Brigham and Women’s Dr. Vivek Murthy finally becomes the US Surgeon General (if only due to procedural quirk in the often quirky Senate where old-timers like Harry Reid can get the better of young pups like Ted Cruz). The Brookline resident’s nomination had been held up by senators annoyed that a doctor had labeled gun violence […]
Gabrielle Gurley
Gabrielle covers several beats, including mass transit, municipal government, child welfare, and energy and the environment. Her recent articles have explored municipal hiring practices in Pittsfield, public defender pay, and medical marijuana, and she has won several national journalism awards for her work. Prior to coming to CommonWealth in 2005, Gabrielle wrote for the State House News Service, The Boston Globe, and other publications. She launched her media career in broadcast journalism with C-SPAN in Washington, DC. The Philadelphia native holds degrees from Boston College and Georgetown University.
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Boston’s Olympic transportation dilemma
If a door falls off of a moving Green Line train and the US Olympic Committee doesn’t hear it, does Boston still get a chance to host the 2024 Olympics? Twitter wags were in high dudgeon about the hapless Green Line train and other transit delays early in the rainy work week. The MBTA is […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Boston police resist peer pressure on body cameras
As police forces across the country start saying “yes” to body cameras, can Hub police continue to equivocate? The Boston Globe finds that State Police are working on a body camera pilot program. The Massachusetts Chiefs of Police are on board. Chelsea wants cameras by the end of 2015 and Worcester has them under review. Boston […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Boston teachers hit top salaries fast
CORRECTION: Due to miscalculations in the original National Council on Teacher Quality report, the data furnished to CommonWealth contained errors in the cost of living adjusted rankings. The story has been updated to reflect those revised rankings. A new report says Boston teachers take fewer years to hit the district’s top average salaries than nearly […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Commuter rail firm hit with $804,000 in fines
Transportation officials on Wednesday hit the state’s commuter rail operator with $804,000 in performance-related fines after just four months on the job. Keolis, the French company that runs commuter rail in Massachusetts, was hit with $434,000 in penalties for failing to meet on-time performance goals. The fines were announced at a meeting where dubious MassDOT […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care, State House News Service
Westminster tobacco ban stirs outrage
Don’t even think about prying cigarettes from their cold, dead hands. The right to smoke, or more properly, the right to consume legal products has roiled Westminster for weeks. The Worcester County town of 7,000 gained national notoriety in October for proposing a first in the country ban on the sale of tobacco products. The […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Giant slayer
You’ve guided the successful campaigns of newbie candidates such as Deval Patrick, Elizabeth Warren, Boston city councilor Michelle Wu, and now Maura Healey. What’s your secret? It’s all about doing the same direct, person-to-person voter contact that’s been done for 150 years in American campaigning, but doing it smarter. If Maura was going to be, […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Polito’s low-profile campaign for lt. gov.
Karyn Polito at the Baker-Polito Campaign Boston headquarters Karyn Polito, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, is both a plus and a minus in Charlie Baker’s run for governor against Democrat Martha Coakley. Polito’s tea party associations and a decade-long conservative voting record on Beacon Hill may undercut Baker’s move to the middle. But Polito […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
The ultimate Lawrence grudge match
Anyone who thought they’d seen the last of William Lantigua on Beacon Hill should pay close attention on Election Day. The former mayor is back on the campaign trail in Lawrence running for his old state representative seat, which is held by his arch nemesis, Rep. Marcos Devers. Lantigua’s campaign effectively began when he lost […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Jobs trump politics in T’s China deal
The Patrick administration is coming under fire for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s decision to award a $566.6 million MBTA subway car manufacturing contract to a Chinese railcar maker. But with Chinese investment surging in Massachusetts and nationwide, critics are unlikely to stop politically popular job-creation deals from moving forward. Officials from competing bidders and […]