Author: Andy Metzger

  • Mass. Doctor Shortage Most Severe at Community Hospitals

    By Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON, OCT. 1, 2012…..While the number of uninsured Massachusetts residents has fallen since 2006 and the number who have visited a doctor has increased, the state’s shortage of physicians continues, with “critical” levels in a few specialties. This year, neurosurgery joined internal medicine, urology and psychiatry as fields…

  • MBTA BAILOUT PUSHED TO PATRICK’S DESK AMID FLURRY OF CRITICISM

    By Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 27, 2012……With a new fiscal year set to dawn Sunday and the MBTA’s proposed budget far out of whack, the Legislature on Wednesday approved a bill delivering an emergency bailout, largely by redirecting millions of dollars in auto inspection fees to the agency. The…

  • SCANNER OPTION FOR FOOD PRICING QUIETLY CLEARS SENATE

    By Michael Norton and Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 25, 2012……With just two senators present, the Senate on Monday morning approved a bill that food stores in Massachusetts have been pressing unsuccessfully for a decade. Under the bill, which has already cleared the House, grocery stores in Massachusetts would no…

  • Jobs Commission Assembling its Final Report

    By Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 14, 2012……Three years after it was ordered by Gov. Deval Patrick, the state’s Jobs Commission is putting together its report on the strengths and weaknesses of the Massachusetts economy. Commission Chairman Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) told commission members on Thursday morning that Friday would…

  • Sides Staked Out for "Adult Conversation" About Transportation Funding

    By Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 11, 2012�� Even if the state chose not to fund the $1.3 billion Green Line Extension, several of the revenue-generating ideas tied to that project in newly released documents will need to be used to keep state transit authorities afloat, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey…

  • House Advances T Bailout Bill That Involves Moving T Ferry Services to Massport

    By Matt Murphy STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 11, 2012….A possible transfer in the next year of MBTA ferry operations to the Massachusetts Port Authority would be studied under a T bailout bill that received initial House approval Monday morning. The bill rescues the T from its near-term budget crisis, but drops…