The summer issue of CommonWealth is now available online in its entirety in both HTML and PDF formats. Click here to see the full contents, or click on a link […]
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Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Free labor market
INTRO TEXT when caroline huang remembers her first job out of graduate school, tension creeps into her soft-spoken voice even now, almost 20 years later. The speech recognition scientist went […]
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Correspondence
Special ed story was a rehash of blame game After closely reviewing your cover story regarding special education in Massachusetts (“Spending Spiral,” CW, Spring ’09), I was dismayed to find […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Patrick fights to keep DC outpost
The Boston Herald's Dave Wedge reports today that the Patrick administration is trying to keep its Washington, DC office going even after the Legislature took away its funding. The reaction […]
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No cheerleading for convention centers
The Next American City’s Josh Stephens offers a skeptical assessment of gargantuan convention centers such as Boston’s BCEC, described as looking “like the starship Enterprise in drydock, with a titanium […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Did Al Sharpton save the Cambridge Police Department?
Did the prospect of dealing with Al Sharpton prove to be the catalyst that propelled the Cambridge Police Department, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, and Harvard University professor Henry Louis […]
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The facts on tax credits and movie star salaries
In commenting on a recent post about Gov. Deval Patrick's efforts to cap how much of a movie star's salary would qualify for the state's film tax credit, reader Donald McGlaughlin said […]
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Boston Globe goes hunting for bad comments about Goodwill
Today's Boston Globe story on a Goodwill second-hand store opening in one of Boston's trendier neighborhoods promises more than it can deliver. Here are the headlines: With thrift store coming, […]
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Spending priorities: Zoos vs. movies
Gov. Deval Patrick wants to cut funding for the state's zoos by $4 million this year, but he's willing to spend far more than that on a single movie that […]
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Franklin Park Zoo gets starring role
The Franklin Park Zoo, locked in a funding struggle with the Patrick administration, is going Hollywood to raise money. A movie starring Kevin James as a zookeeper who talks to […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Tip, Ronnie, and Tricky Dick walk into a bar…
What would Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill think about competing against the likes of Richard Nixon and Franklin Roosevelt? We'll never know, but only one of the unlikely trio […]
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Murray: Repeal of film tax credit would be a mistake
Senate President Therese Murray says “liberal tax policy people” in Massachusetts are waging a campaign to repeal the state’s film tax credit, but she says that would be a big […]
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Patriots, StubHub end legal battle
By Colman Herman and Bruce Mohl The New England Patriots and the online ticket marketplace StubHub Inc. have ended their bitter and costly legal battle over ticket resales. The two […]
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Mass. population rebounds, but Berkshires and Cape Cod continue to slide
Earlier this month, the Census Bureau released estimates for city and town populations as of July 2008, and there are some clear regional patterns in the Bay State, as the […]
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Reviews vary on film tax credit report
The Department of Revenue's report on the state's film tax credit is generating wildly different reviews. The Boston Herald headlined its story "Follywood", and the Boston Globe said the report indicated […]
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State of the States links
Friday, July 3, 2009 Obesity rates Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Unemployment rates Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor
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Most film tax credit spending goes to nonresidents
The Massachusetts film tax credit induced movie and TV producers to spend $676 million here over the last three years, but more than half of the money went to people who live outside […]
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Patrick administration divided on film tax credit
Gov. Deval Patrick officially supports the state's film tax credit, but key members of his cabinet are divided on the issue. Greg Bialecki, the secretary of housing and urban development, sees […]
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A “new” neighbor?
Massachusetts isn't the only place thinking about history in spite of — or as a distraction from — the gloomy fiscal future. State legislators here recently opted against eliminating Bunker Hill […]
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Patrick says he changed his mind on film tax credit change
Gov. Deval Patrick says he initially supported a budget proposal to limit how much of a movie star's salary would be eligible for the Massachusetts film tax credits, but then changed his mind […]
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Tom Cruise stars in Beacon Hill budget thriller
Talk about star power: The fear that a Tom Cruise movie might decamp Massachusetts for Georgia prompted Beacon Hill lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick to flip-flop on a proposal to […]
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Gov. Patrick Goes to Arlington
“We can do the lounge-singing routine.” That was no stand-up comedian. That was Gov. Deval Patrick fiddling with a long, red microphone cord before taking questions Monday at Arlington Town […]
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Drivers over 75 don’t deserve insurance discount, official says
Drivers age 75 and above in Massachusetts don’t deserve the 25 percent discount on their auto insurance premiums that state law mandates, according to preliminary claims data being reviewed by […]
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Did the pension bill go far enough?
NECN's Jim Braude talks with CommonWealth executive editor Michael Jonas about the public pension reform bill signed by Gov. Patrick. Jonas says that the bill mostly goes after "low-hanging fruit." […]
