Healey said the new bank will compete for private sector dollars and federal funds available under the Inflation Reduction Act to finance building retrofits that help the state meet “long-term climate objectives” and new construction of decarbonized buildings.”

At an event inside the State House, Healey said the bank is the first of its kind in the nation because of its focus on affordable housing. Residents in the affordable housing market bear a disproportionate burden in energy costs and climate impacts, Healey said.

“The climate bank is the financial engine for cutting emissions and improving health equity and financial security in our communities,” Healey said. “It’s going to unlock and advance a wide range of rebuilding and renovation projects. And it’s going to do that by investing in affordable homes all across the state.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said more than 70% of emissions in the city come from buildings, many of them historic but much older homes that are in need of energy retrofits.

“This bank, therefore, will play a crucial role in decreasing the overall cost of living in Boston, decarbonizing affordable housing, sharing the social and economic benefits of the green economy with more of our communities and advancing environmental justice for our EJ communities, those who are in greatest need of services,” she said.

Healey said funding from the new bank will head to developers and other organizations “very, very soon.”

The bank will “accelerate” building decarbonization projects by lending directly to building owners and “by attracting and de-risking lending and investment by private lenders through innovative finance products,” Healey said in a statement.

“Over time, the bank will diversify investments to include other decarbonization measures that benefit communities,” the administration said in a statement.

And to boil down the point of the bank, Healey likened its purpose to Hamburger Helper.

“It really enhances everything and it leverages what we’re able to do,” she said.

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge said he wants to scrap the voter-passed tax cap law known as Chapter 62F because it creates a layer of unpredictability with state spending. The law required state officials to send nearly $3 billion back to taxpayers in 2022, which threw last year’s tax relief talks out the window.

“I don’t think it really serves sound public policy,” Eldridge told the Herald. “I didn’t hear from anyone about ‘this made a big difference in my life to get this tax rebate.’ So I do think that it’s important to have this discussion to repeal it and make sure that we’re not worried about it being triggered in the future.”

Eldridge filed the repeal amendment to Senate Democrats’ $586 million tax relief plan they released last week. Senate President Karen Spilka said the bill looks to boost several housing-related initiatives and centers “equity while chipping away at the headwinds that threaten our competitiveness.”

Whether to address Chapter 62F in the tax relief bill could take time to negotiate when lawmakers from the House and Senate eventually sit down to hammer out a final tax relief bill.

House leadership proposed rewriting the law so any excess revenue is returned as equal payments to residents regardless of how much they paid to the state. That change drew legal scrutiny from a technology-focused business group.

House Speaker Ronald Mariano said in April the adjustment allows everyone to share in the success of the state’s economy.

“We felt after watching the way the checks were made out and sent out, I think (Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, Rep. Mark Cusack and I) sort of agreed pretty early on that there are fairer ways to do this,” he said, referring to the House chairs of the budget-writing and revenue committees.

Eldridge said the Baker administration’s erroneous use of $2.5 billion in federal funds to pay pandemic-era unemployment benefits could put the state in a precarious financial situation that could only get worse if the tax cap law is triggered again.

“I feel, at the end of the day, is it a sound tax policy, sound public policy to have a tax rebate trigger?” he said. “I think it’s quite unusual and I think it makes the commonwealth weaker.”

Among the other amendments filed to the bill ahead of the Thursday debate are Republican-led efforts to reduce the short-term capital gains tax and increase the estate tax exemption.

The House and Healey support cutting the short-term capital gains tax from 12% to 5%, which could become another sticking point during inter-branch negotiations.

The Senate opted not to include the reduction in their plan and Spilka said the chamber “pulled together a consensus bill.”

“This is what the senators wanted,” she said outside of her office on Monday. “The balance of the bill focuses on individuals and working families, low to moderate, middle income, support and help. There are some things for folks, whether it be the EITC, the rental assistance, the senior circuit breaker, child dependent care, that’s where the bulk of the relief was desired.”

Healey did not say whether she would sign a bill that does not include a cut to the short-term capital gains tax, offering only that she was “heartened” by both the House and Senate proposals.

“We’ll just see what comes out of conference committee but obviously, the team and I, the lieutenant governor and I are here and ready to work and collaborate on this and other issues,” she told reporters on Monday.

Voters approved 62F in 1986 after tax-cutting champions, including the late Barbara Anderson, pushed for breaks for taxpayers.

Supporters of the new study commissioned by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation say it helps reveal the broader consequences of health inequities and provides motivation for public and private sector leaders to help rectify the disparities. The research also looks to the future of the state’s population, where communities of color are driving growth but are also the ones who are the most heavily impacted by health inequities.

As the next generation rises, the report said, these groups will represent nearly half of the state’s population compared to the less than one-third share they represent today.

“Massachusetts faces a choice to ‘pay now or pay greater later,’ as demonstrated by this report, which highlights the unacceptable cost being paid by communities of color and ultimately borne by businesses and the commonwealth,” the advocacy organization Health Equity Compact said in a statement included with the report.

The authors of the report said it is a “first of its kind” to quantify in economic terms the cost of health inequities for individuals and families, health care providers, employers, public and private sector payers, and the overall Massachusetts economy.

The economic burden associated with health inequities experienced by communities of color in Massachusetts totals nearly $6 billion but could grow to $11.2 billion by 2050 if no action is taken, the report said.

The time to shift from “awareness of the problem to action on solutions” is now after analysis made clear the “staggering economic toll” of health disparities, said Audrey Shelto, president and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.

“Our commonwealth led the way in expanding health insurance coverage and improving access, and we have a shared responsibility to act similarly to achieve health equity and eliminate health disparities,” Shelto said in a statement.

Populations of color in the state are disproportionately affected by housing instability, food insecurity, environmental toxins and stressors, and higher rates of poverty as a result of longstanding systemic racism in social and economic structures, policies, and practices, the report said.

That has led to less access to health coverage and care and differences in the quality of care received, researchers wrote in the study.

Differences in delivery of care also stem back to “mistrust in the health care system due to historical and systemic racism and experiences of continued lack of respect and breaches of trust reported by many,” the report said.

Researchers found Black and Hispanic/Latino residents report poorer health and mental health statuses than White residents; pregnancy-associated mortality and severe maternal morbidity are higher for Black residents; and higher rates of diabetes and asthma are reported among Black and Hispanic/Latino residents.

Higher rates of disease and disability in a population require more healthcare services to treat those conditions, which means higher healthcare spending, researchers said.

“By computing the gap between health care spending under the current health status for Massachusetts adults and health care spending if populations of color achieved the health equity target health status, we estimated that avoidable health care spending due to health inequities is $1.5 billion each year, or about 2 percent of total Massachusetts annual health spending,” the report said.

Working-age adults who are less healthy tend to work fewer hours, take more sick days, and be less productive on the job, the report said. The analysis compared the productivity of working-age populations of color with their current health status to the same group if they were fully healthy.

“We estimated that health inequities experienced by populations of color today cost Massachusetts $1.4 billion each year in lost labor productivity across industries,” the report said.

The analysis also compared the current mortality rates by race and ethnicity at each with the “health equity targets” for mortality at each age.

“We found that health inequities are estimated to lead to premature death for Massachusetts residents of all ages,” the report said.

Six communities in Massachusetts have already directed their police departments to not make arrests for possession of psilocybin, a move that effectively decriminalizes the use of the drug. Advocates now argue the lawmakers should pass bills from a pair of Democrats that decriminalize so-called magic mushrooms on a statewide level.

“It’s ridiculous that a plant medicine we’ve been using for tens of thousands of years that grows straight from the ground that … has the lowest harms of any controlled substance, far less than alcohol and cigarettes that we buy at corner stores, is not available to people who could really benefit,” said James Davis, a former Beacon Hill staffer who now runs Bay Staters for Natural Medicine.

Rep. Lindsay Sabadossa and Sen. Pat Jehlen filed bills that decriminalize possession, ingestion, obtaining, growing, giving away “without financial gain” to people 18 years and older, and transportation of up to two grams of psilocybin, psilocyn, dimethyltryptamine, ibogaine, and mescaline.

The proposals are scheduled for a Tuesday hearing in front of the Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by two Democrats, Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Rep. Michael Day.

Psilocybin is the chemical commonly found in magic mushrooms. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted “breakthrough” status to psilocybin in 2017, and has since approved applications for companies to investigate its use in treating various disorders.

Somerville, Cambridge, Northampton, Easthampton, Amherst, and Salem are the communities in Massachusetts that have directed their police to not make arrests related to psilocybin.

Former City Councilor William Dwight and Councilor Rachel Maiore proposed the resolution in Northampton on psilocybin mushrooms, arguing the use of the substance helps people with post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic depression, cluster headaches, and substance abuse.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a resurgence of heroin and opioid overdose deaths and severe depression in Massachusetts communities, two ailments that entheogenic plants have been shown to have particularly strong utility in treating according to published, peer-reviewed medical research,” the two city lawmakers wrote in their successful resolution.

Sabadosa, a Democrat from Northampton, said being able to turn back to the local debate “really does help” when putting together legislation at the State House. And the idea for the bill, she said, came from constituents, who pitched her on the proposal during a meeting at a coffee shop.

“Their stories resonated with me because what they were telling me was that they were looking for what is effectively a harm reduction bill … It’ll decriminalize, it doesn’t legalize,’ she told the Herald. “… I believe very strongly in this idea of decriminalizing and making things safer for people.”

Colorado voted to legalize psilocybin in 2022 and Oregon was the first state to allow adults to use the drug after a successful ballot measure passed in 2020. Davis said legalization in Massachusetts would reduce the stigma that surrounds research scholars from studying the effects of the drug.

Adults found growing magic mushrooms could face up to 10 years in prison, according to the Bay State for Natural Medicine.

“The state law is really necessary to back up that community power. And a lot of police already privately don’t enforce laws against psilocybin mushrooms, it does happen,” Davis said. “And some people have had their lives destroyed by those arrests.”

