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Massachusetts

Massachusetts Governor Signs Bill To Allow Recreational Pot

August 1, 2017 Reid Wilson, www.thehill.com , , ,
By Reid Wilson for The Hill - Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) has signed a new measure that sets in motion a nearly yearlong process to legalize marijuana for recreational use, after months of negotiations with the state legislature. The law comes nine months after voters in Massachusetts and three other states approved ballot measures to allow recreational marijuana. The first recreational pot shops are set to open in July 2018. “We appreciate the careful consideration the legislature took to balance input from lawmakers, educators, public safety officials and public health professionals, while honoring the will of the voters regarding the adult use of marijuana,” Baker said in a statement. The new legislation makes significant changes to the initiative Bay State voters passed last year, increasing sales taxes on legal marijuana from 12 percent to 20 percent. The state will levy a 17 percent tax, while municipalities will issue their own 3 percent tax. Massachusetts anticipates generating as much as $83 million in tax revenue from marijuana sales during the first year of legalization alone, the state Department of Revenue estimated earlier this year. Sales during the second year are expected to top out at more than $1 billion, generating tax revenue of up to $200 million.

SJC Rules Against ICE In Blockbuster Massachusetts Immigration Case

July 26, 2017 Chris Villani, www.bostonherald.com , ,
By Chris Villani for Boston Herald - Massachusetts court officers cannot hold a suspected illegal immigrant in custody at the request of federal immigration agents if there is no criminal warrant or criminal detainer, the state’s highest court today found today in a blockbuster ruling sure to send shockwaves through the Bay State's immigration enforcement system. "Massachusetts law provides no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer beyond the time that individual would otherwise be entitled to a release from State custody,” the unanimous Supreme Judicial Court ruling states. The case was brought to the SJC by a Cambodian national named Sreynuon Lunn who was in custody on a case out of Boston Municipal Court. Unable to post a $1,500 bail, Lunn was held until his trial date, Feb. 6 of this year, at which time the charges were dismissed when Suffolk prosecutors could not move forward with a trial. However, Judge Michael Coyne refused to release Lunn due to a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court documents.

Massachusetts To Vote On Taxing The Wealthy

June 19, 2017 Staff, www.massteacher.org , , ,
By Staff of MTA - The Massachusetts Legislature, meeting in a Constitutional Convention, has approved sending the proposed Fair Share Amendment to the November 2018 state ballot. The legislators’ vote of 134-55 on Wednesday, June 14, was the second by a Constitutional Convention on the measure, as is required for amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution. The citizens’ initiative would create an additional 4 percent tax on annual income over $1 million. The tax would raise almost $2 billion a year for public education and transportation. To ensure that the tax would be applied only to the highest-income residents, the $1 million threshold would be adjusted each year to reflect cost-of-living increases. MTA President Barbara Madeloni said that the amendment is needed because “our public schools and colleges are drastically underfunded.” “We have many communities in need of free high-quality prekindergarten,” she continued. “We need to make sure that arts, athletics and cultural activities are available to students no matter where they live — and we cannot let cost be a hurdle to students looking to pursue higher education in our public colleges and universities. It’s time to give the voters public education funding that is sufficient to meet the needs of all of our students.”

Massachusetts: 21,000 Drug Cases Could Be Dismissed

April 22, 2017 Staff, www.aljazeera.com , ,
By Staff of Al Jazeera - More than 21,000 convicted drug offenders in the US state of Massachusetts may have their cases dismissed because a former police chemist tampered with evidence and falsified tests. If the cases are thrown out, the event would mark the largest dismissal of criminal convictions in UShistory, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts. The state's highest court had ordered district attorneys in seven counties to produce lists by Tuesday indicating how many of approximately 24,000 cases involving Annie Dookhan they would be unable or unwilling to prosecute if the defendants were granted new trials. The cases would be formally dismissed by court action, expected on Thursday, the ACLU said. "Today is a major victory for justice and fairness, and for thousands of people in the commonwealth who were unfairly convicted of drug offences," Matthew Segal, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said on Tuesday. An investigation in 2013 found that Dookhan falsified test results as far back as 2004.

Why Are They Still Prosecuting Pot Cases In Massachusetts?

February 6, 2017 Mike Crawford, www.alternet.org ,
By Mike Crawford for Alternet. With marijuana having been legalized through the ballot in Massachusetts, and with it now being legal to grow 12 cannabis plants in a household, one might expect to see any existing small time marijuana grow cases to be dismissed.At the same time, state Sen Jason Lewis, considered the leading expert on weed among Beacon Hill lawmakers who themselves know little to nothing, is aiming to severely cut the cannabis possession limit from 10 ounces at home to 2 ounces, as well as limit for home grown plants from 12 to 6. Ironically, Lewis and others have shown superficial support for criminal justice reform—all while lining up to kill and compromise marijuana legalization, one of the clearest wins for criminal justice reformers in recent Mass memory. There is, of course, a choice. Instead of gutting the reform, Lewis should consider joining his colleague Jamie Eldridge in developing an amnesty bill that would dismiss charges, free prisoners, and seal criminal records related to marijuana. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.

Political Elites Are Trying To Wreck Massachusetts’ New Marijuana Law

December 10, 2016 Mike Crawford, www.alternet.org , ,
By Mike Crawford for AlterNet - Immediately after Massachusetts voters passed Question 4 to legalize marijuana, the top office-holder tasked with leading the implementation and regulation of the law, Treasurer Deb Goldberg, was already asking to change it. She wasn’t alone. Within a week of people passing the initiative to tax and regulate cannabis, many other influential Bay State politicians—and at least one hack scribe, Boston Globe pro-business siren Shirley Leung—were advocating to repeal parts of the law that 1,745,945 heads pulled for.

