State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump listens Friday to state Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, talk in Plainfield about funding challenges for small towns. Bumpâs office soon will release a major study about unaddressed infrastructure problems in the stateâs four western counties. LARRY PARNASS â THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
When this report card comes out, municipal officials in Western Massachusetts might even want to get a failing grade.
They know their communities are not keeping up.
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âCommunities here are hard-pressed to do anything other than support day-to-day activities.â
â State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump, speaking of cities and towns in the four western counties, which are the subject of a forthcoming financial report on infrastructure
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The yellow line on this map marks the prospective route that will be studied by the state Department of Transportation. PROVIDED BY MAINE RAIL GROUP
Three words that popped onto computer screens Tuesday seemed to capture the terrain ahead, as dozens of civic leaders gathered online to bless an effort to restore passenger rail service across the top of the state.
âOpportunities and Constraints.â
Lots of both, actually.
The phrase appeared on a slide early on, as Makaela Niles of the state Department of Transportation described her teamâs plan, over the next year-and-a-half, to gauge the feasibility of enabling people to travel by rail between North Adams and Boston. Like an earlier study of east-west passenger rail travel across the stateâs midsection, including Pittsfield, this venture was ordered up by the Legislature.
Lessons from the Almond case â and beyond
Doing right by kids in state care means DCF and the courts need to focus on the thorny issue of reunification.
By The Editorial BoardUpdated May 8, 2021, 1 hour ago
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Maria Mossaides, director of the Office of the Child Advocate, speaking about the agency s investigation report into the death of teen David Almond during the continuing coronavirus pandemic, March 31.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
The one thing lawmakers, advocates, and state officials can agree on is that no one wants to be back here again â probing the death of a child who deserved to be protected, who was supposed to be protected by a $1 billion system designed to do just that.
As Equality Act is debated in D.C., gender equality-focused bills collect support at State House
The Massachusetts State House in Boston FILE PHOTO
Published: 3/16/2021 8:45:43 PM
BOSTON – As Congress debates passing a landmark bill to bar discrimination based on gender identity, Massachusetts lawmakers are looking to expand protections already on the books.
”The Equality Act,” passed by the U.S. House on Feb. 25, would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964, adding language that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The protections would apply to the workplace, federal programs and public housing, among other facets of life for LGBTQ Americans. It would essentially codify and build on the 2020 Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton County ruling that found parts of the Civil Rights Act covered gay, lesbian and transgender citizens when it came to workplace discrimination on the basis of a person’s sex.