Many employees have returned to the in-person daily grind more than two years after the pandemic reshaped public life, but economic impacts will be “pretty significant” if even a fraction of the workforce continues to embrace hybrid or remote models, Gov. Charlie Baker said on Thursday.
The speaker and Senate president made clear this week that a gas tax suspension isn’t in the cards, but people in Massachusetts will get at least some form of tax relief this summer regardless.
Legislative action to launch a long-sought passenger rail extension into western Massachusetts “certainly is being considered” among a growing to-do list, Senate President Karen Spilka said Monday, though the exact steps Beacon Hill will take remain unclear with less than eight weeks left for formal lawmaking business.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s latest push to sell off the Hynes Convention Center is poised to slam into opposition from organized labor leaders, who plan to rally against the idea Wednesday afternoon with “hundreds” of hospitality workers who could be affected.
A passenger rail extension into western Massachusetts looms as one of the most impactful projects on the table now that Gov. Charlie Baker and federal officials have identified a “path forward” for it, but lawmakers still will not say what – if anything – they will do in the next two months to get the idea off the ground.
With the sale and redevelopment of the Hynes Convention Center on the table once state legislators finish up the state’s next budget, the sad state of the local hotel industry ought to give everyone food for thought.
“Tenant right of first refusal,” sometimes called “TOPA” is making inroads among state legislators. But the idea has a bad track record and would severely violate landlords’ property rights.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr cautioned that the forecast on tax relief “doesn’t look very good for the taxpayer” as Senate Democrats on Tuesday rejected his proposed package of tax breaks in favor of developing a different plan somewhere down the line.
The jury’s still out on Gov. Charlie Baker’s signature housing initiative, but the signs aren’t good it’s up to meeting the sheer scale of Massachusetts’ homes shortage.
The public sector is feeling the strain of soaring inflation, too: officials now expect that a once-in-a-generation infrastructure overhaul in Allston will cost $300 million more than estimated, and the price of replacing the Cape Cod bridges could more than double.
Port improvements, housing development, and water and sewage infrastructure headline the investment areas in a $1.7 billion supplemental budget bill Gov. Charlie Baker outlined Wednesday as the Republican eyes more spending in his final months in office.
Everett, Lynn and Roxbury are among the areas where MBTA bus service would increase significantly under a new plan rolled out Monday, but funding and staffing uncertainty pose obstacles for the effort to reimagine a core pillar of the agency’s operations.
The $9.75 billion infrastructure bond bill that cleared the Transportation Committee does not include any language creating a new rail authority to oversee a passenger train extension to western Massachusetts, bucking a prediction Congressman Richard Neal made last month when he and state officials announced a historic agreement to advance the project.
The modest capes and ranches that marked the post-war building boom have long since given away to McMansions with seven-figure price tags in Boston’s suburbs.
Warning that a long-term federal intervention at the MBTA could lead to fare hikes and service cuts, a transit advocacy group on Wednesday slammed the T’s board of directors for “lax oversight” and called on Beacon Hill to reimagine how Massachusetts funds the agency.
The group that officially kicked off the ballot campaign Wednesday for the proposed surtax on household income over $1 million included a personal care attendant from Brockton, an education support staffer from Worcester, a public transit advocate from Fall River, an ice cream shop owner from Everett, a student counselor from UMass Dartmouth and a human services worker from Lynn.
Senate leaders on Tuesday rolled out a $49.68 billion state budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins in July, touting investments they said would help families living in deep poverty and share the state’s influx of cash with cities and towns.
Federal transit officials will meet with T leaders this week to kick off a safety investigation into the agency, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Tuesday, amid heightened scrutiny following a series of high-profile and sometimes fatal incidents.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s $3.5 billion economic development bill, traditionally seen as “must-pass” legislation, could potentially become a hot-button topic, a top real estate industry leader warned.
Lawmakers decided they need at least another week to work through the billions of dollars in borrowing and spending that Gov. Charlie Baker proposed to invest in the state’s infrastructure.
