By Bob Katzen

“Improving literacy outcomes takes more than a one-time investment. It requires sustained commitment to high-quality instruction. By helping districts strengthen curriculum, build educator capacity and support effective implementation, these grants will create lasting improvements for students across the commonwealth.”
—Education Secretary Steve Zrike announcing $24.7 million in grants to 71 school districts to strengthen literacy instruction and improve reading outcomes for students across the state.

“As a millennial, I’ve seen firsthand how Massachusetts’ dire housing shortage is harming our families, our workforce and our future prosperity. The Affordable Homes Act demonstrates what we can accomplish with bold investments and new approaches to this persistent but solvable problem. Because of the Affordable Homes Act, we’re finally putting a real dent in a decades-in-the-making housing crisis with a sweeping array of tools and resources to construct and preserve housing across the commonwealth.”
—Sen. Julian Cyr (D-Truro), Senate chair of the Committee on Housing, on the 2-year anniversary of the Legislature approving the landmark Affordable Homes Act which supporters say continues to deliver measurable progress toward increasing housing production, lowering barriers to building and helping more Massachusetts residents find homes they can afford.

“Every worker in Massachusetts is entitled to be paid the wages they rightfully earn, and when employers violate our labor laws, my office will hold them accountable. These cases put employers on notice that we will not tolerate exploitative and illegal actions that harm our workforce. I’m grateful to my office’s Fair Labor Division for securing more than $800,000, the majority of which will be returned to workers as restitution.”
—Attorney General Andrea Campbell announcing that she has secured $875,234 in citations against four staffing agencies and a client company for failing to comply with various state employment laws pertaining to minimum wage, overtime, sick leave and employee classification.

“Massachusetts taxpayers are about to be penalized because of Massachusetts state government’s failure to properly administer the SNAP program. When state government fails to prioritize welfare spending, waste, errors and fraud become more common. Taxpayers are ultimately left paying the price. Every taxpaying Massachusetts household could soon be paying roughly $90 a year in penalties until meaningful SNAP reforms are implemented at the state level.”
—Paul Craney, Executive Director of the Fiscal Alliance Foundation, on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s report showing Massachusetts has both the highest SNAP enrollment and expenditures per capita and the highest SNAP payment error rate in New England.