Latest Charlie Baker News
Hospitals fear staffing shortages as vaccine deadlines loom
Hospitals and nursing homes around the U.S. are bracing for worsening staff shortages as state deadlines arrive for health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. With ultimatums taking effect this week in states like New York, California, Rhode Island and...
Massachusetts considers allowing supervised drug-use sites
BOSTON (AP) — Proposals to let Massachusetts create sites where people could use illegal drugs in the presence of staff trained in helping to reverse overdoses will be the focus of a daylong virtual hearing Monday at the Statehouse. One of the...
Judge denies state police union bid for vaccination delay
BOSTON (AP) — A Superior Court judge has turned down a request by the union that represents 1,800 Massachusetts State Police troopers to delay Gov. Charlie Baker’s state employee coronavirus vaccine mandate. The State Police Association of Massachusetts filed a...
Editorial Roundup: New England
Hartford Courant. September 19, 2021. Editorial: In Guilford, making white people afraid and bashing ‘critical race theory’ proves a winning political strategy School board primaries rarely get much attention, but this year’s Republican Board...
Bill would let residents change sex on birth record to X
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts residents would be able to change the sex listed on their birth certificate to a nonbinary X under a bill approved unanimously Thursday by the Massachusetts Senate. Under the legislation, an X designation could be used to indicate that the...
TD Garden to require vaccinations or negative COVID-19 tests
BOSTON (AP) — Anyone hoping to attend an event at the TD Garden — including Bruins or Celtics games and concerts — will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result. The rules apply to players, referees, coaches, musicians, vendors,...
Baker creates clean heat commission to help cut emissions
BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order Monday creating what he described as a first-in-the-nation “Commission on Clean Heat” to help craft policies to reduce heating fuel emissions in Massachusetts. The task of the commission is to establish a...
Worcester announces indoor face covering mandate
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The second largest city in Massachusetts will require everyone to wear masks in indoor public spaces and will also require municipal employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, the city manager announced Friday. The mask mandate that...
West Springfield enacts mask mandate as Big E fair opens
BOSTON (AP) — The Board of Health in West Springfield has approved an indoor mask mandate that takes effect the same day as the opening, for the first time in two years, of what's billed as the largest agricultural fair on the East Coast. The mask mandate starts Friday,...
Marine killed in Kabul given hero's farewell in public wake
LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — A Marine from Massachusetts who was killed last month in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan was given a hero's farewell Tuesday in a public wake and burial attended by hundreds. The flag-draped casket of Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo was carried by...
