BOSTON—There was no outdoor swearing-in ceremony in the cold. No members received admonitions to stay away. There was a feast in the Great Hall and cake in the Senate reading room at the inaugural festivities of the 193rd General Court that formally installed the House and Senate.
Maura Healey, the former b-baller and civil rights attorney who leapt from obscurity to become the top lawyer in Massachusetts, took office Thursday as the commonwealth’s 73rd governor. She becomes the first woman and the first gay-identifying person to hold the highest office in Massachusetts and one of the most ancient in the United States.
BOSTON—On the eve of Governor Charlie Baker’s last day as governor—and Attorney General Maura Healey’s first—the Supreme Judicial Court considered an appeal in the waning litigation from the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. The indictments reflect one of the Baker administration’s darkest hours.
The year 2022 has come and gone with much affecting the City of Springfield. As a part of the commonwealth, nation and world, it felt inflation, the war in Ukraine, national political contests and the state’s own elections.
BOSTON—Days before Eric Lesser gave his last speech as a state senator from Western Massachusetts, the commonwealth, jointly with Amtrak, applied for a $108 million federal grant. In the twilight of his Senate tenure, the project took one of its greatest leaps toward reality.
Nearly three weeks after Attorney General Maura Healey formally became governor-elect of the commonwealth, some meat on the bones of her budding administration are coming into view. Some of their choices for policy committees signal some commitment to a key promise.
BELCHERTOWN—Eight years ago, Aaron Saunders never got the chance to campaign with a US Senator. Flash forward to the Saturday before Election Day this year that, until the end, looked rough for Democrats. Markey was on hand to rally the troops here, a crucial town for the House district Saunders was running in.
LUDLOW—In a night that showed Democrats holding out better than expected, Massachusetts made history with the election of the first woman as its chief executive. In the 413, the few competitive races sorted in line with expectations.
SPRINGFIELD—It was a perfect day for peacemaking last month outside Union Station. Yet, the political and practical challenges of stitching east and west together pale in comparison to the broader task before Maura Healey.
The legal drama around the criminal indictments arising from the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home COVID-19 outbreak has flown under the radar since the appeal began. The case, however, jolted a bit in public view again as Healey’s office sought direct review from the Supreme Judicial Court.