For the second time this year, Boston Public Schools students walked out of classes to protest budget cuts they say imperil their ability to get a quality education. Tuesday’s walkout was much smaller than a demonstration in March, when several thousand students arrived in front of the State House and then marched to City Hall. […]
CommonWealth Staff
Posted inThe Download
Columnist uses his imagination
In his recent columns, Lowell Sun columnist Peter Lucas seems to be letting his imagination run a little wild. A week ago he posted a column based on a WGBH interview with Senate President Stanley Rosenberg in which Rosenberg talked at length about his “shared leadership” style. In one paragraph of the WGBH story, Rosenberg […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A thousand ways to spend millionaire’s tax?
With two-and-a-half years to go before a potential ballot question to raise taxes on millionaires in the state, we may already have a glimpse of what could become a major point of contention in such a showdown. Proponents say the tax — an added levy of 4 percent on income above $1 million a year […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: What makes for a world-class city?
Is hosting big events like the IndyCar race or Olympics the mark of a world-class city, or more of a distraction from the things that give Boston a global edge and should have the city puffing out its civic chest? That’s the topic for today’s installment of The Codcast. Things like the scuttling of the […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
The ghost of Stephanie Pollack
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack has plenty on her plate with trying to distribute a finite pot of money to deal with state’s aging transportation infrastructure as well as find the balance between her fiscally aware boss and a demanding public that wants it all without increased taxes or fares. But her biggest battle is with […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
South Shore Senate race decided — for now
Patrick O’Connor will be the new state Republican state senator from the Plymouth and Norfolk District, but the 31-year-old Weymouth town council president may want to hold off on new drapes for his State House office until November. That’s because less than six months from now he may find himself in a rematch against Democrat […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Is the Green Line Ext. back on track — or not?
The Boston Globe’s headline was “State OK’s a cut-down Green Line extension.” The Boston Herald went with “Green light for $2.3 billion MBTA extension plan.” CommonWealth’s take was: “Boards give yellow light to Green Line Ext.” An OK, a green light, and a yellow light. Which is it? Each story was accurate, but the headlines […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Echoes of abuse
Vulnerable children. Sexual predators. Secret payoffs. They were the toxic ingredients of a generational scandal 15 years ago that was blown open by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team and one that the paper’s investigative unit thinks is repeating itself in private schools around New England and beyond. In 2001, the Globe’s stories about clergy sex abuse […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
The Codcast
The inaugural episode of our podcast, named The Codcast after the sacred cod hanging in the chamber of the House of Representatives, tackles a proposal by three advocates for all-night service on the MBTA. The plan was originally put forward in an article in CommonWealth by James Aloisi, the former secretary of transportation; Ari Ofsevit, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Voters trump media predictions
There’s nothing those in the media like reading and writing more than “we got it wrong” stories, provided they have company. And in the case of Donald Trump, there are plenty of people on the mea culpa highway. Trump has been dallying around the fringes of presidential politics for a few years now, first hobnobbing […]