Author: Connor Mattson

More than 300,000 Massachusetts workers who lost jobs during the pandemic are about to cash their last unemployment checks this week, but experts are not expecting the end of pandemic-related jobless benefits to solve the state’s labor shortage. … Advocates are scrambling to connect hundreds of thousands of people losing unemployment checks with other aid such as food benefits, cash…

In the ultimate act of unfortunate timing, the pandemic-era unemployment benefits for some 7.5 million people will run out on or justbefore Labor Day, the federal holiday that honors the contributions of American workers. The largest such cutoff in history, affecting more than 300,000 in Massachusetts, is taking place as the coronavirus pandemic that caused unprecedented job losses escalates once again, casting a…

Across America, many are applauding the Senate passage on Aug. 12 of a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package as a first step in advancing the largest safety net expansion since the 1960s. That legislation aims to expand health care, fund climate change programs and provide free preschool and community college among other “human infrastructure” initiatives that will increase quality of…

President Biden’s American Rescue Plan contains a tax credit expansion that policymakers say will cut child poverty in half. Just as Social Security and Medicare nearly erased elder poverty, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion has the potential to lift out of poverty more than half of the 13 million children living below the 2021 poverty level of $26,200 for…

At its June 23 meeting, the Board of Directors of Action for Boston Community Development elected Roxbury resident and Vertex Pharmaceuticals PAT Scientist Sean Daughtry to serve as chair for a one-year term. Daughtry joined the ABCD Board in 2013, representing the NAACP Boston Branch, and currently serves as a public sector member representing State Representative Elizabeth A. Malia. He…

At the Waterhouse Restaurant in southwestern New Hampshire, soft shell crabs were on the lunch menu and business was brisk. But General Manager Linda Quintanilha said she can’t fully re-open the restaurant in Peterborough because she can’t find enough staff. … John Drew, chief executive officer of Action for Boston Community Development, a nonprofit that provides services to low-income residents,…

Thank you to Hiawatha Bray for drawing attention to the end, on June 30, of the state’s moratorium on utility shutoffs (“Utility bills come due as moratorium expires,” Business, July 1). There is an array of help available for those in danger of being left in the dark, but many families and seniors will not be aware of these resources or…