Search Results

By Line search: By SAM DRYSDALE

By SAM DRYSDALE

Career technical schools in Massachusetts will use a lottery system to admit students when there are more applicants than available seats, an approach that supporters say will ensure fairness and critics warn will water down education standards.

By SAM DRYSDALE

The state will close its remaining motel and hotel shelters this summer, Gov. Maura Healey announced Monday, as the governor and lawmakers have imposed restrictions on the emergency housing system over the past year and family enrollment has declined.

By SAM DRYSDALE

Gov. Maura Healey nominated two new Superior Court judges last week, both of whom her office pointed out live in western Massachusetts, after a group of 20 lawmakers called on the governor to fill several vacant seats in the area.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Senate Democrats announced a bill Monday morning intended to shield reproductive and transgender care in Massachusetts from out-of-state threats, saying it was part of the response effort to the Trump administration.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The astronomical cost of housing for Massachusetts households across the income spectrum and a bleak outlook for the new units needed over the next decade underscore the focus of the Healey administration’s new housing plan for the next five years — more production.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Invoking Emily Dickinson, Phillis Wheatley, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Sam Cornish and Robert Frost, Gov. Maura Healey recently signed an executive order creating a position of poet laureate in Massachusetts for the first time.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey intends to run for reelection in 2026, she said Friday.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Accessory dwelling units are now allowed by right in single-family zoning districts across most of Massachusetts, under a law Gov. Maura Healey signed in August. The rule went into effect on Sunday.

By SAM DRYSDALE

Any selective criteria used to admit students to vocational technical schools must be actually essential to the success of the school, per new regulations the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is drafting for their board’s review in February.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Campbell wants to stop students from using cellphones in schools, but education regulators seem unsure how far they should go — especially when that power lies not in the state’s hands, but with local school districts.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Though Gov. Maura Healey maintains that she is not raising taxes, the budget she rolled out Wednesday could apply existing taxes to some purchases, or decrease how much residents are able to write off on their tax returns.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Fresh off winning another term leading the Massachusetts Senate, President Karen Spilka quickly set her sights on a combination of new and old priorities, including one that will have significant interest in the Pioneer Valley — reexamining...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The head of the state’s K-12 education board expects the state will be sued for failing to assure there’s adequate and equitable learning taking place in schools, after voters overwhelmingly supported a new law this November that got rid of...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — After a $2.78 billion settlement that will allow colleges to pay their athletes got preliminary approval earlier this week, NCAA president and former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker was in Boston on Thursday touting the deal as “[solving]...

By SAM DRYSDALE

The program meant to give students a head start on their college enrollment is expanding, which officials say will save students money, make them more likely to attend college than their peers and increase lifelong earning potential.University of...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — A commission tasked with considering the structure and sustainability of the state’s beleaguered emergency family shelter system is up against a quickly approaching deadline, with still broad disagreement amongst its members about what...

By SAM DRYSDALE

Students with cognitive disabilities and English language learners could stand to benefit the most from a ballot initiative that would “greatly diminish the state’s role as a gatekeeper to high school graduation,” and lower the stakes of statewide...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — As Gov. Maura Healey and lawmakers celebrated what they called “historic” housing legislation getting signed into law Tuesday, some of the advocates credited with influencing the bill say it is “underwhelming” and watered down, with a number...

By SAM DRYSDALE

House and Senate negotiators sent an agreement on a policy-filled $5.16 billion housing bond bill to Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday, potentially salvaging a priority for the House, Senate and governor.A number of policies sponsored by both branches...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The Massachusetts House was split along party lines Wednesday night in voting to support climate and energy legislation that would “help accelerate the green transition,” according to the bill’s lead architect.“The bill before you continues...

By SAM DRYSDALE

The Senate will dig into a massive economic development package Thursday after top Democrats on Monday morning released their own vision for how Massachusetts should pursue job and economic growth opportunities.The Senate’s bill (S 2856) authorizes...