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Massachusetts

Healey is right — the shelter system is at a breaking point – The Boston Globe

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Healey is right — the shelter system is at a breaking point – The Boston Globe


The shelter system in Massachusetts is at a breaking point. As the CEO of Heading Home, a shelter provider that serves Eastern Massachusetts, I see the pressure points on the system from all angles.

Hundreds of families are waiting for placement in an Emergency Assistance shelter and those numbers continue to grow. We see families from Massachusetts and families fleeing violence from their home countries seeking safety and refuge for their children. We see families who want to leave shelters but can’t find a home they can afford on their incomes.

We see families struggling with medical needs. We see children with disabilities whose parents can’t work and care for them. We see a disproportionate number of families with very young children. We see bottlenecks at each and every point in the system right now, despite the work that Governor Maura Healey has done to more than double the shelter capacity in the past year.

With nearly 8,000 families currently staying in emergency shelters and at safety-net sites, and more arriving every day, Massachusetts cannot keep up with the demand. And without the state making hard policy decisions on shelters, families with the highest needs will not have access to short-term shelter stays with intensive care management services as they determine their next steps.

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Healey’s policy to limit overflow shelter stays to five days, with extensions for up to a month for some families, is a necessary step to keep families moving along in the housing process and to ensure access for others in need, while making sure that our shelter system can sustain itself for the long-term needs of all people.

The Healey administration has responded to the shelter crisis with a multifaceted team of experts in policy, nonprofit providers, philanthropists, and volunteers — all working to fix the system in real time and through a national housing crisis — so that we don’t lose the right to shelter for families.

There are those who propose getting rid of the law. Some have called the new policy harsh and cruel, claiming the state has turned its back on children. But the administration is working hard to preserve the right to shelter. The governor’s teams have continuously pushed the system to adapt, added capacity and services, and tried to make policies evolve to respond to an ever-changing and continuing crisis, despite fiscal pressures.

We are all working as hard as possible to help families find housing that doesn’t rely on long-term stays in emergency shelters. We have increased staff to work with families on identifying and assessing alternatives to shelter whenever possible, such as relatives, friends, and community members who could provide temporary shelter in Massachusetts and beyond.

This requires the entire shelter and housing ecosystem to be supported with policies and resources dedicated to preserving affordable housing, creating supportive housing, and developing affordable workforce housing — an area where this administration has shown leadership. Systems must have multiple entry points and families must move through the system and have multiple exit strategies to end homelessness. This will create more space in the system to support those most in need and those who are seeking refuge.

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What’s important now is to understand that while we continue to house people at unprecedented rates we simply cannot continue operating our current system structure without putting in jeopardy funding for other things such as school spending, health care, local aid, public safety, or first responder services in the Commonwealth.

Policies are good only when they are properly implemented and sustained, and no policy comes without some unintended consequences. In order for our right-to-shelter law to work effectively, the state has no choice but to put some parameters around all aspects of it.

The next few months will be difficult as the shelter system adjusts, but the new policies will help stabilize the flow of those seeking emergency shelter and improve the overall housing system for the future.

Danielle Ferrier is CEO of Heading Home.





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Massachusetts

Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit

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Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit


Twenty-eight lawmakers dissented Wednesday as the Massachusetts House voted to set new terms around what state Auditor Diana DiZoglio would be able to review in the legislative audit voters authorized her to carry out in 2024.

Almost all House Democrats voted for the measure, which also proposes to make more state government records accessible to the public. Three Democrats — Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly, Attleboro Rep. Jim Hawkins and Fall River Rep. Alan Silvia — joined the body’s 25 Republicans in voting no.

Speaker Ron Mariano said the bill responds to an ongoing call from voters for more transparency out of Beacon Hill and provides a path forward in lieu of a what he called “politically motivated audit conducted in violation of the Constitution.”

Leaders of the House and Senate have resisted DiZoglio’s audit push, arguing that a probe by the auditor’s office would run afoul of the separation of powers laid out in the state Constitution, bringing the legislative branch under the review of a piece of the executive branch.

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“We are not accountable to any constitutional officer,” said Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat. “We are only accountable to our constituents.”

Taunton Rep. Lisa Field, a Democrat in her first term, said she was among the 72% of Massachusetts voters who backed the audit ballot question in 2024.

“Due to legitimate concerns and questions about constitutional privileges and separation of powers, we have been stuck on this audit issue for more than a year,” Field said. “Let’s not be like Washington, D.C. and accept such gridlock — not about the audit and not about public records. Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good progress.”

The House’s bill would authorize DiZoglio to review what it defines as the “administrative functions” of the Legislature, going back to the 2021 fiscal year. Those areas include the adoption of annual budgets, official audits of the House and Senate by independent firms, spending by both chambers, and the execution of any financial settlements with lawmakers and employees.

