be used …
Friday, February 15, 2013
Part of the money will also be used to help employers pay for a rise in unemployment insurance rates.
The state senate voted Tuesday to spend $200 million in rainy day cash to balance the budget and freeze the unemployment insurance rates businesses pay, according to The Republican. The bill is part of an effort to close a projected $515 million shortfall in this fiscal year's $32 billion budget, caused by lower-than-expected tax revenue. The reserve fund money will also be used to help employers avoid a projected 28 percent increase in unemployment insurance – knocking that rise down to 4.4 percent. About $30 million of the $200 million withdrawal will be used to pay costs incurred in the state drug-lab scandal, The Republican reported. The spending would still leave Massachusetts with $1.2 billion in reserves, which is more than most …
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Although the state is expected to fall short of projected revenue, the raises are justified since staff hasn't had a raise in four years, some say.
Despite recent news that the state is projected to take in less than expected in tax revenues, State House leaders last week announced 3 percent salary raises for staff of representatives and some senators, the Globe reported. But the increases are justified since the lawmakers' staff haven't had a raise since 2008, says Seth Gitell, a spokesman for House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo. "It’s been more than four years since the last cost-of-living adjustment,” Gitell said Monday, according to the Globe. “Previously, employees received cost-of-living increases every one or, in many cases, every one or two years. There hasn’t been one in a long time.” Last week DeLeo gave raises to all 460 people who work in the House, and Senate President …
BarT
4:27 pm on Monday, April 1, 2013
How convenient that a "New report with revealing information" would surface at a time the state is trying to pass transparently Draconian, Jim Crow, witch hunt legislation. This is all about money. Remember folks, First they came for the unionist but I said nothing becasuse I was not a unionist. Then they came for . . . more ›