Page 46 - Eric Lesser News Today

Gov. Charlie Baker speaks in November. (Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday signed legislation spreading $626 million around the economy over the next five years and making it easier to build new housing, an area where Massachusetts has lagged behind other states. Baker said the bill was strategically tailored during its drafting to respond to some of the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, Baker cited $40 million in th...

Beacon Hill Roll Call: Jan. 4 to Jan. 8, 2021 Published: 1/15/2021 3:31:42 PM Beacon Hill Roll Call records local representatives’ and senators’ votes on roll calls from the week of Jan. 4 to Jan. 8. The 2019 to 2020 legislative session has ended and the 2021 to 2022 session is now underway. Climate change (S 2296) The House, 145 to 9, and the Senate, 38 to 2, approved and sent to Gov. Charlie Baker a 57-page climate change bill. A key section makes the state’s greenhouse gas emissions r...

Beacon Hill Roll Call: Jan. 4 to Jan. 8, 2021 Modified: 1/15/2021 3:32:12 PM Beacon Hill Roll Call records local representatives’ and senators’ votes on roll calls from the week of Jan. 4 to Jan. 8. The 2019 to 2020 legislative session has ended and the 2021 to 2022 session is now underway. Climate change (S 2296) The House, 145 to 9, and the Senate, 38 to 2, approved and sent to Gov. Charlie Baker a 57-page climate change bill. A key section makes the state’s greenhouse gas emissions re...

Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday signed legislation spreading $626 million around the economy over the next five years and making it easier to build new housing, an area where Massachusetts has lagged behind other states.

Hans Despain: Economic development bill provides Worcester small business, housing relief Hans G. Despain, Telegram & Gazette © . Hans Despain Across the state of Massachusetts hundreds of thousands of citizens remain unemployed, renters are being evicted, tens of thousands of small businesses and restaurants have gone into "hibernation" hoping to reopen sometime in the future, while far too many have already permanently closed. The federal relief bill finally signed by Pres...

Tucked into a 101-page economic development bill passed in the waning hours of the legislative session is a proposal to let Massachusetts tenants facing no-fault evictions get their records sealed. The provision, which lets a tenant petition for the court to seal eviction records, could be a game-changer for renters who had evictions listed in their court records, even if they were paying rent ...

Hans G. Despain: The student loan debt sentence Hans G. Despain Political pressures for student loan forgiveness have been mounting for the past decade. There have been lender jubilees for financial institutions and massive bank bailouts, why not a jubilee for borrowers?  National politicians should follow the lead of Massachusetts State Sen. Eric Lesser (D-Frist Hampden and Hampshire), who proposed a Massachusetts “Student Loan Bill of Rights.” President Trump’s and Secretary of Ed...

Armata’s Market in Longmeadow closes until Jan. 15 as a COVID precaution Updated Jan 07, 2021; LONGMEADOW — Armata’s Market will be closed until Jan. 15 because of COVID-19, according to a post on the grocery’s Facebook page. The store said Thursday that a few of its employees have tested positive in recent days. The time off will allow Armata’s employees to quarantine and for the building to be professionally sanitized. “We thank you for being loyal customers and sticking with u...

Baker has pushed for years for the change as one that is essential to meet his goal of creating 135,000 new units of housing by 2025 to ease the housing crunch, especially around Greater Boston. The bill also included $50 million in funding for transit-oriented housing, $30 million for a loan program similar to the federal Paycheck Protection Program for businesses hurt by COVID-19, and funding for job training, tourism, technology and advance manufacturing. "I think its a great bill. It covers...

With many businesses on the brink after months of scraping by through the pandemic, the Legislature struck a late-night deal Wednesday to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy in an effort to spur job growth and keep businesses afloat. The $626.5 million economic development bill (H 5250) came together in the closing hours of the two-year legislative session after more than five months of private negotiations between House and Senate leaders. While the compromise bill scrapped...