The Greater Taunton Amateur Baseball Umpire Association has “overwhelmingly voted to suspend further officiating services to the league” after unruly fans harassed a pair of game officials, allegedly threatening them with violence.

City Councilor Chris Coute has hope that the umpires will switch their minds after he convened a meeting Friday with officials from the league, umpires union and Mayor Shaunna O’Connell.

“Both organizations came with open minds and I think in good spirits,” Coute told the Herald Friday afternoon. “We had a very productive meeting, and we are hoping the end result is we end up with umpires back at Taunton West Little League in the very near future.”

If the umpires don’t return, coaches would assume officiating, Coute said, adding he believes that’s the way it’s been following the incident last Monday.

A decision should be made soon, Coute said, as the umpires union had to go back to its “rank-and-file members” to decide how the season should finish.

“It’s a little too soon to know what options will be viable solutions,” the Mayor’s Office said in an email to the Herald.

The situation unfolded when umpires David DeOliveira and Paul Nadeu called back a two-run double late in a quarterfinal game because they ruled they had not put the ball in play, GTABUA President Dominic Damiano told the Taunton Daily Gazette.

DeOliveira and Nadeu stopped the game, and later, coaches and parents became verbally abusive towards them, with several men following the umpires into the parking lot, getting in their faces, the Gazette reported.

The losing coach, Tyler Doehler, is the league president. In a statement posted on Facebook Thursday morning, he called the behavior “absolutely unacceptable and does not represent the values and standards we uphold.”

The league has taken the matter “very seriously,” Doehler said, by suspending all of those involved in the incident from the park indefinitely, offering to play games without spectators and pay for a police detail for added security.

Doehler noted no players, managers, coaches or parents have been ejected from a game, including Monday’s, so far this season.

The league breached its contract by allowing the behavior to occur, the eight-member GTABUA Executive Board determined, according to its statement.

“No official in any sport should have to experience what these umpires endured,” part of the statement read.

The incident highlights a handful of bills filed earlier this session by Beacon Hill lawmakers who say their legislation aims to better protect sports officials from verbal and physical abuse.

At least 18 states have enacted legislation specifically defining assaults on sports officials as crimes or other legislation that could protect sports officials.

State Rep. Steven Xiarhos, a Barnstable County Republican, is looking to make assault and battery on a sports official — a referee, umpire, linesman, timer or scorer — an arrestable offense as a misdemeanor, but under another bill, it would be considered a felony.

Penalties would include either an imprisonment of at least 90 days but no more than  2 ½ years in a house of correction, or a fine of at least $500 but no more than $5,000.

Before being elected to office in 2020, Xiarhos spent 40 years as a police officer in Yarmouth. He told the Herald he doesn’t remember spectators being as aggressive towards sports officials as they are now.

Xiarhos believes social media and an overall lack of respect in general are the drivers behind the increased incidents of abuse.

“Respect is a law,” he said. “This is not just kids doing this, these are adults doing this. Adults need to be better role models and act appropriately, be better citizens, and when you get upset you don’t need to become violent. This is sports.”

That comes as lawmakers on Beacon Hill are sorting through legislative responses to what has been described as an “alarming” situation after 116 reports came into the Boston Police Department last year. And department officials have said they are concerned about a “real threat” to the public.

Drinking spiking incidents have permeated the United States “for quite some time now,” said Shannon Hogan, the sexual assault kit initiative site director for the Boston Police Department.

Boston police “continue to learn more and take action” as they partner with their licensing unit, work to track incidents, raise public awareness, and offer an option to report drink spiking on police reports,” Hogan said earlier this week at a legislative hearing.

“While such documented occurrences of the use of these drugs or ‘roofies’ in the U.S. date back to the early 1990s, a recent resurgence of these crimes have been identified along with the explosion of synthetic drugs,” Hogan said.

Boston police spokesman Sergeant Detective John Boyle said the addition of a checkbox on police reports allows the department to easily track incidents of drink spiking.

Hogan said the lack of date rape drug testing protocols at hospitals that can provide clarity to victims and the public “have left survivors to navigate an unclear system without solutions or support.”

“The time has come to remove the misconceptions and stigma surrounding these types of crimes from the dark and murky place and put it into the light,” Hogan said. “Equipping our hospitals with the ability to test for these drugs and, overall, provide law enforcement with the necessary tools during these investigations, as well as collecting valid and reliable data, will result in clarity surrounding these crimes and assist us in holding these vendors accountable.”

Boyle said the department also “periodically” broadcasts community alerts reminding the public of the dangers of scentless, colorless, and tasteless drugs like Rohypnol, also known as a roofie.

“These drugs and substances can cause disorientation, confusion, temporary paralysis, or unconsciousness, along with a host of other symptoms, leaving the potential victim vulnerable to the intentions of the suspect,” one recent community alert said.

And at least one Foxborough Democrat is taking aim at testing protocols at hospitals to make it easier for anyone to find out if they have been drugged or had their drink spiked.

Sen. Paul Feeney filed legislation that would require hospitals to develop and implement a testing standard for patients who report they have been involuntarily drugged, regardless if sexual assault had occurred.

Feeney’s bill, which is before the Legislature’s Public Health Committee, also requires the Department of Public Health to create a Date Rape Drug Response and Intervention Task Force to figure out how to best collect data on confirmed drink spiking incidents.

Feeney is also behind a successful push to add funding to the state Senate’s fiscal 2024 budget to hand out drink spiking test kits to bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay plans to announce the grants at a Saturday morning event in Boston about a month after the group released a report focusing on how state officials can better care for local beaches.

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay Executive Director Chris Mancini said the grants help highlight the racial and cultural diversity of the region and amplify a message of public safety, fun, and inclusion on local beaches.

“Above all, we want our beaches to be safe and healthy places for everyone to enjoy. Diverse and welcoming programming is a key piece of that effort,” Mancini said in a statement.

Of the events receiving money, $2,000 is being used to start the “Drag On Boats” series with the Ohana New England Dragon Boat Team. The event is billed as a performance and education series on historical and contemporary LGBTQIA-plus stories.

“The series will feature the performer Big Ohh telling the stories of Mary Read and Anne Bonney, the famed 17th-century pirates who dressed as men and are known as some of the most successful brigands in history,” a statement from Save the Harbor/Save the Bay said.

Friends of Wollaston Beach are receiving the largest grant of $7,500 to put on “KidFest” and a series of concerts.

Funds to support the grants came from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, state officials, and the annual Harpoon Shamrock Splash.

“We heard loud and clear from residents, visitors and neighbors alike that investing in free, culturally relevant programming is one of the best ways to support everyone in our community, so that’s what we’ll continue to do,” said state Rep. Adrian Madaro, who co-chairs the Metropolitan Beaches Commission.

Campbell said those citations have amounted to $1.3 million in penalties, covered roughly 2,000 minors, and affected 127 employers. And children, especially those of migrant families, who are stuck in illegal labor situations often feel afraid or that they have no other options to make money, the attorney general said.

“They’re afraid that their employers will retaliate against them or their families. They’re afraid that coming forward might expose them to immigration enforcement. Too often, they feel they don’t have a choice,” Campbell said at a press conference in Boston. “I, along with the team, want to be crystal clear that they do have a choice.”

Campbell urged more education on child labor laws after her office announced it had reached a settlement with Dave & Busters over child labor violations.

The arcade chain agreed to pay a $275,000 fine for not providing meal breaks of at least 30 minutes to employees who worked shifts longer than six hours, not obtaining work permits for minors before they began employment, and employing 16- or 17-year-old children for later hours than permitted under state law, according to a Thursday statement.

Campbell’s office said they began to investigate the Texas-based arcade chain — which operates locations in Braintree, Natick, and Woburn — after a parent accused the company of making their child work past midnight on a weekend. Dave & Busters, according to Campbell, employed “several minors” without work permits.

Children under 16 and 17 years old are barred from working later than 10 p.m. on school nights, Campbell’s office said.

“We want young workers and their families to know about their rights and, of course, these laws,” Campbell said. “And we want them to know about these laws because these are the laws designed to protect them. And we want employers to know of their legal obligations too.”

A spokesperson for Dave & Busters did not immediately return a request for comment.

The state has experienced a surge over the past year of migrant arrivals, many who have left their home countries because of violence, political persecution, or economic hardships. The Massachusetts Housing Stabilization Division reported 1,051 homeless families were living in motels as of Wednesday.

Many children who accompany migrant families often find themselves in unsafe workplaces, working long hours, because parents “don’t know any different,” said La Colaborativa Executive Director Gladys Vega.

“Sometimes parents are worried about paying that coyote. They need to pay whatever they left behind in their country, whoever they borrowed the money to come here. So everyone in that family has to work,” Gladys said.

La Colaborativa runs a summer youth employment program, which employs approximately 230 to 250 young people in Chelsea. Gladys said when young people are being paid, parents are often waiting for their paycheck.

Addressing unsafe or illegal child labor is “not an easy task, because at times, parents are behind it,” Gladys said.

“We need to educate our families. We need to educate our community to make sure that they’re aware that if their kid is working 30 hours and is 14 years old, absolutely not. Education goes first,” she said.

Campbell said her office created an internal child labor working group to identify investigation targets and “novel approaches to overcoming enforcement challenges.” The office, Campbell said, will continue to meet with immigrant worker centers, “which is really important.”

“We’re also, of course, giving this information out through pamphlets and flyers to community groups and partners,” she said.

School officials often pick up on when a young person is working in an unhealthy or unsafe environment, said Ruben Carmona of the Salem Public Schools.

“They are working too late and their homework is not done,” he said. “Their grades are slipping or they are late for school. Poor working conditions out of school and out of the home impact their lives in our school and the home as well.”

Tax relief has been one of the few major talking points on Beacon Hill this legislative session after efforts fizzled out last year when the state was required to send billions back to taxpayers under the state’s tax cap law known as Chapter 62F.

