PNS Daily Newscast - March 5, 2021
New rules should speed large-scale clean-energy projects in NY; Texas' Gov. Abbott tries to shift COVID blame to release of "immigrants."
2021Talks - March 5, 2021
A marathon Senate session begins to pass COVID relief; Sanders plans a $15 minimum wage amendment; and work continues to approve Biden's cabinet choices.
Public News Service - MA: Social Justice

BOSTON -- Advocates for postal banking contend having more financial services accessible at U.S. Postal Service locations could help the nation make a more equitable recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis. More than 12 million people, or 6% of American adults, don't have a bank account. Another

BOSTON - This week, a new coalition of civil-rights, immigrant-justice and public-health groups has laid out a path toward more equitable vaccine distribution in the Commonwealth. More than 20% of Massachusetts' population is Black and Latino - including nearly a quarter of healthcare workers. But

BOSTON -- Massachusetts members of Congress are among the sponsors renewing the push to pass the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act. It would expand federal research and investment into the public health impacts of structural racism and require the federal government to take a public health approach

BOSTON -- Massachusetts is on the verge of joining the 36 other states that have independent, civilian-led commissions in charge of decertifying police officers who violate conduct standards. An updated police reform bill now is in the House of Representatives, after state senators last week agreed

BOSTON -- This year's elections didn't change the racial or political imbalances in the Massachusetts state Legislature, and electoral competitiveness remains at an all-time low, according to new data. The latest report from the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, or MassINC, found that

WESTON, Mass. - Election experts, including a secretary of state, recently spoke with Massachusetts-based Voter Protection Corps about how election night can go smoothly. During a Zoom panel, they said most people should have an easy experience voting, whether in person or by mail. But Election Ni

BOSTON, Mass. -- As COVID-19 spreads through prisons and jails, there's legislation - both state and federal - to curb the high price of phone calls for people who are incarcerated, including in Massachusetts. In some parts of the country, a 15-minute call from behind bars can cost $25. Close to 2

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Voting is required in a lot of countries, but not the U.S. A new Harvard and Brookings Institution report considers what universal voting could look like here. The paper argues that mandatory voting would improve democracy by getting more people to the polls. María Teresa K