Friday, February 8, 2013
Governor Deval Patrick has declared a State of Emergency, but what does that mean?
Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency today banning car travel after 4 p.m. According to information from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, a state of emergency can involve different measures and does not always affect travel or private businesses. There may be a request for drivers to stay off the roads and for businesses to change their hours, but the governor may also order roads to be closed to non-emergency traffic. There has not been an ordered ban on travel since the Blizzard of '78. Violators could be fined up to $500 and be sentenced to a year in jail, although Governor Patrick says the main purpose is to get non-essential people off the roads. According to the office of public safety, the state of…
Friday, January 4, 2013
A drop in the state's median household income led to the salary reduction.
Massachusetts lawmakers will get a pay cut this year, in accordance with a state law that links legislators’ salaries to the state’s median household income. Governor Deval Patrick’s office announced the drop in wages this week. “As required by Article CXVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution, for the purpose of adjusting the base compensation of members of the General Court, we have ascertained, from the federal census American Community Survey and reports of average weekly wages, that the median household income for the Commonwealth for the preceding two-year period decreased by 1.8 percent,” Patrick said in a Jan. 2 letter to State Treasurer Steven Grossman. The pay cut amounts to about $1,000 annually from legislators’ current base…
Saturday, July 14, 2012
After the Supreme Court struck down most of Arizona's anti-immigration law, Gov. Deval Patrick is looking closely at the wording in a new budget provision.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick recently approved the majority of the 2013 state budget, however there were a few parts that he chose to veto or amend. One of them was wording that would require a proof of legal residence for anyone looking to register a car. "Patrick did not veto the provision outright, but instead asked lawmakers to consider an amended version. While the bulk of the revised language in the amendment was the same, a key change would remove the phrase 'proof of legal residence' and replace it with 'proof of residence in the commonwealth,'" an article on boston.com said. According to the article, Patrick said he would not go along with efforts to compel state authorities to enforce U.S. immigration laws . "The recent …
Anne
9:41 am on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Michael - we are better off because of the Governor's ban. Abandoned cars didn't clog our major roads. Emergency resources are able to reach destinations so we can start the process of restoring power and other services. It was reported that some of the people that elected to drive found themselves disoriented by blinding snow and driving the wrong direction on major highways. I credit the … more ›