Senators plan to debate the bill — which largely mirrors a version the chamber passed last year– on June 15 and amendments are due by Monday at 5 p.m. And Senate President Karen Spilka pitched the legislation as “progressive, smart, sustainable, and permanent.”

“And it centers equity while chipping away at the headwinds that threaten our competitiveness,” Spilka said in a statement. “Everywhere I go, the two pressing issues I hear about the most, from employers and residents alike, are workforce and housing. Our tax relief package intentionally targets housing affordability so we can not only maintain our economic competitiveness but ensure our residents can stay where they want to work, live, raise families and pursue their dreams.”

The Senate opted not to take a swing at lowering the short term capital gains tax from 12% to 5%, a measure both Healey and the House have floated in their respective plans. That reduction has generated support from the business community.

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said if the short term capital gains tax remains at 12%, some Massachusetts earners could have their income taxed as high as 16% when taking into account a new surtax.

“That’s not a place any state wants to be in terms of an income tax rate,” Howgate said in an interview.

Senators did not include a House-backed change to the tax cap law that would require any excess tax revenue returned to residents be equal payments regardless of how much they paid to the state. Healey did not include that change in her tax proposal.

House Speaker Ronald Mariano previously said the adjustment to repayments allows for everyone to share in the success of the state’s economy.

“We felt after watching the way the checks were made out and sent out, I think [Michlewitz, Cusack and I] sort of agreed pretty early on that there are fairer ways to do this,” he told reporters in April.

Senate leadership is proposing to require the Department of Revenue on monthly net state revenues and estimate if, and when, net revenue may exceed the allowable state tax revenue for the fiscal year.

Senate Democrats proposed excluding estates valued up to $2 million from the estate tax, $1 million lower than Healey proposed but on-par with what the House approved.

Sen. Ryan Fattman, a Sutton Republican, said the Senate tax relief proposal is “underwhelming.” He criticized Democrats for not proposing a larger threshold for when the estate tax kicks in.

“I think what I’m struggling with on this is you earn income, you’re taxed on it. You spend it, you’re taxed on it. You invest it, you’re taxed on it. And in Massachusetts, when you die, your family is taxed on it,” Fattman said. “And if you truly look at trying to become a competitive place for people to live, raise a family, build a business, spend the rest of their life, the estate tax at $2 million as a proposal is just a ridiculous notion.”

Senators proposed increasing the cap on rental deductions from $3,000 to $4,000, a move that may appeal to struggling renters across the state. The Senate initially boosts the statewide Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) cap from $10 million to $57 million before settling on $30 million annually.

HDIP provides a real estate tax exemption and tax credits for building new housing or rehabilitating old properties in gateway cities. It was one feature of Healey’s $750 million tax proposal she released in February.

The housing provisions of Senate leadership’s tax relief proposal “are a strength,” Howgate said.

“However, its exclusion of capital gains tax reform and more limited estate tax and child and dependent tax credit relief undercut our collective ability to meet two key goals: promote Massachusetts’ competitiveness and address high costs of living,” he said in a statement.

Raise Up Massachusetts, a progressive group, said the proposal “strike the right balance of targeted cuts for low-income families and middle-class homeowners, without giving away hundreds of millions of dollars to the ultra-rich and large multinational corporations.”

“Ultimately, the Senate’s tax proposal addresses issues most important to working families – like the need for more affordable housing – while sustaining the critical funding we need to fix our roads and public transit, expand access to childcare, and make our public colleges and universities more affordable,” the group said in a statement.

Herald wire services contributed.

The court document does not list the amounts owed to each creditor but a separate filing from earlier this week says Compass Medical has between 100 to 199 creditors, assets of between $10 million and $50 million, and liabilities of between $1 million and $10 million.

Other entities the Quincy-based health organization listed as creditors include the Braintree Electric Light Department, Comcast, state Department of Revenue, Eversource Massachusetts, Fedex, Whitman’s Flowers Forever, Pfizer, the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Civil Process Division, and the Taunton Municipal Light Plant, among others

Compass Medical also owes money to a handful of cities and towns in Massachusetts as well, including Quincy, Taunton, East Bridgewater, Easton, and Middleborough.

The Herald reached out late Wednesday to several of the listed creditors. Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office declined to comment.

The healthcare group announced earlier this month its immediate intention to close all of its facilities in Massachusetts, a move that came as a shock to patients and has prompted at least one lawsuit that accuses the company of “patient abandonment.”

Compass Medical Board President Dr. Bruce Weinstein has said the need to close the company became clear at the end of May “when our plan to continue operations collapsed.”

“Since that time, Compass has mobilized its limited remaining resources to stand up a website to assist patients locate their providers, to preserve the medical records and access to them after our closure, and to provide a plan to assure continuity of care for our 70,000 patients including the provision of on-call coverage during this transition,” he said in a statement last week.

State officials have said they are looking into the closure of the roughly 450-employee business.

Compass Medical filed for bankruptcy on Monday, listing attorneys from Murphy & King as their lawyers.

Compass Medical was convicted on 10 counts of fraud in October 2022 after a 15-day trial in Boston and was ordered to pay Steward Medical Group, a Dallas-based healthcare company, $16.4 million.

Compass had originally sued Steward in 2017 over failure to pay bonuses to doctors and make rental payments, but a jury instead sided with Steward.

The list of Compass Medical creditors names Steward Medical Group, but it is unclear if that is related to the 2022 ruling.

Compass Medical has proposed an “unwind plan” that includes recommendations on how to maintain former patients’ medical records, Weintein said in a Wednesday statement to the Herald.

“It will be the trustee’s decision as to whether or not to accept entirely, modify or replace this plan and the trustee’s responsibility to assure preservation of and access to medical records in accordance with state and federal regulations,” Weinstein said.

State regulations require healthcare providers licensed by the Department of Public Health to maintain medical records in a manner “which permits the former patient or a successor physician reasonable access.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Public Health said Compass Medical is not licensed by the state because it is a private physician group practice. Individual physicians are licensed by the state’s Board of Registry in Medicine.

The Compass Medical website appeared to be down as of Wednesday afternoon, with a message telling visitors “error establishing database connection.”

Weinstein had said last week that Compass Medical would update their website “regularly with information” on how to contact their physician in their new practice and how to obtain medical records.”

As legislatures across the country consider bills restricting drag performers, transgender healthcare, and books they deem inappropriate, politicians in Massachusetts said the state is a “safe haven” for people from across the country. Their remarks come as Boston prepares for a Pride parade on Saturday.

There are “so many efforts to simply deny who we are and deny civil rights and protections, basic protections for people” in other states, said Gov. Maura Healey, one of the first lesbians elected governor in the United States.

“We are open for business in Massachusetts. Come to school here. Raise a family here, maybe meet someone here. Get married here. Grow a business here, vacation here. There’s so much about our beautiful, beautiful state and now should be a time when we’re inviting in,” Healey said to a crowd of over 100 people.

“I say welcome, Disney,” she added, tossing an off-hand jab at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis, who’s also a Republican candidate for president, has feuded with Disney over the company’s opposition to state legislation related to lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades that critics have since dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

In response, DeSantis took over Disney World’s governing district and appointed a new board of supervisors. Disney has since filed a federal lawsuit against DeSantis and the board the governor appointed.

Florida politicians, including DeSantis, have also championed laws that attempt to ban drag reading events. Montana became the first state last month to specifically ban people dressed in drag from reading books to children at public schools and libraries.

Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka said members of the LGBTQ community have faced many challenges in the past two years.

“So many states, unfortunately, I hate to even mention them like Florida and Texas, who seek to discriminate … trans, non-binary, gender expansive youth and force the LGBTQ-plus adults back into the closet,” the Ashland Democrat said. “No one should have to live in fear because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity.”

A federal judge ruled last week that a Tennessee law restricting draft performances in public spaces or in the presence of children law was “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.”

State Rep. Sarah Peake said when she saw the news that Tennessee had moved to restrict drag shows, she texted Sen. Julian Cyr to suggest the Bay State make a statement at the Pride flag raising that “drag queens are honored and welcome here in Massachusetts.”

Cyr responded saying “we should let the governor know about this idea,” Peake said.

“I texted Gov. Healy and I said, ‘hey, as an old activist and somebody who’s been fighting in the streets for our rights for the better part of four decades, what do you think about inviting drag queens to the Pride flag raising?’ Boom, immediately texted back ‘what a great idea,’” Peake, a Provincetown Democrat said.

A group of drag queens attended the flag raising ceremony, where they stood on the steps of the State House and performed for the crowd.

Neon Calypso, a drag queen from Boston, said she was placed in foster care in 2008.

“I have never felt as much as I do at home right now in front of everybody today,” Calypso said. “I’ve seen so many things change … in the state of Massachusetts … but the queer people have always been here and we are not going anywhere.”

Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.

Questions have swirled over the past week in the Beacon Hill orbit after the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development confirmed the withdrawal of $2.5 billion in federal relief funds for unemployment claims that should have been covered by the state.

“No one broke any laws,” Healey told reporters outside the State House Wednesday. “It’s just to a matter of whether this was done the way it was supposed to be done, or whether there were other ways that this could have been done. Again, it’s more about just getting a handle on it right now. And the most important thing is we’re in discussions with the U.S. Department of Labor. And other states are working through similar issues.”

It is still unclear whether Massachusetts is on the hook to pay the federal government back, a question that looms large over legislative conversations on tax relief. The discrepancy, the Healey administration has said, stems back to 2020, when former Gov. Charlie Baker was in office.

It was only recently identified through a yearly audit and previous inspections had not picked up on the error. An outside accounting firm hired to review the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund also previously missed the mistake.

Healey said officials are still “getting to the bottom of what happened in terms of disparities” and the administration is not looking into whether the error was an unlawful or illegal act.

Healey did not specify who in her administration has been in contact with the Department of Labor.

A spokesperson for Baker said the former administration “worked hard” to quickly set up new processes to ensure people received unemployment payments during the pandemic, including distributing tens of billions of dollars in benefits over two years.

