Tag: massachusetts

REVEALED: The northeastern state that won’t tell voters about its ‘secret’ $1 billion spend on migrants

Massachusetts Republicans have demanded the state’s Democratic leaders come clean on their alleged ‘$1 billion in secret migrant crisis spending.’

The Bay State’s GOP filed public records requests asking Gov. Maura Healey’s administration to provide a detailed breakdown of spending on shelters, meals and other costs.

The request comes as Massachusetts scrambles to accommodate the roughly 50,000 non-legal migrants who’ve entered the state since President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

The Boston area has in recent weeks been roiled by outrage, after Stoughton school district cut bus services to local kids but kept them running for young migrants living in shelters.

Against this troubling backdrop, Amy Carnevale, the state’s GOP chairwoman, demanded that Healey come clean about how taxpayer dollars were being spent.

Her ‘administration has shrouded nearly $1 billion spent in secrecy, leaving Massachusetts residents in the dark,’ Carnevale said.

‘They have withheld critical information on 600 incidents involving police, fire, and EMT.’

When reporters asked questions about migrant costs, Healey’s team was ‘blocking them at every turn,’ said Carnevale.

Keep reading

Shall Not Be Infringed: Massachusetts Supreme Court Strikes Down Switchblade Knife Ban

The Massachusetts Supreme Court on Aug. 27 struck down the state’s ban on carrying switchblade knives, finding the prohibition violates the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.

The case was brought by David Canjura, who was arrested in 2020 after a domestic dispute and charged with carrying a dangerous weapon in violation of the switchblade ban following a search by officers.

Canjura said he knew that carrying the knife violated the law but filed a motion to dismiss the charge, arguing that the ban violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms. A judge denied the motion, leading to an appeal that reached the state’s high court.

Massachusetts officials did not identify any historical bans on switchblades or their historical analogue, pocketknives, justices said on Tuesday. That means the ban is not allowed under a test outlined in a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

“The commonwealth does not identify any laws regulating bladed weapons akin to folding pocketknives generally, or switchblades particularly, in place at the time of the founding or ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Serge Georges wrote for the unanimous court. “Accordingly, the commonwealth has not met its burden of demonstrating a historical tradition justifying the regulation of switchblade knives.”

The Second Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has also found that the right to bear arms includes items such as stun guns. In one decision, District of Columbia v. Heller, justices said that “arms” refers to “weapons of offense, or armor of defense” and “any thing that a man wears for his defense, or takes into his hands, or useth in wrath to cast at or strike another.”

The Massachusetts Supreme Court said that the Second Amendment covers knives, citing the historical use of knives for defense throughout U.S. history.

“In short, folding pocketknives not only fit within contemporaneous dictionary definitions of arms—which would encompass a broader category of knives that today includes switchblades—but they also were commonly possessed by lawabiding citizens for lawful purposes around the time of the founding,” Georges said. “Setting aside any question whether switchblades are in common use today for lawful purposes, we conclude switchblades are ‘arms’ for Second Amendment purposes. Therefore, the carrying of switchblades is presumptively protected by the plain text of the Second Amendment.”

Under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, government officials must, when facing a challenge to a regulation implicating the Second Amendment, provide proof the regulation is consistent with the nation’s history of restrictions.

Keep reading

Massachusetts shuts down 12-year-old’s ice cream stand supporting special needs kids

A boy from Norwood, Massachusetts, has gotten creative after town officials shut down his ice cream stand, citing a food code violation.

Danny Doherty, 12, and his mother, Nancy Doherty, began a small stand in their neighborhood with some profits going to a charity that hits close to home for them.

After only one week, they had to stop the sales of their homemade ice cream.

“I think the most disappointing part of that was that someone, one of our neighbors, somebody driving by, decided to take time to complain about a kid’s stand,” Nancy Doherty told Fox News Digital.

“I was really not mad. I’d say more disappointed that [it] happened,” she added. 

When her son became bored during summer vacation, Nancy Doherty gave him the idea to start an ice cream stand and donate half the proceeds to charity.

“I suggested to him, ‘Instead of a lemonade stand, if you really want to generate some interest, why don’t you make ice cream?’” the mom said, noting that her family makes their own ice cream at home.

Danny Doherty loved the idea and worked with his mom to come up with various flavors for his “Tree Street Treats” stand.

Keep reading

Massachusetts bill aims to remove gendered language from birth laws to ‘ensure legal parentage equality’

A new bill making its way though the Massachusetts legislature aims to remove all mentions of “mother” and “father” and replace them with gender-neutral alternatives. Proponents of Bill H.4750 have argued that it will “ensure legal parentage equality.”

Should the bill be signed into law, all instances of the traditional terms for the male and female individuals necessary to bring a life into the world will be erased from the “Return and Registry of Births, Marriages, and Deaths” chapter of the state’s General Laws, with “person who gave birth” and “parent” taking their place. “Paternity” and “a man and a woman” are also replaced by “parentage” and “persons,” respectively.

