BOSTON—Looking past criticisms of Beacon Hill inertia, Governor Maura Healey gave her first state of the commonwealth address feting the efforts of her administration since she took office. The speech looked ahead, including as soon as Thursday when Healey testified on her housing push. Its lookbacks to 2023, however, emphasized efforts Healey had undertaken on her own.
A tome’s worth of pages will have turned before Massachusetts and its West in particular, truly moves on from the tragedy of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. Lawsuits, bill-signings and administrative reshufflings have marked transitions thus far as openings will in the future. Still, the groundbreaking
In a 5-2 ruling, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinstated criminal charges arising from the COVID-19 outbreak that killed 76 veterans at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. Former Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former medical director David Clinton were the only officials to face such charges. Hampden County Superior Court Judge Edward McDonough, Jr. dismissed the indictment in 2021 prompting the appeal.
About a month short of the three-year anniversary of the COVID-19 conflagration at the Holyoke Soldier’s Home, a new structure to oversee veterans programs has taken effect. However, things picked up speed after the legislature issued its own report in 2021.