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Facing economic uncertainty, Mass. lawmakers say they have agreement on state budget – The Boston Globe

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Facing economic uncertainty, Mass. lawmakers say they have agreement on state budget – The Boston Globe


Lawmakers plan to vote on the budget proposal Monday, they said, and send it to Governor Maura Healey. She will then have 10 days to review the bill. State law affords Healey the ability to veto specific items or sections, or return certain provisions with amendments.

In the meantime, state government won’t shut down. Healey has put forward a temporary spending bill that lawmakers are expected to pass as a stopgap while the governor reviews the year-long budget.

The nearly $62 billion proposal that House and Senate leaders negotiated will be, by most accounts, the most important piece of legislation to pass on Beacon Hill this year. It dictates how an array of state and quasi-public agencies are funded, spreads millions of dollars in earmarks to towns, cities, and projects, and often carries weighty policy implications.

The proposals represent a roughly 6 percent increase in state spending over the version Healey signed last summer.

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Both versions of the budget, however, had spending differences.

The House, for example, carved out $187 million more more in funding for the cash-starved MBTA than the Senate did, while the Senate dedicated more money than the House for areas like education or housing, according to budget watchdog Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

The business-backed non-profit also said that the revenue estimates lawmakers used to build their budget may be overly generous, arguing that tax revenue may come in at least $600 million below what state officials’ projected for the July through June 2026 fiscal year based on current trends.

And that $600 million downgrade, MTF officials said, doesn’t even account for potential impacts of the Trump administration’s trade policies or the chance of an economic downturn. Accounting for those, the foundation wrote in a brief released Wednesday, “would likely result in a downgrade [of] over $1 billion.”

Just Friday, the Healey administration announced that the Trump administration cut more than $45 million in funding for to land conservation efforts across state, and cancelled a $25 million grant to Mass Audubon to protect forests and wetlands along the Connecticut River.

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The state has so far been beating its revenue estimates this year. But that’s been fueled by revenue generated by the state’s surtax on wealthy residents and capital gains. They are both buckets of cash that state officials largely can’t use to balance the budget as a whole.

Whether a recession may hit the state or the country is also unclear. But budget-watchers have been warning lawmakers for months that they should dramatically pare back their spending plans and revenue projections. If tax revenue or federal help crumble, opening a hole in the budget, the decisions about what programs to cut could fall squarely on Healey to make.

The House and Senate’s roughly $61.5 billion proposals both seek to spend about $500 million less than what Healey proposed in January. But either version would push spending up 6.4 percent over the budget Healey signed last year, adding to an explosion in state spending since the time shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fate of several major policy initiatives also hangs in the balance.

The Senate, for example, attached a rider to its budget plan that would give local officials, not lawmakers on Beacon Hill, the power to determine the number of liquor licenses distributed in their city or town.

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For decades, local officials have needed legislative approval to issue liquor licenses to restaurants and other businesses beyond a certain cap set in law, forcing them to navigate Beacon Hill’s sluggish home-rule petition process.

The Senate-passed proposal, which also sought to bar the transfer of liquor licenses between establishments, offered a potential sea change. It also faced immediate resistance in the House, where Majority Leader Michael Moran compared ceding legislative approval over the licenses to “political recklessness.”

The Senate’s budget also sought to make the state’s regional transit authorities fare-free, tucking in language banning them from charging passengers for rides while dedicating $40 million in revenue from the state’s surtax on wealthy residents to cover the costs. (The language was not in the House’s version.)

The House, meanwhile, moved to block a proposed change to lottery admissions for the state’s popular trade high schools, instead proposing to create a task force to make recommendations on admissions policies. (The Senate did not include that in its own plan.)

Both chambers included proposals they said would help protect renters from paying hefty broker’s fees, charges that typically amount to a month’s rent and which renters in virtually every other major American urban center are not obligated to pay.

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But plans had stark differences. The Senate language put the onus of paying a fee on whoever “originally engaged and entered into a contract” with a broker, which is typically a landlord.

The House’s version left open the possibility of renters covering the fee if they “initiated contact” with the broker, which include by simply responding to an apartment listing.


Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross. Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.





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How will the Iran war impact gas prices in Massachusetts?

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How will the Iran war impact gas prices in Massachusetts?


