Photographs by Meghan Moore WHILE GREATER BOSTON AGONIZES over the multibillion-dollar MBTA project to extend the Green Line a mere five miles, another transit tug-of-war is going on across the […]
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 inState House News Service, Transportation
Bridj revs up
AS THE MBTAÂ Fiscal and Management Control Board mulls axing late-night buses and trains to save money, the chances of some sort of wee-hours bus service surviving may rest with a […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
MBTA Control Board lays out ‘tough choices’
The MBTA Fiscal Management and Control Board outlined the steps that the MBTA needs to take to stabilize its finances and operations in its first annual report released Tuesday. The […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Keolis GM knows winter is coming
GERALD FRANCIS, the general manager of Keolis, the French company that operates the MBTA’s commuter rail system, is a man with an ambitious plan. He wants to make Eastern Massachusetts […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
From journalist to climate crusader
IN 2013, WEN STEPHENSON sat down with his son and daughter to explain why he might end up in jail. “How do you explain to your children that climate change […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Straus says MBTA can raise fares 10 percent
One of the leaders of the Legislature’s transportation committee said Tuesday that state law allows the MBTA to raise fares 10 percent next year, twice the level that transit advocates […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Marlborough gasoline spill upends lives
KAREN BUCKLEY WANTS out. But she can’t go anywhere because she and her husband — along with three other Marlborough families — are stuck in homes that have lost a huge […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Overlords of the MBTA
Photographs by Michael Manning THE NAME JOSEPH AIELLO probably means nothing to most MBTA riders. But the first major snowstorm might change that. Â Aiello is the chairman of the five-member […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Lexington lawmaker looks to the people for tax boost
REP. JAY KAUFMAN has been a reliable member of the House Democratic caucus’s progressive wing for more than 20 years. In the 1990s, he was part of a small band […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T control board may hire Green Line consultant
THE MBTA FISCAL AND MANAGEMENT CONTROL BOARD’S lack of confidence in the transit agency’s ability to build the Green Line Extension to Somerville and West Medford plunged to new lows […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
To be Frank
BARNEY FRANK IS passing time with a newspaper crossword puzzle before our interview. When I arrive at the West Newton video studio where he does live shots for CNBC, Frank […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
MBTA to use fines to improve commuter rail customer service
MBTA OFFICIALS KNOW that commuter rail riders hate late trains. They also get an earful about conductors who fail to collect fares and the passengers who evade paying them. So […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
High debt weakens state fiscal standing, report finds
THE MASSACHUSETTS ECONOMY continues to purr, but ongoing fiscal stresses have left the Bay State among the bottom dwellers in a new set of state fiscal health rankings. Massachusetts placed […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker names MBTA control board
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER dipped into the Bay State’s deep bench of transportation and finance experts as he named members of a new MBTA fiscal and management control board. State lawmakers […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
Plum Island at risk
Photographs by Mark Morelli except headline photograph by Gabrielle Gurley PLUM ISLAND ISÂ one of the most spectacular places to live in Massachusetts. With high dunes and rolling beaches on the […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service
MassHealth OKs postpartum depression screening
Beginning next spring, MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program, will reimburse health care providers for the costs of screening women for postpartum depression. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito made the announcement at […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Straus: Eliminating MBTA as separate agency should be long-term goal
THE BEACON HILL tug of war over the MBTA continues to pit those who support Gov. Charlie Baker’s call for a special fiscal control board against those who think an […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
New CW video: MBTA control board — savior or sideshow?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoON8bqCCqY
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker presses lawmakers for T control board
Gov. Charlie Baker turned up the pressure on state lawmakers, appearing at a joint transportation committee hearing Monday flanked by former Chelsea and Springfield officials who expressed strong support for […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Scott: State should take over the MBTA
“THE MBTA NEEDS to be put out of its misery.” That’s the diagnosis from Beverly Scott, the former general manager of the MBTA. The MBTA doesn’t need a fiscal and […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Lawmakers skeptical of MBTA control board plan
Can the Baker administration address the MBTA’s problems using the tools that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation already has? That was the question that the Joint Committee on Transportation wrestled […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker unveils MBTA reform legislation
GOV. CHARLIE BAKERÂ and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack unveiled legislation Wednesday to create a fiscal and management control board to take charge of the crisis-ridden MBTA. The move comes one day […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Alvaro critiques MBTA panel
FERDINAND ALVARO UNDERSTANDS the MBTA’s finances and inner workings better than most outsiders. Ask him who is to blame for the bundle of issues that led to the transit agency’s […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Young kids’ behavior alarms schools
A TIMEOUT USED to be a way to solve kindergarten temper tantrums, but it’s not that simple anymore. School officials say extreme behavior is more prevalent among young children who […]