Also on the chopping block are terms such as “his” or “hers.” Instead, the document would say “their” regardless of which parent was being discussed, or “the defendant’s” during legal proceedings related to the child. A line which currently reads, “father unless he is or was the mother’s husband” would be changed to “parent unless they are or were the spouse.”

The legislation was passed by the state House on June 12 and sent to the state Senate, both of which are dominated by Democrats. It is currently being reviewed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Keep reading

Pregnant woman who accused three cops of sexually abusing her as teen may have been killed — despite initial suicide finding: pathologist

A pregnant Massachusetts woman who accused three cops of grooming and sexually abusing her as a teenager did not commit suicide and may have been killed, a high-profile pathologist hired by her family has claimed.

Sandra Birchmore’s death had been ruled a suicide by a state medical examiner after the 23-year-old was found hanging in her Canton apartment back in February 2021.

The medical examiner and investigators had said at the time that the young woman’s autopsy — which also determined she was three months pregnant — had shown no evidence of foul play.

But former New York City chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden, who was hired by her family amid an ongoing civil legal battle against the three cops, has since rejected those findings, the Boston Globe reported.

“I must disagree,” Baden wrote in a June 18 letter to a lawyer for Birchmore’s estate.

“Ms. Birchmore did not die of suicidal hanging … The cause of Ms. Birchmore’s death is ‘Strangulation’ and the manner of death is ‘Homicide.’”

Baden said the extent of Birchmore’s injuries, as well as the placement of a ligature found on her body, were among the reasons for his determination.

Keep reading

Appeals Court Upholds Ban on Student Wearing ‘Only Two Genders’ Shirt

A U.S. appeals court on June 9 upheld a ban preventing a Massachusetts middle school student from wearing a shirt reading “There are only two genders.”

Another prohibition by school administrators, this time blocking the same student from wearing the shirt with “only two” covered by tape, on which was written “censored,” is also allowed under court precedent, according to the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

“The question here is not whether the t-shirts should have been barred. The question is who should decide whether to bar them—educators or federal judges. Based on Tinker, the cases applying it, and the specific record here, we cannot say that in this instance the Constitution assigns the sensitive (and potentially consequential) judgment about what would make ‘an environment conducive to learning’ at NMS to us rather than to the educators closest to the scene,” U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron wrote for a unanimous panel of the court.

In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 ruled that a ban on students wearing armbands in protest against the Vietnam War violated the students’ First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani cited the ruling when in 2023 she ruled in favor of the administrators at the John T. Nichols Middle School (NMS) and Middleborough School District in Massachusetts against Liam Morrison (L.M.), the boy who wore the “two genders” shirt to school.

“[The school] permissibly concluded that the shirt invades the rights of others,” Judge Talwani said before quoting Tinker. “Schools can prohibit speech that is in ‘collision with the rights of others to be secure and be let alone.’”

Keep reading

Adding CBD Or THC To Food Or Drinks Is Illegal, Massachusetts Officials Say In New Memo

Massachusetts agencies have declared that intoxicating hemp-based products can not be sold outside of licensed dispensaries and have tasked local boards of health to enforce what they say is federal law.

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Department of Agricultural Resources released a joint notice in order to address the recent influx of hemp-based products like gummies and drinks that contain the same active ingredient as cannabis products. The notice made explicit that the “addition of CBD and/or THC to food manufactured or sold in Massachusetts is illegal.”

This action by the two state agencies reflects what they have been saying about the legality of these products. Now, with the advisory, they have made the guidance explicit and have charged local boards of health to enforce it.

Following the notice, the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission warned its licensees that their licenses could be suspended or revoked if they are caught selling hemp-derived products.

“This is a big win for both the cannabis and the hemp industry, specifically those who are licensed by the CCC and MDAR,” said Ryan Dominguez, the head of the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition. “This is a step in the right direction for us to be able to now enforce what was already on the books so there’s no kind of gray area.”

Intoxicating hemp products have been showing up in liquor stores, gas stations and smoke shops across the state because of a 2018 federal law that removed hemp from the definition of marijuana. There are many companies that have popped up to sell hemp products.

The hemp products, which are often marketed very similarly to cannabis products, are not regulated in the same way. Whereas cannabis products face strict regulations around testing, packaging, labeling, taxation and age restrictions, the hemp products have none of these requirements in Massachusetts.

Keep reading

Massachusetts Marijuana Regulator Calls Intoxicating Hemp Products A ‘Public Menace’

The Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) for the first time is raising concerns about intoxicating hemp products showing up in stores, restaurants and gas stations across Massachusetts, with commissioner Kimberly Roy calling them a “public menace.”

At a meeting of the commission last week, Roy and other commissioners said the largely unregulated products are putting more heavily regulated cannabis products at a disadvantage.

