NEW: Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly Budd will keynote the University of Massachusetts Amherst commencement on Friday, May 15 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. #mapoli

NEW: Sen. Gómez and Rep. Donahue announce conference committee has agreed on reforms laying out a "more promising path forward for cannabis regulation" and plans to meet Monday in Springfield to formalize its report. They expect the accord to reach Gov. Healey this week. #mapoli

NEW: House plans vote Wednesday on bill that prohibits social media use for children under 14, requires platforms to obtain parental consent for users ages 14 and 15, and bans students from using cellphones in school, per Speaker Mariano announcement. #mapoli

NEW: Massachusetts House votes 134-21 to pass the PROTECT Act laying out new legal protections in the face of heightened federal immigration law enforcement. #mapoli

WINTER CLEANUP $$$: The state budgeted $35 million this year for snow and ice removal with permission to deficit spend another $50 million. The state has spent $160 million so far. #mapoli

NEW: Gov. Healey calls the Blizzard of 2026 "as bad as I've seen it." Healey was 7 years old during the Blizzard of '78. "I can't compare exactly because everything was big in my eyes," she recalled. "My birthday party got canceled." #mapoli

NEW: Citing abandoned and stuck vehicles, Gov. Healey signed an order placing an immediate ban on non-essential vehicle travel in Bristol, Plymouth, and Barnstable counties "due to the blizzard and dangerous road conditions." Order was announced at 2:45 p.m. Monday. #mapoli

BLIZZARD UPDATE: Gov. Healey plans 3 p.m. presser to provide updates on the Blizzard of 2026. Eversource says it had about 231,800 customers without power statewide as of 1 p.m. with 1,000 power restoration crews available. #mapoli

NEW: Gov. Healey signs executive order intended to ban new 287(g) agreements "unless there is a public safety need," prohibit ICE from making civil arrests in non-public areas of state facilities, and ban the use of state property for immigration enforcement staging. #mapoli

NEW: Massachusetts Gov. Healey plans 2:30 p.m. State House presser "to announce new actions to protect Massachusetts residents from the harmful actions by the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement." #mapoli

NEW: City of Boston and Kraft Group agree on community benefits package totaling nearly $48 million over 15 years, and including a per-ticket fee, in connection with soccer stadium planned just over the city border in Everett. #mapoli

NEW: Gov. Healey plans to deliver her State of the State address on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. Her election-year budget proposal is due next year by Wednesday, Jan. 28. #mapoli

CLEARED: In "first batch" of announcements, state says the following ballot questions cleared a major signature threshold: all-party primaries, rent increase limits, election day registration and voting, income tax reduction and rolling back recreational marijuana legalization. #mapoli

INTEREST INCOME: With $8.1 billion in state rainy day fund, Treasurer Goldberg estimates $252 million in interest income in FY 2027, down from a projected $320 million in FY '26. #mapoli

TRAFFIC: Transpo Undersecretary Gulliver said Monday that Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday are the busiest travel days of Thanksgiving week. Gulliver forecast "extremely congested" conditions for midday Wednesday and "heavy traffic" Sunday afternoon and evening. #mapoli

NEW: No details but Rep. Michlewitz and Sen. Rodrigues have agreed on a spending bill to shore up state accounts that ran out of money last fiscal year. Underlying bills totaled about $2.3 billion. #mapoli

NEW: Mass. House schedules vote for Tuesday on $3.28 billion plan, backed by ten-year bonds, to make upgrades and capital improvements at public higher education campuses. #mapoli

NEW: Senior Judge Mark Wolf retires after more than 40 years of service on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. #mapoli

NEW: Sen. Dooner calls on Gov. Healey to offer a more robust plan to fund SNAP benefits that are at risk of lapsing on Saturday. Healey just announced a $4 million "advance" to fund food aid and urged people to make donations if they can. SNAP benefits cost $240 million per month in Mass. #mapoli

NEW: Twenty-three attorneys general and the governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Agriculture, alleging it is "unlawfully suspending" the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. #mapoli

NEW: Monday's lightly attended Senate session came to a quick halt when GOP Sen. Fattman doubted the presence of a quorum to protest the Healey administration blaming the Trump administration on the state's official website for the potential lapse in SNAP benefits. #mapoli

NEW: House names Reps. Michlewitz, Ferrante and Smola to negotiate $2.3 billion supplemental budget with the Senate. #mapoli

NEW: Rep. Rodney Elliott of Lowell is running for Senate in the upcoming special election. The Senate plans to set the special election date on Monday. #mapoli

NEW: More turnover in Healey's Cabinet. Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt is stepping down. Healey has named MBTA GM Phil Eng as interim secretary and Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver is being promoted to transportation undersecretary. #mapoli

NEW: The $2.25 billion spending bill on the move in the House this week includes $5 million for reproductive health care providers "to maintain continuity of access to services at risk of federal funding reductions." #mapoli

NEW: Opponents of expanding Hanscom Field in Bedford to allow more air traffic delivered a letter to Gov. Healey's office Tuesday urging her to reject the project and to dismiss claims about sustainable aviation fuels. #mapoli

NEW: First Middlesex District Sen. Ed Kennedy has died, per Senate President Spilka's office. Spilka in an email to senators called Kennedy, 74, a "champion for education, environmental sustainability, cultural development and, of course, his beloved hometown of Lowell." #mapoli

Applegreen ends talks with state over service plaza contract The winning bidder in the controversial procurement for a highway service plaza concession contract is walking away from lease talks with the state.

NEW: Dogged by rival bidder Global Partners, Applegreen walks away from lease talks with the state over its winning bid to operate 18 highway service plazas in Massachusetts. #mapoli

pro.stateaffairs.com/ma/transport...

Goldberg drops legal effort to prevent O’Brien’s return to CCC Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is dropping her appeal of Shannon O'Brien's reinstatement as chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Commission, her office said, a decision that likely spells an end to the…

NEW: Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is dropping her appeal of Shannon O'Brien's reinstatement as chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Commission, her office said, a decision that likely spells an end to the two-year legal and political saga. #mapoli

pro.stateaffairs.com/ma/regulated...

NEW: New legislative spending bill accord attempts to address pay concerns of bar advocates, who have stopped taking new cases representing low-income criminal defendants. #mapoli