Police unions and individual officers are trying hard to save what’s left of the 40-year-old Quinn Bill with mixed success. Budget woes forced lawmakers to cut what was once a […]
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 inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Turnaround artist
Lisa Wong became a rising superstar in Massachusetts politics the moment she trounced a veteran Fitchburg city councilor and catapulted into the mayor’s office at age 28. The wonky daughter […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
North Andover sets Hollywood straight
By Gabrielle Gurley About two years ago, a Hollywood movie production company sought permission from North Andover Town Manager Mark Rees to film at a private home in a residential […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Taking the T to the Big Apple
By Gabrielle Gurley The financially hobbled MBTA continues to come up with creative ways to reel in cash. World Wide Tours, a New York City-based, family-run bus company, approached the […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service, The Download
Senate Republicans blow back on wind siting bill
Gabrielle Gurley Wind siting reform legislation continues to go nowhere fast. At the end of the formal legislative sessions at the end of July, a group of House members from […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
SJC sides with Cape Wind
The Supreme Judicial Court delivered the coup de grace to Cape Wind opponents in their efforts to halt permitting of the controversial Nantucket Wind farm project. In a 4-2 decision, […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Town workers paid to drop health coverage
As cities and towns continue to wrestle with health care cost pressures, some officials are trying to save money by giving employees cash bonuses to drop their coverage with the […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Siting reform bill a wind breaker
Preserving local control over wind development has been Gov. Deval Patrick’s mantra, but lawmakers from wind-rich parts of the state didn’t buy it. Outnumbered and outvoted, they managed to run […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
41 munis, but no new ones since the 1920s
There are 41 municipal electric companies scattered across Massachusetts that charge, on average, 21 percent less for their power than the four investor-owned utilities that serve the rest of the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Washington may frown upon South Coast Rail
What would Peter Rogoff say about the $100 million deal the Massachusetts Department of Transportation recently signed with rail freight company CSX Transportation, giving the state ownership of 30 miles […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service, Transportation
Transit authority’s student pass may hold lessons for MBTA
If Chicago is a guide, the forever cash-strapped MBTA may be sitting on a rich vein of untapped revenue—area college students. The Chicago Transit Authority’s U-Pass is mandatory for the nearly […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
Nuclear: Obama on board but not Patrick
President Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick see eye-to-eye on most energy issues—except nuclear power. Obama is on board, but Patrick isn’t in any hurry to catch up. Nuclear power […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service
Who’s the real environmentalist?
The elegant, lazy motion of wind turbines once appealed to Eleanor Tillinghast. Generating energy takes a heavy toll on the natural world, so it stood to reason that Tillinghast, a […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
The unpredictable Scott Brown
By Gabrielle Gurley US Sen. Scott Brown continues to gain national prominence as Washington’s new go-to guy. All it takes these days is a letter from Brown to signal the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Still Taxachusetts after all these years?
By Gabrielle Gurley Not exactly. Anti-tax activists won’t get any ammunition from the US Census Bureau for their tax rollback efforts. The bureau’s annual study of State and Local Government […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Red ink not unique to MBTA
The budget woes of the MBTA seem relatively minor compared to the fiscal problems currently facing many of the country’s largest transit systems.At a forum on the future of public […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Salem mayor says health care impasse may require ballot solution
By Gabrielle Gurley Unless more immediate steps are taken to rein in accelerating health care and pension costs, municipal officials will continue to triage community services to pay for employee […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Missing the Scott Brown juggernaut
By Gabrielle Gurley This week, Boston University and The Pew Research’s Center Project for Excellence in Journalism published Hidden In Plain Sight, From Kennedy to Brown. The report dissects national […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
New England’s major airports moving to taxi out of the recession
as the economy slowly starts to recover, three of New England’s busiest airports are well-positioned for strong, complementary growth. Boston’s Logan International Airport is already posting passenger gains. T.F. Green […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Worcester Regional Airport: back from the brink … again?
By Gabrielle Gurley Worcester has its share of municipal headaches, but by this summer city officials will have one less: Worcester Regional Airport. Under the transportation reforms signed into law […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Board games at MassDOT
By Gabrielle Gurley How long will the charade of trying to schedule the Massachusetts Transportation Department’s board of directors to appear before the Joint Transportation Committee continue? Indefinitely, it seems. […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Crazy like a fox? Christy Mihos’s big RMV idea
By Gabrielle Gurley With all eyes on the big dogs in the governor’s race, the underdog can afford to go out on a limb. Christy Mihos, who is challenging Charles […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
The Monitor’s web-first approach
Nearly one year after the newspaper presses stopped rolling at The Christian Science Monitor, editor John Yemma continues to fine-tune the 102-year-old international news outlet’s transformation from a daily into […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Are two jobs in Lawrence better than one?
By Gabrielle Gurley Rep. William Lantigua thinks so. Elected mayor of Lawrence last fall, the Democrat is hanging on to his House seat for dear life. And no one — […]