“When complications were discovered, the administration immediately engaged an experienced outside consultant to help with reconciliation of the UI Trust Fund balance. The consultants issued a public report in December of 2021 that identified $300 million Massachusetts owed to the federal government, and the state acted quickly to resolve that issue,” the spokesperson, Jim Conroy, said.

Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Lauren Jones said last week the Healey administration is “determined to provide a solution with the goal of minimizing impact to the commonwealth.”

A U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson previously said they have been in discussion with state officials “about their error and is working with the state on options to rectify the situation.”

Members of the state’s congressional delegation sent a letter Wednesday to a U.S. Department of Labor Official urging federal officials to work with Massachusetts to rectify the “accounting error.”

“States have faced significant obstacles in appropriately administering federal pandemic UI funds. This is due in part to the prioritization of speed in disbursements, but also to the federal government’s unfortunate underinvestment in federal and state UI infrastructure,” the letter said, which was signed by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey as well as U.S. Reps. Lori Trahan, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton, Katherine Clark, Ayanna Pressley, William Keating, and James McGovern.

The multi-billion episode has drawn comparisons to summer 2022, when a little-known tax cap law required the government to send billions back to residents in the form of reimbursement checks.

That led legislative leaders to scrap talks on tax relief and sideline a massive economic development bill that was in the works at the end of the legislative session.

Senate President Karen Spilka did not say earlier this week whether this year’s scenario is similar to last year’s tax-cap situation.

“We’re in the fact-finding phase right now, trying to figure out what happened,” she said, adding the Senate will continue with a tax relief package that “will be out soon, so stay tuned.”

Addressing the misuse of federal funds should not preclude the Legislature from taking up a tax relief bill, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr told the Herald on Wednesday.

The Gloucester Republican said he is “not convinced” that Massachusetts will be forced to pay the federal government back.

“I’d also hope that the federal government would recognize its responsibility in this matter. They were motivating us to put out the money as quickly … as we could. The rules seemed to be changing quite a bit when we’re trying to do it. And I think there’s some shared responsibility here,” he said.

He said state officials acted “in good faith” despite the error.

“That being said, this is a sizable mistake,” he said. “And I think we need to understand how it happened, and who is responsible for it. And how we can make sure that the employers in the commonwealth are protected, the taxpayers of the commonwealth are protected, and the integrity of our state government is protected.”

State Rep. Peter Durant, a Spencer Republican, made his run official Monday in updated filings with the state’s campaign finance office after the Herald reported his intentions last week. Durant plans to formally announce his campaign Wednesday at 11 a.m. on the Holden Common.

Durant said he is running in part because he is concerned about people leaving the state.

“They are economic refugees seeking a more affordable state and a better lifestyle,” he said in a statement Wednesday morning. “That is absolutely heartbreaking. In order to change the trajectory downward we need balance in the State Senate and we need a Senator who will always put people ahead of politics.”

Rebekah Etique, the 24-year-old former campaign manager of the last Republican to challenge Gobi and lose, said she will also seek her party’s nomination.

“This is something I’ve been strategically thinking on for a while, so it’s time and I’m announcing it this week,” she told the Herald during a telephone interview on Monday. “I think it’s a really great time.”

Etique, a paralegal, ran the campaign of James Amorello in 2022, when he managed to grab 46% of the general election vote despite running as a Republican in deeply blue Massachusetts. According to Etique, the blue-collar district she hopes to represent is particularly receptive to conservative ideals.

“It’s probably the most conservative district in the state. The district votes very Republican,” she said

The winner of a potential Republican primary could end up facing Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat who has served in the Legislature for five terms. He announced his bid for the seat last month.

Zlotnik did not respond to a request for comment, but said in his campaign announcement that he has a “proven bipartisan track-record of problem solving and consensus building.”

The MassGOP is throwing their support behind Durant, state party Chair Amy Carnevale said. Durant was invited to speak at a MassGOP meeting on Thursday night in Westborough, Carnevale said.

“We think he has an excellent chance to bring this seat back into the Republican column,” Carnevale told the Herald on Tuesday.

Republicans say the upcoming special election, which has not yet been scheduled, is a good opportunity to pick up a seat in the Senate, where Democrats hold a super-majority.

But the race may be more of a toss up as a result of changes lawmakers made to the district during the most recent redistricting process, when Holden, Gardner, and a sliver of Worcester were added. Previous election results also show Gobi consistently outpacing Republican challengers.

Holden has 3,003 registered Democrats, 1,956 registered Republicans, and more than 9,800 unenrolled voters and Gardner has 2,744 registered Democrats, 1,360 registered Republicans, and more than 8,8000 unenrolled voters, according to state statistics as of Feb. 1, 2023.

The entire city of Worcester is primarily Democratic — 33,725 voters are enrolled in the party there compared to 6,880 registered Republicans — but more registered voters, 66,242, are unenrolled. Gobi’s former district only includes the western edge of the city.

Gobi said in May that the additions give the district a “heavy Democratic” presence and “a good opportunity for a Democrat to retain the seat.”

Data compiled by the City University of New York shows more than half of the voters in Gobi’s former district voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election while 46% voted for former President Donald Trump.

Gobi was first elected to the seat in 2014, when she beat Republican Michael Valanzola by roughly 300 votes. She has consistently fended off challengers since then, though Republicans managed to pull in at least 45% of the vote in the 2022, 2020, 2018, and 2016 general elections.

Jerold Duquette, a political science professor at Central Connecticut State University who lives in Longmeadow, said the special election format may offer an advantage to candidates who are willing to “work their asses off … to do a lot of mobilizing and a lot of work.”

“In that sense, I agree with the Republicans, that this is their best shot. I wouldn’t put money on them or anything,” he said in an interview. “I think the angle that’s more interesting is how will the fact that it’s a special election impact the race, and I think that has everything to do with how much energy people are willing to put into it.”

“I was brought to the hospital where I was treated like a dumb, drunk teenage girl,” LeBlanc told a group of lawmakers on Tuesday. “They didn’t have any testing available to test me for date rape drugs. So since then, I have lived with not knowing if and what was placed into my drink that night.”

And during her first week in college in September 2019, LeBlanc said she was raped.

“I do believe that my drink was spiked by the monster who raped me, but I will never have proof because again, testing was not available, even with the rape kit,” she said. “There has been a lot of unknown with both of these traumatic events. I wonder what drugs were put into my drink and were they different drugs both times? I wonder how many people they have done this too.”

LeBlanc said she supports legislation from state Sen. Paul Feeney that would require hospitals across the state to provide upon the request of a patient kits to test for the presence of drugs commonly used to spike drinks.

Feeney said the bill allows anyone to get tested at a hospital if they believe someone spiked their drink, a policy push that the Foxborough Democrat said is necessary to combat an “alarming” rise in drink-spiking cases.

“Time and time again, we’ve seen warnings from law enforcement officials to use the buddy system, cover your drink, make sure you’re not handing your drink over to anybody else, you’re leaving it unattended,” he said at a legislative hearing Tuesday afternoon. “Yet, reports of these incidents persist.”

The bill earmarks money from the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Trust Fund to fund the development and implementation of testing standards for patient-reported involuntary consumption of drugs commonly used for drug-facilitated sexual assault, regardless if sexual assault occurred.

Money would also be used to establish a “trauma-based empathy training program” for nurses examining patients who have reported the involuntary consumption of drugs.

The proposal also requires the Department of Public Health to set up a “date rape drug response and intervention task force” to study how to best collect data on confirmed incidents of drink spiking.

Feeney said he heard from two Boston-area hospitals that changed their testing protocols after he filed his bill.

“I’m glad that they did that. But again, we shouldn’t have a patchwork of care for people that are expecting to get tested when they show up,” he said. “I’m happy those hospitals adapted but I think it’s important … that we do this across Massachusetts.”

The Boston Police Department received 116 reports of drink spiking last year and police issued an alert on the topic in late-April 2023, urging people to make sure their drink is served directly from a bartender or server.

“Don’t allow people you don’t know or trust to order drinks and deliver them to you,” the department said in a statement.

Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta said many people who shared their drink-spiking stories with her have outlined how responsible they were, how they only had one or two drinks, but how quickly their night changed for the worse without a reasonable explanation.

“When they sought support from police or hospitals, they felt like there wasn’t sufficient resources, support or testing mechanisms in place,” Coletta said at the State House.

And Coletta said she also had a close call in college while at a nightclub.

The city councilor said she was hugging a friend with an empty plastic cup in her hand when she felt the weight of what seemed like a quarter drop inside of the cup. She said she looked down to see a “large white pill that would have made me sick had my cup not been empty at that moment.”

“But it was a surreal experience that I never fully recovered from,” she said.

Feeney is also the author of a successful amendment to the Senate’s fiscal 2024 budget that authorizes the bulk purchase of drink spiking test kits, which would be handed out to bars, restaurants, and other nightlife establishments in Massachusetts.

LeBlanc said the person she suspected of spiking her drink in August 2018 was wearing an olive green shirt. The man who raped her in 2019, she said, wore a blue shirt.

“I wonder if the guy wearing an olive green shirt would have been held accountable by the law for his heinous actions had there been testing available for date rape drugs,” she said. “I wonder if the guy wearing a blue shirt who took advantage of my body, left my neck stiff, bruising on my upper arm, my stomach scratched, my vagina sore and a life full of trauma would have been held accountable by the law for his heinous actions had there been testing available.”

State Senate President Karen Spilka, speaking to reporters after meeting with both Gov. Maura Healey and House Speaker Ron Mariano for one of the trio’s somewhat regular “leadership meetings,” said last summer’s sudden shelving of a unanimously accepted economic development bill, brought about after lawmakers learned they had taken too much from taxpayers and would need to send billions back under a rarely invoked 1986 law, will not serve as a precedent for a second slow-walk on tax relief.

“We are proceeding with a tax relief package — as I’ve said for many months — we will do a tax relief package,” she said.

