On Wednesday, May 21 a fire destroyed a three-family home in Belmont. As a result, nine people have been displaced and all of their property has been lost. Several concerned citizens, part of the Belmont Corner Neighborhood Association (BCNA), have rallied together to establish a fund to provide immediate financial assistance to these victims. The …
Watertown Bus Statistics
The MBTA recently released the 2014 Blue Book – a compendium of statistics, facts and figures about MBTA service systemwide. In light of recent conversations about bus capacity in Watertown, I decided to take a closer look at the statistics in the new Blue Book for routes serving Watertown: Watertown is currently served by 10 …
Reading the Juvenile Life without Parole Cases
Before the legislature is the question of how to respond to the case of Commonwealth v. Diatchenko. In that case, our Supreme Judicial Court found that it is unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to life without parole for first degree murder. The basic question the legislature needs to answer is what should be the first …
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Early voter registration
Sorry to hear that Governor Patrick will, or has, approved the bill regarding early voter registration. Registering to vote at an earlier age than a person is permitted to vote is kind of like having a pre-high school graduation ceremony and prom at age 14 or 15. When the real thing comes along, ho-hum, what …
Senate Passes Budget
We provide this press release issued by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. Read Will’s comments on how the process unfolded here. For the full text of the bill as amended, click here —————————— FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 22, 2014 Senate Passes Fiscal Year 2015 Budget BOSTON— The Senate today passed the Commonwealth’s Fiscal Year …
Senate passes FY15 Budget
We got through the budget week! The Senate budget unfolded without too much drama along the lines I outlined in my pre-budget piece. Thanks to all for comments on that piece. A few highlights and notes about the process: Commenters (and others by phone and email) urged support for the Mass Cultural Council budget. We …