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WORCESTER, MA — What’s the difference between the drive to Boston from Worcester, and the drive to Boston from Nashua, NH?
About $4.40, if you pay your toll with an E-Z Pass transponder.
MassDOT Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt this week sparked a border war when she suggested Massachusetts should start tolling drivers coming into the state from New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Howie Carr called her a “nutjob,” the Herald used the headline “Off Her Nutt.”
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte both took shots at the idea (perhaps forgetting about their state’s tolls near the MA border?) and even Gov. Maura Healey stepped in to clarify the MassDOT chief’s toll opinions “do not represent the views of this administration.”
But if you’re a resident of anywhere west of I-95 — or even New York and Connecticut — you might’ve been left wondering: shouldn’t those out-of-state commuters pay their fair share, just like we do?
Maybe it’s another case of Boston-brain, which causes anyone within a subway ride of Beacon Hill to forget about the whole rest of the state. If you drive to Boston from Worcester, Framingham, Westborough or even Springfield, you pay tolls back and forth, every day. Anyone heading to Boston from central Connecticut will also likely pay a Mass Pike toll. Same for any day tripper or ultra-commuter coming to the Berkshires or Boston from just over the New York border.
Tibbits-Nutt’s comments were related to a state task force established by Healey that’s charged with developing a long-term funding plan to keep roads, bridges, highways and transit infrastructure “safe, reliable, and efficient.” The task force does include representatives from central Massachusetts, including former Worcester city manager Ed Augustus, Worcester School Committee member Alex Guardiola and Shrewsbury resident and 495/MetroWest Partnership Executive Director Jason Palitsch.
Tibbits-Nutt has said she wants the task force to be aggressive, exploring revenue sources like tolling and charging heavy road users, like delivery services and rideshare companies. The state takes in about $1 billion each year from tolls and gas taxes, but needs to spend more than double that to keep up with infrastructure — an important task made very real recently by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, and the failure of the I-195 bridge between Providence and East Providence.
If you pay tolls, or just want to give your opinion, take our (very unscientific) poll:
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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