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Massachusetts appropriates $1M for alternative program or nonviolent offenders from Mass and Cass

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Massachusetts appropriates M for alternative program or nonviolent offenders from Mass and Cass


Lawmakers are making a move to tackle the Mass and Cass problem by putting $1 million toward alternative treatment to get nonviolent offenders clean and out of the encampment at the center of the region’s opioid crisis.

“We’re extremely grateful that the Legislature has recognized the value of this program and the extreme urgency of addressing the complex problems at Mass and Cass,” said Suffolk District Attorney’s Office chief spokesman James Borghesani.

The $56.2 billion state budget, passed on the last day of July, is awaiting Gov. Maura Healey’s signature.

The million dollars is found on page 23 of the nearly 400-page state budget. This section outlines an appropriation just shy of $1.5 million toward “the implementation and administration of drug diversion programs for nonviolent young adult drug offenders,” with the bulk of the funds intended directly for a program run in Suffolk County.

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“Not less than $1,000,000 shall be expended for the Services Over Sentences program to address the ongoing public health and safety crisis at the intersection and surrounding area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard,” the bill states.

The Services Over Sentences, or SOS, program began in county and Boston municipal courts in 2021 and expanded in May of last year with $400,000 obtained from the DA’s office’s Asset Forfeiture fund — the proceeds of sales from assets obtained from suspected drug dealers and others during investigations — “with the goal of aiding individuals who reside in and frequent the Mass and Cass section of Boston,” a statement from the office announced at the time.

Borghesani said that the appropriation is all fresh funding in addition to that earlier funding.

The funding is the latest piece in a flurry of attention to Mass and Cass.

Two letters from local, state and federal lawmakers representing Boston called for a police sweep of the troubled area. Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday said that conditions there have reached “a new level of public safety alarm” over the past several weeks. And the heavy rains experienced in the Hub recently have some observers worried about runoff from Mass and Cass polluting the harbor.

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The DA’s office partners with North Suffolk Community Services — which was called the North Suffolk Mental Health Association at the time — so “non-violent offenders with mental health or substance use disorders can volunteer to work with clinicians and recovery coaches on an intensive recovery program.”

In the roughly one year since the expansion, 73 nonviolent offenders from the Mass and Cass area have been referred to the program, according to the DA’s office. It was not immediately clear how many of those people opted for the program.

NSCS, formerly NSMHA, was founded in 1959 by the residents of East Boston and the Suffolk County cities of Chelsea, Winthrop, and Revere and, its website states, provides “a comprehensive array of treatment and recovery services” in support of the stability of individuals and families. The Center did not return inquiries submitted earlier this week.

Borghesani said that the office had unsuccessfully requested the $1 million in funding for last year’s budget, of which the program received a fraction of that, and repeated the request for the fiscal 2024 budget.

“The Suffolk delegation got behind it and pushed it in,” he said. “A lot of the credit goes to the entire Suffolk delegation, especially Sen. Nick Collins.”

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Collins, who represents the area in the state Senate, said “It was a no-brainer to step that (initial funding up) and provide those resources for those battling substance use disorder, and that being their primary reason for engagement with the criminal justice system.”

He said that state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, another representative for the region and the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, was essential to getting the funding in place on the house side.

“This is one piece of the puzzle, but an important piece, to ensure we have the resources in the right hands to divert people to treatment and give them a shot,” Collins said. “People need a year; we need to do everything we can do to give them a year to get sober and healthy, and that has to be available with a carrot and a stick.”

He said current policies show the situation at Mass and Cass “is not containable,” and said it’s time “to get beyond the political paralysis that have us distributing needles then found in parks all over the city … It has left us with an untenable situation for far too long.”

The Mass and Cass encampment is filled with tents and drug users in what city officials are calling a crisis. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)



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Massachusetts

Disciplinary hearing for suspended Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor continued to 2nd day

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January 15, 2025

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Disciplinary hearing for suspended Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor continued to 2nd day


Suspended Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor’s Trial Board disciplinary proceedings will go on to a second day.

Proctor’s trouble publicly began when he testified during the murder trial of Karen Read last summer. During a tense examination by the prosecution and even more intense cross examination, Proctor admitted to inappropriate private texts that he made as the case officer investigating Read.

“She’s a whack job (expletive),” Proctor read from compilations of text messages he sent to friends as he looked at Read’s phone. The last word was a derogatory term for women that he at first tried to spell out before Judge Beverly Cannone told him to read it the way he wrote it.

“Yes she’s a babe. Weird Fall River accent, though. No (butt),” he continued under oath on June 10, 2024.

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He also texted them “no nudes so far” as an update on the search through her phone. He also testified that he told his sister that he hoped that Read would kill herself.

On Wednesday, Proctor sat through a full day of trial board proceedings at MSP general headquarters in Framingham. When that concluded in the late afternoon, the board decided to continue for a second day on Feb. 10. Neither Wednesday’s proceeding nor the second day is open to the public.

Proctor was relieved of duty on July 1 of last year, which was the day the Read trial concluded in mistrial. He was suspended without pay a week later. The State Police finished its internal affairs investigation last week and convened the trial board to determine the next step in the disciplinary process.

The trial board makes disciplinary recommendations to the superintendent, who determines the final outcome.

“A State Police Trial Board shall hear cases regarding violations of Rules, Regulations, Policies, Procedures, Orders, or Directives,” states the Department’s Rules and Regulations.

