Now that Republicans in the House of Representatives has elected a speaker—finally—the GOP could fill its open committee chairs. A House Republican panel selected Missouri Congressman Jason Smith, formerly the top Republican on the Budget committee, to chair Ways & Means
Clodo Concepion, the Cuban émigré who made his life in Springfield and ultimately his way to the City Council, died Saturday. A presence in labor and a force in 16 Acres, Concepcion became the first ward councilor from Ward 5 in 50 years.
The last public battle for House Speaker has an additional salience to Western Massachusetts. The speaker seeking reelection was Frederick Gillett, the congressman for the Greater Springfield area at the time.
Maura Healey, the former b-baller and civil rights attorney who leapt from obscurity to become the top lawyer in Massachusetts, took office Thursday as the commonwealth’s 73rd governor. She becomes the first woman and the first gay-identifying person to hold the highest office in Massachusetts and one of the most ancient in the United States.
BOSTON—On the eve of Governor Charlie Baker’s last day as governor—and Attorney General Maura Healey’s first—the Supreme Judicial Court considered an appeal in the waning litigation from the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. The indictments reflect one of the Baker administration’s darkest hours.
The year 2022 has come and gone with much affecting the City of Springfield. As a part of the commonwealth, nation and world, it felt inflation, the war in Ukraine, national political contests and the state’s own elections.
Less than a day before 2022 closed, Ludlow Senator-elect Jake Oliveira announced his staff for his upcoming term, signaling both continuity and his priorities. Devin Sheehan will be his chief of staff, among other hires.
BOSTON—Days before Eric Lesser gave his last speech as a state senator from Western Massachusetts, the commonwealth, jointly with Amtrak, applied for a $108 million federal grant. In the twilight of his Senate tenure, the project took one of its greatest leaps toward reality.
In its last meeting of 2022, the Springfield City Council tackled a tight, straightforward agenda with few fireworks. The items were almost all financial, save an ordinance to raise the pay of councilors, school committee members and the mayor.
With the 117th Congress and its Democratic House majority expiring in days, the Ways & Means Committee, chaired by Springfield Congressman Richard Neal, voted to release Donald Trump’s tax returns. The move caps a nearly four-year legal battle that began when Neal’s party took control of the House in 2019.