CommonWealth Beacon analyzes the multi-billion-dollar bond bill the legislature is considering - including $1 billion or so to help the MWRA connect its water pipes to more towns as an incentive to get them to allow more housing.
Boston City Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia and Henry Santana (all at large) this week will formally propose changing the way Bostonians elect municipal officials to a more Cambridge-like system in which voters would rank candidates in order of preference. Read more.
The Boston City Council today approved a request to the state legislature for permission to temporarily increase commercial tax rates to try to shield homeowners from a potentially huge increase should downtown office-building assessments collapse as many workers continue to stay at home. Read more.
Donnie Palmer, running again as a Republican against incumbent US Rep Ayanna Pressley, says she should be executed by hanging for treason and that he'd be happy to put the noose around her neck himself. Read more.
The State House News Service reports the state has collected $1.8 billion from rich people in new taxes in the first nine months of the fiscal year - $800 million more than state revenue officials had forecast for the entire fiscal year, which could be good news for the MBTA and schools. The money comes from a 4% surcharge on income above $1 million, as approved by voters in 2022.
Megan Johnson had some spare time today, so she came up with the bill for the Boston Calling for folks who keep up with the weird and wonderful world of Boston, with a playlist that stretches from the '90s to today. See it larger.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the first same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, under the Goodridge decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court. Read more.
CommonWealth Beacon takes a look at the controversy over ShotSpotter, the expensive system police in Boston and other cities use to locate the source of potential gunfire: BPD Commissioner Michael Cox stood by the system at a Monday hearing, but critics say it has a large number of false positives, which means people in the minority neighborhoods where the sensors are located are more likely to be grilled by police investigating false leads. Chicago announced earlier this year it's abandoning the system.
Mayor Wu and family and two BPS students are at the Vatican this week for a climate summit hosted by the Pope. Read more.
The Tech reports MIT and Cambridge police and state troopers moved in shortly after 4 a.m., forcing out both protesters and reporters.
Possible bad news for people who were hoping for a presidential debate between two virulent anti-vaxxers with Massachusetts ties: A federal judge in Washington, DC this week threw out Shiva Ayyadurai's lawsuit bid to get on presidential ballots, concluding he sued too early, because he has yet to actually try to get on ballots anywhere and get rejected for having been born in Mumbai. Read more.
CommonWealth Beacon takes a look over disagreements about how the city should deal with a declining office-space market - and the resulting potential loss of property taxes.
The Courthouse News Service reports on a hearing today before the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on the City Council's decades-long policy of having a local member of the clergy open its weekly meetings with an invocation.
The hearing came on the Satanic Temple's appeal of a district court judge's ruling allowing the council to continue not inviting the group to give an invocation.
Bruce Mohl, who goes back to the days when CommonWealth was a quarterly print journal, wrote today he will be stepping down later this year.
I’m not sure what I will do next, but I hope it’s as interesting and fun as what I do now.
Rob Leikind, New England director of the American Jewish Committee, is not having the City Council's resolution on Gaza: Read more.
The City Council voted 11-2 today for a resolution, sponsored by Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson (Roxbury) calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of humanitarian aid for the region, the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. Read more.
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