A chastened House Speaker Robert DeLeo responded to Thursday’s Probation Department guilty verdict by issuing a statement saying “it is a verdict that all of us have to respect.” But […]
Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl oversees the production of content and edits reports, along with carrying out his own reporting with a particular focus on transportation, energy, and climate issues.
He previously worked at the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper.
Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Posted inPolitics
Ortiz wins big victory, but questions remain
US Attorney Carmen Ortiz with prosecutors Robert Fisher (left) and Fred Wyshak Nearly everyone on Beacon Hill thought US Attorney Carmen Ortiz was over-reaching by attempting to make a crime […]
Posted inGambling
The Popeye factor
Casinos are supposed to be hurting financially, but maybe Wynn Resorts didn’t get the memo. The Wynn Las Vegas announced this week it has purchased a 2,000-pound sculpture of Popeye […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The politics of guns
Beacon Hill moved closer to passing a new gun control law on Thursday, but not before once again scaling back the proposed legislation to appease the concerns of firearm owners […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
How DeLeo became a coconspirator
Federal prosecutors changed their view of House Speaker Robert DeLeo during the course of the trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien, largely because of the testimony of a shaky […]
Posted inPolitics
Probation closing statements: The prosecution, the defense & the judge
The prosecution: Former Probation commissioner John O’Brien wrote a January 2007 letter to his nemesis, Trial Court chief Robert Mulligan, in which he defended the way people were hired at […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Health policy agency critiques Partners deal
The state’s Health Policy Commission raised concerns on Thursday about some aspects of Attorney General Martha Coakley’s proposed agreement with Partners Health Care on hospital acquisitions, but the agency did […]
Posted inPolitics
Summer 2014 Editor’s note
there’s nothing in this issue about the federal trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two of his top aides, but that’s only because we’ve been reporting on the […]
Posted inEconomy
Mr. Sunshine
FOR SOMEONE RUNNING what many consider a dead-end business, Mike Sheehan is incredibly optimistic. The former Hill Holliday ad executive, who took over as the Boston Globe’s first-ever CEO in […]
Posted inPolitics
The prosecution
Former Probation commissioner John O’Brien wrote a January 2007 letter to his nemesis, Trial Court chief Robert Mulligan, in which he defended the way people were hired at the Probation […]
Posted inEducation
The hiring man
WILLIAM THOMAS, THE headmaster at Charlestown High School, got to do something new this spring: He posted his job openings for next year and personally selected the teachers to fill […]
Posted inPolitics
US Attorney labels DeLeo a coconspirator
The top public corruption prosecutor in US Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office said Monday that House Speaker Robert DeLeo was an active member of the racketeering conspiracy that led to the […]
Posted inPolitics
Despite concerns, Young keeps most charges
US District Court Judge William Young on Monday slightly narrowed the charges against former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two of his top aides but agreed to send the case […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo slams Murphy as illogical, untruthful
In a statement issued after 5 p.m. on Friday, House Speaker Robert DeLeo called a former top lieutenant “illogical” and “untruthful” for testifying that DeLeo told him not to cut […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Walsh’s waffling on casinos
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is a straight-shooter on most issues, but on casino gambling he’s tied up in knots. He voted for casinos as a state legislator, but now he’s […]
Posted inPolitics
O’Brien lobbied DeLeo for more power in ‘07
Former Probation commissioner John O’Brien came to see then-Ways and Means Chairman Robert DeLeo in September 2007 lobbying for legislation that would give him much greater powers, a bigger salary, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Back Story
Where’s Steward?
One big name is missing from the group of health care competitors that have banded together to fight the consent agreement negotiated by Partners HealthCare and Attorney General Martha Coakley. […]
Posted inPolitics
Murphy: DeLeo told me to spare Probation
The House’s former top budget official testified on Wednesday that he was ordered by House Speaker Robert DeLeo in 2009 to spare the Probation Department from the type of drastic […]
Posted inPolitics
SJC judges in dark about Probation hiring
Robert Mulligan and John O’Brien are squaring off in federal court over hiring practices, much as they squared off when Mulligan was the chief justice of administration and management at […]
Posted inPolitics
Boston takes pounding from Gaming Commission
Caption: Gaming Commission members from left: Bruce Stebbins, Enrique Zuniga, James McHugh, and Gayle Cameron The Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Wednesday unanimously rejected a request from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh […]
Posted inPolitics
Witness for the prosecution
Robert Mulligan leaving the courthouse on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors at the trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien finally got their dream witness on the stand. After weeks of trying […]
Posted inPolitics
Shaky Ryan insists jobs used to help DeLeo
Defense attorneys on Tuesday raised questions about the accuracy of testimony by a top aide to former Probation commissioner John O’Brien, but legislative liaison Edward Ryan stood by his claim […]
Posted inHealth Care
Judge accepts comments, not intervenors, in Partners case
First Assistant Attorney General Christopher Barry-Smith appears before Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders. A Suffolk Superior Court judge on Monday agreed to accept comments on a controversial antitrust consent […]
Posted inPolitics
Walsh calls off talks with Wynn, Mohegan
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is unilaterally calling off all mitigation negotiations with the two companies vying to build a casino on the city’s border until after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission […]