Harris Gruman, “Bid to close Fair Share tax loophole is a good move, not a switcheroo,” Boston Globe, July 11, 2023.
“We should not tolerate an ultrawealthy household filing its federal tax return jointly and then filing state returns as single people in order to avoid taxes. The Senate’s tax bill would close that loophole…Every dollar saved by closing this loophole is an extra dollar to help fix our roads and transit or make our public colleges affordable again.”
Grant Welker, “BBJ Seven Letter poll: Home costs, state taxes, commuting are ‘much worse’ in Mass.,” Boston Business Journal, July 10, 2023.
“More than two-thirds of respondents among Boston-area businesspeople view housing costs in Massachusetts as “much worse” than other states, a far greater share than those who said the same of commuting or taxes, according to a new BBJ-Seven Letter poll.”
Deanna Pan, “As conservative activism targets sex ed, new Mass. guidelines are on the horizon,” Boston Globe, July 8, 2023.
“If students aren’t learning through schools,through a qualified teacher based on research and scientific educational information, they’llbe [learning about sex] from some sketchy website online or from a YouTube video that hasn’t been fact checked, or a porn site,” Nugent said. “Kids are going to learn this one way or the other, and so I feel like it’s important for schools to try to be the ones to impart that education.”
Jim Braude, “Why should state legislators control the fate of rent control in Boston?,” Boston Globe, July 8, 2023.
“State legislators are entitled to think Wu’s plan is bad policy, too, and maybe they’d be proven right. Local leaders, however, should be allowed to embrace such ideas. Then, if their constituents ultimately decide they are hurt by them, they can fire those responsible….So where does this antidemocratic power come from? A half-century old provision in the state constitution and history that pre-dated it, with the Brahmins on Beacon Hill not trusting the Irish in Boston to properly run their own lives. The players may have changed, but the antipathy for local self-government has not.”
Phineas Baxandall, “Nix cap gains, single sales factor tax cuts,” CommonWealth, July 5, 2023.
“Imagine a conversation on Zoom with 100 participants on the screen. Suppose one person’s face occupied over three quarters of the space while the other 99 were crammed into less than a quarter of the screen. And most of those 99 have their faces blacked out because they receive zero benefit at all. You’re imagining a portrait of how the short-term capital gains cut would be distributed among Massachusetts tax filers.”
“World Registers Hottest Day Ever Recorded On July 3,” Reuters, July 4, 2023.
“Unfortunately, it promises to only be the first in a series of new records set this year as increasing emissions of [carbon dioxide] and greenhouse gases coupled with a growing El Nino event push temperatures to new highs,” said Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, in a statement.
Travis Anderson, “Thousands of undocumented residents expected to seek driver’s licenses as new law takes effect,” Boston Globe, July 3, 2023.
”Having the ability to have a driver’s license enables them to operate in our communities, operate in our economy, take their families and friends to doctors, visit friends and family,” Registrar Colleen Ogilvie said during a news briefing Monday in Brockton, according to footage posted by WBZ-TV.
Jennifer Smith, “Lawmakers target cell phone tracking data in abortion fight,” CommonWealth, June 26, 2023.
“Location data can make known whether a person has visited an abortion provider, how long they stay, and even identify where they came from,” said Sen. Cynthia Creem, the Senate majority leader and sponsor of a bill that would ban selling, leasing, trading, or renting cell phone location data. “Notably, this information can follow the travel paths of individuals coming to Massachusetts for reproductive health care.”
Sarah Betancourt, “In ‘historic’ moment, MCI-Framingham prisoners testify live at moratorium hearing,” WGBH, June 27, 2023.
A group of 20 women incarcerated at MCI-Framingham testified live on Zoom at a hearing on Monday — for the first time in legislative history….Clad in green uniforms, each woman sat in front of a camera in a white room and spoke in favor of a prison moratorium bill. The legislation would put a five-year pause on planning or building new prisons and renovating current prisons “beyond maintenance or building code requirements.””
Sam Drysdal, “Gov. Healey pushes to update state sex education guidelines,” State House News Service, June 21, 2023.
“She said the guidelines cover LGBTQ+ health and wellness, mental and emotional health, personal safety, bodily autonomy, dating safety, violence prevention, physical health and hygiene, nutritionally balanced eating, physical activity, substance use disorder, and public, community and environmental health.”
