By Associated Press - Tuesday, August 22, 2017

BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts’ top environmental official quietly reimbursed the state for a round-trip plane ticket last year.

The Boston Globe reports (https://bit.ly/2wkNm74 ) Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton purchased the $628 ticket with a state-issued credit card so he could interrupt his Florida vacation and return to the Statehouse for a press conference concerning solar energy.

The charge was later discovered in an internal audit and deemed improper.

The audit finding occurred amid questionable practices at another state environmental agency, including the dismissal of an official accused of pressuring an agency staffer to persuade her fiance not to run against an incumbent Republican senator.

A Department of Conservation and Recreation official also stepped down after using lights and sirens on his state vehicle to cut through heavy Boston traffic.

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