STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Nearly three-quarters of the Senate penned a letter Thursday urging the Department of Environmental Protection commissioner to rescind approval for a controversial natural gas compressor station in Weymouth, a significant escalation from what had been mostly staunch local opposition. The two-and-a-half page letter, signed with bipartisan support by 29 of the Senate’s […]
Chris Lisinski I State House News Service
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
State: New toxins data don’t change stance on Weymouth gas facility
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE DESPITE CONCEDING that a handful of samples showed concentrations of toxins above standard limits, state regulators believe a new batch of air-quality data does not change the conclusions that greenlit a controversial proposed natural gas compressor station. Both the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Public Health reviewed the new […]
Posted inUncategorized
Weymouth gas compressor permit based on incomplete data
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE LAST YEAR, the Department of Environmental Protection sent air samples from the site of a proposed natural gas compressor station to a private laboratory and asked scientists to test for the presence of 64 different potential toxins. What they initially got back — and what was used to perform a health […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, State House News Service
Newton judge indicted on federal obstruction charge
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A NEWTON DISTRICT COURT judge and former court officer were indicted Thursday on federal obstruction of justice charges for their alleged involvement in helping an undocumented immigrant evade immigration authorities. U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling announced the charges Thursday, alleging that Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph, 51, and former court officer Wesley MacGregor, […]
Posted inTransportation
Senators raise concerns on T fare increase
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE SENATORS slammed the MBTA’s rollout of proposed fare hikes on Thursday, arguing that outreach about the increases was insufficient and that it was unfair to raise prices when the transit authority is letting millions of dollars in existing fares go uncollected. The criticism, including jabs from Senate budget chief Michael […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
DeLeo proposes $1b in municipal climate investments
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO proposed a sweeping $1 billion environmental grant program Friday that, over the next decade, would fund municipal efforts to build renewable-energy infrastructure and invest in climate resiliency programs. DeLeo, speaking alongside members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy after a tour of Somerville’s GreenTown […]
Posted inTransportation
Lawmakers file bills to address Sumner Tunnel congestion
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE VEHICLES ARE ENTERING the Sumner Tunnel at “unprecedented levels,” thousands of rides on services such as Uber and Lyft head to and from Logan Airport each day, and on residential streets, traffic backs up for hours on end. Residents, lawmakers, and transit officials agree: thanks to several compounding factors, the congestion […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
The ‘other’ housing crisis
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE YOU’VE LIKELY HEARD about the housing crisis in eastern Massachusetts, with too few units available and prices always on the rise. But a second housing crisis, one with effectively opposite circumstances, lurks across much of the rest of the state. In former industrial cities hit by economic challenges such as Fitchburg […]