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State Lawmakers Postpone Budget Deliberations Due To Coronavirus Outbreak

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The Massachusetts State House. A six-member conference committee has to negotiate House and Senate versions of a state voting reform bill. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
The Massachusetts State House. A six-member conference committee has to negotiate House and Senate versions of a state voting reform bill. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Here is the Radio Boston rundown for Nov. 17. Tiziana Dearing is our host.

  • We have a microcosm of pandemic life playing out in the Massachusetts State Senate this week. Lawmakers are considering the Commonwealth's $46 billion budget remotely, after budget deliberations in the Massachusetts House last week led to a coronavirus outbreak. We speak to WBUR senior state house reporter Steve Brown, and State Sen. Julian Cyr, the assistant majority whip.
  • The Boston School Committee voted unanimously last month to suspend the exam school admissions test this year due to the pandemic. But some advocates pushing for more equity and access to the city's three exam schools say the change should be made permanent. We discuss access and equity in education with Natasha Warikoo, professor of sociology at Tufts University and author of "The Diversity Bargain: And Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities."
  • We've learned a lot about the intersection of the coronavirus pandemic the presidential election, and the law. We have short conversations with retired federal judge Nancy Gertner on the legal questions raised post-election, and with Yale law professor John Fabian Witt on pandemic law. Then, the two take listeners' legal questions about where the election stands, how the Trump administration is pursuing it in the courts, and on mask usage, and a governor's right to tell people to stay at home or to shut down businesses.

This program aired on November 17, 2020.

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