In Massachusetts, 911 calls are handled by 262 different facilities, or one for every 24,000 residents. Maryland, a state comparable to Massachusetts in population and land size, uses just 24 […]
State House News Service
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
The Download: Green is good
The Christian Science Monitor’s print weekly takes an in-depth look at the ongoing green revolution in a “Future of Energy” special issue. Once again, Jimmy Carter comes off as a […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
The Herald’s head man
A 27-year veteran of the Boston Herald, editor-in-chief Joe Sciacca has spent most of his career covering Massachusetts politics. So on election night when US Rep. Barney Frank complained about […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Mayors want Beacon Hill to get tough on health care, unions
By Gabrielle Gurley Massachusetts does not have the financial wherewithal to fully address the looming fiscal problems facing cities and towns. But municipal officials’ pleas that state lawmakers look at […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Candidates mum on how to fund transit
On Tuesday, a Boston Globe editorial called transportation finance “one of the more complex and thankless areas of state policy.” Perhaps that’s why Gov. Deval Patrick, Charlie Baker, Tim Cahill, […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Video: Brown refuses to answer on Question 3 vote
Video courtesy of the State House News Service.
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Razor edge support for Question 3
Milford residents appear to narrowly support Question 3, according to CommonWealth magazine’s Bellwether project. The Bellwether project’s online town forum found that supporters of the ballot question, which would cut […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Primary care docs in short supply
Primary care physicians continue to be short supply in the Bay State for the fifth year in a row, according to the 2010 workforce study released today by the Massachusetts […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, State House News Service
Police scramble on Quinn pay
Police unions and individual officers are trying hard to save what’s left of the 40-year-old Quinn Bill with mixed success. Budget woes forced lawmakers to cut what was once a […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Turnaround artist
Lisa Wong became a rising superstar in Massachusetts politics the moment she trounced a veteran Fitchburg city councilor and catapulted into the mayor’s office at age 28. The wonky daughter […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
North Andover sets Hollywood straight
By Gabrielle Gurley About two years ago, a Hollywood movie production company sought permission from North Andover Town Manager Mark Rees to film at a private home in a residential […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Taking the T to the Big Apple
By Gabrielle Gurley The financially hobbled MBTA continues to come up with creative ways to reel in cash. World Wide Tours, a New York City-based, family-run bus company, approached the […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service, The Download
Senate Republicans blow back on wind siting bill
Gabrielle Gurley Wind siting reform legislation continues to go nowhere fast. At the end of the formal legislative sessions at the end of July, a group of House members from […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
State probes likely on Winn-financed donations
The federal investigation of illegal campaign contributions to four Massachusetts congressmen arranged by a top executive at WinnCompanies is likely to trigger probes by state officials into similar donations made […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
SJC sides with Cape Wind
The Supreme Judicial Court delivered the coup de grace to Cape Wind opponents in their efforts to halt permitting of the controversial Nantucket Wind farm project. In a 4-2 decision, […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Town workers paid to drop health coverage
As cities and towns continue to wrestle with health care cost pressures, some officials are trying to save money by giving employees cash bonuses to drop their coverage with the […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Siting reform bill a wind breaker
Preserving local control over wind development has been Gov. Deval Patrick’s mantra, but lawmakers from wind-rich parts of the state didn’t buy it. Outnumbered and outvoted, they managed to run […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Washington may frown upon South Coast Rail
What would Peter Rogoff say about the $100 million deal the Massachusetts Department of Transportation recently signed with rail freight company CSX Transportation, giving the state ownership of 30 miles […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service, Transportation
Transit authority’s student pass may hold lessons for MBTA
If Chicago is a guide, the forever cash-strapped MBTA may be sitting on a rich vein of untapped revenue—area college students. The Chicago Transit Authority’s U-Pass is mandatory for the nearly […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
Nuclear: Obama on board but not Patrick
President Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick see eye-to-eye on most energy issues—except nuclear power. Obama is on board, but Patrick isn’t in any hurry to catch up. Nuclear power […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service
Who’s the real environmentalist?
The elegant, lazy motion of wind turbines once appealed to Eleanor Tillinghast. Generating energy takes a heavy toll on the natural world, so it stood to reason that Tillinghast, a […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
41 munis, but no new ones since the 1920s
There are 41 municipal electric companies scattered across Massachusetts that charge, on average, 21 percent less for their power than the four investor-owned utilities that serve the rest of the […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
The unpredictable Scott Brown
By Gabrielle Gurley US Sen. Scott Brown continues to gain national prominence as Washington’s new go-to guy. All it takes these days is a letter from Brown to signal the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Still Taxachusetts after all these years?
By Gabrielle Gurley Not exactly. Anti-tax activists won’t get any ammunition from the US Census Bureau for their tax rollback efforts. The bureau’s annual study of State and Local Government […]