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“In the event that the Trial Board finds guilt by a preponderance of the evidence on one or more of the charges, the Trial Board shall consider the evidence presented by the Department prosecutor pertaining to the accused member’s prior offenses/disciplinary history, and shall make recommendations for administrative action,” the rules and regulations state.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, faces charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision causing the death of O’Keefe, a 16-year Boston Police officer when he died at age 46 on Jan. 29, 2022. Read’s second trial is scheduled to begin April 16.

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Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe

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January 15, 2025

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Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe


Tech startups based in Massachusetts finished 2024 with a buzz of activity in venture capital fundraising.

In the fourth quarter, 191 startups raised a total of $4.1 billion, 20 percent more than startups raised in the same period a year earlier, according to a report from research firm Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. For the full year, local startups raised $15.7 billion, about the same as in 2023.

The stability ended two years of sharp declines from the peak of startup fundraising in 2021. Slowing e-commerce sales, volatility in tech stock prices, and higher interest rates combined to slam the brakes on startup VC activity over the past three years. The 2024 total is less half the $34.7 billion Massachusetts startups raised in 2021.

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But local startup investors have expressed optimism that VC backing will continue to pick up in 2025.

The fourth quarter’s activity was led by battery maker Form Energy’s $455 million deal and biotech obesity drugmaker Kailera Therapeutics’ $400 million deal, both in October, and MIT spinoff Liquid AI’s $250 million deal last month. Two more biotech VC deals in October rounded out the top five. Seaport Therapeutics, working on new antidepressants, raised $226 million and Alpha-9 Oncology, developing new treatments for cancer patients, raised $175 million.

Massachusetts ranked third in the country in VC activity in the quarter. Startups based in California raised $49.9 billion and New York-based companies raised $5.3 billion.

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Venture capital firms, however, had an even harder time raising money in 2024 compared to earlier years. Massachusetts firms raised $5.9 billion, down 7 percent from 2023 and the lowest total since 2018. That mirrored the national trend, as VC firms across the country raised $76.1 billion, down 22 percent from 2023 and the lowest since 2019.

Only one Massachusetts-based VC firm raised more than $1 billion in 2024, a more common occurrence in prior years, according to the report: Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge raised $2.6 billion in July for its eighth investment fund plus another $1 billion for smaller funds. The firm, founded by biotech entrepreneur Noubar Afeyan, helps develop scientific research for startups in addition to providing funding.

The next largest deals were Cambridge-based Atlas Ventures’ $450 million biotech-focused fund announced last month and Engine Ventures $400 million fund investing in climate tech startups announced in June.

The decline comes as VC firms have had trouble getting a return on their investments, because so few startups have been able to go public. Just six biotech companies based in Massachusetts and no tech companies went public last year.

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Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.





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Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations

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19 hours ago

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January 15, 2025

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Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations


The Healey administration filed emergency regulations late Tuesday afternoon to implement the controversial law meant to spur greater housing production, after Massachusetts’ highest court struck down the last pass at drafting those rules.

The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities Act as a constitutional law last week, but said it was “ineffective” until the governor’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities promulgated new guidelines. The court said EOHLC did not follow state law when creating the regulations the first time around, rendering them “presently unenforceable.”

The emergency regulations filed Tuesday are in effect for 90 days. Over the next three months, EOHLC intends to adopt permanent guidelines following a public comment period, before the expiration of the temporary procedures, a release from the office said.

“The emergency regulations do not substantively change the law’s zoning requirements and do not affect any determinations of compliance that have been already issued by EOHLC. The regulations do provide additional time for MBTA communities that failed to meet prior deadlines to come into compliance with the law,” the press release said.

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Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state’s attorney general has the power to enforce the MBTA Communities Law, which requires communities near MBTA services to zone for more multifamily housing, but it also ruled that existing guidelines aren’t enforceable.

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The MBTA Communities Act requires 177 municipalities that host or are adjacent to MBTA service to zone for multifamily housing by right in at least one district.

Cities and towns are classified in one of four categories, and there were different compliance deadlines in the original regulations promulgated by EOHLC: host to rapid transit service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2023), host to commuter rail service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024), adjacent community (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024) and adjacent small town (deadline of Dec. 31, 2025).

Under the emergency regulations, communities that did not meet prior deadlines must submit a new action plan to the state with a plan to comply with the law by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2025. These communities will then have until July 14, 2025, to submit a district compliance application to the state.

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Communities designated as adjacent small towns still face the Dec. 31, 2025 deadline to adopt compliant zoning.

The town of Needham voted Tuesday on a special referendum over whether to re-zone the town for 3,000 more units of housing under Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities law.

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Like the old version of the guidelines, the new emergency regulations gives EOHLC the right to determine whether a city or town’s zoning provisions to allow for multi-family housing as of right are consistent with certain affordability requirements, and to determine what is a “reasonable size” for the multi-family zoning district.

The filing of emergency regulations comes six days after the SJC decision — though later than the governor’s office originally projected. Healey originally said her team would move to craft new regulations by the end of last week to plug the gap opened up by the ruling.

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“These regulations will allow us to continue moving forward with implementation of the MBTA Communities Law, which will increase housing production and lower costs across the state,” Healey said in a statement Tuesday. “These regulations allow communities more time to come into compliance with the law, and we are committed to working with them to advance zoning plans that fit their unique needs.”

A total of 116 communities out of the 177 subject to the law have already adopted multi-family zoning districts to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, according to EOHLC.





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