THE WOOSOX may have hit a home run with huge attendance numbers at their new home in Worcester, but a study says the city has whiffed when it comes to shelling […]
Economy
Posted inPolitics
Competitiveness is watchword on Beacon Hill, but what does it mean?
BEACON HILL’S favorite buzzword these days is “competitiveness,” but the meaning isn’t always the same among the three big players in state government and their different approaches to the topic […]
Posted inGambling
Envisioning a Massachusetts ‘iLottery’
IF THE MASSACHUSETTS LOTTERY expands onto the internet with a new “iLottery,” what could it look like? Let’s spin the wheel. Option 1 – Michigan. Started in 2014, the Michigan […]
Posted inEconomy
Antiracist think tank emerges in Northampton
THINK TANKS come in all shapes and sizes, with political philosophies that range left, right, and center. The new Western Massachusetts Policy Center in Northampton is setting out to be different. […]
Posted inOpinion
Short of workers? Bring more women into workforce
THIS IS A HISTORIC moment for women leaders in the Commonwealth. As Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll reach the milestone of 100 days in office, collectively we […]
Posted inEconomy
Is less more when it comes to the work week?
MANY EMPLOYEES DISCOVERED they could work from anywhere during COVID. The next frontier is whether they can work less. A handful of companies in Massachusetts and many more around the world […]
Posted inEconomy, State Government
Mass. House approves unaltered tax plan
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to pass its $1.1 billion tax relief bill exactly as pitched earlier this week. A provision that would adjust an obscure tax giveback […]
Posted inEconomy
Greater Boston’s Black population becoming more diverse, dispersed
WHEN THE PRESIDENT of Cape Verde visited Massachusetts earlier this week, after meeting with Gov. Maura Healey at the State House, his big public appearance didn’t come in Boston but at […]
Posted inOpinion
Unions are answer to state’s labor shortage
MASSACHUSETTS HAS a crisis on its hands. The Commonwealth faces an alarming labor shortage, with fewer people participating in the workforce and more of the Commonwealth’s residents choosing to move […]
Posted inOpinion
Industrial land disappearing at an alarming pace
A STRONG INDUSTRIAL sector can help maintain the middle class, provide stable wages in a tumultuous economy, and seed technological innovations that attract workers and businesses to our region – […]
Posted inEconomy
Chambers of commerce fear not being heard, band together
TEN OF THE state’s regional chambers of commerce are concerned they are not being heard on Beacon Hill, so they are banding together to speak with one louder voice. James […]
Posted inEconomy
Mass., California moving in different directions on gig worker issue
MASSACHUSETTS AND CALIFORNIA for now are on very different tracks when it comes to classifying gig workers as independent contractors or employees. Whether the question is tangled in west coast courts […]
Posted inEconomy
Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse could impact Mass. affordable housing
SILICON VALLEY BANK’S sudden collapse is sending shockwaves far beyond the tech sector, leaving Massachusetts affordable housing organizations particularly panicky. It’s been less than two years since the California-based bank […]
Posted inOpinion
Here’s how we define competitiveness
IN RECENT WEEKS, leading business groups in Massachusetts have urged newly-elected Gov. Maura Healey to focus on the state’s economic competitiveness. As current or former leaders of organizations that employ […]
Posted inOpinion
Breaking the cycle of poverty with affordable housing
DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH, we paused as a nation to reflect on and honor the role Black Americans have had in our country’s history. While this is essential, it is equally […]
Posted inEconomy
Mass. looks to line up lucrative CHIPS shot
CAN A MASSIVE federal effort to bolster national security in the semiconductor sector also boost the tech economy in the Northeast? That’s the idea behind a sprawling, multistate partnership of 85 […]
Posted inEconomy
Women have gone missing from the workforce
AS MASSACHUSETTS employers struggle to attract and retain workers, it’s worth remembering that experienced talent already exists here in the Commonwealth among the tens of thousands of caregivers who have […]
Posted inEconomy, State Government
Fight over millionaire tax shifts to new arena
THE POLITICAL FIGHT over the millionaire tax never seems to end. It took eight years for the state’s unions to win passage of a constitutional amendment assessing a 4 percent […]
Posted inEconomy, State Government
A difference of opinion on estate tax, capital gains
TWO OF THE state’s leading budget analysts are split on whether Gov. Maura Healey’s tax reform package will make the state more competitive in retaining and attracting wealthy residents. On […]
Posted inEconomy, State Government
Healey tax plan addresses ‘competitiveness’ issues
GOV. MAURA HEALEY is proposing a tax reform package that addresses cost-of-living concerns of parents, renters, and seniors while providing significant relief to wealthy individuals who may be turned off […]
Posted inEconomy, Government
Mayor moves to ease residency rules in New Bedford
WITH ROUGHLY 15 percent of non-school municipal jobs in New Bedford vacant, Mayor Jon Mitchell is pushing to do away with residency requirements for most management positions. New Bedford, like […]
Posted inEconomy
Time to crack down on wage theft in Mass.
WAGE THEFT IS more common than armed robbery in our country and three times as costly to the economy. Here in Massachusetts, wage theft costs individual workers more than $1 […]
Posted inEconomy
Secret ballot vital in union elections
THE LATEST real-life parable that reminds us why the Founding Fathers made secret-ballot elections a centerpiece of American democracy comes from a distinctly 21st-century source – the video game industry. […]
Posted inEconomy
Report says millions from new tax on high earners could be lost to loophole
STATE BUDGET-WRITERS have begun planning to spend $1 billion in new revenue to fund education and transportation needs thanks to the so-called “millionaires tax” approved last year by voters. But […]
