AN OUT-OF-SERVICE bus returning to the Arborway facility in Jamaica Plain caught fire on Thursday and the Boston Fire Department had to be called in to extinguish the blaze. MBTA […]
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 inState Government
Correction on tax cap giveback story
CommonWealth published a story Thursday evening incorrectly suggesting the tax cap giveback was not going to be as big as the Baker administration forecasted last week. The story was based […]
Posted inTransportation
Orange Line shutdown coming, perhaps for a month
THE MBTA is preparing to shut down the Orange Line later this month to do maintenance and repair work and there is speculation that the shutdown could last several weeks […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Uncertain times for Daloisio, Clean Energy Center
JENNIFER DALOISIO and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center are both facing a bit of uncertainty. The agency, a key cog in the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is about […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Senate resurrects dangerousness bill in after-midnight vote
BANISHED TO the Legislature’s study scrap heap and crushed by a vote in the House on Saturday, a proposal to expand the offenses for which a defendant can be declared […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Baker in take-it-or-leave-it position on climate bill
THE LEGISLATURE returned compromise climate legislation to Gov. Charlie Baker on Sunday and urged him to sign it into law even though he didn’t get all the changes he wanted. […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Baker proposes major changes to climate change bill
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER sent the Legislature’s climate change bill back with amendments that appear to rewrite it significantly, including reinstating the governor’s original call for using $750 million in federal […]
Posted inTransportation
FTA orders ‘safety standdown’ at T for disabled trains
THE FEDERAL Transit Administration ordered an “immediate safety standdown” at the MBTA, requiring all workers who operate or secure disabled transit vehicles to halt their work until they participate in […]
Posted inState Government
Mariano open to tinkering, scrapping, or postponing tax cap law
HOUSE SPEAKER Ron Mariano, clearly frustrated with Gov. Charlie Baker, suggested on Friday that the Legislature could modify, scrap, or delay the 1986 tax cap law that is expected to […]
Posted inPolitics
Who knew campaign questionnaires were so controversial?
A clarification has been added to this story. WHAT STARTED out as a bid for greater transparency in the race for auditor has suddenly become, strangely enough, a battleground in […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Cap to give ‘north of $2.5b’ in excess tax revenue back to taxpayers
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said on Thursday that he expects a law passed by voters in 1986 will require the state to return more than $2.5 billion to taxpayers in the […]
Posted inEnergy, State Government
Is Mass. eyeing out-of-state nuke, wind power for clean energy?
THE CLIMATE AND ENERGY bill sitting on the governor’s desk contains two policy sections that could open the door to clean energy procurements involving onshore wind from Maine and nuclear […]
Posted inState Government
Long-forgotten tax cap about to be triggered
WHILE LAWMAKERS scramble to put together a package of tax breaks in the final days of the legislative session, a little-known law from the mid-1980s is about to alter the […]
Posted inPolitics
Handful of Democrats called out for voting to suspend rules
A CONSERVATIVE advocacy group on Monday called out a handful of Democratic lawmakers who in early 2021 voted for more time to study bills coming out of conference committees but […]
Posted inEnergy, State Government
Here’s what’s in the Legislature’s energy/climate change legislation
THE LEGISLATURE suspended its rules and whisked through a climate change bill on Thursday that seeks to make Massachusetts the “Saudi Arabia of wind,” promotes the adoption of zero emission […]
Posted inTransportation
T called worse off now than during snowmageddon
THE LEAD CAR of an Orange Line train crossing the Mystic River caught fire early Thursday morning, prompting panic on board the train and the evacuation of close to 200 […]
Posted inTransportation
Is it time to shake up the MBTA board?
A correction has been added to this story. IN THE DEBATE over the future of the MBTA, very little attention has been paid to the relatively new board that oversees […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Compromise climate bill coming down to the wire
HOUSE SPEAKER Ron Mariano tweeted that the Legislature will vote on a compromise bill to combat climate change on Thursday, presumably by suspending rules designed to give lawmakers proper notice […]
Posted inPolitics
Doughty says Diehl cannot win running as an Alabama Republican
POLITICAL NEWCOMER Chris Doughty trails in the Republican primary race for governor, but in a debate Wednesday night with his rival Geoff Diehl he more than held his own and […]
Posted inEnergy
Biden visits Somerset, an energy bellwether
REP. PATRICIA HADDAD of Somerset woke up a bit late on Tuesday, checked her phone, and saw she had 15 texts and six phone messages – all about President Biden […]
Posted inTransportation
Full Orange, Red, and Blue line service unlikely to resume soon
SERVICE ON the Orange, Red, and Blue Lines will probably continue at reduced levels beyond Labor Day and likely into next year because of hiring and training constraints for subway dispatchers. […]
Posted inTransportation
New temporary elevated highway may be needed with I-90 Allston project
THE I-90 ALLSTON interchange has always been a challenge to design, particularly squeezing the Massachusetts Turnpike, Soldiers Field Road, and four railroad tracks at ground level into in the narrow […]
Posted inTransportation
Straus asks whether the T is still needed
AT THE END of Monday’s legislative oversight hearing on safety practices at the MBTA, the House chair of the Transportation Committee said something was missing. The committee, in its questioning […]
Posted inTransportation
Blue Line wall of silence becomes focus of MBTA oversight hearing
ON MAY 8, the MBTA sent out a press release saying the planned reopening of the Blue Line set for that day needed to be extended until May 13 “to […]