The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education - DESE - issued a memorandum to superintendents, charter school leaders, and leaders...

The Comstock opinion has garnered most attention, not for its holding, but for a footnote on the history of a common term used in zoning...

Our readers may remember that, in our October 2019 newsletter, we discussed the Appeals Court’s opinion in Murchison v. Zoning Bd. of...

The Zoning Act provides protection for existing structures and uses from changes in local zoning requirements. Central to M.G.L. c.40A,...

The end of summer is usually a slower, quieter month for municipalities. Not so this year, with school opening uncertainties, early...

M.G.L. c. 140, § 129B formerly permitted a licensing authority to deny a firearm identification card (FID) only if the applicant was a...

MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces Funding Program MassDOT has announced a $5 million grant program to municipalities to launch or expand,...

Earlier this month, the Town of Weymouth, represented by our own Ray Miyares, Bryan Bertram, and Katherine Stock, won its challenge in...

The recent Appeals Court case of Maroney v. Planning Board of Haverhill, 19-P-566 (Appeals Court June 15, 2020) highlights the pitfalls...

The federal Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§1251 et seq., requires a permit for discharges from a point source to “navigable waters,” which...

The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently issued a decision affirming that Massachusetts Fire Chiefs possess non-delegable management...

EPA Issues Final Rule Redefining "Waters of the United States" On April 21, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule...

The Supreme Judicial Court recently had occasion to review and affirm the adequacy of a Town Meeting Warrant article that the Town itself...

A bar with an all-alcohol license, issued under M.G.L. c. 138, §12, which permits the premises to serve alcohol to patrons on site, also...

Police serve many critical community functions other than law enforcement: crowd control, responding to accidents and other emergencies,...

April, the month that wasn’t. It may be spring but it seems more akin to Groundhog Day. Nevertheless, news springs year-round, so let’s...

A number of municipal websites throughout the Commonwealth recently were impacted by an outage. Municipalities that have designated their...

Another recent Supreme Judicial Court decision, Gentili v. Town of Sturbridge, sheds light on the distinction between a municipality’s...

March has been all COVID-19, all the time! Like you, we have been preoccupied with the fast-changing developments regarding COVID-19’s...

It is well known that, before a municipality may be sued for a tort such as negligence, claimants must “present” their claims to the...