By Bob Katzen
“Nearly 70 percent of those deaths took place where we should feel safest – at home. Tragically, more than half of those deaths took place in homes without working smoke alarms. And about two-thirds of last year’s fatal fire victims were adults aged 65 or older.”
—State Fire Marshal Jon Davine on the 45 Massachusetts residents who died in fires last year.
“When a company repeatedly violates our wage and benefits laws, the workers and their families suffer, and sadly some of these violations took place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. My office will continue to hold accountable those who violate our worker protection laws.”
—Attorney General Andrea Campbell announcing $2.4 million in citations against Concierge Services, Inc., a Plymouth-based corporation that provides concierges staffing services to high-end, luxury properties in Greater Boston. The violations include failure to pay minimum wage and overtime, failure
to make timely payment of wages, improper deductions from wages, record keeping violations and failure to comply with numerous provisions of Massachusetts’ earned sick time law.
“As the largest fair housing lawsuit by defendant size in Massachusetts history, this lawsuit sends a clear message to every landlord and broker in the state: if you are a real estate company that discriminates against families and children with housing vouchers, the question of whether you will be caught is not a matter of if, but when.”
— Aaron Carr, Founder and Executive Director of Housing Rights Initiative on the group’s lawsuit against 20 Boston-area landlords and real estate brokers for alleged discrimination against low-income tenants.
“Our communities deserve water infrastructure that fully serves their needs, protects residents from harm and preserves our natural resources. This funding will make a real difference in addressing combined sewer overflows that affect water quality and our environment and removing contaminants like PFAS from our drinking water.”
—Commissioner Bonnie Heiple of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, announcing the $151 million federal grant for Massachusetts drinking water and clean water infrastructure upgrades.