A Turning Point For The Charter School Movement

September 1, 2016 Molly Knefel, www.truth-out.org ,
By Molly Knefel for Truthout - A political battle is being waged over charter schools in Massachusetts right now, and it's a microcosm of the state of the charter debate across the country. In the lead-up to a November ballot measure in which voters will decide whether or not to lift the state's cap on charter schools, known as Question 2, Democrats passed a resolution this month opposing charter school expansion.

Massachusetts Supreme Court Rules Against Pipeline Tax

August 18, 2016 Larry Chretien and Eugenia Gibbons, www.blog.massenergy.org , , ,
By Larry Chretien and Eugenia Gibbons for Mass Energy Consumers Alliance - On May 17, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a unanimous opinion confirming that the landmark 2008 climate protection law, the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), requires the state to take enforceable action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on an annual basis in order to achieve the law’s mandate. Basically, they said “limits are limits”, the targets are binding, more needs to be done to achieve the emission target for 2020, and the law is unambiguous.

Protesters Call For Halt To Three Massachusetts Pipeline Projects

July 21, 2016 Phil Mckenna, www.insideclimatenews.org , ,
By Phil Mckenna for Inside Climate News - Hundreds of environmental activists protested at the Massachusetts Statehouse this week against natural gas pipeline projects that would significantly increase the amount of fracked gas delivered to the eastern part of the state. Pipeline opponents said the added capacity isn't needed, would rely on increases in consumer utility rates, and would lock the state into future dependence on fossil fuels and their related emissions for decades.

Prisoners Met With Legislators On Reform, Put In Solitary

May 31, 2016 Staff, www.solitarywatch.com , ,
By Staff of Solitary Watch - Three men incarcerated in Massachusetts who were working with a prison reform caucus of state legislators have been thrown in solitary confinement, in an apparent retaliation against their activism and an attempt to disrupt further communications. In the middle of the night on March 23, 52-year-old Timothy Muise, 44-year-old Shawn Fisher, and 39-year-old Steven James were taken from their cells at the medium-security prison MCI Shirley, handcuffed, and transported by van to three separate prisons spread across the state..

Massachusetts Court Sides With Teenagers In ‘Historic’ Climate Victory

May 18, 2016 Deirdre Fulton, www.commondreams.org ,
By Deirdre Fulton for Common Dreams - Siding with four teenage plaintiffs and the environmental groups that backed them, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday ruled that the state has failed to fulfill its legal obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The unanimous decision from the state's highest court reverses a lower court ruling and requires the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issue regulations

Minisink, A Cautionary Tale Every Community Can Learn From

April 21, 2016 Elaine Ulman, www.recorder.com , ,
By Elaine Ulman for The Recorder - Once upon a time back in 2011, Minisink, a small New York town about an hour northwest of Manhattan, faced a big problem. That may sound like the start of a fable, but rest assured: All names, dates, and events in this commentary are real, as is “the Monster.” That summer the Millennium Pipeline Company LLC proposed to run a 30-inch fracked gas pipeline through town and install a 12,000-horsepower compressor station.

Cape Cod Activist Found Guilty; Act Of Conscience Or Crime?

February 8, 2016 Karen Vale, www.capecodbaywatch.org , , , ,
By Karen Vale for Cape Cod Bay Watch. Plymouth, MA - Seventy-three year old Paul Rifkin of Mashpee, Mass. was on trial February 2 at Plymouth District Court. The charge was trespassing at Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Mother’s Day in 2015 during a rally with 40 other protestors. Two people were arrested, and it was Rifkin’s third arrest at Pilgrim. Rifkin refused to plead guilty or accept a deal with the prosecution because his actions last May, he stated, “deserved commendation, not condemnation.” He chose to have a jury trial with the possibility of jail time. A jury of six was selected and Rifkin represented himself.

Pipeline Perambulations

January 24, 2016 Melinda Tuhus, www.melindatuhus.net , ,
By Melinda Tuhus for MelindaTuhus.net. I just got back from a transformative three-day walk to Stop the Pipeline in northwest Mass., through several “hill towns,” as the locals call them. It was organized almost single-handedly by a feisty septuagenarian named Hattie Nestel.​ For over a year, abutting property owners, local officials, the president of the state senate, the state attorney general and major environmental groups have all been saying the Tennessee Pipe Line Company's Northeast Energy Direct pipeline is not needed nor wanted. It would bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania through New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which they say will be exported to Eastern Canada. The love, commitment and generosity of spirit were almost overwhelming. As Hattie said at the end of our conversation, “People are really upset about this, so there’s a lot of activism in Massachusetts to stop this pipeline, and we might do it, we just might do it.”

Peaceful Protesters Walk Against Pipeline

January 21, 2016 Rachel Rapkin and Lisa Spear, www.recorder.com , ,
By Rachel Rapkin and Lisa Spear for the Recorder - DEERFIELD — A crowd of peaceful protesters are trekking part of the route of the proposed natural-gas pipeline from Northfield to Plainfield, to both commemorate the life of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and to put a stop to the fossil fuel industry’s plan to construct the Tennessee Gas Pipeline that would run through western Massachusetts. “People are so worried about what is happening locally and globally,” said Sister Clare Carter, a Buddhist nun who has lived at the New England Peace Pagoda in Leverett for nearly 30 years.
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