MUCH OF THE DEBATE over the app-based-driver initiative petition has focused on how it would affect the drivers themselves. As important as those issues are, there is another aspect that […]
Andy Metzger
Andy Metzger is currently studying law at Temple University in Philadelphia. Previously, he joined CommonWealth Magazine as a reporter in January 2019. He has covered news in Massachusetts since 2007. For more than six years starting in May 2012 he wrote about state politics and government for the State House News Service. At the News Service, he followed three criminal trials from opening statements to verdicts, tracked bills through the flumes and eddies of the Legislature, and sounded out the governor’s point of view on a host of issues – from the proposed Olympics bid to federal politics.
Before that, Metzger worked at the Chelmsford Independent, The Arlington Advocate, the Somerville Journal and the Cambridge Chronicle, weekly community newspapers that cover an array of local topics. Metzger graduated from UMass Boston in 2006. In addition to his written journalism, Metzger produced a work of illustrated journalism about Gov. Charlie Baker’s record regarding the MBTA. He lives in Somerville and commutes mainly by bicycle.
Posted inOpinion
Ex-reporter transitions to political partisan
A YEAR AGO, I was a nonpartisan political reporter in Massachusetts, happy to give people from either side of the spectrum due credit or due comeuppance. No longer. Now I […]
Posted inPolitics
Liberty Mutual, Verizon pushed tax change
LIBERTY MUTUAL AND VERIZON were two of the companies lobbying for a controversial corporate tax relief provision that appears to have nearly derailed a closeout budget bill late this year. […]
Posted inPolitics
Weld: ‘All of this is totally unprecedented’
AS A YOUNG LAWYER working for the congressional committee investigating President Nixon, Bill Weld’s job was to study every impeachment that had previously occurred in Great Britain and the United […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo: Lots of work remains on housing bill
THE HOUSING COMMITTEE advanced the governor’s housing choice bill with a nearly unanimous vote Thursday, but Speaker Robert DeLeo said that’s not a sign that agreement has been reached on […]
Posted inUncategorized
Impeachment headed for crucible of Senate
NOW WHAT? By a margin of just over 30 votes, the US House impeached President Trump last night. For those hoping to hold the Republican president accountable for alleged abuse […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Say hello to Nubian Square
THERE’S NO BRONZE traitor astride a horse. No statue whatsoever. In fact, it can be a little tricky to suss out who exactly Dudley Square is named after. But this […]
Posted inTransportation
TCI could up gas prices 5 to 17 cents a gallon in 2022
OFFICIALS DEVELOPING A new regional approach to reducing tailpipe emissions on the East Coast are considering policies that would add between 5 cents and 17 cents to the cost of […]
Posted inPolitics
MassGOP goofs in swipe at Galvin
THE MASSACHUSETTS REPUBLICAN PARTY appears to have missed a crucial detail when it lambasted the state’s top elections official and suggested he had no business including Bill Weld on the […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo laying groundwork for tax talk
WITHIN the shavings on the floor of the closeout budget conference negotiations lies a lever that House Democrats could lean on to help their case for more transportation revenue, but […]
Posted inPolitics
House challenges comptroller’s ultimatum authority
STATE LAWMAKERS BLEW past Wednesday’s deadline for passing a closeout budget bill, and then a top House lawyer challenged the comptroller’s authority to even impose such an ultimatum. It was […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Budget impasse could sweep away House, Senate funds
IF THEY FAIL to reach a compromise before Wednesday afternoon, leaders of the House and Senate will lose out on tens of millions of dollars in budgetary allowances that have […]
Posted inTransportation
Smoke, sparks at Park Street
JUST A DAY after a devastating safety report that excoriated the culture at the MBTA, passengers documented dramatic sparks and smoke on the Green Line at Park Street. No one […]
Posted inTransportation
T changes course on fare system upgrade
HAVING MISCALCULATED THE needs of its riders and the capabilities of its vendor, the MBTA has adopted a new approach to overhauling its fare collection system that will take longer […]
Posted inEnvironment
Cracking the climate code
AN ARCANE STATE BOARD, known to few outside the world of design and construction, is the setting of a furious clash the outcome of which could influence the amount of […]
Posted inTransportation
Straus targets Pollack, d’Arbeloff on RMV
ON TELEVISION Wednesday night, Rep. William Straus laid the blame for lapses within the Registry of Motor Vehicles at the feet of Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack and Mindy d’Arbeloff, the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Comptroller, Baker diverge on budget needs
STATE COMPTROLLER ANDREW MAYLOR on Wednesday identified only six budget accounts from the last fiscal year where shortfalls exist, interpreting a legislative request for a barebones fiscal 2019 closeout bill […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker tries to nudge House and Senate toward agreement
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER has seen House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s offer of a barebones closeout budget deal to break a logjam on Beacon Hill and, like any confident poker player, raised […]
Posted inEconomy
Lone survivor recalls scallop boat sinking
THREE FISHERMEN were killed at sea this week in a tragedy that will be long remembered by their families and others in New Bedford. A fourth man survived, and told […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo and Spilka on different pages
THE HOUSE AND Senate are circulating proposals for a compromise on an overdue spending bill, and the one idea that has had a public airing would leave out a $50 […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
New law restricts cellphone use while driving
Gov. Charlie Baker ushered in a new era of road rules on Monday, signing into law a new ban on practically all forms of handheld cellphone use by drivers. For […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers botch budget bill negotiations
BY FAILING TO reach agreement on a major spending bill before the winter break, legislative leaders have squandered much of their control over what goes into it, and they have […]
Posted inTransportation
Traffic at your fingertips
YOU DON’T NEED to drive a car or own a parking garage to add to Boston’s traffic woes. Thanks to modern technology, you can do all that from the comfort […]
Posted inTransportation
Concerns on police bias linger after distracted driving vote
OVERWHELMING VOTES IN the House and Senate to enact driver safety legislation belie enduring disagreements within the Legislature over how best to monitor and tamp down racial bias by police. […]