Listen to the interview with Matt Szafranski.
A new oversight committee of the Massachusetts legislature is demanding answers about the state’s troubled coronavirus vaccine rollout and is going right to the top.
Gov. Charlie Baker along with his top aides in the area of public health are expected to appear at Thursday’s Beacon Hill hearing.
The Democratic-led legislature has had a very cooperative relationship with the Republican governor for six years and has given Baker a wide berth to manage the pandemic.
WAMC”s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill asked Matt Szfranski, editor-in-chief of Western Mass Politics & Insight if this oversight hearing represents a sea change in the state’s political dynamic.
Listen to the interview with Springfield Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola-Lopez
The top election official in Massachusetts says many of the changes made in 2020 to make voting during the pandemic safer should become permanent fixtures.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin said he will file a bill to authorize the option to vote-by-mail and to have in-person early voting for 14 days for general elections and seven days for primaries.
He also wants people who miss the deadline to register to vote to be able to do so on Election Day. A coalition of lawmakers and advocacy groups Wednesday unveiled legislation to make last year’s election reforms permanent.