South coast rail, which is already facing questions about its nearly $2 billion cost, will also have to contend with environmental concerns about the impact of the rail line on endangered species and drinking water supplies. South Coast Rail would run from Boston to Fall River and New Bedford. Environmental groups so far have reserved […]
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 inUncategorized
Public defender blues
Malden District Court is 50 shades of grim. The defendants in the packed courtroom—men and women, some young, most not—appear somber, resigned, or just plain petrified. The female judge whispers to attorneys. No one seems to know where the Spanish interpreter is, so the Portuguese interpreter does double duty. The court clerk yells out names […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Clash of the commuter rail titans
Should anyone cry a river for the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad? The long-time operator of the MBTA’s commuter rail network has objected to the process that appears to have put Keolis, a French company, on track to snatch away a nearly $3 billion dollar deal to run the extensive system. The MBCR alleges that MBTA officials have […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Scott Brown’s northern exposure
Conservatives may be cheering on former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown’s likely New Hampshire US Senate run next year. But the inevitability of Brown is getting a little old for our New Hampshire brethren. The The Nashua Telegraph likes the idea of a Senator Brown from New Hampshire, but cautions that he needs speed up whatever […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Apathy triumphs in Fifth Congressional race
Despite Frank Addivinola’s early evening robocalls proclaiming a path to victory through low turnout, an upset was not on the agenda in Tuesday’s Fifth Congressional District special election . Katherine Clark soundly trounced the Boston Republican 66 percent to 32 percent. Two independent candidates pulled in the remaining percentage points Official figures won’t be available […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Baker 2.0 taps Polito
Charlie Baker 2.0 has learned two important lessons from Charlie Baker 1.0. First, he had to lighten up. Second, he needed to appeal to women voters who were turned off by his angry persona. The Republican gubernatorial candidate has worked to fix the first issue by stressing his father-husband-Red Sox fan bona-fides and sporting broad […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Addivinola faces uphill challenge
The parking lot is overflowing at the Winchester Sons of Italy on a chilly November evening, so it’s a good thing that Frank Addivinola moved his weeknight campaign event from a local Italian restaurant to the bigger venue. Read Gurley’s profile of Addivinola’s opponent, Katherine Clark Addivinola, a 53-year-old Republican from Boston, is fighting an […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Clark coasting in Fifth District race
It seems the Massachusetts Fifth Congressional District special election is a mere formality for Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader of the US House of Representatives. “You can see how excited I am that we are going to have Congresswoman Katherine Clark in the Congress before too long,” Pelosi said at a recent Cambridge College campaign […]
Posted inPolitics
¡Arriba Lantigua!
“Who are you?” Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua is not happy to see a reporter in his downtown campaign headquarters, much less one who has dropped in unannounced and is busy snapping his picture. The Essex Street storefront, bustling with volunteers on a Friday afternoon before the preliminary election, quiets down. The mayor stops stacking envelopes […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Elizabeth Warren’s 2016 nightmare
There are a few speed bumps on the way to Hillary Clinton’s long march to a possible 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, and one of them is the senior senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren. So concludes the New Republic’s Noam Scheiber in the magazine’s November issue. In Scheiber’s telling, Warren is “Hillary’s nightmare,” a threat from […]