The price of gas at the pump is rising dramatically, but the cost of the other gas – natural gas – is going in the other direction. Thanks to breakthroughs […]
Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl oversees the production of content and edits reports, along with carrying out his own reporting with a particular focus on transportation, energy, and climate issues.
He previously worked at the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper.
Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
League puts Brown in spotlight
The League of Women Voters, perhaps best known for its dry, down-the-middle voter guides, is running a hard-hitting TV ad that slams US Sen. Scott Brown for voting to shortchange […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Back Story
Collective bargaining brouhaha
Union officials are threatening to take out Massachusetts lawmakers who strip away their collective bargaining rights. The officials say they are ready and willing to negotiate lower health care benefits; […]
Posted inEnvironment
Salazar gives final Cape Wind OK
US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, wearing a white cowboy hat, rode into Boston today to give the Cape Wind offshore wind project the final approval it needs to […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, The Back Story
Supply and demands
Four charter schools are opening in Boston next fall and they need classroom space. The Boston Public Schools are downsizing and will have 10 empty buildings at the end of […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Organogenesis breaks ground on tissue factory
Massachusetts bet more than $30 million on Evergreen Solar and lost, but its $8 million wager on Organogenesis is paying off handsomely so far.The Canton manufacturer of living cell tissue […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, Politics, State House News Service
Dempsey tweaks Patrick proposals
The new House budget proposal tweaks two of Gov. Deval Patrick’s major initiatives, eliminating collective bargaining for many aspects of municipal health plan design and reducing the number of attorneys […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Public or private?
gov. deval patrick clearly doesn’t think much of the judiciary’s management skills. He’s filed legislation calling for a professional manager, instead of a judge, to oversee the trial court. He […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Hollywood stars not paying taxes?
Some of Hollywood’s hottest stars may be shortchanging Massachusetts on their taxes. A brief reference at the end of the state Revenue Department’s latest report on the film tax credit […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Endless loop
Nearly a year ago Attorney General Martha Coakley proposed new regulations to protect auto insurance consumers, but she’s never pulled the trigger and implemented them.Coakley solicited feedback on her proposal […]
Posted inPolitics
No easy patronage cure
the massachusetts trial Court’s policies and procedures manual says all hiring is to be based strictly on merit. No practice or appearance of nepotism or favoritism is allowed. Yet for […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, The Back Story
Doubling down on Evergreen
Gov. Deval Patrick is taking a lot of heat for his administration’s bet on Evergreen Solar, but the state’s financial partnership with the Marlborough company began under former Gov. Mitt […]
Posted inEconomy
Negative reviews for film tax credit
Officials from four Massachusetts think tanks offered differing perspectives on the state’s strategy in doling out corporate tax breaks, but they all agreed on one thing: the film tax credit […]
Posted inPolitics
Patrick nominates gay judge to SJC
Gov. Deval Patrick nominated Barbara Lenk to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, allowing the openly gay Appeals Court judge to join the court whose 2003 decision in Goodridge v. Department […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
The cult of Corbett
The only reform needed at the state’s Probation Department appears to be Ronald Corbett. The 27-year veteran of the court system was appointed commissioner of probation last year after his […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Evergreen chief defends shutdown
The chief executive of Evergreen Solar said today his company decided to close a state-subsidized manufacturing facility in Massachusetts and shift its focus to China because of that country’s overwhelming […]
Posted inHealth Care
Dreyfus makes case for global payments
The president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts made the case for global health payments last night during a discussion sponsored by CommonWealth magazine at Suffolk University’s Modern Theatre, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Greenway’s toll revenue
Don’t get Back Story? Sign up here. State officials say they will continue to provide financial support this coming fiscal year for the privately run Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Power surge
NStar Corp. quietly filed with state regulators late last week three wind-power contracts that will provide electricity at prices that are both competitive with fossil fuels and significantly cheaper than […]
Posted inEconomy
Genzyme gives back $6m in tax credits
Genzyme Corp. of Cambridge is voluntarily returning $6 million to the state of Massachusetts because it technically failed to create 200 net new jobs last year, according to an analysis […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Public defender ethics
The governor is pushing hard for a takeover of the judiciary’s public counsel service, but he’s spicing up what is basically a good government message by raising ethical concerns about […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Uncategorized
Money machine keeps humming
A controversial real estate transfer fee collected by the Boston Redevelopment Authority has won a reprieve from the federal government. The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a proposed rule this […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: Cash for credits
The US Tax Court is making it easier to turn tax credits into cash. Travis Blais, a Mintz Levin tax attorney, issued an alert about a recent decision that he […]
Posted inEconomy
Budget breakdown
Gov. Deval Patrick is growing into the role of a manager during tough times. At the unveiling of his fiscal 2012 budget today, he made a solid case that some […]