Yearly Archives: 2017

Today Secretary Jay Ash joined Senator Julian Cyr, Representative Sarah Peake and Town Manager David Panagore to celebrate the ribbon cutting at Commercial Street in in Provincetown. In 2015, Provincetown received a $1.96 million award from the MassWorks program to complete a three-phase street reconstruction and storm-water mitigation plan.

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has announced its Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program regulations, which will now go through a public comment period. Massachusetts boasts the second largest solar workforce in the country thanks to state initiatives like net metering and the SREC 2 program, and today’s announcement could be a first step in giving residents and businesses confidence in the Bay State’s continued commitment to progress.

A New Hampshire-based recycling and renewable energy company, its manager, and its operator have been sued for allegedly damaging protected wetland resources, illegally transporting and storing both solid and hazardous waste, and failing to report releases of hazardous material, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

The Baker-Polito Administration filed legislation to modernize and secure the Commonwealth’s information technology (IT) infrastructure and services, re-establishing the Massachusetts Office of Information Technology (MassIT) as the Executive Office of Technology Services & Security (EOTSS). Led by a Secretary of Technology, EOTSS will centralize IT infrastructure service across the executive department and review and update policies and procedures governing state cybersecurity, digital platforms and data management

On behalf of current and future home and property owners throughout the country, more than 9,600 REALTORS® traveled to Washington, D.C., in mid-May to advance key real estate issues during the 2017 REALTOR® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.

The owner of two Boston-based construction companies has been indicted on charges of workers’ compensation fraud in connection with failing to obtain workers’ compensation insurance, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today

Massachusetts Democratic Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren today asked Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to release the remaining ten percent of Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) funds, amounting to approximately $300 million, to help families in Massachusetts and across the nation who need help heating and cooling their homes. construction scheduling

The City of Springfield is launching the Healthy Homes Program (HHP), which will make federal housing rehabilitation funds available to owners of 1-4 unit residential properties in the Memorial Square and Six Corners neighborhoods. HHP provides funds for home rehabilitation, abatement of lead, removal of asthma triggers, and improvement of energy efficiency. It is an integrated, whole-house approach that produces sustainable, green, healthy and safe homes.

Three Massachusetts construction companies have been cited more than $600,000 in total in restitution and penalties for failing to pay the proper prevailing wage rate to employees for work performed on public projects as well as other violations of state wage laws, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito joined Assistant Secretary for Communities and Programs Juan Vega, Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella, Senator Jennifer Flanagan, Representative Natalie Higgins, and other community leaders to break ground on Leominster’s downtown revitalization project.

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors® (MAR) reported today that the number of closed single-family home sales were up more than two percent over March 2016, with median price also seeing a hike. This is despite the month seeing the lowest number of homes for sale since MAR began recording the data in 2004. Condominium sales and price also rose over last year.

The unique sound of spring in the Charlestown public housing development is a chorus of chirping birds and smoke detectors chirping for new batteries. Residents there also complain of poor ventilation and long stretches without hot water. The Boston Housing Authority has only $6 million a year to put toward a growing $750 million maintenance backlog across its entire stock of 12,623 public housing units.

The Baker-Polito Administration filed a housing bond bill seeking $1.287 billion in additional capital authorization, to allow the Commonwealth to continue state support for the construction and preservation of affordable housing, and provide funds for public housing maintenance and improvement

United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), calling on the agency to revoke its authorization for Kinder Morgan to begin construction on its Connecticut Expansion Project in Western Massachusetts until FERC is able to consider pending challenges to the project. The Senators also note that FERC is allowing construction to begin even when it cannot currently consider pending requests for rehearing on this project because it lacks sufficient commissioners to constitute a quorum

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today criticized the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for agreeing to exempt Entergy, the licensee of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, from requirements to implement critical safety upgrades to the facility.