Chamber News

Boston Herald – State economists are telling taxpayers to keep an eye on the state budget — and the rainy-day fund — as tens of billions in federal aid and tax collections beyond expectations flow into Massachusetts. A Tuesday memo from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation points out that “much has changed” in the 10 weeks since…

Boston Globe Editorial Board – A traveler shows up at an airline gate, claiming that she’s been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and thus can fly safely to a country that requires that visitors be inoculated. How, exactly, can an airline — or hotel, or any number of other businesses that need to worry about the vaccination…

WWLP – Summer school is still on this year despite a slight rise in COVID-19 cases across the state. Governor Charlie Baker still believes that summer school is vitally important, especially after many students were out of the classroom for the past year. The Baker Administration expects to put in tremendous efforts to keep schools open…

BOSTON  –  The pandemic has caused major changes in employment, transportation, childcare and myriad other areas. On Beacon Hill, policymakers are trying to decide how the state should prepare for a post-pandemic world. On Tuesday, members of the Senate’s newly created Committee on Reimagining Massachusetts Post-Pandemic Resiliency huddled for the first time – virtually– to…

US Treasury – The current public health crisis and resulting economic crisis have devastated the health and economic wellbeing of millions of Americans. From big cities to small towns, Americans – particularly people of color, immigrants, and low-wage workers – are facing a deep economic crisis. More than 9.5 million workers have lost their jobs in…

Eagle Tribune – The state has seen a windfall of pandemic relief funds, with billions of dollars more on the way from Washington, but lawmakers say they’re cut out of decisions on how the money gets spent. On Thursday, members of the House Committee on Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight grilled Finance Secretary Mike Heffernan over…

Wall Street Journal – Before the Covid pandemic erupted, Brooks McCoy made $103,000 a year as a regional director for a commercial cleaning franchise in North Carolina. After being laid off last March, the mother of two resorted to selling Pampered Chef cookware to friends of friends. In August, after months of looking, she found a full-time job…

MassLive – The Massachusetts Legislature’s top budget writers have reached an agreement on school funding, proposing allocating more money than what Gov. Charlie Baker included in his fiscal 2022 budget plan. The House and Senate Ways and Means committees propose a $219.6 million increase in Chapter 70 funds from fiscal 2021, bringing the total amount to…

MassLive – Putting them at odds with Gov. Charlie Baker and a municipal trade group, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka intend to preserve eligibility for municipal employees in an emergency COVID-19 sick leave program that the Legislature is working to finalize and return to the governor’s desk. Baker has proposed several amendments…

MassLive – When the state Department of Unemployment first updated its employer contribution rates for 2021, Suzanne Murphy thought she spotted a mistake. The solvency fund assessment, one of several factors used to calculate a business owner’s unemployment insurance contribution rate, jumped from 0.58% to 9.23% for 2021. For Murphy, CEO of Unemployment Tax Control Associates…