A SLEW OF candidates are lining up to oust Massachusetts Republican Party chair Jim Lyons, in a sign of deep unease with the turmoil that has been roiling the state party for years. Some view the January 31 election for chair as a final opportunity to revive the troubled organization, even as others question whether […]
Shira Schoenberg
Shira Schoenberg is a reporter at CommonWealth magazine. Shira previously worked for more than seven years at the Springfield Republican/MassLive.com where she covered state politics and elections, covering topics as diverse as the launch of the legal marijuana industry, problems with the state's foster care system and the elections of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker. Shira won the Massachusetts Bar Association's 2018 award for Excellence in Legal Journalism and has had several stories win awards from the New England Newspaper and Press Association. Shira covered the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary for the Boston Globe. Before that, she worked for the Concord (N.H.) Monitor, where she wrote about state government, City Hall and Barack Obama's 2008 New Hampshire primary campaign. Shira holds a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Posted inArts and Culture
GBH host O’Donovan faces bleak prognosis with ‘poetry and prayers’
IT WAS A MOMENT when memories were made, beautifully, poignantly, publicly. Brian O’Donovan, celebrating the 20thyear of his annual live show “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn,” stood onstage at Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theater with his wife and two of his daughters, along with the rest of the cast. As the audience joined in, they sang the […]
Posted inMarijuana, State Government
Cannabis licensing snafu over O’Brien much ado about nothing
THE CANNABIS Control Commission unanimously approved a final license for Greenfield Greenery on Thursday, resolving a months-long delay resulting from questions about whether Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien properly removed herself from ownership of the company. A commission investigation concluded that O’Brien and Greenfield Greenery both did everything properly in removing O’Brien from her ownership position. […]
Posted inCourts, Housing
Lawsuit alleges racial discrimination in tenant screening tool
TWO BLACK WOMEN from Massachusetts are at the center of what could become a landmark federal case about whether software that screens potential tenants is illegally biased against Black and Hispanic applicants. Rachael Rollins, the US attorney for Massachusetts, weighed in on the case, Louis vs. SafeRent Solutions, in a court brief this week, arguing […]
Posted inMarijuana
Plummeting prices destabilize Mass. marijuana market
ON A RECENT DAY, a Brockton customer looking for some marijuana could have bought one-eighth of an ounce of LA Kush Cake flower for just $20 at Commonwealth Alternative Care. Nearby, Legal Greens was advertising one-eighth of an ounce of Jet Fuel flower for $25, according to the marijuana marketing website Leafly. The prices are […]
Posted inMarijuana, State Government
Board named for social equity marijuana loan fund
THE BOARD that will oversee the state’s new fund to help social equity cannabis businesses will be comprised of a diverse group of individuals, who represent various segments of the industry that they hope to help. Appointments to the five-member board were finalized last week by then-Gov. Charlie Baker; then-Attorney General Maura Healey, who is now […]
Posted inMarijuana
Lantern closure shakes marijuana delivery market
THERE’S ANOTHER major shakeup coming in the already-struggling marijuana delivery industry, with the impending closure of one of the largest marketing websites in Massachusetts. Lantern, a website where consumers can go to order legal cannabis delivered from a local dispensary, announced Wednesday that it will shut down by the end of January, citing regulatory hurdles […]
Posted inGovernment, Health
Boston employee vaccine mandate heads to SJC
COVID VACCINE MANDATES for customers of private businesses were short-lived. Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration, which had a strict vaccine mandate for executive branch workers, has been quietly hiring back some terminated workers. But litigation over vaccine mandates is still ongoing. The Supreme Judicial Court on January 6 will hear oral arguments in a case about the […]
Posted inGovernment, Politics, State Government
Maura Healey sworn in as 73rd Massachusetts governor
AMID A DAY full of pomp, circumstance, and a nod to history in the making, Maura Healey on Thursday was sworn in as the 73rd governor of Massachusetts and the first woman elected to that role. Healey, a Democrat, also made history as one of the first two openly lesbian governors in the United States, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Healey’s office asks SJC to reinstate charges in Soldiers’ Home deaths
MISMANAGEMENT AT THE Holyoke Soldiers’ Home undoubtedly contributed to the high COVID-19 death toll there in the first days of the pandemic. The question before the state’s highest court is whether the actions of the home’s former leaders may have constituted criminal behavior. During oral arguments on Wednesday, Supreme Judicial Court justices asked pointed questions […]