On Friday, a yearly audit revealed Baker Administration officials apparently used $2.5 billion in federal pandemic-era relief funds to cover the cost of state-provided unemployment benefits, a tab which is supposed to be picked up by the commonwealth, not the feds.

It is unclear when the federal government will be paid back or how the error was made. On Monday lawmakers said they were still in a “fact-finding” phase.

The state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said the discrepancy occurred in 2020 and was “only recently identified” by the Healey administration.

According to the senate president, despite that unexpected unemployment bill arriving — which she contends isn’t even necessarily reflective of what the state may owe back — the upper chamber will proceed with the sort of progressive tax cuts she has been championing all session.

The Senate’s about $56 billion fiscal 2024 budget, unanimously passed at the end of May, already includes a carveout for $575 million in tax relief. That’s about what was approved last year but abandoned and yet still hundreds of millions less than the economic reform plans offered by the state House and governor.

What will be in the plan is still up in the air. Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said a bill would be released in “the next two weeks.”

“We are in regular communication with our colleagues, putting together a package as we speak,” he told the State House News Service.

According to Spilka, residents will learn the specifics of the Senate’s tax cut plan “soon.”

“So, stay tuned,” she said.

Shootings across the country have become nearly synonymous with daily life, and mass casualty events have occurred at a regular pace in the United States since two gunmen walked into Columbine High School in 1999 and killed 13 people. More recently, a gruesome shooting in Uvalde, Texas, left 19 students and two teachers dead in May 2022.

But mass shootings make up only 1% of gun deaths in the United States, said Angela Christiana of Moms Demand Action, one of the organizers of the local “Wear Orange” event in Roxbury.

“Today we gather in unity wearing orange across the country, a symbol of reverence for every precious whole life affected by gun violence. It’s a powerful statement to wear orange, it’s a call for change,” Christiana said to a meeting hall packed with locals at the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry.

The event featured a handful of Patriots players, who attended to show their support, including rookies Ja’Whaun Bentley, Chad Ryland, Sidy Sow, Demario Douglas, and Malik Cunningham.

The gathering was one of several across Massachusetts, including events scheduled in Pittsfield, Brockton, and Amesbury. More gatherings were planned for Sunday and a handful were held on Friday.

The push for action on gun violence comes as Boston experienced 42 shooting incidents in the first five months of 2023, according to Boston Police Department data.

Pace McConkie Jr., policy and advocacy manager at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, said “peace is possible.”

“There are moments in this fight where it feels like it’s not,” McConkie told the crowd in Roxbury. “Let me remind you that it is. And for those in this room that have had their peace stripped from them with a loved one being taken from them by violence, know that peace in your life is possible.”

Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Massachusetts as having the sixth-strongest gun laws in the country and the lowest rate of gun deaths.

The Bay State, according to the organization, is one of only a few that bars gun purchases by people with outstanding warrants and requires secure storage for any firearm not in the owner’s immediate control.

Only 9% of adults in Massachusetts live in a household with a firearm, marking the second-lowest rate of gun ownership in the country, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

But Massachusetts could go farther, the organization says, including by regulating ghost gun parts that cannot be sold without serial numbers and a background check.

That’s something U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss is hoping Congress can address.

“Ghost guns have become a real problem because manufacturers are selling parts to weapons online direct to consumer in a way that makes them un-serialized and therefore untraceable and not subject to existing federal and state laws,” the Massachusetts Democrat told the Herald in an interview Saturday.

Auchincloss plans to attend a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force forum on Monday where a series of advocates, researchers, and gun owners plan to discuss ways to regulate ghost guns.

“We really have to crack down on ghost guns and we actually have a lot of laws in the books to do it. Now, it’s about enforcement,” he said.

Board President Dr. Bruce Weinstein did not offer any more details about what brought the Quincy-based company to its breaking point, which was suddenly made public earlier this week. In a brief response to Herald follow-up questions, Weinstein said specific details about what pushed Compass Medical over the edge were protected by “various” non-disclosure agreements.

“Compass Medical’s closure became a necessity on Friday, (May 26) when our plan to continue operations collapsed,” Weinstein said. “Since that time, Compass has mobilized its limited remaining resources to stand up a website to assist patients locate their providers, to preserve the medical records and access to them after our closure, and to provide a plan to assure continuity of care for our 70,000 patients including the provision of on-call coverage during this transition.”

State officials, including Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell, have said they are looking into the abrupt closure of the 450-employee company. Compass Medical announced in a statement on its website Wednesday that it would shut down, a move that left many patients scratching their heads and scrambling to secure primary care.

The closure has prompted at least one lawsuit from a former patient, Abington’s John Callanan, who accused Compass Medical of “patient abandonment” and shutting down “without any prior notice” to patients.

But in the Saturday afternoon statement, Weinstein said the company has worked to find landing spots for all their primary care providers and specialists. And they have “worked, to the best of our ability,” to provide resources to assist employees in finding new jobs.

“We have been in regular contact with the appropriate state agencies to review and refine our plan, made modification to this plan per their recommendations, and have worked to secure funding to support the transition plan following our closure,” Weinstein said in the email.

Speaking to reporters at the State House on Thursday, Healey called Compass Medical’s decision to close its doors “concerning and distressing.”

“I think I appreciate the real distress that causes for patients out there affected by this,” Healey said. “We are working closely with our secretary of Health and Human Services, who has already reached out to learn more information about what is going on, and what can be done to ensure that patients continue with care. That continuum of care is so, so important.”

Weinstein said once it became clear “closure was unavoidable” at Compass, officials there started to focus on making sure that patients could transition to new practices, “knowing that disruption was inevitable but committing all our resources to help mitigate where we could.”

“Throughout this effort, our management and our extended teams have acted diligently and responsibly in extremely difficult and sad circumstances and, at all times, focused on the needs of our patients,” he said.

Others view the timeline of events in a different light.

Attorney Jonathan Sweet, who is representing Callanan in the lawsuit against Compass Medical, said Weinstein did not address the process for notifying patients of the company’s decision to close.

“I find it implausible that on (May 26), they all of a sudden said, ‘Oh, my God, we need to close tomorrow.’ This is a huge operation,” Sweet told the Herald on Saturday. “And these kinds of discussions would have to be taking place well in advance for this to happen.”

Compass Medical was convicted on 10 counts of fraud in October 2022 and ordered to pay a Dallas-based medical group $16.4 million. Compass had originally sued Steward in 2017 over failure to pay bonuses to doctors and make rental payments, but jurors sided with Steward, instead finding Compass liable for fraud.

Sweet points to that settlement — which could reach even higher as court proceedings play out — and the associated financial pressures as one reason the business decided to close.

Weinstein declined to comment on the lawsuit with Dallas’s Steward Medical Group.

“The court has yet to issue a final judgment regarding the verdict and damages have not yet been confirmed. Compass still has a substantial claim against Steward which the court has yet to hear,” he said in a follow-up email to the Herald. “These details are publicly available.”

Attorney Howard Cooper, a partner at Todd & Weld who represented Steward during a 15-day trial in Boston, told the Herald earlier this week that it is unclear who will pay the $16.4 million settlement owed to Steward Medical Group.”

But as far as Compass Medical’s legacy is concerned, Weinstein said he is “immensely proud” of former employees and “profoundly grateful” for their work.

“While our company is closing, our providers will continue caring for patients at various practices throughout our region,” he said. “Through these providers and their new practices, and ultimately the teams that will continue to support them, I am confident that Compass’s legacy of high-quality patient care will continue throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.”

The state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission is required under a 2020 police reform law to suspend the policing licenses of officers who are arrested, charged, or indicted for a felony and revoke the licenses of those convicted of a felony. Suspensions remain in place until a final decision or revocation is made by regulators.

The two new suspensions of former Hopkinton Police Deputy Chief John Porter and Hingham Officer Joel Salituri bring the total number of suspended cops in Massachusetts to 33 as of May 20. A full list is available on the POST Commission’s website.

Porter pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of raping a 15-year-old student while he was a school resource officer. Prosecutors said he assaulted the student in 2004 and 2005 after he became the department’s first school resource officer.

Prosecutors also said he assaulted the student multiple times off school property.

Porter’s attorney, Leonardo Angiulo of Worcester, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hopkinton officials placed Porter on administrative leave last year pending the outcome of an investigation and he was no longer a member of the Hopkinton Police Department as of the end of April.

“Porter notified the town that he is seeking to retire, and the town accepted his immediate separation from employment,” town officials said in a statement.

He had been with the department since 1992.

Salituri was arraigned in Woburn District Court in late April, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office.

Salituri’s lawyer, Jack Diamond, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors said the officer was traveling on Interstate 93 when he and another vehicle pulled off the highway. Salituri is accused of following a person until he pulled over into a parking lot, according to protestors.

Salituri is then accused of pulling alongside the victim, yelling at them, and making “derogatory statements while brandishing a firearm,” Ryan’s office said in a statement.

“The victim also reported that the defendant stated he was a police officer. The defendant was not on duty at the time,” the statement said. “The victim reported the incident to police and a criminal complaint for the charge of assault with a dangerous weapon was issued after probable cause was found at a show cause hearing.”

Salituri was released on personal recognizance and ordered to stay away from and not have contact with the victim at the arraignment. And the Hingham Police Department placed him on administrative leave, according to Ryan’s office.

It is unclear when the federal government will be paid back or how the error was made. The state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said the discrepancy stems back to 2020, when former Gov. Charlie Baker was in office, and was “only recently identified” by the Healey administration this year.

Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Lauren Jones said the Healey administration is “determined to provide a solution with the goal of minimizing impact to the commonwealth.”

“The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development has since taken steps to implement and enhance internal controls. We are also working closely with [the U.S. Department of Labor], outside auditors, and other necessary partners to resolve this issue,” Jones said in a statement.

The audit showed that in 2020 and through the pandemic, the state labor department withdrew $2.5 billion in federal relief funds for unemployment claims that should have been covered by the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund, which Massachusetts employers pay into, labor officials said.

