New England Public Radio

Sonja Farak is led from Hampshire Superior Court after pleading guilty and getting sentenced to charges of tampering with drug evidence while she worked at the state lab in Amherst.
(Photo Credit: Don Treeger for The Republican)

The Short List: Drug Lab Scandal, Transgender Debate, Hockey Returns

NEPR'S WEEK IN REVIEW

What made The Short List this week?

  • Even more drug cases were affected than were first believed: up to 30,000 drug cases involved testing and/or testimony of former chemist Sonja Farak who worked in the Amherst, Massachusetts Police drug lab. massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said that Farak used drugs on the job nearly every day for eight years.
  • The Massachusetts Senate is scheduled to vote next week on a transgender bill; Governor Charlie Baker is still on the fence.
  • Hockey in Springfield, Massachusetts. One team leaves and another is on its way: is this sustainable?

Click on the audio player, above, to hear New England Public Radio’s Carrie Healy explore these issues with Rick Hurst, publisher of the African American Point of View newspaper, and Matt Szafranski of the Western Mass Politics & Insight blog.