It would also newly apply the state’s public records law to the governor’s office, and create a process by which people could request and receive certain legislative files.

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Massachusetts is currently the only state where the Legislature, governor and judiciary all claim to be exempt from the public records law.

Warren Republican Rep. Todd Smola described the process that led up to Wednesday’s vote as opaque in and of itself. Mariano last week said the House would take up what he called comprehensive transparency legislation, but did not say when or what, specifically, the bill would do.

The bill was circulated to members of the House Ways and Means Committee around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and committee members had a little over a half hour to vote on whether to advance it. Smola, the ranking Republican on the committee, said during that 34-minute window, “we had members on both sides of the political aisle that were calling each other back and forth to say, ‘Can you explain this portion to me?’”

“We are so much better than the process that has unfolded,” he said. “And for the sake of people that are asking us for transparency, that is not transparency. That’s the opposite of transparency.”

Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican, said he was particularly concerned with a part of the bill that removes the courts from settling disputes between the auditor and the Legislature.

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He said that by setting its own rules around an audit, the House would be “ensuring the auditor can only see exactly what we allow her to see and nothing more.”

It’s not clear yet if the Senate will pass the bill. Last week, state senators voted to turn over a limited set of documents to DiZoglio. The documents the Senate plans to provide mirror the records she would be allowed to review under the House bill.

Asked if he expected the Senate to agree to the legislation, Mariano on Tuesday said only, “I talked to the Senate.”



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French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston

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French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston


BOSTON, MA — An international restaurant group with locations across the globe is preparing to open its first Massachusetts restaurant this year.

LPM Restaurant & Bar, a French Riviera-inspired restaurant founded in London, is set to open on the second floor of the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street in Back Bay, according to Four Seasons. The hotel lists the restaurant as “Opening Summer 2026,” while the Boston Business Journal reported the restaurant plans to open in September.

The Boston restaurant will mark LPM’s debut in the Northeast and its third U.S. outpost, following locations in Miami and Las Vegas, according to a Four Seasons announcement.

LPM, also known as La Petite Maison, was founded in London in 2007 and is known for French-Mediterranean food, Mediterranean ingredients and dining rooms influenced by Belle Époque design.

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The business operates locations in London, Dubai, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Riyadh, Limassol, Doha, Mykonos, Kuwait, Boston, Maldives and Bangkok.

Four Seasons said LPM will take over the space that formerly housed One Dalton’s breakfast concept, One + One. The restaurant will join other dining options at the hotel, including Zuma and Trifecta.

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Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer

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Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer


A Massachusetts high school is under investigation after “several” teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions.

The state Department of Public Health is set to visit Uxbridge High School on Thursday to “conduct a series of air quality tests,” to determine whether the multiple cases are potentially connected.

Superintendent David Ljungberg and Principal Michael Rubin alerted families and district staff on Monday of the “sombering news,” after Uxbridge High School’s graduation over the weekend.

“We are writing to inform you about a concern we are investigating at Uxbridge High School,” Ljungberg and Rubin stated in the letter. “Several female teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions over the past few years.”

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“It is, of course, possible that these multiple cases are not connected to one another,” the leaders added, “but out of abundance of caution, we are looking into any environmental factors at the school that may be a factor in their diagnoses.”

The 123,000-square-foot school, with an enrollment of roughly 600, was constructed in 2012 at a cost of $45 million, including a $22-million state reimbursement.

Uxbridge school leaders say they notified the state Department of Health and local health board as soon as they became aware of the cases, seeking “counsel about how best to proceed.”

“Massachusetts DPH officials have indicated that there is no evidence of immediate danger in the building and no reason to limit access to or use of the facility at this time,” they wrote in their letter. “In fact, the public health officials have commended our decision to approach them with these concerns, our readiness to partner with them in support of the evaluation process.”

Health officials are assessing the school’s interior and exterior to “ensure there are no issues with the infrastructure that would present risks (including electrical, plumbing, mechanical, HVAC, and other systems)” and the indoor and outdoor air quality on campus.

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The superintendent and principal said that state officials have ruled out water supply as a “risk factor” after “thorough testing.”

“The team has reached out to the women who have been diagnosed, requesting data to evaluate whether there may be a connection among their cases,” Ljungberg and Rubin wrote. “We are grateful for their cooperation.”

They added that the state has said discovering an environmental “smoking gun” is “rare” in workplace investigations.

“However, even if a direct causal link is not established,” the leaders wrote, “the administration is utilizing this process to rigorously test the building and guarantee that it meets all safety standards moving forward.”

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