Multiple audits over the past several years by two independent groups did not catch the error, the state said. And an outside accounting firm hired to review the state’s unemployment trust fund also missed the error, officials said.

The Boston Globe first reported the error Thursday night.

But some are questioning whether “error” is the best way to describe the mistaken use of $2.5 billion.

“It’s not millions, it’s billions,” said Eileen McAnneny, a senior fellow in economic opportunity at the Pioneer Institute. “The magnitude of this oversight is astounding.”

Business groups are calling on the state to keep the responsibility of cleaning up the mess out of the hands of employers or taxpayers. That comes as the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development made clear no claimants were impacted.

The $2.5 billion error was made by the state, and it is “reliant upon the state of Massachusetts to rectify this major oversight,” said Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for the National Federation of Independent Business.

“However, in no way should employers be held liable for a $2.5 billion mistake that was not their doing. If Massachusetts must repay the federal government, they should use remaining federal funds or excess tax revenue and not rely on business owners to shoulder the burden,” Carlozzi said in a statement.

Carlozzi said the state should not raise the unemployment insurance taxes employers pay nor deplete the existing unemployment insurance fund balances “as small business owners are currently paying a hefty COVID-19 assessment on their UI bills to cover the cost of layoffs resulting from state-mandated shutdowns.”

And as the dust settled Friday morning, many in the Beacon Hill orbit were trying to wrap their heads around the situation and potential impacts the multi-billion dollar error could have on the state’s finances.

A spokesperson for House Speaker Ronald Mariano said the Quincy Democrat’s office is “in communication” with the administration and “will continue to monitor the situation as it develops.”

Senate President Karen Spilka’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said it might be worth taking a breath before any major decisions are made.

“I think we’re all kind of processing a lot of information and I think it’s worth us taking the time to figure out what the situation is before we jump to conclusions,” he told the Herald.

A U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson said they have been in discussion with state officials “about their error and is working with the state on options to rectify the situation.”

Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Craney said “under no circumstances” should local businesses be expected to pay for any portion of the $2.5 billion mistake.

“They’ve already paid more than enough. Any public comments even suggesting this will only continue to drive the narrative that Massachusetts is uncompetitive and does not support its small businesses,” he said in a statement.

The governors said they wrote the open letter — dated May 25 — out of concern that textbook publishers may be tempted to “water down critical information to appeal to the lowest common denominator.” It comes as a debate over what should or should not be included in textbooks for students and libraries plays out across the country.

“Our country’s future is at stake. You hold enormous influence in shaping how our great nation’s history is told, and the consequences of your actions will reverberate for generations to come,” the letter reads. “Honestly grappling with our legacy has long been a cornerstone of American patriotism. If we are to continue striving for a more perfect union, then we must carry out our duty of ensuring future generations understand our full history as well as the contributions of all its people.”

The governors of Washington, Rhode Island, New York, New Mexico, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, New Jersey, and the U.S. Virgin Islands also signed onto the letter.

Governors in several states have pushed to ban or restrict books they believe contain inappropriate material. Certain books covering racial themes also have been pulled from library shelves, sometimes temporarily, as school administrators try to assess what material is allowed under the new rules.

Florida became one of the first in a wave of red states to enact laws making it easier for parents to challenge books in school libraries they deem to be pornographic, deal improperly with racial issues or in other ways be inappropriate for students.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law, set to take effect this summer, that could impose criminal penalties on librarians who knowingly provide “harmful” materials to minors.

The law also would establish a process for the public to challenge materials and ask they be relocated to a section minors can’t access.

School libraries in Indiana will be required by July 1 to publicly post a list of books they offer and provide a complaint process for community members under a law Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed this month.

A Texas bill creating new standards for banning books from schools that the government considers too explicit has been sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.

The Oklahoma state school board has approved new rules that prohibit “pornographic materials and sexualized content” in school libraries and allow parents to submit formal complaints. And Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill last month that includes removing all books depicting sex acts, except religious texts, from school libraries.

The open letter signed by Healey and other governors said it is an “important priority” of their administrations to ensure that any education materials “censored to appeal to political pressure” do not negatively impact goals and values in their states.

“As such, please know that we will be working closely with all of our school districts to ensure they are fully informed of which texts include comprehensive and accurate educational information – and which have been inappropriately censored – when they consider procurement of instructional materials for the nearly nine million students our states serve,” the letter said.

Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.

Gov. Maura Healey swore-in Augustus Thursday morning as the brand new secretariat charged with overseeing housing in Massachusetts, lowering associated costs, and dealing with the many different stakeholders in the industry.

In his new role, Augustus said he wants to move quickly to inventory surplus state land that can be used for housing production.

“There’s a lot of state land that isn’t necessarily being used right now. And that land belongs to the people of the commonwealth and that land should be put to use for the needs of the people of the commonwealth,” he told reporters at the State House. “And there can’t be a more severe and significant and pressing need than creating housing.”

The new cabinet-level position completes the split of the original Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development into two entities. The Department of Housing and Community Development will fall under Augustus’ purview.

Advocates have already started to pitch Augustus on early priorities they think he should focus on, including zoning reforms and creating an Office of Fair Housing.

Sen. Lydia Edwards, an East Boston Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature’s Housing Committee, said the audit of state land is a good move and should remain a priority during the first few months.

The lawmaker also pointed to a need to efficiently process applications for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, which provides eligible low-income families and individuals with tenant and project-based rental subsidies.

“We learned that there’s about 1,300 applications for MRVP, that’s the state voucher, a month. And you can email it or mail it physically,” Edwards said. “And when it’s emailed, it’s then printed out, and then the data is entered into a system. That’s a real easy fix, right? Just make the damn thing electronic completely.”

The Healey administration said Augustus will work with everyone in the housing industry, including landlords.

Doug Quattrochi, the head of MassLandlords, said Augustus should push Massachusetts towards becoming a “multifamily as a right” state.”

“It just means the state recognizes it no longer has a compelling interest in telling landlords, property owners, homeowners, how many different groups of people can live in their building, as long as it’s safe,” he told the Herald. “I don’t think Augustus is really going to work on that at all. I mean, that’s not his track record in Worcester. Worcester, most of its single-family still in terms of land area.”

Augustus most recently worked as the city manager for Worcester and at one point during his career, made his way to Boston to serve as a state senator.

Compass Medical, which has 450 employees in the state, announced an “imminent plan” to close all of its facilities in a statement posted to its website Wednesday that left many scratching their heads. It comes after the company lost a lawsuit to a Dallas-based physicians group, costing them millions.

At an unrelated press conference inside the State House Thursday, Gov. Maura Healey said anytime someone’s access to health care is interfered with, “that’s troubling.”

“It’s very concerning and distressing, and I think I appreciate the real distress that causes for patients out there affected by this,” Healey told reporters. “We are working closely with our secretary of Health and Human Services, who has already reached out to learn more information about what is going on, and what can be done to ensure that patients continue with care. That continuum of care is so, so important.”

Healey said her office has been in touch with the Attorney General’s Office, adding that Compass Medical is a physician’s group, which means it is not licensed by the state. A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services said the administration is “concerned” by reports of the closure.

A spokesperson for Attorney General Andrea Campbell said the office is gathering information on the closure and is in “close communication” with the Healey administration.

“Affected consumers and patients are encouraged to contact the AG’s office to share their concerns,” the spokesperson said.

Compass Medical has facilities in Brockton, South Weymouth, Attleboro, Dorchester, Milton, Taunton, North Easton, Bridgewater, and Stoughton, among other places.

“After a steady stream of challenges, we were ultimately forced to make the devastating decision to close all offices of Compass Medical PC. effective immediately,” the statement said. “There is no good way to share this news. We are heartbroken and truly sorry as we know the unprecedented impact on our valued patients.”

In a Thursday statement, Compass Medical Board President Dr. Bruce Weinstein said “most” physicians at the company will continue to provide medical care in their local communities as part of other practices. Medical records will be preserved and available pursuant to federal and state regulations, the statement said.

“Compass will be updating the website regularly with information on how patients can contact their physician in their new practice setting and how they can obtain access to their medical records,” Weinstein said.

It was not immediately clear how many physicians worked at Compass Medical, and a spokesperson for the state Board of Registry in Medicine, which licenses physicians in Massachusetts, did not immediately return a request for comment.

House Speaker Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, said the Compass closure is “further evidence” the state’s healthcare system has yet to recover from the financial pressures brought on by the pandemic.

“It’s critical that patients impacted by these closures are able to transition their care to alternative providers in a manner that does not further threaten the stability of the region’s health care resources,” Mariano said in statement.

The closure comes after a jury ordered Compass Medical to pay $16.4 million to Dallas-based Steward Medical Group following a Fall 2022 multi-day trial in Suffolk County Superior Court, according to court records. Steward Medical Group owned Quincy Medical Center, which closed in 2020.

Compass Medical originally sued Steward Medical Group in 2017, accusing the Dallas company of failing to give incentive payments to Compass doctors and failing to “make rental payments for office space and for medical equipment leased by compass on SMG’s behalf,” the lawsuit said.

But the jury instead sided with Steward Medical Group, finding that Compass Medical engaged in a breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment, according to a jury verdict form dated October 2022.

The case status is listed as open as of Thursday and a court hearing was last held on April 27, according to court records.

A spokesperson for Steward Health Care — the parent company of Steward Medical Group — said Compass Medical lost a $16.4 million verdict, was found guilty, and convicted on 10 counts of fraud.

“Compass has not paid Steward any part of that claim and has nothing to do with them going bankrupt,” the spokesperson said. “… We understand how difficult this is for the community, in the wake of the fire at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, the expected closure of Compass Medical will create even more restrictions on access to care for patients.

The Steward Health Care spokesperson said the company is planning a series of job fairs over the next week to help Compass Medical clinicians and employees find jobs “that allow them to continue to serve their patients in the local community.”

Gov. Maura Healey tapped Ed Augustus, a former state senator and city administrator, to work as the head of a cabinet-level secretariat dedicated to housing, building homes, and lowering associated costs. The administration hailed the position as a one solution to the housing crisis plaguing Massachusetts.

