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President Obama nominated Loretta Lynch to be our next Attorney General on November 8, 2014. For more than 150 days, Ms. Lynch has been waiting for a confirmation vote — a vote that Republican Senate Leader McConnell seems eager to avoid. Senator McConnell needs to schedule a vote on Loretta Lynch without further delay — […] More »

When my grandmother passed away, all the responsibility of caring for her family fell to my mother. And that added responsibility meant she had to give up on her dream of going to college. There was no social safety net when my grandmother passed away. Because of that, and because of the sacrifices she made […] More »

WASHINGTON —The Department of State will announce the appointment later this month of a special envoy to advocate for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people overseas, a State Department official told the Globe on Thursday. The move would preempt a bill sponsored by Massachusetts Senator Edward J. Markey, which called for the […] More »

More than a decade after Senator Ed Markey first championed rules for the Internet, he may finally get his way. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler on Wednesday released a plan that would expand its authority over broadband providers by treating the Internet as a public utility. The move, if approved later this month, would […] More »

We look at the push for net neutrality, the idea that internet providers should treat all traffic equally. Thursday, supporters of that principal, which includes a lot tech companies here in Massachusetts, are cheering a decision by the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, who released a plan to regulate the Internet like […] More »

BOSTON —Sen. Ed Markey called Monday for new standards after a report exposed how vulnerable the vehicle you drive every day may be to a hacker. Markey questioned 16 automobile manufacturers last year about vehicle technologies such as Bluetooth and wireless internet access. The responses show they have not addressed the real possibilities of hacker […] More »

U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey hailed yesterday’s lease sale of more than 354,000 acres of federal waters off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket to two companies for potential wind energy development, saying it could provide enough electricity to power more than 700,000 homes. “These same harsh winds that we’ve endured for centuries can […] More »

U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren are pushing federal regulators to reject proposals that could provide exemptions for businesses to use auto-dialers and reach consumers’ mobile devices. In a letter Wednesday addressed to the chair of the Federal Elections Commission, Tom Wheeler, the Massachusetts Democrats said the proposals could “undermine” the Telephone Consumer Protection […] More »

Over the last few months, things have been looking good for keeping the Internet open to everyone. A little too good, as far as Congress is concerned, which is why members and the corporate lobbyists who write them hefty checks have launched a last-ditch legislative effort to scuttle net neutrality. Both President Obama and Federal […] More »

Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) bill meant to push back on state laws that restrict cities from building their own public Internet networks gained two Democratic co-sponsors. Booker on Thursday formally introduced the Community Broadband Act, which forbids states or local governments from creating a “statute, regulation, or other legal requirement” the bars communities from creating […] More »