Indictments unsealed today by Attorney General Martha Coakley allege the commissioner of the state’s Probation Department and the one-time chief of staff to former state Treasurer Tim Cahill engaged in […]
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Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Post 9/11 stress syndrome
The nation paused yesterday to reflect on the horrors inflicted a decade ago. The observance was moving, and it was hard not to be touched by it. The day of […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion, Uncategorized
9/11 and the arts
The arts have always had a humanizing influence — rising above political differences to celebrate the transformative power of creative expression. I find myself reflecting on that as we observe […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Remembering 9/11
As the United States nears closer to the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the media has embarked on a collective national memorial in print, broadcast, and online. The […]
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FEMA: Rescue me
Be grateful that Hurricane Katia is headed to out to sea rather than toward New England since the Federal Emergency Management Agency appears to be the next agency in line […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Memo to the Gang of Twelve (aka the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction)
For decades economists have chided the American people for spending too much and saving too little. Now we are told we should spend money to make it circulate while we […]
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Blown out of proportion
With the benefit of hindsight, today’s Boston Globe headline gets it about right: “Tired Irene Slaps N.E.” That put a pithy — and accurate — coda on the killer-Hurricane-turned-whimpy-tropical-storm that […]
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Here comes Irene
Mother nature is pumping some life into the usually sleepy August news cycle. Earlier this week, an earthquake shook the East Coast and dominated front pages. But there’s nothing like […]
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Psychologist withdraws SJC appeal on license
A female psychologist who had sex with a former patient is withdrawing her court appeal seeking the return of her license. Brookline psychologist Mary O’Neill acknowledged having a sexual relationship […]
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Is Massachusetts ready for the Big One?
Will the aftershocks from yesterday’s 5.8 Virginia earthquake that rumbled through the Northeast Corridor get people thinking more seriously about natural disasters as more than comic fodder for bloggers and […]
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Herald having difficulty covering itself
It’s a good thing we’re a two-newspaper town — especially when one of those two papers is the subject of a very public libel lawsuit. The Herald reports today that […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Uncategorized
Menino breaking even on golf courses
Kudos to the Menino administration for significantly narrowing the losses associated with operating Boston’s two municipal golf courses. Tax records indicate the Fund for Parks and Recreation, a nonprofit arm […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
UMass chief calls debt ‘untenable’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEThe growing cost of covering debt is crowding out the ability of the University of Massachusetts’s five campuses to invest in faculty, staff and other projects and […]
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The truth about Portnoy’s complaints
You have crossed the line of tastelessness when even Howard Stern, who has made a fortune personifying tastelessness, says you’ve crossed the line. That’s what happened yesterday to Barstool Sports […]
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Chiofaro and the BRA’s Meade are talking
The Boston Redevelopment Authority and developer Don Chiofaro are talking again. Chiofaro has been trying for years to redevelop the Harbor Garage on the Greenway into one of the city’s […]
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The Bulger defense takes to the airwaves
No, not that Bulger, the one facing 19 murder charges in federal court. UMass Boston political science professor Mo Cunningham was on Emily Rooney’s radio show yesterday talking about his […]
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Back to math class for the Globe
We’re all familiar with the warning to keep matches out of the hands of children. The same should often be said with respect to statistics and reporters. Today’s exhibit: The […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
The William Bulger I know
The recent capture of James “Whitey” Bulger has brought forth a torrent of commentary, much of it involving former state Senate president and University of Massachusetts president William Bulger. A […]
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download, Uncategorized
Bowling abroad
The breakdown in American civic culture and community has been well documented. The definitive treatise on this, of course, is Robert Putnam’s 2000 book Bowling Alone, which painted a picture […]
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Not your father’s Kennedys
With the passing of Ted Kennedy, it appears the family’s well-known ability to circle the wagons and protect the familial legacy as well as each other may also be slipping […]
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Closed door democracy
The political class in Massachusetts, birthplace of the American Revolution, has a rather inglorious record when it comes to practicing some of the basic tenets of the open democratic government […]
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Hyperlocal news in trouble
Whatever the future of news is, Jack Shafer of Slate doesn’t think it will include Patch. Shafer recently wrote a piece deriding AOL’s network of community news sites known as […]
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Conventions of color coming to Boston
two african-american organizations are coming to Boston for major conventions this summer, a breakthrough for a city with a national reputation for not being welcoming to people of color. […]
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Correspondence
Senator: Lawrence making progress Your article, “Lawrence on the mat,” in CommonWealth’s spring issue painted a misleading view of the city of Lawrence, which I represent in the state Senate. […]
