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Caseloads are a key component of DCF work, a nagging problem that the political theater, aided by the media, often refuses to address in a meaningful way. Veteran reporter Richard Nangle takes a closer look.
Massachusetts’ effort to legalize marijuana had an aspect of its origins in Worcester, where James Smith, a former state legislator turned consultant, met up with Matthew Huron, a Coloradan and CEO of Good Chemistry with local roots who had come to Massachusetts to assist with the legalization effort.
She is from Colorado, and last year was named one of the 50 most important women in the cannabis industry. And now she is coming to Worcester. Meg Collins will be opening one of the city’s four medical marijuana shops – hers will be located in the Canal District.
Following her first meeting as a member of the new commission, former Leominster lawmaker Jennifer Flanagan faced a barrage of questions from reporters about whether she had ever smoked marijuana. Find out what she told veteran Worcester reporter Richard Nangle about that, Milford’s vote to ban retail marijuana facilities, and the difficulties of getting the fledgling industry off the ground.
Following her first meeting as a member of the new commission, former Leominster lawmaker Jennifer Flanagan faced a barrage of questions from reporters about whether she had ever smoked marijuana. Find out what she told veteran Worcester reporter Richard Nangle about that, Milford’s vote to ban retail marijuana facilities, and the difficulties of getting the fledgling industry off the ground.
In some communities, local government bodies have passed moratoriums on dispensaries or outright bans — in the face of voters approving the 2016 ballot question. It is that very contradiction that puzzles supporters of the law, who note that marijuana users who live in every Massachusetts community will effectively be contributing to the economies of the nearest towns that approve dispensaries.
Supporters of renewable energy legislation and the overall move toward green energy believe natural gas pipeline proposals — like the one that could have cut through several towns around Worcester — should all be abandoned since they would become obsolete in just a few decades. While Spectra/Enbridge had been keeping plans close to the vest, the company recently announced its next move.
Jim McGovern, one of the most unabashed liberals in Congress, has been ubiquitous in active resistance in the weeks since Donald Trump was elected president. “There’s so much happening that I think it requires more responses and more action,” he said in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Worcester Sun.
Indignant at potentially exposing town residents and workers to PCBs through no fault of their own, Princeton officials wanted payback. They decided they would go for it in the form of a lawsuit directed at Old Monsanto, the company that made virtually all of the potential human carcinogen (98 percent, according to the lawsuit). To do so, they hired a heavy hitter in the environmental field: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Richard Nangle reports.
“Would issue-based reporting have produced a different result? … Clearly once again journalism has largely failed the American public by paying too much attention to the presidential horserace and not enough to the policies of the candidates.” Veteran reporter and journalism professor Richard Nangle examines the forces at steered Trump up Pennsylvania Avenue.