In a predictable coda to the Mother of All Traffic Jams, Massachusetts Turnpike Executive Director Alan LeBovidge politely told Gov. Deval Patrick to take this job and shove it."Given today’s […]
State House News Service
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service, The Download
To build or not to build: Brockton’s power plant plan
The New England Regional Council of Carpenters and other area unions are putting on their rally caps tonight in Brockton. But the show of force isn't for the Red Sox. […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
The shape of watts to come
Leonard Bicknell confesses that he’s a nut about consuming less energy, even if it costs him more to do so. Over the years, the South Shore heating oil dealer has […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Highway to Hell: Teams Trans previews coming attractions
Genuine public interest in real, comprehensive solutions to the Bay State's transportation troubles is low. Commuters worry about their own pocketbooks and no one else's. The prospect of a higher […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Is someone talking about transportation reform?
Rep. Joseph Wagner, the House transportation committee chairman, competed with chattering colleagues as work began on the transportation reform bill in the House chamber Tuesday afternoon. Wagner opened the session […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Wiffing on “reform before revenue”
If MBTA benefits aren't really in play in the great state transportation bureaucracy overhaul, where does that leave reform before revenue? This week, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation published a study […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Faring no better in New York
The MBTA isn’t the only cash-strapped transit agency looking for relief — and getting zilch — from state lawmakers. New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority board voted overwhelmingly last week […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Billions of billboards?
The MBTA failed to win friends or influence people with its plan to auction off billboard advertising rights in 60 locations in eastern Massachusetts. Predictably, some affected communities are seething. […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Yes to regional equity, no to privatization: The transportation reform debate continues
Secretary of Transportation James Aloisi, who's engaged in a high-profile tussle with Senate President Therese Murray over the contours of transportation reform, shifted gears by giving a shout out to […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Watch the video of MassINC’s “No Contest” forum on the shortage of candidates in Mass.
The Bay State's longtime shortage of candidates for public office was the topic of "No Contest: Why So Few People Run for Office in Massachusetts – and What to Do About […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Money for nothing: Still dire straits at the MBTA
Reforms alone aren’t going to cut it for the MB (as in “broke”) TA. That’s the song MBTA general manger Dan Grabauskas has been singing for years. Asked this morning […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
“Starting Line 2009” tackles DeLeo, State House scandals, and the bleak economy
Is new House Speaker Robert DeLeo really just "a hamburger guy", and are other members of the House no more than "sheep"? Do voters pay more attention to public pension […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Up, up, and away in my beautiful gas tax trial balloon…
When last we saw Team Trans, we were waiting on the mother of all transportation plans, the one that would save our roads, our bridges, and our mass transit from […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Pennies saved at the MBTA
Having your employer pay for your $10 commercial driver's license sounds fair. So the MBTA used to send bus drivers a $10 check reimbursing them for their license fees. They could look […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Starting Line 2009: February 6 at the Parker House
It's the start of the legislative year on Beacon Hill — and the middle of a national economic crisis that brings increased demand, diminished resources and high expectations. How will […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, State House News Service, The Download
Kayyem hailed for “responder revolution” in state homeland security
Juliette Kayyem, the Massachusetts undersecretary for homeland security, gets kudos for her success in shaping up Boston's notoriously territorial first responders from HSToday Magazine, a McLean, Virginia-based monthly that provides […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
The MBTA isn’t the only transit agency in dire straits
The MBTA isn’t the only transit agency in the country with fare hikes or service cuts on the horizon. Transportation for America, "a broad coalition of housing, environmental, public health, […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, State House News Service
Utahs financial literacy requirement
INTRO TEXT States want to be trendsetters, but not all trends are worth bragging about. That was Utah’s predicament from 2002 through 2004, when the Beehive State ranked No. 1 […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Task force targets underground economy
During the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, candidate Deval Patrick wanted to see firsthand how the underground economy worked. Volunteering to be his guide, Mark Erlich, executive secretary-treasurer of the New England […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Jim Aloisi: Eyes wide shut
A friend of Jim Aloisi’s told him that he hoped the new secretary of transportation was going into his new position with his eyes wide open. “I’m better off if […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Lather – Rinse – Repeat
Tuesday's fourth and final oversight hearing on transportation finance dysfunction in the Bay State didn’t really offer up anything new. Yet five of the members of the Transportation Finance Commission […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service, The Download
Doing the right thing by right whales
“Mariners are urged to maintain a sharp lookout and use caution around right whales.” All you weather geeks out there will recognize that warning from the “voice” (OK, usually computer-generated) […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Plan, plan, who’s got a plan?
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino joined the chorus of transportation stakeholders calling on the Patrick administration to get moving on a statewide comprehensive transportation reform plan. “A comprehensive plan must be […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
“Moving with delays” and the MBTA’s culture of contempt
I wish I'd heard the announcement at Alewife Station about signal problems during the morning rush. Instead, all I heard was “inaudible something [delays] mumble, mumble, mumble.” Delays are a […]