With a widening conflict in the Middle East after the American and Israeli attack on Iran Saturday, global markets are bracing for a shakeup in the energy supply chain.

So, here at home, what can consumers expect at the gas pump?

An increase in oil prices is almost always followed by an increase in gas prices. And the oil market has already reacted to the war. NBC News reported on Sunday that U.S. crude oil initially spiked more than 10%, while Brent, the international oil benchmark, rose as much as 13%.

Early Monday morning, reports were coming in of black smoke rising from the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City.

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While Iran’s oil reserves supply less than an estimated 5% of global production, the main concern is the Strait of Hormuz. This maritime passageway borders Iran at the bottleneck of the Persian Gulf, and more than 20% of the world’s oil passes through. If Iran closes or restricts Hormuz, the oil market could face severe disruptions.

Gas prices rise about 2.5 cents for every dollar increase in crude oil prices. As of Sunday, U.S. crude oil prices had already increased by nearly $5 a barrel.

“I fully expect that by Monday night, you could credibly say that gas prices are being impacted by oil prices having gone up,” GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan told NBC News.

GasBuddy characterizes their expectations for price increases as “incremental” rather than “explosive”. The group said to anticipate a potential 10-15 cent increase over the next couple of weeks.

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Body camera video shows Massachusetts police officer save 78-year-old man from burning truck – East Idaho News

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Body camera video shows Massachusetts police officer save 78-year-old man from burning truck – East Idaho News


EASTON, Mass. (WBZ) — Police body camera video shows an Easton, Massachusetts, officer rescuing a 78-year-old Raynham man from a burning car on Friday morning.

A Mack dump truck was experiencing problems on the side of Turnpike Street just after 2 a.m. when a Ford pickup truck struck the back of it, according to police.

The pickup truck then became stuck under the dump truck, trapping the driver, Francis Leverone, inside. A Toyota Camry then hit the back of the pickup truck and caught fire, police said.

Easton police officer Dean Soucie arrived at the crash and saw that the two vehicles were on fire. Video shows Soucie rushing over before breaking the driver’s side window and then, with the help of the two witnesses, freeing Leverone from the pickup truck. Soucie said he was confused but conscious.

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“As I reached inside the vehicle, one of the passersby — he actually jumped into the cab of the truck, and he helped me free the individual,” Soucie said.

They then carried the driver to safety.

Leverone was taken to a nearby hospital before being transferred to a Boston hospital. He received serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

No one else was injured in the crash.

Dee Leverone told WBZ her husband is doing OK. “I’m just thankful for the people that got him out,” she said. “Very thankful.”

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After watching the police body-cam video on the news she said, “I was shocked, I was like ‘Oh my God!’ I just couldn’t believe it. His truck is like melted.”

She says she realized that something was wrong last night when her husband never made it home from work.

“I kept trying to call him and call him, and I finally got a hold of him at like 4:30 a.m., and he was at (Good Samaritan Hospital) and he told me he’s gotten in an accident,” Dee said.

She says he’s recovering at the Boston Medical Center and being treated for a dislocated hip.

“He’s a trooper,” Dee said. “He’s a strong man — and you know he’s 78, but you know he’s a toughie. He definitely is a toughie.”

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Soucie commended the help of the two witnesses and said that before he arrived at the crash, they had attempted to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher and removed a gasoline tank from the pickup truck before it could ignite.

“They jumped into action like it was nothing,” Soucie said. “Those two individuals were absolutely awesome.”

Easton Police Chief Keith Boone said that he is “extremely proud” of Soucie and the witnesses.

“He saved a life last night,” Chief Boone said. “He is an exemplary police officer and this is just one example. I think he’s a hero.”

Turnpike Street was closed for several hours following the crash. Easton Police are investigating.

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Crews battle fire at Townsend home

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Crews battle fire at Townsend home


A fire broke out Sunday morning in Townsend, Massachusetts.

The Townsend Fire department said shortly before 7 a.m. that firefighters were on scene for a structure fire on Dudley Road.

People have been asked to avoid the area.

The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said state police fire investigators assigned to the state fire marshal’s office are responding to assist the Townsend Fire Department.

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There was no immediate word on any injuries, or any information on what caused the fire. It’s also unclear if the large snow piles in the area impeded access to fire hydrants, as was the case at the house explosion in Taunton last week.

This developing story will be updated when we learn more



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