CHICOPEE—The image, especially in the social media era, is familiar: a politician reading to a classroom of children. Indeed, Senator Eric Lesser had actually read to students at Fairview Elementary School before. Taken in isolation such visits may seem somewhat unremarkable. Yet visits like this
This post is the second in a two-part series on Stanley Rosenberg, the first leader of a Massachusetts legislative chamber from the 413 in four decades. BOSTON—By the time the roll call vote for senate president reached him this past January, Rosenberg’s election had long been
EAST LONGMEADOW—The whir and hum of machines sorting, folding and packing markers, die and tokens hovered over every station. Different board games boxed for shipment, were packed together in bricks of Sorry, Monopoly, Connect Four and more, to be sent off to retailers or intermediary distributors
This post is the first in a two-part series on Stanley Rosenberg, the first leader of a Massachusetts legislative chamber from the 413 in four decades. BOSTON—With its Fall session underway the Massachusetts legislature is shifting into a higher gear after a spring focused on the budget.
On balance the budget passed by the legislature and under review by Governor Charlie Baker is not bad. Like many a budget, it includes goodies for members, some substantive, others less so. One non-politician political winner is the poor, who saw the Earned Income Tax
This week the Massachusetts Senate made a long overdue move in a fiscally responsible way that reflects the needs of our commonwealth and its neediest citizens. By a 29-11 vote—sufficient to override a veto if the House concurs—the Senate voted to permanently freeze the income
UPDATED 5/7/15 4:03PM: To reflect a correction. A previous version of this story indicated that local aid formulas from the state were affected by property values. While this is true, the implications upon Proposition 2 ½ and property taxes, and not local aid, is the
After a winter of discontent that paralyzed the commonwealth, mostly its Eastern regions, there emerged from the cocoon a most bizarre creature. Governor Charlie Baker, who scraped into office with 48.4% of the vote by a gimp 1.9% margin, now finds himself with a stratospheric
HOLYOKE—Capping off a whirlwind day in Western Massachusetts with a listening session, all five of the 413’s senators joined by three of their Eastern colleagues closed out the first Massachusetts Senate “commonwealth conversation.” It was hardly their last, however. The brainchild of newly installed Senate
This is the second in a series of posts on the new 189th Massachusetts General Court sworn on January 7. With the new session officially underway, newly-minted Massachusetts Senate President Stanley Rosenberg released the details of his leadership team as well as seantors’ committee assignments