Augustus should focus on setting metrics for housing production that include affordable and “deeply affordable” units, file a housing bond bill, and create an Office of Fair Housing within the secretariat, said Rachel Heller, CEO of Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association.

“Massachusetts has the fifth largest racial homeownership gap in the nation. And this needs to be a focus of the administration as well [as] the focus of Secretary Augustus’ work,” Heller said. “And in addition to homeownership, we also have racial wealth disparities, and so ensuring there are pathways for economic mobility and for people who are renting.”

Healey pitched the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities as the go-to source for struggling homeowners and renters in the state. The administration said the high-level official dedicated to finding answers to the high cost of housing will work with people from across the state.

Rep. Mike Connolly, a Cambridge Democrat who has focused much of his legislative work on housing, said Augustus should be a key player in creating a “universal housing” program in Massachusetts, or the idea that everyone in the state is guaranteed a place to live.

“I think that could look similar to what it looked like when Massachusetts decided we were going to pursue that goal of having universal health insurance coverage,” Connolly told the Herald on Wednesday.

When Healey announced Augustus as the new secretary, she pointed to his work distributing or committing tens of millions to develop or preserve more than 2,000 affordable housing units in Worcester.

In a statement to the Herald, Augustus said he is “honored” to assume the role and looks forward to building a “comprehensive housing and stabilization strategy while centering fairness and equity with every opportunity.”

“My immediate priorities include getting to know our hardworking staff to learn from them and how we can best support them, evaluating options for accommodating demand on our Emergency Assistance shelter system, and connecting with all stakeholders, including local officials, to strategize on how we can get everyone on board with ramping up production,” Augustus said.

Working with cities and towns is exactly what Symone Crawford, head of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, thinks Augustus needs to focus on, especially as it relates to zoning reforms and requirements around multi-family housing in communities served by the MBTA.

“I know [Augustus] has his work cut out for him but he has to make sure that each and every decision maker in the state as it relates to this homeownership crisis is accountable for what they need to do,” Crawford said.

With the new secretariat, the Healey administration spliced the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development into two. Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao will oversee the other half of the original office.

The Department of Housing and Community Development, one of the main state touchpoints for those unaccompanied adults experiencing homelessness, will fall under Augustus, the Healey administration said.

Keeping the issue of homelessness tied to housing and Augustus’s new secretariat is key, said Joe Finn, president of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance.

Among the many issues the new office needs to tackle is finding a way to “expedite the creation of various housing models” to meet the needs of homeless people and their differing circumstances, Finn said.

“We need some level of supportive housing that has to be developed. But we can’t do that by doing three or four, five projects a year, right, we have to come up with a plan around how to convert some resources in the direction of doing that type of supportive housing,” he told the Herald.

Sen. Julian Cyr filed a bill that repeals the statewide ban on happy hour approved in 1984, putting in place an opt-in happy hour program for cities and towns. The Truro Democrat said a local option would empower communities to make their own decision on happy hour in a way “that is safe and appropriate.”

And with remote work now the norm, bringing back happy hours may draw more people to businesses in local downtowns or Main Streets that have suffered from the loss of clientele over the past several years, Cyr said.

“In certain neighborhoods, a happy hour might not make sense. But for other cities and towns, I think it really does. And particularly for these Main Streets, these downtown’s that are really struggling, this is an alluring tool,” Cyr told members of a legislative committee Wednesday afternoon.

Cyr’s bill would prohibit happy hours after 10 p.m., bar businesses from changing the prices of drinks during happy hours, and require a publicly-posted notice of a happy three days before it is scheduled to happen.

And Cyr said nearly 40 years after Massachusetts banned the practice, the Bay State is one of the few places in the country to have a happy hour prohibition still in effect.

“Both Kansas and Illinois repealed their happy hour ban in the last decade, neither state saw an increase in traffic-related fatalities or traffic-related fatalities due to alcohol and that I think is compelling and is significant,” he said. “This bill is again about moving away from this puritanical approach to what people do and moving away from this paternalistic approach.”

Senators backed a similar provision allowing cities and towns to opt-in to happy hours in an economic development bill last session. But the idea did not emerge from negotiations with House counterparts as lawmakers stared down a potential veto from former Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican.

At the same legislative hearing, Rep. Paul Frost asked his colleagues to support a bill that would make permanent the pandemic-era practice of selling cocktails to-go with food purchases.

Lawmakers have repeatedly extended the authorization, most recently until March 2024.

Frost said allowing take-out alcoholic beverages “really helped” restaurants.

“I think we’ve seen enough that this works,” the Auburn Republican said. “This helps our local restaurants. And I think it provides a service to some people who are still not comfortable going out to restaurants since the pandemic.”

Cocktails to-go has proven to be “extremely popular” with guests across the restaurant industry, said Jessica Muradian, director of government affairs for the Mass. Restaurant Association.

“Our guests love the convenience of getting a restaurant-quality drink with their food orders, and it has provided a much needed revenue boost to our industry,” Muradian said. “The reality of the situation is that cocktails to-go do not impact off-premise consumption.”

Not all are on-board with the idea of making cocktails to-go permanent.

Bob Weiner, a package store owner who testified Wednesday alongside the head of the Massachusetts Package Stores Association, said the idea “is flawed.”

“There have been violations,” he said. “If extended it should be worded carefully to reflect allowable reasonable quantities. The hours of deliveries and driver regulations that we alcohol retailers are enjoined to enforce should also be mandated for the on-premise alcohol deliveries.”

Republicans view Gobi’s district as a prime opportunity to pick up a seat in the Senate, where there are only three Republicans and Democrats hold a super majority. Durant’s decision to run will pit him against his House colleague, Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat.

Durant did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

All three of the Senate’s Republicans told the Herald last week that they are confident a Republican can win a race in what they view as a competitive district.

As of the end of April, Zlotnik reported $32,114 in campaign cash and Durant reported $828 on hand, according to state campaign finance records.

Durant is a sixth-term state lawmaker who serves as the ranking minority member on both the Judiciary Committee and House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight.

But Gobi previously said the makeup of the district — which includes a portion of Worcester, Gardner, and Holden — means there is a “heavy Democratic” presence in the area.

“So I think it’s a good opportunity for a Democrat to retain the seat,” she told reporters in the State House the day her departure was announced.

Zlotnik has said the 22 communities that make up the Senate district “deserve a Senator who knows how to work with their local officials to build a stronger district from the ground up.”

“I have proven my commitment to my constituents. I have a proven bipartisan track record of problem-solving and consensus-building. I look forward to the opportunity to do the same for so many in the North Quabbin and Central Massachusetts Regions,” he said in a statement last week.

Durant already appears to be zeroing in on key issues that may play to voters in the area.

The Republican said Wednesday that he filed a records request with the Healey administration seeking a range of information regarding the number of “non-residents” housed in the state and the associated costs.

The request asks how many hotels and motels have contracted with the state to house migrants, undocumented immigrants, and refugees; the current number of hotel and motel rooms the state is currently paying for; and how many hotels and motels the state is in the process of negotiating with to house more people.

“The people of Massachusetts have the right to know what is happening and what it is costing the taxpayers. We deserve transparency,” Durant said in a statement.

Gov. Maura Healey announced last week that Gobi would start as the administration’s director of rural affairs on June 4 and step down from the seat she has held for five terms on June 4.

Healey said the Spencer Democrat has shown a “fierce advocacy of rural equity, agricultural and small businesses, and conservation initiatives.”

“We want to send a clear message to every single person who calls rural Massachusetts home – we see you, we value you, and we’re going to work every day to ensure you have the representation and support you deserve,” Healey said.

A floating hospital designed to serve people living in tents addresses what state Sen. Nick Collins calls a medical facilities shortage in the city. A medical ship could provide patients with a higher level of acute care in a setting completely focused on mental health and substance use, Collins said.

“We need an interim solution to a facilities problem that doesn’t allow for us right now to intervene on demand,” Collins told the Herald. “What do you do? You need to provide the resources that don’t take over hospitals and communities.”

Senators this week approved Collins’ idea as an amendment to their fiscal 2024 budget.

Collins wants to give the Department of Mental Health $50,000 to study the feasibility of converting a decommissioned ship or another water-based vessel into a floating hospital for mental health, substance use treatment, and recovery services.

A report from the department would be due to the House and Senate by Feb. 15, 2024. The idea still needs approval from the House, which will soon start hashing out a final fiscal 2024 budget with the Senate, and ultimately, Gov. Maura Healey.

Researchers at MIT have already studied the possibility of turning a decommissioned cruise ship into affordable housing units. A February 2023 report found converting a cruise ship “is feasible, and offers crucial advantages over comparable land-based approaches.”

“The elimination of new construction, the existing habitable arrangements, and the availability of large-volume spaces for amenities suggest a compelling candidate to creatively address the affordable housing shortage besetting scores of cities and millions of citizens across the country,” the MIT report said before recommending more analysis on the idea.

And Collins’ budget language directs the Department of Mental Health to consult with MIT’s naval construction and marine engineering program to figure out if a floating hospital is possible.

The South Boston Democrat said a Boston-based floating hospital ship is nothing new for the city.

The Floating Hospital for Children — which would later become Tufts Children’s Hospital — was a medical sailing ship in Boston Harbor where children could seek out treatment. A 1920s fire eventually moved facilities onshore.

Collins said the floating hospital “provided an important healthcare response to an untenable situation with an incredibly vulnerable population.”

“And I see this as very similar,” Collins said. “These are the commonwealth’s children. They are someone’s sister. They’re someone’s daughter, someone’s loved one, who are being victimized, particularly at Mass and Cass. And our current public and mental health infrastructure cannot handle the rapid and robust response needed to solve this crisis.”

Rebuilding a treatment center on Boston Harbor’s Long Island and a bridge connecting the island to the mainland has long been seen as another solution to the issues at Mass and Cass. But a battle between Quincy and Boston officials has put a pause on construction efforts.

