The reports came from Plainville, Springfield and Everett early on Monday afternoon: the state's three casino-style gambling centers look ready to go for the 10 a.m. Tuesday start of legal in-person sports betting in Massachusetts.
With the MBTA still awaiting more than 300 new Red and Orange Line cars through a project intended to increase the transit system's capacity, Gov. Maura Healey said Monday that her administration is still in the "early stages" of identifying what went wrong with the contract.
The Healey administration and legislative budget managers agreed Monday to build their upcoming state budget plans on the assumptions that they will have $40.41 billion in general state tax revenue to spend in the budget year that begins July 1 and an additional $1 billion in revenue from the state's new high-earner surtax that can be put towards education or transportation.
Reviving debate on an issue that lawmakers left untouched at the end of last session, Gov. Maura Healey on Monday filed a $282 million spending bill she said is necessary to manage a surge in demand for emergency shelter and prevent the free school meals program from running out of money.
Massachusetts political leaders grieved the victims of the Jan. 21 Monterey Park shooting and the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who died after being beaten by five Memphis police officers earlier this month, and renewed calls to address police brutality Monday morning.
The Massachusetts Lottery is taking to the airwaves as it prepares to launch its first $50 scratch ticket next week and executives there continued Monday to lobby the State House for a larger advertising budget so that the agency can be a more regular presence on Bay State televisions.
[Story Developing] After meeting privately Monday afternoon, Beacon Hill leaders on Monday talked to reporters about funding for school meals programs, the future of a law that triggered big tax refunds last year, and the advent of sports betting.
A new hotline went live Monday morning to offer free and confidential legal advice to patients seeking reproductive and abortion care in Massachusetts, including those who do not live in the state. The Reproductive Equity Now Foundation launched the hotline with the state attorney general, the Women's Bar Foundation, the ACLU of Massachusetts and five big-name law firms offering pro-bono legal advice.
January has come and gone without meaningful legislative action in the Massachusetts Senate. Since formally starting the two-year legislative term on Jan. 4, the Senate's sessions have mostly stuck to putting reports on file, honoring a couple of people with memorial adjournments, and adopting congratulatory resolutions.
The House returned from the weekend for a 10-minute session, during which there was no public move toward creating committee assignments or drafting the rules under which the chamber will operate this session.
A new hotline went live Monday morning to offer free and confidential legal advice to patients seeking reproductive and abortion care in Massachusetts, including those who do not live in the state.
Massachusetts residents (and visitors) on Tuesday may place legal bets on sports as the state takes its first step down another expanded gaming path. The Legislature and former Gov. Deval Patrick legalized casinos in 2011 and the first casino opened in 2015.
![Gov. Maura Healey waded into a throng of climate activists young and old outside her office Wednesday, committing to work with Mothers Out Front on "a most robust climate agenda." The governor accepted a bouquet of cutout hand tracings, which she said were inscribed with messages "asking us to do the right thing for the climate." [Sam Doran/SHNS]](https://www.statehousenews.com/content/frontpage_photo/2023/01-25_Healey_Mothers_Out_Front_3.jpg "Gov. Maura Healey waded into a throng of climate activists young and old outside her office Wednesday, committing to work with Mothers Out Front on \"a most robust climate agenda.\" The governor accepted a bouquet of cutout hand tracings, which she said were inscribed with messages \"asking us to do the right thing for the climate.\" [Sam Doran/SHNS]")
The third week of the fledgling Healey administration is where it became clear: that snowballing mess at the MBTA is her problem now.
... Karyn Polito took her most substantial step since completing her eight-year tenure as lieutenant governor, joining a local health plan's advisory council ... A former state rep returned to the State House as an aide and another returned to work for the auditor ... The Healey administration's education secretariat has a new undersecretary and chief of staff ... The influential Mass. High Tech Council tapped a longtime Gov. Charlie Baker aide to lead its policy and government work ...
Gov. Maura Healey gaveled the Governor's Council into its new session Wednesday, and while this week's workload was light, councilors are already looking ahead to the judicial nomination process that's just around the corner.
Of the over 7,000 bills lawmakers filed in the last month, anti-poverty advocates are pushing to ensure increases in direct cash assistance to low-income families is one of the few hundred that will cross the finish line this session.
The executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board on Thursday gave T overseers an earful, telling the Board of Directors that MBTA host communities are concerned that the agency won't be able to pay for, hire enough new workers for and actually follow through on its plan to redraw the system's bus map over the next five years.
The top state judge in Massachusetts wants lawmakers to make more funding available for low-income Bay Staters to get legal representation in civil matters, warning that recent investments still have not done enough to ensure access for those in need.
![Gov. Maura Healey sits with Brooke Thomson, Associated Industries of Massachusetts' executive vice president of government affairs, for a question-and-answer session Thursday in Newton after Healey addressed hundreds of business leaders at an AIM forum. [Chris Lisinski/SHNS]](https://www.statehousenews.com/content/frontpage_photo/2023/01-26_Healey_AIM_2.jpg "Gov. Maura Healey sits with Brooke Thomson, Associated Industries of Massachusetts' executive vice president of government affairs, for a question-and-answer session Thursday in Newton after Healey addressed hundreds of business leaders at an AIM forum. [Chris Lisinski/SHNS]")
Three weeks into her tenure in the corner office, Gov. Maura Healey told business leaders her administration is ready to "do more" to address their pressing concerns and targeted workforce strain, tax relief and health care investment as broad areas of focus.
The Senate could start debating its internal rules for 2023-2024 as soon as next week, according to the branch's top Republican.