The years of legislative infighting that led up to the legalization of casinos in Massachusetts were supposed to be the hard part. When Gov. Deval Patrick signed casinos into law in late 2011, the rest was supposed to be downhill. It hasn’t been. Casinos have been legal in Massachusetts for two and a half years […]
CommonWealth Staff
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Things are looking ducky for Elizabeth Warren
Politicians can proclaim their disinterest in an office all they want, especially president, but until the deadline passes – or they stop talking and acting like a candidate – they will be included in the conversations. Such is the case for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has continually declared she will serve out her term as […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
The SAT fills in the blanks
The SAT, the college admission standardized test, has been under siege for years. Many critics of the exam contend that the test does not correlate to academic success in college and skews toward wealthy parents who can afford send their children to pricey test preparation courses. In response to this controversy, some schools have […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Casino repeal could become the issue of the 2014 election
The race for governor is still young, but so far, it’s a contest that’s lacked both star power and sizzle. Early polling shows that the race hasn’t registered with voters. It’s possible that the hottest point of contention in November won’t come from the gubernatorial candidates themselves. Instead, the real heat in November will surround […]
Posted inOpinion
Spring 2014 correspondence and updates
South Coast Rail good for environment Your article in the winter issue of the normally balanced CommonWealth magazine (“South Coast Rail worries environmentalists”) misses the mark badly. It relies solely on two individuals who have been perennial critics of the plan and does not even attempt to include a more neutral perspective. The fact is […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Obama’s weak “movement” coattails
The front-page of this morning’s New York Times takes readers inside the campaign of Eric Lesser, a bright-eyed 29-year-old running for an open state Senate seat in Western Massachusetts. The paper is not particularly interested, however, in state budget matters facing the Legislature, the short shrift Western Mass. residents often feel they get, or any […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Rhode Island has better data on overdose problem
Like Massachusetts, Rhode Island is struggling to cope with a sharp increase in overdose deaths. But, unlike Massachusetts, Rhode Island appears to know far more about what it’s up against because the state does a much better job tracking overdose deaths. The absence of good, current data in Massachusetts was first raised by Steve Koczela […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Health care blame game or shell game?
The numbers in the rawest form are jaw-dropping. A relative handful of doctors – about 2 percent – account for one-quarter of the $77 billion Medicare paid out in services in 2012. One doctor in Florida received $21 million while 30 doctors in Massachusetts accounted for $45 million in Medicare payments that year. The data […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Is Warren Democrats’ not-so-secret weapon?
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the country’s feistiest Democrat, goes where the once cool Barack Obama cannot, parachuting into Senate races around the country to try to shore up the party’s currently shaky November prospects. The freshman senator has morphed into the go-to woman for campaign cha-ching. While speculation is rife that Warren has designs on […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Mass. GOP’s urban challenge
The road to the Massachusetts governor’s office used to run through the belt of suburbs between Boston and Worcester. Now, it runs through cities. And that shift makes the state GOP’s bid to reclaim the governor’s office far more complicated than it used to be. In CommonWealth‘s new issue, online today, the MassINC Polling Group’s […]