Mayor Michelle Wu said this month that Boston plans to move forward with rebuilding the bridge to the island, though she acknowledged it carries a “hefty price tag” and any transportation option would take “multiple years” to put in place.

“We are rounding the bend, I think, on the last set of permits for the ability to create that bridge and reactivate transportation to the island,” Wu said on WCVB’s On The Record. “This is a city-owned 250 acres of land that has some buildings which need updating and maintaining because they’ve fallen down a little bit but it has the history of being an important hub for services and treatment.”

Collins said a floating hospital could potentially dock at Long Island.

“While there’s ongoing discussions and debates about the future of Long Island and how to access it,” he said, “this is something that’s climate resilient.”

The Governor’s Advisory Council on Veterans’ Services will meet four times a year and be tasked with producing a written report every two years, a change from the annual reporting requirement former Gov. Charlie Baker his version of the council.

Healey’s order comes after she created a new executive office focused on veteran’s services earlier this year and appointed former state Rep. Jon Santiago — a captain in the United States Army Reserve — to lead it.

“This council represents another step forward in our mission to prioritize the diverse experiences of our service members and will play a crucial role in our efforts to elevate veterans’ services statewide,” Healey said in a statement.

Baker issued a similar advisory council order in 2016, tasking a 12-member body with advising him on issues related to veterans and how best to support the community, according to the order. Members on his version of the council were unpaid and served for three years.

Healey’s version follows a similar path, though it lays out more guidelines for who will serve on the council.

The membership must represent “not only geographically diverse parts of the commonwealth, but also including indigenous veterans and reflecting our inhabitants’ diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, immigration status, and economic status,” the order said.

Santiago will serve as chair of the council and include the chair of the Women’s Advisory Council of Veteran Affairs.

“The council shall review and assess federal and state laws and regulations and existing programs and services relating to veterans to enhance the lives of veterans and their families in the commonwealth,” Healey’s executive order said.

Santiago said the Healey administration “stands firmly committed to supporting and engaging veterans of all backgrounds and zip codes.”

“The membership of this esteemed council will encompass the diverse range of experiences among thousands of service members across our state,” he said in a statement.

Rollins resigned as the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts last week after she “committed an extraordinary abuse of her power” when she violated the Hatch Act, a law prohibiting federal employees from participating in partisan political activity, one of the federal reports found.

Another report accused Rollins of using her position to sway last year’s race for Suffolk County District attorney between Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo and DA Kevin Hayden.

And Healey said Friday that Rollins’ alleged conduct was “troubling and disappointing.”

“There was no question that she had to resign. I also support the ongoing efforts of the men and women in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. I worked closely with them as attorney general. And I know, Attorney General Campbell will continue to work and work with them as well,” Healey said on GBH’s Boston Public Radio.

Healey said she has not spoken to Rollins since the reports were released.

Asked whether there should be a criminal investigation into Rollins’ conduct or if the Board of Bar Overseers should consider a license suspension, Healey said “I’ll leave that to others with jurisdiction and authority.”

Healey deflected when asked whether there should be a criminal investigation into Rollins’ conduct or if the Board of Bar Overseers should consider a license suspension.

“I’ll leave that to others with jurisdiction and authority,” Healey said. “I don’t have a comment on that.”

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy stepped into the acting U.S. Attorney role after Rollins resigned. Healey said she has “a lot of faith” in Levy.

“He’s a highly regarded lawyer and federal prosecutor and has been the first assistant in that office. And I know that he will continue to lead that office as it needs to be led at this time,” Healey said.

Healey first addressed Rollins’ alleged conduct the day the reports were released, saying she had no indication that Rollins may have been influencing the Suffolk DA’s race.

“I think that the important thing for people to know is that the US Attorney’s Office is strong,” Healey said at the time. “There are so many great people who are working in that office, who have worked in that office and I know the good work of that office will continue.”

After a multi-day debate, the Senate pushed forward a document that allows some illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges or universities, shuttles millions to regional transportation authorities, and provides no-cost calls for local inmates.

But the House and Senate will have to hash out what to do over the House and Gov. Maura Healey-backed proposal to allow people to buy and play state Lottery games online, something Treasurer Deb Goldberg has said is essential for the gambling service to compete with the rise of digital sports betting.

Top Senate officials have argued the idea is not yet ready for prime time and an amendment from Sen. Paul Feeney, a Foxboro Democrat, that would have weaved online Lottery authorizations back into the Senate’s budget was cast aside earlier this week without debate.

At a briefing at the start of May, Senate chief budget writer Michael Rodrigues said the state Lottery consistently sets revenue records and the online version will not “generate the type of revenue that they’re proposing to generate.” House leaders estimated an online lottery could bring in at least $200 million.

Lottery officials have been clamoring for lawmakers to authorize online sales.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Goldberg said Thursday afternoon when asked about the Senate’s resistance to the idea.

The two branches may also butt heads over a House-approved plan that would require public schools to provide school meals to all students free of charge. A federal free school lunch program started during the pandemic fed more than 80,000 students, House leaders have said.

But the Senate opted not to include it in their proposal. Healey has proposed funding the program in a separate supplemental budget.

During Thursday’s debate, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr turned to an array of comical props — including a large, fake magnifying glass made out of what appeared to be black tape and a tennis racket handle — to argue that the state budget did not include a hard and fast reserve for future tax relief proposals.

Democratic leaders, including Rodrigues, said they “put a hole in the balance sheet” of $575 million for a future proposal that will be debated and voted on soon after fiscal 2024 budget deliberations wrap.

But Tarr said balance sheet numbers can change without legislative approval, and that after scouring the state budget, he could not find money earmarked for tax relief. He proposed an unsuccessful amendment that would have created a reserve of $600 million for a future tax relief bill.

“I decided to get a bigger magnifying glass and I once again looked through the budget, and I said, ‘where’s the $575 million?’ And I said, well it’s a lot of money, it’s got to be in here. And I didn’t see it,” Tarr said as he held the large magnifying glass.

Rodrigues on Thursday pointed to a section of the proposed state budget listing all revenue sources and known expenses, which he said included the $575 million intended for tax relief.

“The $575 million is fully accounted for, fully represented,” he said.

Senators tacked on millions over four days of debate and rejected a Republican push to scrap in-state tuition for some undocumented immigrants, one of Senate President Karen Spilka’s signature policy proposals.

Senate Democrats also doubled down on their decision to exclude revenues from the brand new “Fair Share Amendment” from the calculations of a once-obscure tax-cap law that led to refunds for residents last year.

An unsuccessful amendment from Tarr would have deleted language in the state budget carving out “Fair Share” revenues from the tax-cap law known as Chapter 62F. A similar amendment was rejected during the House budget debate.

“When they say we’re going to put a limit on all revenue, they mean all revenue. And they said the revenues of the commonwealth from every tax, every surtax, exactly of the nature of the one that was just approved in the most recent election,” Tarr said.

Rodrigues said segregating “Fair Share” revenue ensures that the “will of the voters” is maintained “and that we spend it, we appropriate it solely, solely on education and transportation issues.”

“That’s what this budget before us does today,” the Westport Democrat said.

Senators voted down an amendment earlier in the week that would have required quasi-public agencies to make payroll data public, though at least 19 already do so.

Lawmakers in the branch wrote into the budget language providing free community college for nursing students beginning in fall 2023. That is in addition to a Healey and House-backed plan to allow Massachusetts residents 25 and older to attend community college for free if they do not already have a degree.

“We constantly are hearing about the shortage of nurses in our healthcare system and the concerns that all of our providers, our residents have because of this shortage of nurses,” Spilka said at a budget briefing earlier this month. “So this investment, $20 million, will pay dividends over time.”

Law enforcement in the Boston-area has been sounding the alarm about numerous people reporting they were roofied at local bars. Police have warned people to use the buddy system, cover their drinks, and don’t leave their drinks unattended.

“Yet reports of these incidents persist, over and over again,” State Sen. Paul Feeney said from the State House during the budget debate.

“We’ve seen an alarming increase in drink spiking incidents at bars, nightclubs, concert venues and even house parties across the Commonwealth,” said Feeney, a Democrat from Foxboro.

He proposed a drink spiking prevention and awareness amendment called “Drink Spiking Tests Bulk Purchase Program and Awareness Campaign,” and the amendment passed the Senate this week.

The Senate amendment authorizes the bulk purchase of drink spiking test kits — which would be distributed to bars, restaurants, and nightlife establishments across the state.

“Get them out to venues, get them out to people that are going out to bars and restaurants, get them out to law enforcement, and hopefully make a difference,” Feeney said.

“We need to invest, and make sure that the resources are there for patrons, for venues and for our constituents,” he said, “For servers and for anybody that’s in this space where peoples’ lives are in jeopardy.”

The Senate amendment allocates $300,000 to the Department of Public Health’s Division of Sexual and Domestic Violence Prevention and Services to recommend prevention strategies to address drink spiking incidents.

DPH would be required to issue a report on its findings about drink spiking prevention by the end of the year.

Also, this amendment requires DPH to launch a public awareness campaign about the prevalence and danger of involuntary drink spiking.

During the Senate debate, Feeney emphasized that so many of these drink spiking incidents go unreported. He cited a viral TikTok post from a Mansfield resident, who talked about struggling to find care after she was allegedly roofied. Hospital workers wouldn’t test her for date rape drugs because she wasn’t sexually assaulted or raped.

When the victim isn’t tested for date rape drugs, then no report is made to law enforcement, Feeney said.

“Whoever did it and got away with it that night is probably going to be back the next night going after somebody else, or the next weekend, or the next weekend, or at another restaurant, another venue,” the senator said.

Police have been warning patrons about the dangerousness of scentless, colorless and tasteless drugs such as Rohypnol, also known as roofies, being placed in the drinks of unsuspecting victims.

Other drugs commonly used in a similar fashion are GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) or Ketamine. Police urge patrons to be vigilant and watch their beverage at all times.