Chamber News

Salem News – Gov. Charlie Baker wants to tax certain businesses to help their owners skirt a federal cap on deductions of state and local taxes. Tucked into Baker’s preliminary budget is a proposed “workaround tax” allowing pass-through corporations — partnerships, limited liability companies, and S corporations — to get around the $10,000 federal cap on…

Boston Globe – After scrambling to shut down their offices last March, many top executives told their staffs that normal commutes would probably resume by sometime in September, if not earlier. But Labor Day 2020 eventually turned into New Year’s Day 2021, as the coronavirus surged and return-to-office timelines kept getting extended. Some of the area’s…

Boston Herald – Moderna is bolstering its coronavirus vaccine manufacturing efforts with an agreement with Baxter BioPharma Solutions to provide fill and finish services for 60-90 million vaccine doses this year. “We have seen a remarkable demonstration of scientific and health-care expertise in the effort to develop vaccines for COVID-19,” said Marie Keeley, vice president of…

Who can get the vaccine now?  Adults age 65-plus and people with two or more serious medical conditions. People who accompany those 75 and older to one of the state’s mass vaccination sites can also be immunized if they make an appointment. Each older resident is limited to one guest who can receive a vaccine. Health care workers, long-term care facility…

NBC Boston – In one week, Massachusetts is expected to move into the final phase of its reopening following last year’s coronavirus shutdowns. The state moved into Phase 3, Step 2 of the four-phased reopening on March 1, and Gov. Charlie Baker has said that provided public health metrics continue to improve all communities in Massachusetts will…

MassLive – Massachusetts public health officials on Sunday reported that 1,508 more residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and another 30 have died from the virus. Since the pandemic hit the U.S. about a year ago, at least 568,616 Bay State residents have tested positive for the coronavirus and 16,311 have died, according to the state Department of…

State House News – The unemployment rate in Massachusetts fell to 7.8 percent in January, and revisions to 2020 estimates have pinpointed the highest spike of pandemic-era joblessness to last April, labor officials announced Friday. The January rate dropped 0.6 percentage points from the revised December rate of 8.4 percent, and it stands 1.5 percentage…

Boston Globe – Child-care providers, whose shoestring survival has been tested by the pandemic conditions of the past year, are not only getting a belated lifeline from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan but also a sudden show of appreciation for their essential role to the economy. The beleaguered Massachusetts child-care system is expected to reap…

State House News – The new federal stimulus is expected to funnel billions of dollars to Massachusetts for state and local government aid, education and transportation funding, and direct payments to more than three million families. Passage of the American Rescue Act that will provide state governments with direct federal aid for the first time…

Boston Globe – Governor Charlie Baker has been called to testify at a second legislative oversight hearing exploring Massachusetts’s COVID-19 rollout, according to state lawmakers, who intend to drill down into his administration’s decision to entrust a handful of private companies with running its seven mass vaccination sites. The March 23 hearing will explore what lawmakers…