“The Police State Is Failing Officers Too,” The Nation
“As a society, we have been taught that police should respond to every issue, and as a result, their outsize budgets take away resources from basic community needs, including schools, affordable housing, and infrastructure. This one-solution-fits-all approach is backed by neither data nor common sense, and all too often leads to violence and death.”
“MBTA Looking at $230M Shortfall When Federal Aid Runs Out,” State House News Service
“In fiscal year ’24, even after using about $100 million in fiscal year ’24, we still have a gap of $236 million,” O’Hara said. “Our fiscal cliff is then in fiscal year ’24.” A great case for Fair Share
“How Air Pollution Across America Reflects Racist Policy From the 1930s,” New York Times
“Urban neighborhoods that were redlined by federal officials in the 1930s tended to have higher levels of harmful air pollution eight decades later, a new study has found, adding to a body of evidence that reveals how racist policies in the past have contributed to inequalities across the United States today.”
“Federal COVID funds offer Boston Mayor Michelle Wu a big boost with her big plans,” Boston Globe
“The biggest barrier in this city is believing that we can’t do more,” Wu said. “And so being able to show and have people see with their own eyes and live the impacts is going to be transformational for making the case for larger investments down the line.”
“How Did This Many Deaths Become Normal?,” The Atlantic
“The United States reported more deaths from COVID-19 last Friday than deaths from Hurricane Katrina, more on any two recent weekdays than deaths during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, more last month than deaths from flu in a bad season, and more in two years than deaths from HIV during the four decades of the AIDS epidemic.”
“Boston Progressives Fear Rollback of Reforms After DA’s Early Exit,” Bolts
“There’s a strong and growing body of research that shows that declining to prosecute nonviolent misdemeanor cases not only minimizes individuals’ current involvement with the criminal legal system, but also substantially reduces the probability of future involvement,” Cohn told Bolts.
“Chang-Diaz aims for big, progressive change,” CommonWealth
“We have seen so many examples, time and time again, where people power movements have taken on and won against establishment powers in Massachusetts,” she said. “In the end, we have to remember…that it’s not money that wins elections. It’s people that win elections.”
“2 senators say proposed building code comes up short,” CommonWealth
“The straw proposal bars a city or town from mandating all-electric new construction, even after local officials allow for vigorous analysis and debate. For municipalities in Massachusetts and other progressive states, all-electric construction is the favored strategy for decarbonizing new buildings. Barring communities from employing it would be a significant setback,” the senators said. They added, “Bottom line: Despite its unequivocal support of ‘net zero emissions’ by 2050, despite the special challenges of reducing emissions in buildings, and despite having been given a full 18 months by the Legislature to do its work, the Baker administration has proposed a municipal opt-in specialized stretch energy code that comes up short.”
“In a way, it was comforting to see people indoors for a while. I thought they would understand what it’s like to not leave your house,” she said. “But when given the chance, the world went outside in a flash and left me behind. I see all my friends living their lives. When is that going to be me?”
“The conversation around staff pay was always . . . can we afford to have this conversation with the Senate president now?” Raynor said. “It’s wild when you see the policies you’re pushing for addressing poverty and the fiscal cliff, and realize it’s about you.”
“Senate passes ‘period poverty’ bill,” CommonWealth
“We don’t expect school nurses to pay for toilet paper for everyone in the school,” Jehlen said. “Why should they pay for menstrual products?”
“The change, the report notes, “appears to remove the incentive for troopers to misrepresent” their hours. But it also means troopers will likely be paid for more time than they actually work, Cunha’s office said.”
“It reminded me of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ ” said Eldridge, a Democrat whose district includes Middlesex and Worcester. “It was incredibly outdated and cramped and just not ideal for providing health care to prisoners in their 70s and 80s.”
“‘A no-brainer’: Merrimack Valley RTA makes all buses free to ride for two years,” Boston Globe
“I’m about to say something completely radical,” Berger said. “What I’m going to say that’s radical is that we are going fare-free, and that ain’t radical, that’s mainstream.”
“Local-option COVID approach slammed,” CommonWealth
“Not only are we seeing a patchwork of different rules in different communities in this state, which is confusing for the public and also less effective for the public health protections, but it also means that the decisions are getting pushed on to the backs of local public health staff who are then the folks who are being harassed and threatened,” Pavlos said. “That’s really unacceptable.”
“Ending mask mandate won’t bring us back to normal,” CommonWealth
“The pandemic is far from over. Just a few weeks ago, our ERs were overflowing and our primary care colleagues were pulled in to cover hospital shifts. While we are relieved to see the decline in Omicron cases, more variants are sure to emerge. Just last week, the World Health Organization announced a newly detected, even more contagious Omicron subvariant.”
“The historic climate law that Governor Charlie Baker signed last March included provisionsmeant to make sure low-income communities and people of color don’t suffer disproportionate environmental harm from new polluting projects….It required Baker’s administration to appoint a special council to weigh in on which communities should have certain environmental protections, on the grounds that they’re already overburdened by pollution from fossil fuel infrastructure…But nearly a year later, Baker hasn’t appointed anyone to the council yet. And the body’s first report is due in July.”
“Mass. residents should welcome law on licenses for undocumented immigrants” (Letter), Boston Globe
“We found that not just immigrant and US-born Latino residents in those states responded more positively to welcoming immigration policies, but also most white, non-Latino residents did as well. Like immigrant and US-born Latinos, white residents displayed a more positive emotional response and felt like they belonged in their state more when immigration policies were more welcoming.”
“14 Takeaways From The Latest U.N. Study On Climate Change’s Deadly Toll,” HuffPost
“But the report emphasizes what millions of people can already intuit from dramatic shifts in weather patterns: Ways of life that sustained generations are coming to an abrupt and chaotic end, causing great suffering that world governments’ responses so far have proven woefully inadequate to ease, much less reverse.”