“I’ve heard from many of our licensees that [unregulated hemp is] impacting them greatly. It’s a phenomenon known as gas station weed,” said Roy. “These are hemp products that are unregulated, that aren’t tested, that our children can buy. It keeps me up at night, the concerns around this gas station weed.”

Intoxicating hemp products contain the same active ingredient as cannabis products but are regulated very differently. They are on shelves in the Commonwealth because of a 2018 federal law that removed hemp from the definition of marijuana. An entire industry has popped up around the country selling intoxicating hemp products.

Adam Terry, the CEO of Cantrip, a Boston beverage maker, said in a CommonWealth Beacon commentary last month that many of the hemp-based products are manufactured in Minnesota, which regulates them just as rigorously as marijuana products.

Previously, the Cannabis Control Commission had not taken a stance on the hemp products because the agency believes the product falls outside of its jurisdiction. But the agency, which regulates cannabis and hemp products that are sold inside cannabis dispensaries, is now preparing to testify before a joint legislative hearing on the hemp products before the cannabis policy and agricultural committees on July 11.

Roy offered to serve as the commission’s representative at the legislative hearing. She stressed that the unregulated hemp products are not tested or age restricted in the same way that cannabis products are.

“[Unregulated hemp products are] having a serious negative impact on our licensees who are bound by the law and bound by our regulations,” said Roy. “Then you have all these other convenience stores or smoke shops or gas stations who are not.”

Keep reading

Massachusetts Trans “Woman” Goes on Stabbing Rampage at Massachusetts Movie Theater – Stabs 4 Girls Ages 9 to 17 without Warning

A trans man is in custody after allegedly stabbing four youg girls at a movie theater in Braintree, Massachusetts on Saturday night.

ABC News reported:

At 6 p.m. Saturday evening, a man entered the AMC Braintree 10 and entered one of the theaters, authorities said.

Once inside the theater, the suspect stabbed four females between the ages of 9 and 17-years-old, police said, adding that the attack appeared to be unprovoked and without warning. The four girls sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to Boston hospitals for treatment, poilce said.

The suspect allegedly left the scene in a black SUV, police said. Using video footage in their investigation, police were able to identify a license plate and alert other law enforcement agencies.

It was after this alert that authorities discovered that a car matching the description was involved in a “similar assault” that occurred in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

At approximately 7:04, about an hour after the stabbing at the AMC in Braintree, the suspect allegedly stabbed two other people — a 21-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man — in a McDonald’s in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Massachusetts State Police said. Both were in non-life-threatening condition and were transported to area hospitals, MSP said.

The pycho-stabber then crashed his SUV before police were able to take him into custody.

Keep reading

Massachusetts Marijuana Delivery Rule Requiring Two Drivers Per Vehicle Remains In Force Despite Vote To Repeal It

Last December, after months of deliberation, the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) voted to eliminate its so-called two-driver rule—which requires all marijuana deliveries to be handled by two drivers.

The vote was 3–1, with Commissioner Bruce Stebbins the lone holdout. He was concerned about dropping a safety requirement to make the delivery license more lucrative. His fellow commissioners, however, wanted to reduce overhead costs for the delivery companies, which are headed by social equity licensees. “Ample security measures are already in place,” said Commissioner Nurys Camargo, referring to body cams and GPS tracking.

Five months later, the two-driver rule remains in place. Delivery operators are still waiting for relief, and the commission has no timetable for when the rule will be modified. At the commission’s public meeting on May 9, the commission’s general counsel shared that it would be months before the two-driver rule is removed. The CCC attributed the delay to an effort to consolidate a number of regulatory changes dealing with deliveries in a single rewrite.

In the meantime, the two-driver rule remains in place, which is not sitting well with the delivery companies.

“The two-driver rule is a hurdle and a handcuff that companies like mine are facing,” said Gyasi Sellers, the owner of cannabis delivery company Treevit. “There are a lot of companies like mine that are running out of time. Some have gone under already, and that rule is one of the primary causes of that.”

The two-driver rule requires that any cannabis delivery have two drivers in the vehicle so that when one person leaves the vehicle to actually make the delivery, the other person can stay and guard the vehicle. According to the delivery companies, the rule doubles the cost of each job because two people have to be paid for work that can be done by a single person. Plus, if one driver is out, the other driver can’t make the delivery.

Cannabis delivery operators have been speaking out against the two-driver rule for a long time. “[Back] in 2020 and 2021, we were telling the commission that the two-driver rule is gonna really hurt businesses,” said Chris Fevry, the co-owner of Dris Delivery. “We’ve told them multiple times it’s literally just gonna hurt equity. And come to find out it’s still 2024 and the two-driver rule is in place, and companies have gone out of business because of the two driver rule.”

Ulysses Youngblood, the owner of cannabis company Major Bloom, which has a dispensary in Worcester and also a delivery arm, expressed frustration that the CCC wasn’t prioritizing this issue.

Keep reading