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 with as Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack and members of Gov. Charlie Baker’s special MBTA panel fielded questions about its recent report on T operations, management, […]
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 inPolitics, Transportation
Baker unveils MBTA reform legislation
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER 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 after Baker accepted the resignations of six of the seven members of the current MassDOT board which oversees the MBTA. Pollack said that the control […]
Posted inPolitics, 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 breakdown this winter and he has a simple answer: “Everybody.” Gov. Deval Patrick appointed Alvaro, an attorney with expertise in finance and administration, to the […]
Posted inEducation
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 punch, kick, and bite other children —and teachers. Sometimes the behavior is much worse. “It’s amazing what a 5- or 6-year-old can actually do in […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Charting postpartum depression
WHENEVER SHE PICKED UP a knife, Jamie Zahlaway Belsito thought about stabbing herself. The thought intruded so often that the mother-to-be thought it was a sign that having a baby was a mistake. The dark-haired, vivacious former Philips executive used to jet back and forth between Boston and the technology company’s headquarters in the Netherlands. Belsito […]
Posted inTransportation
Panel calls for MBTA fiscal control board
The special panel appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker to examine the MBTA after the transit system’s winter collapse proposed a nuclear option – a fiscal and management control board, to take over the long-troubled transit agency. “There is a pervasive organizational failure at the MBTA,” said Katie Lapp, the panel’s co-chair and a former executive […]
Posted inOlympics
Zimbalist torches Olympics bid
At a recent public meeting on Boston’s 2024 Summer Olympic bid, an Allston resident cited the work of Andrew Zimbalist, a Smith College economist, on cost overruns that host cities can rack up preparing for the Games and wondered who would be held responsible for potential deficits. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh pledged that the city […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics
Gun advocates protest billboards
A war of words over words erupted this week as gun rights advocates checkmated Boston developer John Rosenthal’s effort to spread his anti-gun violence message across Massachusetts via billboards. The billboards, which say “We’re Not Anti-Gun. We’re Pro-Life. Massachusetts Gun Laws Save Lives,” feature a Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle with a white surrender flag in […]
Posted inTransportation
Tackling MBTA’s debt problem
THE MBTA’S EFFORTS to spare Boston-area riders fare increases and service cuts by restructuring its debt service payments made a bad financial situation worse, according to a new report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business watchdog group. The winter storms of 2015 brought two related issues into sharp focus: the transit system’s debt of […]
Posted inPolitics
Boston’s African American leaders
PHOTOJOURNALIST DON WEST teamed up with former Boston Globe national editor Ken Cooper on Portraits of Purpose: A Tribute to Leadership to document the careers of Boston-area African American leaders who have distinguished themselves in fields from arts to politics. The book is a photographic journey through the stories of more than 100 black men […]