MBTA GENERAL MANAGER Steve Poftak said the new Orange and Red Line cars will remain in limbo for the time being as the T continues to try to reach consensus […]
T notes: New subway cars still in limbo
Posted inHealth Care
A call to chronicle the horrors of Mass. state hospitals
IT STANDS AS a particularly horrible chapter in the state’s ongoing struggle to ensure adequate treatment for those with mental health issues and other disabilities. Beginning in the 19th century, […]
Posted inTransportation
Members of T control board say goodbye
THE MEMBERS of the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board bid a final farewell on Monday as lawmakers on Beacon Hill continued to trade proposals about what a successor board […]
Posted inTransportation
GLX to come in under budget, opening slightly delayed
MBTA OFFICIALS say the $2.3 billion project extending the Green Line into Somerville and Medford will come in under budget and be finished slightly later than expected, with the Union […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion, Race/Racism
Closing a hate-crime loophole
IMAGINE WAKING UP in the morning and seeing an image of hate painted on the front door of the apartment you’ve rented for years. This image is meant to target […]
Posted inOpinion
I wish I had teachers that looked like me
IN THE FIFTH GRADE, I was inexplicably popular. I would strut down the hallway at the very end of a single file line with my class, dressed in a floral […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
For Rollins, it’s full speed ahead
IF ANYONE THOUGHT Rachael Rollins might trim her sails while waiting for word on whether she gets the nod as President Biden’s choice for US attorney for Massachusetts, they clearly […]
Posted inThe Download
For Rollins, it’s full speed ahead
If anyone thought Rachael Rollins might trim her sails while waiting for word on whether she gets the nod as President Biden’s choice for US attorney for Massachusetts, they clearly […]
Posted inOpinion
Remembering a father who was largely a stranger
IT MAY HAVE BEEN the most memorable day of my life. When I relate the story to others, they always ask, “How did you feel?” Some 67 years later, I […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Mass. police among least likely to shoot
POLICE IN MASSACHUSETTS rarely shoot anyone. According to the latest Washington Post analysis, Massachusetts is virtually tied for the lowest rate of officer-involved shootings in the US – six per […]
Posted inOpinion
No justification for proposed Peabody gas plant
THE MASSACHUSETTS Municipal Wholesale Electric Company and the staff at some participating municipal light plants say that building a new, 60-megawatt combined natural gas and oil peaker power plant in […]
Posted inOpinion
Real estate key driver of economy
WITHOUT A DOUBT, this last year has been hard on every industry, and the real estate market was not immune to the economic hardships and the uncertainty brought on by […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Environmental League targets muni light plants
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WHEN MARBLEHEAD voters get to the polls June 22, they’ll have their pick of candidates: 14 options for the Select Board, two choices for the School […]
Posted inEducation
Coalition says proposed voc school admission changes don’t go far enough
PROPOSED CHANGES TO vocational school admission policies, which the state has developed following years of pressure from municipal leaders and advocates, don’t go nearly far enough toward ensuring access to […]
Posted inOpinion
Early College checks a lot of boxes
IF YOU WANT to know who and what our state lawmakers care about, you simply have to follow the money. Our state budget, after all, is a reflection of the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker pitches fed aid spending deal to lawmakers
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN AN ATTEMPT to end the battle over who gets to spend nearly $5.2 billion in federal relief money, Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday pitched a […]
Posted inEconomy
Is Chelsea Eats nearing an end, or a beginning?
CHELSEA CITY MANAGER Tom Ambrosino started handing out cash to residents last year as a way to address hunger in his community, but now he thinks the program’s initial success […]
Posted inThe Download
Will Mass. follow Connecticut in ending charges for prisoner phone calls?
IF PEER PRESSURE is a thing among state legislatures, Massachusetts may soon be feeling some heat from its next-door neighbor. Yesterday, Gov. Ned Lamont signed legislation making Connecticut the first […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Will Mass. follow Connecticut in ending charges for prisoner phone calls?
IF PEER PRESSURE is a thing among state legislatures, Massachusetts may soon be feeling some heat from its next-door neighbor. Yesterday, Gov. Ned Lamont signed legislation making Connecticut the first […]
Posted inHealth Care
Point32Health is launched
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE COMBINED organization of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care will officially be known as Point32Health, the insurers announced Wednesday. The Canton-based company said […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. should set 100% clean energy mandate
WITH LAST MONTH’S approval of the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, a clean energy future is within our grasp in the United States. Nowhere […]
Posted inOpinion
Requiring masks on public transit makes no sense
THERE ARE FACTS and there are perceptions. These are often very different things. And when you are trying to guide and inform human decision-making, perceptions often matter more than facts. […]
Posted inEducation
Let’s give high school grads a college degree and job too
THERE IS NO better time than now to rethink what a high school education should deliver. Students, especially those of color and from low-income communities, deserve and need more than […]
Posted inThe Download
COVID’s impact on transportation ridership uneven
The pandemic depressed travel on most modes of transportation, but the impact has not been the same everywhere. On the MBTA, ridership remains way down on the bus, subway, and […]