VETERAN STATE HOUSE REPORTER Shira Schoenberg is joining the staff of CommonWealth magazine later this month. She will be replacing Andy Metzger, who moved to Philadelphia at the end of […]
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 inTransportation
Patrick recounts bruising transportation funding battles
DEVAL PATRICK WAS GOVERNOR the last time the Legislature grappled with providing new funding for transportation, and for him it’s not a pleasant memory. On the Horse Race podcast from […]
Posted inEnvironment
Fishermen, wind farm developers at odds
A GROUP REPRESENTING New England fishing interests on Tuesday called for special travel lanes through offshore wind farms proposed off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, putting the fishermen […]
Posted inEconomy
Upcoming tax debate awkward for GOP
As the House prepares to debate new funding sources for transportation, Massachusetts Republicans find themselves in an awkward situation. They generally oppose raising taxes, particularly the gas tax, but the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Overall state workforce increased slightly in FY19
THE SIZE OF THE STATE’S workforce is increasing, but it’s still below the level it was at prior to the election of Gov. Charlie Baker. According to a financial report […]
Posted inTransportation
Advocates call for T control board extension
SOME OF THE STATE’SÂ Â leading transit advocates are calling for extending the life of the existing MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board for six months to a year and making buses […]
Posted inUncategorized
U-Haul won’t hire smokers in Mass., 20 other states
POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS across Massachusetts stopped hiring smokers in 1997 as part of a pension system overhaul. In 2011, the Massachusetts Hospital Association implemented the same policy for its […]
Posted inTransportation
The big squeeze at Big Dig 2
THE MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE PROJECT that some are starting to call Big Dig 2 is struggling to squeeze 12 lanes, four railroad tracks, park land, a pedestrian path, and two bike […]
Posted inHealth Care
Partners vowing to end surprise billing
PARTNERS HEALTHCARE is moving to eliminate surprise billing, where consumers receive large, unexpected hospital bills after unknowingly being treated by a doctor who doesn’t accept their insurance. The Partners policy […]
Posted inTransportation
Subway ridership rebounding, but still lackluster
RED LINE RIDERSHIP appears to be rebounding, with the number of average weekday trips now trending back to the same level it was prior to the June 11 derailment at […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Mass. Cultural Council secures gambling funds
A correction has been added to this story. THE LONG-DELAYED closeout spending bill that finally passed on December 15 contained a provision funneling 2 percent of the tax revenue from […]
Posted inHealth Care
Partners to open 4 new outpatient centers
PARTNERS HEALTHCARE is launching a major expansion of its outpatient network in a bid to grow its already large customer base by serving patients closer to where they live and […]
Posted inTransportation
Groups slam temporary Charles River bridge
This story was updated at 2 p.m. TO MAKE ROOM for a massive reconstruction of the Massachusetts Turnpike near Boston University, the Charles River Watershed Association said it would opt […]
Posted inEducation
Harvard picks Tishman Speyer for Allston phase 1
HARVARD UNIVERSITY selected Tishman Speyer and celebrated architect Jeanne Gang to develop and design the initial 14 acres of an enterprise research campus along Western Avenue across from the business […]
Posted inUncategorized
Healey seeks DPU crackdown on electricity sellers
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY is asking the state Department of Public Utilities to investigate whether competitive electricity suppliers are charging low-income customers unreasonably high rates and whether those higher charges […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker’s walk on the wild side
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S all-in embrace of the transportation climate initiative is another step away from his shrinking Republican base and a tacit admission that the state needs more transit funding. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
DOC backtracking on MCI-Framingham
THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION appears to be backtracking on the troubled women’s prison at MCI-Framingham. In October, when Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins said MCI-Framingham was closing and then later amended […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Machinists hit deplorable conditions
THE HEAD of the MBTA’s machinists local said on Monday that the union is living up to the promises it made as part of a labor contract signed in 2018 […]
Posted inTransportation
Surging sales tax helping T balance budget
THE MBTA IS FACING intense pressure to increase operations spending on safety and other initiatives, but some of the higher expenditures are being offset by an unexpected surge in sales […]
Posted inTransportation
Pollack, control board at odds on income-based fares
REJECTING CONCERNS raised by state Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, members of the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday insisted on moving faster to embrace lower fares for low-income […]
Posted inEnvironment
Healey takes on grid operator
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY, backed by the Barr Foundation, is launching a campaign to convince the operator of the regional power grid to embrace renewables and move away from electricity […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker talks up his transportation-funding approach
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday outlined for the business community a proposal to address climate change and raise money for transportation in a way that he believes is far superior […]
Posted inTransportation
Poll: Few know about transportation climate initiative
A clarification has been added to this story to more fully detail the poll description of the transportation climate initiative. A NEW POLL indicates two-thirds of voters in major northeast […]
Posted inTransportation
What kind of oversight does the T need today?
FOUR YEARS AGO, in the wake of Snowmageddon, Gov. Charlie Baker called for the creation of a new Fiscal and Management Control Board to oversee the MBTA. Not everyone thought […]